2012.6.00.LaVey.Duncan.Blacksite

As night spreads across the land a message goes out from LaVey to his bloodsucking family. It is a simple request to meet the edge of town near the warehouse district, but with some urgency attached. When you arrive, LaVey is standing under a lamp post in his Alexander guise. The creature is tap-tapping his shoe with his cane.

Duncan is deposited by a limousine, not even of the stretch variety. It appears that on this occasion, there was no need to make a supremely awesome entrance. Exiting the limo, he languidly shuffles over towards the lamp post where LaVey is standing so impatiently. The Limousine remains where it dropped Duncan off, engine turned off and lights dark.

Marion heads to the edge of town, with Lavey and the rest of her family. The fiend watches quietly, her face in a unreadable mask.

"I suppose this is all who is coming," LaVey says as he looks between the two. "Very well, we will simply do more with less." The cane is left to lean against the lamp post while he draws a tablet out of a messenger bag. "I have been informed by a fellow named Ratsucker of a U.S. Government black site operating in the desert about three hundred miles here. It seems recently the feds came upon a sacred place and plundered a few artifacts from it. Two of these artifacts made it to the site near us. The original owners are presumed dead, so if we want them, we just need to take them."

Duncan raises an eyebrow. "That seems... Well, too easy to be honest. The feds took some things and left others? I wonder how trust-worthy your informer is. If it's difficult to acquire what we end up coming across, he may be looking for suckers - pun intended - to get it for him."

"As he is a fellow Nosferatu, I think that scenario is doubtful. It is, however, still a possibility even though remote," LaVey says with a shrug of slim shoulders. "As he is located on the east coast I have not had very much contact with him, this is true. Do you wish to proceed?"

Marion nods "I think that we should." she says. "The Nosferatu are not known to give false leads."

"Very good," LaVey replies and taps a times on the tablet before showing it the others. On it is a satellite photo of an empty expanse of desert with a few colored circles on it. "The blue circle is the main entrance to the sight. The golden circle is an air shaft about a quarter of a mile away. That is our point of ingress. It may or may not be guarded, but will at the very least have some sort of locking mechanism on it. Duncan, I assume you can arrange for suitable transportation?"

Duncan peers over the Nosferatu hand, checking out the tablet's mapping of the area in question. "Hrm? Oh, yes, we can use the limo that's waiting for us. I asked him to stay just in case we needed one." He taps his chin, then gestures magnanimously towards the Limousine. "Our chariot awaits."

LaVey gives the other vampire a nod before ducking into an alley. He returns with a pair of large hiker's backpacks filled with equipment. On the way to the limo, he grabs his cane. Then he and his accoutrement are in the vehicle and ready to go.

Duncan strolls along beside LaVey and opens the door for the other before going around and getting into the passenger side of the limo. LaVey will get the back to himself, apparently, though there is no plastic screen separating the back from the front so conversation can take place normally.

After several hours of driving in silence, LaVey leans forward to tap the driver on the shoulder. "Let us out here," he tells the man. Once the limo comes to a stop he disembarks with the two backpacks. "We're about five miles from the air shaft, so I will obfuscate us and we can walk from here," he tells Duncan. "Here, take a pack."

Duncan exits the limo, and moves around to speak with the driver from outside. "Sebastian, add a 20% percent tip for yourself to whatever the meter reads, and deduct it from my account balance with the company." He then makes a shooing motion with his hand and turns his back to the limo, moving towards LaVey to join the other Vampire and reach down to pick up a hiking pack.

The landscape before them is barren and sparse. It is well lit due to the large moon and more stars then one could count in a lifetime. Before then is a flat expanse of rocky sand marred only by the occasional bit of scrub and a few extremely hardy trees. The trek is not a difficult one, and in a little more then an hour they are within minutes of their destination.

Duncan reaches out and grabs LaVey, stopping the other man's forward motion. "Stop!" He states, reluctantly since he already caused the man to cease moving by grabbing him. Getting down into a low crouch, and then even lower onto his hands and knees, he puts his head close to the ground and examines the pressure trigger just barely sticking up out of the ground. Sticking out his tongue in concentration, he reaches forward with one finger of his hand out-stretched, as if he is going to push it - but he simply points to it, instead. "Dangerous contraption. I knew it wouldn't be as easy as it sounded."

LaVey stops abruptly and almost loses balance when Duncan grabs him. The creature reacts by bearing fangs at his pack mate and giving him a quiet his. When he discovers -why- he was stopped, however, his normal mood returns. "Forgive my annoyance Brother," he says simply as he joins Duncan in looking at the mine. "This must be their first layer of defense. We should tread lightly from here on."

About fifty feet ahead of them the air shaft sticks out of the ground about two feet. It is painted to match the color of the sand and has a few scrub bushes growing up around it.

Duncan hrms, self-evaluating his thoughts before mentioning, "It's alright. I advocate patience in the future though. As I explained to Cash, when I put forth a suggestion that I intend to be performed, there is almost certainly a high probability that is is based upon sound reasoning and would be well worth following." His teeth shine as his upper lip raises in a sneer. "'Tread lightly.' Good advice, around land-mines," he mentions in appreciation of the other man's pun, intended or not. When they reach the shaft, Duncan makes a point to examine it and the area around it for possible traps, or alarm systems.

The shaft itself seems unremarkable except for a keypad that one would believe controls the locking mechanism keeping it closed. If you look into it, you can only see for about fifteen feet before the rest of the expanse is lost to darkness. LaVey puts down his backpack and begins to rummage through it. Out comes rope, a rappelling harness, flashlight, and a knife with ankle sheath. "I packed the same things in your own bag. I have no rappelled before, but we shall see."

Duncan looks through his own pack that LaVey so kindly packed for him, and removes any of the needed equipment. "Well, going down should prove to be easier than getting back up. I'm not particularly athletic, but I at least have some advantages." He holds out his hands, where claws suddenly rip forth, springing into existence from where fingernails used to reside.

The creature barks a sharp laugh when the claws come out. "That is a trick you should teach me one of these days," LaVey comments as he pulls the tablet back out. He cracks the case on the locking mechanism and attaches the tablet to it. "Now let me show you a trick," he continues and begins tapping away at the computer screen.

Duncan nods his head to the other. "I may be willing to teach it to those whom pledge secrecy of the trick, and whom have something of equal value to trade. I should ask for something of even greater perceived value - it's worth it - but having a pack-brother who is able to take care of himself and also watch my back means I am willing to make some exceptions. Even though, I recognize having others who could use it against me is a dangerous thing, too." He quiets however, and watched LaVey presumably hack the keypad.

"I understand your concerns," LaVey says, but is distracted by what he is doing. After a few more minutes the grate covering the shaft opens with a soft *click* and rises a few inches. "There we go. I don't think I triggered any alarms, but keep alert regardless. I'll let you go first, then follow you down. I don't have any schematics for the inside of this installation, so we will be going blind."

Duncan's eyes sheen with golden-green light. "Going blind, figuratively anyway." Perception increased to be able to see easier in the darkness of the shaft, he sets up the equipment to aid the descent and then raises the grate the rest of the way, climbing over the edge of the air vent and starting to make his way down.

Although it is difficult to tell the distance, the shaft continues for at least one hundred feet directly into the ground. It is smooth and unremarkable the entire way. Once they hit the bottom, they are standing on another grate that is just above a fan the same size as the shaft. This close to it there is an extremely strong breeze. Also at the base is a large air shaft and a yellow door that says MAITENANCE ACCESS in large red letters.

The rope hisses softly and LaVey lands on the bottom. He pulls himself free of the rappelling gear and leaves it in a pile. "The lady or the tiger," he murmurs, noticing their choices.

Duncan climbs down the shaft easily enough, the rope descent being a fairly easy task made even simpler with the use of his claws to occasionally grip the sidewalls. He reads the sign at the bottom and tut-tuts. "They misspelled 'Maintenance.' Let us hope that their level of competence extends in a similar manner to how well they safeguard the compound.

OOC Note: Fuck your sarcastic ass Duncan. You try to do something nice for someone :P -LV

“Let us hope," LaVey says as he grips the mag lite in his right hand. He looks around a bit more, shining the light into the shaft and looking for anything else that might be around. "Well, it seems we only have two choices. Which would you like to use?"

Duncan hrms. "I should think the Duct would be the better choice. It's possible I will be able to see or hear things through vents, though I'll have to make sure to be more quiet. The maintenance door is way more likely to be guarded, in my opinion." He gestures towards the ventilation duct. "Lets proceed this way."

"Very well, I will follow you in then. Try not to make a lot of noise, perhaps?" LaVey tells the Gangrel as he squats down and eyeballs the shaft. As you make your way in, it expands to a fairly comfortable size. The main shaft is made of a metal piping which is rather fragile and will deform with too much weight in one place. Ahead, you can see bits of lights that indicate vents, and a few more shafts leading off to either side.

Duncan nods. "That's about what I was thinking, since noise is two way and anything we say or do may be amplified by the reverberations in the shaft. If the thing looks to fragile in places I can go owlish." He shrugs, and settles down into the vent to begin climbing through it.

LaVey quietly follows the gangrel into the shaft, staying a few feet behind him. The first vent coincides with the first two branches of the ventilation system. The vent itself is fairly large, about 12x12, and sits in an indent about two inches deep. The other branches are dark except for the same small spots of light as in the main shaft. Looking into the vent, it appears that there is no interior ceiling concealing the HVAC system.

Duncan plays eenie meenie miny moe, silently. Shrugging, he chooses the right path. The right path isn't left, so maybe it isn't wrong. The left path could be right though, if it isn't wrong. If it is wrong, then right would be right, and all would be right with the world.

The first beam of light you come to reveals what looks like a cafeteria. It has a half-dozen people in lab coats in it as well as a quartet of armed security guards. Each one wears the same uniform, Kevlar vest, and has a similar pistol holstered on the hip. No one seems to notice the vampires crawling around above them. The second grate is over top of a largish locker room where several men and women are in various states of undress or in one of the showers. Several feet beyond that, the shaft ends.

Duncan turns to look at LaVey, and he slowly licks his lips and he silently gestures down towards the showing men and women. To the Vampires, both rooms might as well be a cafeteria. With a very slight sigh, he checks to see whether it should be possible to exit the duct into the shower room without being way too obvious. If it isn't likely to be possible he'll gesture to LaVey to go back

Duncan glares at LaVey momentarily and silently mouths, 'You just want to stare at my scrawny ass, don't you?' He doesn't wait for a reply, indeed it's unlikely LaVey even is able to properly determine what Duncan even mouthed. Everyone watching knows though, because that's what meta-posing accomplishes. Oooooh yeah. Climbing back through the way they came, this time Duncan skips where they came in to the left and continues straight, taking what would have been the left path from when they arrived.

This vent is considerably shorter, maybe thirty feet all told and has only a single vent. Through the grate you can see what obviously looks like a lab with all sorts of scientific gizmos. Also, there is an older gentleman and a young woman wearing lab coats. The woman is talking while the man is nodding his head and staring at her cleavage. At the end of the shaft there’s a handle built into the steel allowing it to be opened and close for maiNtenance reasons.

Duncan motions to LaVey to prepare himself. Duncan moves to place his hands around the handle, getting a solid grip on it before turning. If it's able to be brought up into the shaft that is what he will do since a gap is more difficult to see from below than a drooping maintenance door hanging open. If it only drops, then so be it.

The hatch actually slides straight up on runners. Outside is a narrow, 2.5 foot gap between the end of the shaft the cinder block exterior wall. Down below is a concrete floor with several drains in it to contain any leaks. Opposite the concrete wall is an interior wall made of sheet rock with steel studs. This access area is lit by bare bulbs hanging every fifteen feet or so, and seems to run at least a hundred yards.

Duncan pokes his head out of the shaft in order to check to make sure nothing will be likely to see him exiting, then he drops down from the shaft onto the concrete floor. He will also assist LaVey in his doing so silently as possible. He whispers, once down, 'Well, at least we know to try to avoid the cafeteria, if possible.'

LaVey accepts the assistance and manages to hit the ground without making too much noise. "Agreed. I should think that one of the labs like the one we just saw would be the most likely place for the artifacts if they are being actively studied." The Nosferatu looks around carefully, then shakes his head. "I do not see how we can determine which one without attracting attention however."

Duncan nods. "Well, I have an idea. If we can get to the locker rooms without being spotted, it might make it a lot easier. We could grab some of the clothing there, lab coats and maybe identification cards if there are any, and then try to blend in. It might not work... But it's probably better than if we just bust up inside there as we are now."

"That sounds like a good idea to me. I will cloak us when we find a way into the locker room," LaVey says and waves his hand in an exaggerated gesture. The creature then rounds the corner and heads in the direction of the locker room. Once around the corner you can see a another maintenance door. This one, unlike the other, is not steel. It is of heavy wood and set into the sheet rock wall. There is no window in it, or other way to see what lays beyond.

Duncan shrugs. Again quietly, in case the door is thin and there is someone near it he mentions, 'No where else to go. Have to just wing it for now.' He extends a hand to grip the handle, turns it, and sloooooowly starts to open the door. Turning his head sideways to peek through the gap he checks it, prepared to whip the door open and move to intercept anyone nearby, if so needed.

"Wait, before we go out, let me cloak us," LaVey says before pausing to concentrate. The veil of obfuscation falls over them, and they both appear to be security guards, albeit without identification or equipment. "This should help us reach the locker room and acquire what we need."

Duncan hrms. "I see. It may have been more productive to simply go unseen; We will just have to see however, I suppose." The door had previously been cracked open, and Duncan once again moves to continue opening the door, peering through the gap.

"Removing the identification cards and other equipment would strain my ability," LaVey the Security Man says with an absent shrug of his shoulders. Beyond the gap in the door you can see a security guard standing outside the door that must lead to the first lab. He is standing in a large, L shaped hallway. The cafeteria and locker room to the right, and straight ahead the unknown.

Duncan grunts slightly. "Well. Nothing to do but plunge onwards." He finishes opening the door, and steps out into the hallway with LaVey the security man. He notes to the other man, as if they had been in the midst of a conversation, "Yes but, I just don't see anything. If there were rats living in here we'd have to be able to see droppings, or a nest, something."

"This is a job for maintenance, not us," LaVey scoffs as he follows Duncan out the door. The security guard looks perplexed, but just shrugs his shoulders and returns to playing Angry Birds, by the sound of it, on his phone. There are a few scientists walking the corridor coming back from the cafeteria, as it looks like the night shift has finished dinner.

Duncan mmm's and nods to LaVey's commentary. "'Why make maintenance do it when the security people just stand around looking pretty,' is probably what we'd get if we asked." He shakes his head disgustedly. "Well lets check out the locker room and see if someone left food in the lockers again, that might be drawing them into the facility. I'd have thought we'd see a trail of ants first though, if that were the case." He moves towards the locker room with confidence, since he knows where it is based upon the duct scouting earlier.

LaVey remains silent as they slip past several people in the hallway. Inside the locker room a man and a woman are flirting with each other. The woman blushes when the two step in, but the man just grins in obvious pride. The two slip into their lab coats, fetch their ideas, brush past the two vampires on their way out the door. However, it is plain to notice, each one /locks/ their locker, before leaving.

Duncan checks out the locker room and moves to an area with, hopefully, less people in it. He gestures for LaVey to stand beside him, and using his body as cover Duncan examines the locker. Peering into the master key slot... He pauses, and tried the locker just to be sure - you never know. Finding it locked, the young man shrugs and reaches into his pockets. Out comes a ball of lint, a paperclip, a string, a rubber band, and a straw. He carefully pokes the paperclip through the straw, ties the string to it, and then rolls the ball of lint into a tighter ball. Attaching the rubber band to the paper-clipped straw, he places the lint ball inside the rubber band and shoots LaVey with his self-fashioned slingshot. Then he sticks the paperclip into the lock and picks it open.

LaVey responds by giving his companion the finger, then keeping his eyes open for any unwelcome visitors. This particular locker has some civilian clothes in it, a few items of personal hygiene, and none of the identification they are likely to need to access the labs. Bad luck, try again!

Duncan shows his teeth as he gets the finger. The teeth showing, is a grimace intended to be a grin. He pfft's and closes the locker with nothing interesting inside, and moves on to the next locker. It's like playing slot machines, eventually if you keep playing you'll hit the jackpot, right? Just a matter of time.

The next locker appears to contain the possession of one of the scientists working at the facility. Inside is his I.D. card and a series of sticky notes are stuck to the inside of the door. The man must have been extremely absent-minded, because the notes contain everything from passwords to reminders on how to tie his shoes.

"Bingo," whispers LaVey as he glances into the locker in between watching out for employees.

Duncan nods, and slips into the lab coat He pins the id badge to the front. Then he takes a moment to peruse the sticky-notes, taking any with user-names and passwords. Might come in handy... and even if not, when the guy finds his shit gone and his passwords removed maybe he'll think it was a prank. Or have a mental break-down. Anyway, Duncan asks LaVey, "Want a lab coat too or should we just proceed?"

"I'll be fine. It will look like I'm escorting you," LaVey replies as he swings the locker shut. All of a sudden, the door opens and a long string of people begins to file in. Shift change is upon them, apparently.

"Perfect timing, more than likely. Come on, lets head out and take advantage of the people shuffling about in the hallways. We can slip into the first lab easily enough, though it may not prove easy to explain moving through them if we don't find what we're looking for quickly." He heads towards the locker room door, exiting into the hallway. He proceeds to head down the hall into the 'unknown.'

The unknown corridor has windows and doors on the left hand side. Looking through each window, it is easy to see that each is a spacious laboratory. On the right is a series of windows looking into the cafeteria, which is largely empty at the moment except for support staff cleaning up. There are four labs in total, and past the canteen windows are a series of doors marked with things like 'Cold Storage 1' and 'Janitorial' on plaques.

Duncan moves to Lab 4, that way they can work back towards the entrance/exit rather than working away from it as they search. He opens the door and strides inside, eyes quickly roving the room to assess the situation.

The lab contains several desks and tables with workstations setup on them. The amount of actual scientific equipment in it is minimal, as it is likely the equipment is in a clean room and the workstations monitor the results of exams. However, there are a pair of keypads recessed into the wall that look like they probably work like a wall safe. Below each keypad is a three-ring binder hanging from a hook.

Duncan investigates the binders and the wall keypads. "Maybe it will just the konami code to open it. 88224646 turn handle, pull."

The first binder says: ARTIFACT #3008 Description: Necklace made with hemp rope, typical wooden beads, and five (5) canines from species Homosapien Lupinus, purported to have mystical properties, carbon dating indicates likely date of early 14th century.

The second binder says: ARTIFACT #3009 Description: Leather bound book, unknown language, carbon dating unavailable.

Duncan looks over the information listed. "Well, an interesting pair of items these look to be. The book is probably more up your alley. The necklace is something likely to piss off lupine-blooded who see it, so that seems more up my alley, he notes. He checks the sticky-notes he brought with him just in case it were to have info he could use, but that's unlikely. His eyes once more sheen with a golden-green glow in the reflection of the lighting above, and he looks over the keypad to see if he can detect which ones have been touched more often.

"Perhaps. Although Marion would likely be more interested in an book like that," LaVey says as he browses around amongst the workstations. Each one is currently locked however, and he does not attempt to hack any of them. "Are you able to match any of the pins to the safes?"

On the first keypad you identify four numbers that correspond with one of the pin codes written on the sticky notes.

Duncan nods. "Yes, it seems as if this one matches. Perhaps I should check the second one before we proceed any further. It is not improbable that even though these are kept safe, there might not be some form of additional protection on them. Perhaps opening the safe during the wrong shift would produce an alarm or something. Speculation, but not unwarranted I should think.

Once again, you identify four well used keys that once again match up with one of your pin codes.

"It seems it would be rather impossible to know. I am sure they do not post their security protocols where we are likely to find them," LaVey says as he finishes walking the room and comes to stand next to Duncan.

Duncan hands LaVey the sticky-note for the locker containing the book. "Well, we just have to risk it. You open this one as I open that one. Be prepared to make haste back towards the maintenance hallway that we accessed when we first came in. If we each open one and take the contents, there is more chance that at least one of us will be able to exit the compound with at least one of the artifacts."

"Very well," LaVey replies as he takes the note from Duncan. The nossie looks down at it, reading it over a few times before nodding at his pack mate. "All right, I am ready when you are." He moves his right hand to rest in front of the keypad, while the left hovers near the safe's door, ready to pull it open and grab the book inside.

Duncan says, "No reason to wait around, lets get this done with, one way or the other." He nods an indication to begin, and hurridly (but still precisely) keys in the numbers that should open the safe. Numbers pressed, he grasps the handle and turns it, pulling at the door. "Here's hoping it's an easy eit afterwards."

"Lets go," LaVey says and begins to type as Duncan does. The keys are entered quickly and correctly. Both door handles turn easily and open. The creature grabs his book then immediately shuts the door again. It looks around hurridly, like it was sure they were going to trigger a massive alarm, but nothing of the sort manifests.

Duncan slips the necklace over his head with a light shrug. "Well, it doesn't hurt much to be prepared, regardless of whether or not preperation was needed. Lets depart, shall we?" He starts towards the doorway that is the exit to the lab. "Unless we need something else here? I wouldn't mind seeing the results of the testing they might have done, but that information might be just as easily acquired by your east coast friend since he access to thier systems."

"I do not require anything else. If there are more notes they are likely in the computer database, and I do not believe hacking it right now would be wise. It is likely to be a time consuming process," LaVey says as he moves to head towards the door.

Duncan opens the door for both of them to exit. "I figured as much. Well then. Off we go." They proceed out into the hallway and Duncan leads them back towards where they came in.

LaVey follows hot on his heels, ostensibly for convience, really just to stare at his ass. As they make their way down the hall, three security guards, hands on their pistols, approach them. One holds his free hand out and calls to them, "Stop where you are," he says in a stern voice, "Put down the artifacts and slowly take three steps back. Then turn around, get on your knees and put your hands on the back of your heads." The guns go from simply being palmed to being drawn, although not pointed.

Duncan is ordered to stop and drop his stuff... He looks to LaVey for a moment, then bolts immediately afterwards directly towards the gun-wielding guards, whom of course aim and fire upon him. Setting his shoulder into place in front of him, he slams into the middle guy... with a light 'thud' they connect. A look of comical surprise can be seen on the guard as he slips and falls to the ground. Duncans' intentions are pretty clearly to continue through the gap he has created.

When the pair refuses to give up, the three raise their guns nearly in unison and unleash a barrage of bullets. The first two hit home, staggering Duncan, but only just. LaVey does nothing at first, preferring to wait for Duncan to make his move first. Then the third attempts to fire on the nosferatu. Instead of having a clean shot, the ill-maintained firearm finally gives up with the barrel exploding in a hail of shrapnel. The stunned man stares at his hand for a split second, then begins to scream in horror as he looks upon his hand gushing blood. The thumb and index finger are gone, the middle hanging by a tendon, and the others badly mangled. It only takes a few seconds for him to sink to his knees in shock. By then LaVey is already moving, following Duncan as the other vampire barrels into and past one of the guards.

Duncan keeps running past the guards, and makes it back to the maintenance door where they originally entered. He takes a quick look back, then ducks into the doorway. "Fuck thiiiiis!" He shouts and dives up into the shaft that will take them back up to the surface.

LaVey is hot on Duncan's heels heading through the door. The book is hastily stuffed into it's pants before the things muscles ripple and twitch from the infusion of vitae. It leaps at the rope it came down and begins rapidly climbing, hand over hand. Below it, shouting can be heard and klaxons begin to blare.

Duncan climbs up the rope as well, at first, as time passes his shape changes and he turns into a small, dark creature which has no need of ropes to climb it's way up. A grey and black owl flits up through the opened grate at the top, and into the night sky.

"Fine fucker, make me go through the minefield on my own," LaVey growls as he crawls over the top of the shaft and out into the dark night. Through the air shaft gunshots can be heard and the buzz of nearby bullets rips through the air. With all due hast LaVey cuts the ropes they used to climb out, then starts the tricky maneuver of making it through the minefield. "CALL IN THE CHOPPER!" he yells up at the owl.

Duncan hoots. Numerous times. Perhaps it's trying to speak, perhaps it's laughing. 'Get to da Choppa!!!' in Owl speech might not be the easiest thing to understand, after all. Slipping through the night, the owl disappears into the clouds above the desserts below.

"Goddamit," LaVey says in exasperation after he makes it through the minefield. "I'm going to get you for this." Resigned to walk, the vampire trots off quickly into the desert, lest the sure to follow search parties find him.