goddamngrenades | RP Open Post

Bit of both, before I stepped away from field work. One too many close calls, all that.

[ True and reasonable enough as he follows her along, the vague sense of deja vu hitting him with every step. The way the armor moves is familiar but- it's just wishful thinking. Carolina's dead. This is just another self assured, competent, confidant woman doing her job. That's all.

The cube gives him time to look over the facility, to consider the path of least resistance. He reaches out a gloved hand, drawing a line from one of the red dots through the yellow squares and out again at an opposite location. More time IN the base, sure, but a straight shot would be quick and dirty instead of doubling back after they get what they need. ]

Here through here. Much as I'd like to secure an exit, as spread out as the possible locations are? Better to power through. I trust your eye in the sky can keep us abreast of any relevant changes?

He won't like it, but he can, and will.

[Her tone is easy, as if such objections were part of every day life. And they were, to some extent. Church-Epsilon worries about her, even as he holds the place of Carolina's Foremost Cheerleader.

That he's ex-military backs her suspicions. Makes his reason for wanting motive a little more plain. She knows all too well the tale of one too many close calls, of those who didn't survive them.. She won't let him die. Won't let anything happen to him, not while she's in the position and has the power to do so.]

If that's the path you want, then we'll need to make our way down here. [They only get one shot at this. She doesn't feel a need to remind him of this fact.] I'll take care of the sentries here, and here. Then signal when it's safe to get started.

Good enough for me.

[ He considers the path one more time, locking it into his memory. One shot. Cold run. No idea what kind of locks they got but it's probably not biometric. He's got his bump keys with him, his backlog of encryption crackers, and years of experience.

He's got this. No alarms are gonna get tripped. ]

After you.

[ There's an almost cheerful salute given in acknowledgement of his confirmation, middle and index held straight and jauntily tipped to the right. Then, she's off, barely checking her gait as she approaches the facility.

She's walks the walls, knows there's no electrical fencing here. It's remote enough in a region neglected due to the war, but in many ways, taking that for granted is a sure way to walk into a trap. The first patrol, a single guy, is easily taken care of; disabled and bound up, his radio disconnected - he can hear but he can't reply.

The second is a little more tricky. Patience is the key, even if there's a little bit more of a struggle; this one's stronger than he looks. Nonetheless, he's subdued in time, and there's a signal given for 'Humphrey' to join her. Go go go!]

[ Again that fucking wave of Deja Vu is almost blinding and- if D were here he could get him to analyze that walk. That salute. That everything. But D's gone, been gone for a long, long while and it's just him in his tired bones. He sighs and stretches, popping old joints, warming up for the first run. He's got this. Locks look simple enough from a distance- but then they always do.

Blue takes care of things and signals him to make his way down- and he all but surfs his way down the hill, rolling to a crouch behind cover as soon as he's at the base. Sure they're clear but- habits.

It's a jog to the door and he brings up the lock and- ]

Oh my.

[ His hands hover over the interface for a second before he starts laughing. ]

[ She's checking the corridors, listening to Epsilon's easy patter about the paths being taken and--That laugh.

It makes her stomach bottom out, and something twists almost too painfully at how familiar that sound is. She hasn't heard it's like in far, far too long, and the only one who laughs like that is dead. Gone.

It can't be.

She's all but skidding to a halt at the corner of his range of vision, she's returning that quickly, and her tone is clipped, keeping her shock, keeping her concern at bay: ]

What? What's going on?

These- these- [ Dubmasses, he wants to say, but Humphry doesn't say dumbasses, no. What would Reggie say? ] imbeciles are using second hand security tech. I've already CRACKED this lock!

[ He doesn't even need a bump key. He just reaches in and tweaks one of the floating lights and the whole thing unravels like yarn, fragmenting out into floral, fractal shards before tumbling into nothing as the door slides open. Sure, the backdoor like that, the little nodule of a crack he would leave for himself is something of a signature- every locksmith had one and unraveling fractal sweater flower was something he'd built with Delta but- no one here knows that. Only a bare handful ever saw it. ]

This is going to be so much easier than I'd thought.

Don't get cocky.

[A little sharper than she intended, but there's something in the shift of her pose, the swing of her hips as weight shifts from one leg to the other, that inform that there's no anger. There's tension, yes, alert and anxious and aware of their surroundings, and there's the faintest inhale at the spiral of holo-light.

Not now. Not here. There's nothing funny here, at this likeness, but confronting him on it will have to wait until they're done. You don't steal the signatures of others..

(And the alternative is something she can't think about right now.)]

Time?

Of course, of course. I hadn't expected them to be that foolish, that's all.

[ He even goes so far as to double check the internal security systems- alarms and all that and- yes. It's lifted wholesale from a job he ran years ago. Oh this'll be cake. Another little bloop and the cameras should be on a loop for the next half hour. More than enough time for them to get in and out. ]

Alarms have been handled, Lady Blue. And I must say we are ahead of schedule [ God saying it like that makes him feel like an ASS. ] by a good ninety seconds.

[Alarms have been handled. She can't help but feel a chill down her spine anyway. Is it too easy? Did someone intend to lure her, lure someone, ANYone else here with the code as bait. Oh, she believes the locksmith when he says they're ahead.

Is he part of this? Is he included in the setup?]

Let's move. Don't have much time to spare, and we'll need it all for locating that code.

About that- is it on a drive or in a server or do we not know? [ That would narrow down the search by plenty- but for now he focuses on letting her have point and following along behind. ]

The first location is the most likely if it's on a drive but if it's in a server- the second to last considering the set up. If we had a view of the power grid and what rooms take up how much on average we would have a better chance of narrowing it down.

[ Times he misses Delta- all of them. But right now especially. ]

[ She's quiet a moment, then:] What Intel we have indicates server. Once we locate it, I have a drive to transfer it to.

[and whatever else might be included in that jumble of data can come right along with it.]

Not enough time to bring up the kind of grid data you're talking about, but once we're in there, if you can open a port, my partner can try jacking in, see what he can provide us from the outside in.

Edited 2015-08-20 02:29 (UTC)

Eye in the sky's a hacker? Nice. Do I get a name for him or is it just Lady Blue and her invisible friend?

[ Chatter on the comms, Carolina would be bitching him out for it but- they're walking along inside, schedule's tight but they have a little wiggle room and things are working FINE. He can't not chatter. ]

First yellow room should have a port. Two birds, one stone.

If you decide you're in for part two, he'll decide on that. [so, for now, invisible nameless friend it is.] And just Blue. I'm no lady.

[Miss Grumpy Britches on a not-so-good day.

She leads, letting the patter continue. After time spent with the Reds and blues, a little background 'noise' is comforting. Or would be, if she didn't now have her own concerns about the company she's keeping.]

...Patrol has cleared here. If we're going to act, we need to move, now!

Depends on how this ends. If we don't get shot at? I'm in.

[ His standards are pretty damn low, but the start is good. Just gotta finish this up nice and tidy, and Blue seems the sort to finish things up clean and painless.

Well.

Painless for them.

Patrol's clear and he's heading for the next segment of the compound, not needing a reminder, barely needing the marker on his Hud that he set as soon as she showed him the map. In and to the next locked door and- same encryption. Same back end. Same unspooling fractal flower. ]

As long as you don't trigger an alarm, we shouldn't have any problems with that.

[ she maintains a short distance between them as they move from location to location, guarding his back as he starts jiggling the next lock of god knows how many they may be facing today. Yet that same fractal pattern appears, and in spite of herself, she has to ask:]

...Where did you learn to do that?

Leaving a way back in after you crack a lock is prudent- and tradition. Keeping physical keys worked well in the past- bump key encpryptions are similar but things like this? Make a job so much easier if you know you'll be working the same building more than once. You set it up when you do recon, then when the actual job comes? You save that much more time and pain.

[ He does the same check for the alarm and security system, and it's still handled. Good. ]

The basic encryption I learned when I was a lad. The rest- came from an old partner.

[ She goes still as she listens to his explanation, attention fixed on her HUD, on the data from Epsilon, on what he's saying and the cadence of how he's saying it - in spite of that accent, there's something to the lit, the choice of words (occasionally thrown by his substitution of other ones) that leave her baffled. It's the worst kind of déjà vu.

An old partner.

Could he have stolen this from York?]

...we're in. [no comment? No comment - for now.] Take the left, I'll handle the right. Work in from there.

As you say, mate.

[ He flicks off a salute and flips to the left, keeping to the established route he planned out while showing her the best entry and exit points He taps himself into her comm, though, so they can keep in touch. ]

Location one's a bust, but I did find a port. What do I need to do for your invisible friend?

No go on this side. [thus far anyway]

[ If there's a reluctance to connect, it doesn't show; it's necessary for their work here and allows Carolina to send a packet of data from Epsilon covering the port configuration details.]

If you see anything to add for security, do it, but make it quick. I'm starting on the next bank now.

Noted!

[ It's a pretty quick config, an added buffer and level of encryption that he tacks on just to be safe. Secure the line, keep things tidy for their eyes in the sky. ]

Moving on to the next point.

[ This room's a bust- but the next one might be more useful. A life feed of where the power's pooled and accessed regularly will help but that'll take anyone some time. He needs to get moving now. ]

[ He's thorough. That gets a compliment from Epsilon, even as he throws himself into the thick of things, keeping his own intrusion wrapped up and hidden from view. Carolina doesn't pass that along, not yet. They still have work to do, though as they move through data bank after data bank, she cant help but feel some frustration mounting.

Fortunately, Epsilon's learned, or rather, remembers from the best about wrangling networks to do what he wants. 'Some time' really isn't, faster than a human can manage, anyway, and the power grid map is shared within minutes to both human operatives. ]

..Looks like the largest power sink in this location is over in your room. I'm making my way to your location now. [A pause; Epsilon is chatty today!] My partner thinks he can provide a distraction, cause a power outage in another sector of the base. That work for you?

That quick?

[ Bullshit. No human hacker could get into a system THAT quick even with a landline unless they already knew the system, already gamed the system, or had...enhancements. Most of those were illegal and swept up by the UNSC after the war but blackmarket is blackmarket and-

Yeah. Gonna check Blue's helmet for a port when this is done. ]

Well done, old chap. [ York is a paranoid shit. Humphrey is simply impressed. ] That'll be splendid! Keep the nest confused while we make away with the prize.

Helps to have friends in far places.

[And high, though in Epsilon's case, that's a matter of distance. Not rank. As it is, that too-cheerful response leaves her wary. Someone in his position should be much more questioning, given the history he's alluded to... Later, later, Carolina.

She's already on the move towards his location, giving the AI the okay to mess with the power grid. No one's going to notice their shenanigans while the focus is elsewhere.]

Let me know when you're in.

Give me two shakes, Blue, this Lock's a fresh one. Seems they aren't complete imbeciles.

[ Encrypted instead of holographic and it's harder, he misses D like a limb but he's got his bump keys, he's got his decryption algorithms, and he's got someone waiting on him to get this done and get it done right. He runs through the options in his head twice, three times to be sure he won't set anything off before sliding things into place.

Ten, fifteen seconds later and he's in, door open and free for Blue. ]

I'm in.

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