It's (Still) Honestly A Terrible Plan.

[goneawaymod]

Who: Saturday, Gambit, York, North, Shelly, Brainy
What: A daring infiltration of the executive deck
Where: Exec deck
When: Simultaneous with the riot
Warnings/Notes: None so far.

Saturday watches from the edges of the riot, making a great show of moving furniture and snatching bystanders away from the rolling ball of chaos, until South slips by and murmurs something in her ear.

Then she begins to move, touching a shoulder here, giving a significant look there.  Time to go.  One by one, everyone can slowly depart.  Secrecy is essential; even Jorgmund can add up riot and murder and break-in and get “kill them before they kill you.”  

They can all meet Saturday at the appointed place.  It’s a less-used service entrance to the upper deck, which some may not have even known existed.  She stands with her hands in her pockets, wound tight as a sprinter before the starting pistol.

“Okay,” she says quietly, once they’re all there.  In an earpiece cobbled together by Alia, a New Hire now gone, she says, “Brainy, you ready?  Good.” She looks at the others. “Right.  So.  You all know the plan, an’ the stakes.  Go in, grab as much as you can, get out.  No unnecessary risks, no heroics.  Brainy’s our eye in the sky; once the door opens, we scatter.  He’ll be the only one with the full picture.”

“We’ve got a private channel, but keep it quiet.  No chatter.  If you cut comms, it means you’re burned an’ the op is over.  We will try to get you out.  It might not be possible.  If Jorg realizes what we did, we’re all fucked.  If that’s too much heat, go back.  I won’t judge anyone for it.”

And she means it, too.  Risking their lives in battle is one thing; risking torture and god knows what else at the hands of an enemy like Jorgmund is quite another.  They’ve all heard a variation on this speech from her before, of course, when she approached them with the final plan.  But she seems to need to make sure she says it again, one last time.

“Okay.  Right.”  Saturday turns to the door.  Her hands are too disciplined to shake as she draws out the keycard, but she can taste her heartbeat on the back of her tongue.  It’s always like this before a run, or a fight, in the moment when the ground starts to shift and anything becomes possible - provided you don’t fall.

It makes her feel a little guilty, how much she loves it.

The alarm panel blinks a challenge, and South steps forward.  Planker’s voice emerges from her mouth, speaking the code-phrase stolen from his mind by Stacia and Kerrigan.  The lock processes, taking almost too long.

But the door opens, revealing a branching hallway lined with doors.  Time for everyone to get into their groups, and set off…

Comments

[drladysounds]

"A-okay!"

Not the most professional response, but Shelley sounds in high spirits even when she whispers. Doesn't sound like Team Two is in the middle of an emergency.

"We already got some data of unknown value at the cost of one concussion to a defenseless tech worker and we're about to look for more stuff. Over?"

All in all, it's clear: things are going relatively well with the other team. That they already left signs someone had been there isn't too great, but it was unavoidable.

[kingofneworleans]

Remy pauses, then looks to the sky and mutters something...very off color under his breath. But since neither South nor Shelley probably speak French, his cursing is probably not going to be called out. "We got a few t'ings on dis end as well. Pro'ly head out here soon."

He reaches for the sticky notes, writing down a quick update for South. Because it's enough to make his own head hurt.

[ownperson]

South reads the note and barely bites back a groan; well, an unconscious techie is a sure sign something's amiss. Which is a pain, but if there's already evidence people have been poking around...

'if they can get out of there w what they have, i'm okay w risking the comp - if ur down with maybe being stuck in the roof or can bail fast if it goes south'

It's a risk she's willing to take, if it's not going to be what busts the entire operation, but everyone else has to be able to get the fuck outta dodge one way or another.

[kingofneworleans]

'Been stuck in worse places before.' Which is Remy's way of saying that he's all for being stuck in the roof if it's needed. And it might well be, considering this woman was apparently the absolute worst when it comes to computer safety.

Then again, the password might well be very safe at the moment.

He tucks the little black book and the file of pictures into the inner part of his jumpsuit, so that they couldn't get lost. Then added 'Blackmail material' to the sticky note so that South knows why he's taking it.

[ownperson]

She nods and then once again remembers he can't see her, but whatever, she gets it. Blackmail material's good. At least they've found something, on their end, even if there's no guarantee they can get any more.

'when up there, tell others to get the fuck out of there asap. if they can't, or think this is dumb, lmk on the earpiece, and we'll bail'

Teamwork, yadda yadda. She can at least try a couple passwords, then if no one's against it, she'll keep trying until it works or it locks her out. But if the others don't have an easy out, or they call bullshit on trying, then she can stop after a couple. But dammit, she wants to at least try make this as worth their while as possible.

[kingofneworleans]

Remy nods, looking around for a moment before rolling to his feet. He wipes down the filing cabinet before closing it. Then he uses the lockpicks to relock the cabinet before putting them away and half standing to slink back over to the vent he'd come out of.

It only takes another couple of seconds for him to get himself up into the vent, settling as easily as he can, ready for the long haul if necessary, before reaching up to thumb the comm on. "Team Two, dis is Team One. You ready to bug out yet? We're gettin' ready to try some passwords an' it could get ugly real fast if we pick wrong here."

[infailtration]

York glances to Shelley and gets a nod, then replies.

"We can bug out whenever, and we found something good. Just covering our tracks."

[ownperson]

Alright, that's good enough for her. Remy's secure in the ceiling out of sight, the other two can get out—knowing York's power, she's got no reason to doubt that, either. So, here goes nothing.

She doesn't rush it. She tries to start with logical choices, with the passwords on sticky notes least buried under other sticky notes (indicating maybe they're newest), or closest to the screen (most relevant?), though the sheer disorganisation and number of them doesn't give her much hope it'll be so easy.

[goneawaymod]

She tries one after another, until a warning blinks up, telling her that it's her second to last attempt. An odd thing - but maybe IT got tired of the lady triggering security checks. Nothing's worked. A quick glance around the desk shows nothing else of particular use, not even a discarded cup to lift DNA.

[ownperson]

She debates for a good ten, fifteen seconds on taking the risk. The others have their way out, Remy's hidden, she can bullshit Jorg easily... but getting caught would erase any doubt that they'd broken in, and Jorg might try and get her to spill the names of those involved. If they did? She wouldn't have a good reason not to, not if she wanted to keep her cover.

So, begrudgingly, she takes her hands off the keyboard and steps back.

Still not wanting to risk talking, she instead turns off the monitor and hopes Remy can see that and takes it as the cue it is: we're done here.

[kingofneworleans]

"Guessin' dat means you're done." Still low and said into the mic. Yes, the other group will hear it, but that's fine. "Same as before, mon ami. Nice an' easy."

It's just reversing things, really. Turn around and head back to where they'd started. From there, it's just a bug out.

After, maybe, checking that utility closet. Surely South could check that quick and be back in less than a minute.

[ownperson]

South's as careful on the way out as she was on the way in, and it's an effort not to breathe a loud sigh of relief when they're back out of that damn office.

Alright, they need to get that stupid grate back up to cover their entry and exit, but besides that... yeah, a minute's enough time to scope out the utility closest, she'd figure. And after that, it running out doesn't matter; they're almost home free.

[kingofneworleans]

Getting the grate cover back on is going to take some doing. Luckily, Remy is good at what he does. So putting the grate back into place takes time, but not enough to really be a problem.

Eventually, he's able to make his way down, grate in place and screwed back in. "No trouble gettin' in an' out of de offices, but de hallways?" He shakes his head at that.

[ownperson]

Now they're out, she's less worried about speaking disrupting the effect, so she says, voice obviously hushed, "If we wanna cover all our bases, I'll check the utility shit, but then we're outta here. Hopefully the others weren't exaggerating when they said they had something good."

The blackmail material's good shit, but fuck if she doesn't wish they'd got something off the computer. She just couldn't risk throwing the others under the bus.

(Man, if her past self wouldn't have scoffed at that concern.)

And she will check it; she didn't want to fuck off and do it whilst Remy was still attaching the cover, in case the damn thing fell or something, but there's no need to keep him in range for this, either.

There's nothing much to find; she takes note of what looks like it might be another route into the deck, but that's about it. She's back with Remy within the minute, and elects to just switch the damn imperceptibility off now. It's a pain in the ass when someone can't see you.

"Looked like there was another way in, but besides that, nothing of interest."

[kingofneworleans]

"Good t'ing to take note of, but pro'ly ain't too useful right now." And take note, Remy does. Because when it comes to things like traversing the vents, it's probably going to be him or one of the other experienced B&E folks doing it.

He nods, brushing his trousers off. "Best to be gettin' outta here. 'Fore somebody finds us."

He means 'finds me', because South's powers would probably keep her out of trouble. And he's good at talking, but he'd rather not risk it. "'Least we got somethin' interestin' outta dis."

[ownperson]

"I'm real fuckin' curious about what the other two found, honestly; guess we'll see. But yeah, let's get outta here, no need to fuckin' tempt fate. Coffee guy could come back for another monstrosity any moment."

And she's never quite sure how long after the imperceptibility's turned off that she can activate it again, so. Really no need to push their luck.

Back the way they came. Easy.