Guild War Episode 1 Scene 2

Location
CBSU Library

The main hall of the library is a vast marble-floored, high vaulted room that soars five stories upward. The seal of the University is inlaid in the floor and a breath-taking fresco depicting the history of Colonial Bay adorns the ceiling. Warm lights illuminate the area aided by natural light reflected down from above via a series of shafts. All the trim is in oak and brass and marble, lending an air of antiquity to an otherwise modern building. There is a combination Reference/Information desk to the right of the main entrance. To the left of the entrance are an automated information kiosk and a modest brass plaque.

The main hall is circled by five stories of vaulted rooms that look down into the central area. The ceiling of each room is supported by graceful pillars and contains a research area. Elevators or stairs provide easy access to the upper floors and to the basement level. The basement level contains the University Archives, the staff offices, presentation rooms, and private study rooms. All of the materials available from the library are accessible electronically, so the few remaining print items are stored in the University Archives.

Action
Jade says, "All-I-meant-was-that-with-those-eyes-I-don't-think-anyone-would-notice-a-bit-of-dirt-on-your-person unless-perhaps-you're-a-gardener-or-something-else-at-which-you-could-get-very-messy."

Mortuus says, "My profession does get me messy, so it feels good to be clean.""

Jade grins, "And-still-you're-being-mysterious."

Mortuus says, "I don't intend to be mysterious."

Jade says, "Hm dirt you-work-with-your-hands and-you're-more-secretive-about-your-job-than-that-you-read-books-on-demonology...."

Eva enters the library reading area carrying a stack of books in her hands, the top one being a leather bound bible yellowed with age

Chandrika walks into the library, making her way over to the card catalog. o O (Superpowered Lifeforce Abilities, thats SL and 200-300.) She begins ruffling through the cards. o o (Hope no one took it out.)

Jade smiles, as she makes a guess.

Two men enter the library after Chandrika. They are wearing dark suits, polished black shoes, and have short trimmed hair. Both are wearing dark glasses. Scanning the reading area they focus on Jade and begin a quick but not hurried approach.

Jade thinks. o O (what's this?)

Jade moves nonchalantly to the far side of the table from the two men, making sure she has a line of escape. She examines the two for any hint who they are.

The men stop at the other side of the table. "Jade Ashcroft?" asks the slightly older of the two.

Jade says, "That's-me who-are-you?"

Mortuus moves to the other side of these men, Something about them gave him the creeps. He moved so that he's about seven meters away from them. Book in one hand and staff wrapped up still on his back, but he begins to loosen the rope holding it to his back.

The younger pulls out a document wallet from his inside jacket pocket, "Agent Smith, UEMS. This is Agent Jones. We have a warrant for your arrest."

Chandrika begins slipping away, looking for a ladies room as a convenient place to change. o O (Looks like my research into Mortua is going to be cut short.) She slips into the bathroom and huddles in the stall, checking to make sure no one else is around. She removes her clothing and stuffs it up in the ceiling under the cheap removable tiles so often found in university libraries, and pulls on her mask. Slipping through the ceiling above the cheap removable tiles, she finds an air vent and begins cruising her way through the library to a position above the conversation.

Jade looks carefully at the ID in the instant they flash it, to check if it looks real. "On-what-charge?"

The ID looks legitimate.

Mask off, costume on, Fist is helping at the library, moving boxes of books mostly. Presently she is looking through a teen magazine, mainly out of sight, peering over the side of her reading booth at the accosting that Jade is receiving. Curiosity brings her closer, making herself look visible without actively interfering in whatever it is they're doing. Hearing the words 'under arrest' is always interesting.

The older Agent answers Jade, "The charge is espionage, in particular that you have illegally been researching into prohibited technologies."

Eva is peering over at the confrontation curiously, wondering what is happening.

Jade thinks. o O (Damn. Have I stumbled across some stupid law?)

Jade says, "Prohibited-by-whom? What-technologies?"

Silver Spider peers down at the two agents, studying them for a moment as she tilts her head. o O (Figures. Here I am, up in the vent, and this is, of course, a job for Chandrika Williams, Attorney At Law. Lemme just see if these guys are local crooks before I put my clothes back on.)

The younger Agent tells Jade, "That's not our concern. We're here to serve the warrant and take you into custody. You'll be informed of the specific charges when we arrive at the UEMS office in New York.

Jade says, "Why-the-New-York-office?"

The older Agent answers that, "New York is where the warrant was issued."

Jade thinks. o O (I knew I should have studied some law - but it's so dull and arbitrary, and with so much local variation....)

As she is talking with the agents, Jade motices after a few moments that the younger agent... except when he's talking, his chest isn't moving. He doesn't seem to be breathing.

Jade shrugs. "Well... I-really-don't-know-what-this-is-about.. let-me-get-my-stuff...."

Silver Spider thinks. o O (Hey...which one of those guys is Citadel? Maybe it's one of their guys from the Italian Office...yeah...that's it, someone I met while in Italy keeping Regan out of jail.)

The older agent pulls a bracelet from his right hand side jacket pocket and holds it out to Jade. "Please put this on. Failure to comply will be classed as resisting arrest and we will employ whatever force is needed in such circumstances."

Jade moves to get her backpack. Under cover of putting her books back in she turns on the Omniscanner - making sure the volume is turned down first - to scan the two agents, especially the younger one.

Jade says, "Sure just-a-second...."

Silver Spider thinks. o O (Is she serious? She's resisting arrest on these guys? If they're real Marshals, she's screwed, and I'll have to arrest her.)

Covertly checking the result of the scanning Jade determines the agents are covered by an illusion. She is scanning a pair of battlesuits like the one her unwanted visitor to TransMat wore. The bracelet is a powerful agility suppression device, of alien design and manufacture.

The older agent repeats a little impatiently, "Put the bracelet on now. This is your last warning to comply."

Jade says, "Just-one-thing why-do-you-want-me-to-wear-a-device-to-suppress-my-reflexes-and-what-do-you-look-like-under-those-illusions-and-battlesuits?"

Silver Spider lowers herself down from the ceiling of the library, down behind the two agents, and creates a large wall of webs between Jade and the two agents, tilting her head for a moment. "Sssh..." She says to the impatient agent. "This is a library...no shouting..."

The younger agent lifts his right arm and swings it in an arc across where Jade is stood. A snarling chatter of fully automatic hyper-velocity railgun fire breaks the quiet in the reading room.

Silver Spider puts her finger to her lips as she hangs upside down on her webline, waiting for the other agent to do something.

Fist moves when the first fires out whatever-it-is he just fired, attempting to tackle the other to the ground to prevent him from firing too. She then waits for his next move. Just in case these are really who they say they are and this is all a weird misunderstanding. The guns are a bit suspicious to her though.

The hyper-velocity DU slugs tear through Silver's web-wall like it wasn't there, and blasting down range blow books and bookcases to paper and wooden fragments.

Fist goes sailing past, mistiming when she heard the thundering roar of the big gun making a mess of everything.

Reacting to the attack the older agent follows Fist's movement with a twist of his torso. From the region just about his left shoulder a ball of shiny metal threads shoots out at Fist.

The ball of metal treads narrows misses Fist and wraps around a pillar in a tangled embrace of restriction.

By luck, or by planning, Fist manages to avoid the tangly thing. She is quickly recovering from her miss, which does not often happen to her. It is disorienting...

Mortuus pulls the rope about him, causing the wrappings to fly off, and with a quick spin catches the rubied staff. He twirls it roaring, "Shadows carry me!" He fades into nothingness to reappear behind the enemies about 8 meters away. He reappears with his arm extended at the small of their backs as instructed. "Shadows" His staff's runes glow with a white light, "Smite" his arm begins to have the runes from the staff appear like black tattoos "Thee!" the runs rush to his finger tips and fly towards the small of the younger one's back.

Mortuus pulls his shot to the right, drilling a computer terminal, blasting it to tiny shred. He didn't much care, people just used the blasted thing for games anyways.

Standing in an instant, Fist draws her mask up, moving behind the one who fired on Jade, pausing to assess her options...

Silver Spider sighs and looks at the two armored men, winding up for a punch as she shakes her head. "Do you guys have any idea how much these places cost?" She whispers. "And you should stop firing those guns. People are studying..." Her fist crackles with blue-green energy as she swings towards the larger one, winding up as she arcs through the air. "And don't you understand this is a place for university students and alumni only?" She flips over to right herself midway through her swing, hanging there in mid-pass as her arm drives forward. The thrown punch impacts on something solid, not the jacket of a suit but hard as steel. Harder, as that punch would have bent steel."

Silver Spider winces for a moment. "OW!" She says as she watches the suit rock back and push forward. "You do fight dirty, after all! Playground rules, then?"

Rocked onto his heels, the older agent manages a twisting turn to retain his balance.

Agent Jones, the older of the two, seems to expand and blur as the illusion around him balloons outwards. For an instant people can see a battlesuit in gray armorplast, a weapon system built into the right arm, a set of blades extending from his left wrist, and a turreted projector mounted on his left shoulder. Then the illusion explodes into a flickering blinding glare of lights and deafening sound.

Fist begins moving, headed away from the nuisance effect, as it expands, not sure what it is but certain it is not liable to be helpful.

Outside the radius of the illusion people in the reading room scream and yank earbuds out as powerful radar pulses cause music players to howl like banshees.

Agent Jones turns his attention to the irritation of Silver Spider. The blades on his left wrist swing out in a attempted slash.

Silver Spider thinks. o O (Awp! He can see me..right...? AGGGGH!)

Silver Spider tumbles away from the slash as her costume is cut, and spins backward through the darkness landing on her feet. She focuses her eyes in Agent Jones's direction, her lips moving under the costume. The words, however, are muffled by the noise. o O (Darnit! I can't taunt him!)

Eva has just caught up with the fact something is happening. And now she can see nothing, and has no way to help.

Fist looks around for something she can do. Like grab a firehose or something.

Fist then realizes she should get people out of here and begins ushering the students out who haven't already had the sense to get the hell out of the combat zone.

Eva sees what Fist is doing and goes to help.

Two things occur to Jade as her mind continues analysing even while she frantically dodges and dives out the way of lethal gunfire. First, the agents aren't fighting smart, or coordinated. They should be making her commit and then #2 shreds her. But they aren't doing that. Second, having examined one of these battlesuits, she recalls the hyper-velocity railgun, in this fully automatic mode of firing, will only have ammo for three uses.

Jade rolls to her feet and takes cover again, ready to jump.

Eva continues helping the students evacuate.

Silver Spider swings forward to engage the larger agent again, her soliloquy lost in the shuffle of rumbling and noises. Her hand crackles to life with energy, certain that the darkness can't last forever and will play to her advantage. o O (Surprise, Agent Bob...I got yo number and I'm gonna shove it up yo a**!) She tumbles in a circular arc as she leaps back towards the blade wielding agent, driving a fist for his solar plexus as she lithely sidesteps the blade...

Struck solidly, the battlesuit goes tumbling back slamming into and breaking a table.

The younger agent, still appearing to sight as a man in a dark suit, becomes visible as the illusion shield being generated by the older agent is moved away by Silver Spider.

Sighting the visible threat, Fist breaks away from the ushering that Eve seems to be doing a good job with, rushing to the fallen battlesuiter to grab hold of his Big Gun, swing him in a rapid arc and crash him into the ground, maybe break the weapon in the process even if the armored guy isn't affected much.

Fist moves around to put Agent Smith between herself and the dark place, just in case the other one decides to shoot at her from his point of advantage.

Jade continues to stand ready to jump to save herself.

Agent Smith fires again at Jade, the snarl of hyper-velocity fire winding down after a short burst.

In her grip Fist feels the hardness of a battlesuit rather than flesh and blood as she unbalances the younger agent, but the agent goes down as he fires, the DU slugs punching dozens of holes into the ceiling shattering light fixtures and bring down a cloud of tile dust.

Agent Jones straightens up from being entangled in the remains of the table and from the turreted weapon system mounted on his left shoulder a projectile shoots at to impact and break at where her feet are, releasing a cloud of toxic gas.

Silver Spider slumps as the gas takes her into unconsciousness. o O (Whffnt...) She thuds to the ground, unconscious, choking in the greasy cloud.

Eva can see one of the agents. She stares at him, failing to catch his eye she simply tries for disrupting his mental processes.

Agent Smith, already on the floor thanks to Fist, shudders and the goes still. A moment later the illusion around him vanishes and the battlesuit is visible, a battlesuit that is rapidly growing hotter.

With no clue as to what might cause a sudden heat increase, Fist heads for the fallen Spider to get her out of the fight zone, also stopping by Jade to bring her too, through the front lobby, ducking behind a pillar for cover on the way.

Fist gets the unmoving spider and the ambulatory Jade behind hard cover, quickly working out her next move. Staying here is certainly not it.

Jade repeats, in case it wasn't heard earlier, "Their power supply is at the small of their backs!" And again she just stands ready for an assault by Jones.

Agent Smith continues heating up, to cherry red, ornage, yellow, an incandescent blue-white. Then all that remains is a smoking charred hole in the floor.

Silver Spider thinks. o O (Mnnh...hope he was a robot. Really...really hope he was a robot...)

Agent Jones starts after Jade. Unable to get to a position to open fire immediately the battlesuit swivels at the hips to bring the railgun to bear on Eva.

Eva is shredded, the heavy DU slugs punching out her back as she's hit by a dozen or more that go right through her and hurl her broken body across the room.

With the two out of the fighting field, Fist heads back in to better run interference.

Silver Spider murmurs under her breath. "Gotta...get up...everyone's gonna die...small of back...right..." She coughs a little bit. "Doesn't feel...like anything's broken. God...I hate gas attacks..."

Jade says, "Spider - the small of the back is where to go for..."

Jade agrees with Silver Spider's sentiment. She steps out from behind cover to make herself a target - ready to dive back behind it when the blast comes.

Silver Spider flips up to her feet, her costume tattered and slashed from the blades as she lets out a hacking cough. She extends a webline up to the ceiling and swings high up over Agent Jones, tumbling in a graceful pirouette behind him as she settles behind him, upside down, and punches him in the small of the back as hard as she can. The crackling fist lights up with energy as she drives it home. "Ride 'em, Botboy!" o O (Please let this work, Mama didn't raise no dumbasses...)

The weak spot at the back of the battlesuit buckles from the impact of Silver Spider's blow, the panel over the power unit cracking.. but not quite breaking.

Agent Jones stays on his feet and moves closer and to the side to get a clear shot past the cover at Jade. The railgun spits out a stream of hyper-velocity DU slugs in a cone.

Jade once again avoids the spray of slugs - and moves in on Agent Jones!

Fist heads for Eva's bleeding body, crouching to apply healing.

Jade charges Agent Jones and gives her best kick to the small of his back!

Already cracked across by Silver Spider's blow, the relatively weak panel over the power unit breaks and sharp edges bite into the delicate systems beneath it. What was a awesome killing machine becomes half a ton of inert armorplast toppling over with a solid sounding thud.

Jade draws a deep, *deep* breath.

Fist moves on to tend to Spider's injury next, figuring one might happen after she took a hit from the nasty gun.

Eva stops leaking thanks to Fist's healing.

Silver Spider appears to be uninjured under the costume. "Whoa..." She mutters as she shakes her head. "I shouldn't have landed on my face...' She rubs her head for a moment. "Who were these guys?" She stands up for a moment. "I think...I'm gonna get out of here..." o O (Leave through hole. Come back, go to bathroom, get clothes. Hope nobody notices.)

Jade says to Spider, "Offically? Probably someome mind controlled by person or persons unknown. But really....."

Victor arrives after the battle, Ray gun in hand and looking around panicked hoping he can help. He sees the scraped robot and slides the gun back into his coat. He moves over to the group, "Izen anyvone hurt?"

Jade says, "Agents of the Guild. They want to shut me up."

Silver Spider turns to Jade for a moment. "The Guild builds cheap robots with battery supplies that are easily accessible?" Her eyeslits blink. "Remind me why these aliens think they're superior again?" She extends a webline towards the nearest hole. "Got a hot date..." She says. "With roses and candy.

The silent girl heads back to Eva, to resume healing her.

Jade says, "Eva - she was hurt...."

Victor nods slowly watching the quiet girl heal their wounds, "Most impressive"

Victor hums to himself and nods, "Vell...everyzing iz taken care of Ja?"

Victor kneels down and asks Eva if he can check her vitals and more to ensure she doesn't have any unseen injuries. Eva, however, is deeply unconscious and likely to remain that way for a while.

Jade kneels down to start trying to get this armour off. She checks for the presumed mind control wire.

Just as she expected, the mind control wire is plugged into the back of Agent Jones’ skull.

Victor stands after a few moments and nods, "Zhe vill be fine, but zhe needs to be taken care of...zi can get her to a hospital right after zi load up zhis robot ifen no vone else minds of course"

Jade again tries to track down who this guy is, and checks out the tech. She also intends to study how to jam this tech if it comes up again.

Victor moves over to Jade now, looking over the battlesuit, "Vhat exactly are ve looking at?"

Jade says, "A lot of terrestrial meta-tech. Nothing-that-can-be-traced-to-the-Guild. But-I-know-it's-them."

Jade says, "And-it-looks-like-they-may-have-infiltrated-the-earth-marshals not-good."

Victor nods slowly to Jade, "Ja, zi see...vell perhapzen ve can take zhey man to zhey police and zhey robot zome place zafe?"

Jade says, "I-don't-know-where's-safe last-time-I-called-the-marshalls-and-Starguard-and-that-was-a-mistake."

Victor nods and dismisses that idea with a wave, "Zhey are not zafe"

Jade says, "Exactly. I-think-I-should-avoid-my-place-too.""

Victor nods slowly, "Ve can take zit to zhey Blitzen!"

Victor says, "Or mich chateau"

Victor says, "Perhapzen vhey don't even know..."

Jade says, "Could we use your castle? It would really be a help....""

Victor grins widely, "Ja! ...ca...stle....nin chateau." He smirks and shakes his head, "Ja, ve can use it."

Jade says, "Thanks... say... I don't suppose I could stay there, too? Till I find out who's after me exactly...."

Victor nods smiling, "Of course! Zi vill have zhey servants prepare zhe guest rooms"

Victor says, "Come, letz take Eva to zhey hospital and zhen back to zhey castle."