Log:Shoots and Ladders at Imptech

2013/05/03 	 Queen Bee Ghost Perfect Ten 1

Champions Mush - Friday, May 03, 2013, 2:09 PM

A large complex that covers a fair expanse of well-tended lawns and security fences, the Industrial Park is home to several corporate office buildings, power facilities, and factories. A maze of paved roads leads past several security checkpoints around the parking lots and plazas facing these large buildings. Streetlights line these roads, as do placards, kiosks, and signs pointing directions to the assorted edifices. The general atmosphere of the place is quiet, controlled, and rather upscale: heavy industry isn't welcome here.

An alert had flashed up on HeroNet (and other channels): Robbery in progress at the Imperial Technologies technology incubator building in the Industrial Park. Two metas, one armed. They had overridden the building security, locking out the police.

Ten heads to the industrial park as soon as she gets into costume, using her powered swinging to cross town at speed.

Ten 

''This young woman is like something out of an adolescent fantasy, from her curvaceous figure to her lips that seem designed to kissing, to her amazing blue, inviting eyes, to her cascade of blonde hair, to her voice, whose alluring tone seems to say so much more than her words. And she carries herself to show this package off to best effect, too, standing with her hips cocked and her chest out, or slinking as she walks, though this all seems natural, guileless. ''

''Her identity is concealed by a blue mask about her eyes, which nonetheless leaves her mouth and hair visible. Below the neck and above the legs, hands and arms included, her skin-tight costume appears to be a single piece of pure white, but for a proud blue '10' on her chest. Her boots too are blue, reaching just short of her knees. ''

''In her hand, or, when not in use, coiled about her, is a curious silver-coloured segmented weapon like a flexible staff in small sections held together by fields of force, faintly glowing blue. The individual segments are roughly cylindrical, yet the surfaces are not smooth, but rather shaped for a variety of functions. ''

Ghost was already on site, at least she was in the Industrial Park, having gone to try and secure a source for hardened electronics for the embassy communications which she could try the enchantment on. When the alarm is raised she starts making her way to the building where the break-in is occurring.

Ghost

''On a first casual glance Ghost looks like a scrawny undernourished girl of about fourteen years. She's dressed in typical Harrisburg fashion, a black fake-leather duster style long-coat, black leg-hugging jeans held up by a wide golden colored belt, sleeveless heavy metal band tee-shirt, with long metallic silver dyed hair pulled back in a pony-tail. ''

''Did you spot the sword hilt at her left hip, mostly concealed by the long-coat? How about the mysterious flat dark grey parallelogram shape adhering to the back of her right hand. It has the look of a weapon but not one common to Earth. ''

''Then look into her eyes. Eyes with an oriental slant that are an icy blue and as cold as space. Notice the ears, too, no larger than human but pointed like a cat's and mobile, twitching to zone in on whatever sound occurs nearby. The face is thin, her chin narrow, lips hardly existent. ''

Bee teleports onto a rooftop, hoping to avoid her bad history of running into things by picking a less populated target location.

Queen Bee

''There is something striking about this woman, something different than just tan skin and an hourglass figure. ''

''Her mask is a cowl that covers her face to just below her nose and all of her hair and her neck, but leaves her dark persimmon lipstick and determined jaw in view. Depending on how the light hits it, the cowl is either honey yellow or black. Her sleeveless top is made from the same material and has a low neckline, exposing a black bee tattoo on her sternum. Her pants are loose and baggy, have a yellow and black camouflage pattern, and tuck into her knee-high boots. Her belt is festooned with pouches. Her arms are bare except for durable opera-length gauntlets that match the material of her boots. Her voice is a melodic alto with a distict metallic buzz. ''

''Only then do most people notice what is unusual about her build: hourglass shaped despite being thin. She isn't artificially busty: her waist is round instead of oval. It is the same width front-to-back as it is side-to-side. However, she doesn't move like she is wearing a corset.''

Several police officers are on the scene, taking partial cover behind their cruisers. The ImpTech building is low and squat, a brick facade with heavy composite shutters covering all the entrances, windows, and vents.

Ten hurls herself toward the police then tugs herself to a sudden stop, seeking more information. "What's going on?"

Bee fires a grapple line and swings down to join Ten.

Ghost makes her way to the highest density of police and arrives just in time to hear Ten's question. Since that was exactly what she was about to ask she just listens.

Officer Sharma, a woman of Indian descent shrugs, "Beats me heroes. Couple of yahoos in costume got everythin' locked down like a 'dillo in front of a semi. Guess they're not totes crazy, seein' as they got the skills to hack ImpTech's secsystem. We're waitin' for either y'all to show up, or the SCRAMBLE team to get their armored asses out of bed and get down here with their breechin' charges so we can get in."

Ten says, "What does ImpTech do in there, any idea?"

Bee looks to the building and almost mutters, her voice a metallic buzz, "I can get in, but I hate teleporting blind and that won't get you both in."

Ghost pulls out her PDA and google searches the company name.

Officer Sharm shrugs again, "Don't know really. We got a call in to ImpTech HQ to see if there's any hazards we got to look for, and another into City records to see what permits they got, but they're both bein' molasses asses." She motions toward the main door, where a biohazard symbols visible, "Somethin' bio I reckon."

Ten nods. "Yeah, just great." She looks to the other heroes. "Anyone any good at getting past security systems or do we do this the hard way?"

Queen Bee says, "This is a R&D, light prottyping center, for Bioneural interfaces and viral nanomodifiers"

Ghost says, "If I was inside I could shut down the security. But that leaves the getting inside problem. Guess it's the hard way, if by hard way you mean blasting a way through."

Officer Sharma looks blankly at Bee, "Ya don't say."

Queen Bee says, "I study. Allot."

Officer Sharma nods to Ghost, "Well, do what ya think is best. I'm sure ImpTech can afford any damage y'all can do."

Ten nods to Ghost. "That's what I mean." She studies the building, trying to judge where it looks easiest to punch a hole.

Ghost settles down with her back to a police patrol car, "I'll go see where they are and how many. We know of two but that doesn't mean there's that many in there. Back in a few moments.

Ghost goes astral and scouts out the building, looking for intruders.

[To Ten] Bee says, ""I'm not sure we are going to like what we see in there. ImpTech doesn't have the nicest reputation."

Ten frowns. "What is their reputation"

Bee ignores the question for the moment as she studies the building. Instead, she points and says, "I have no idea what it is like structurally, but the building appears to have its own power source. We can't simply cut the power from out here."

Ghost opens her eyes after her astral form returns to her physical body. "Bad news. Something has knocked out the employees. Possibly gas or a neutral inhibitor. We've got roof mounted turrets covering the corridors. The intruders are in a chamber below the building, shut off by a heavy steel bulkhead. One of them is hacking into the computer."

Ten says to Ghost, "Damn. Any idea where to blast our way in - if we even can?"

Bee slips on her energy knuckles and heads toward the building. "Okay. Brute force then."

Ghost says, "Bypassing the heavy steel bulkhead would be a good start. Can either of you create a tunnel?"

Ten says, "Afraid not. Those shutters look tough. I'm going to see if the walls are any softer...."

Ten snaps out her staff and yanks herself straight at one of the walls.

Ten cracks the wall but doesn't put a hole in it - at least at first try. "Ow. Ok, it's hard..."

Ghost says, "So are you."

Ghost waits for Ten to open a way. She's not got any way to effectively help with that.

Bee cocks back and haymakers the wall at the same place Ten hit. She frowns at the result of her own punch and says to Ghost, "How exact can you be in describing exactly where I would need to teleport to? I could take one of you as a passenger."

Ten waits till it stops hurting then repeats that until the wall goes down.

[To Bee] Ten says, "Now you tell me."

Between the two heroines, the wall crumbles in less than a minute. Antispectic smelling air drifts out, but it doesn't seem immediately toxic.

Ghost answers Bee, "Not very. Astral space and this reality have hugely differing spacial metrics."

The ceiling mounted pop-down electroshock gun turrent in the hall the hole leads to fires on Ten.

Ghost brings her hand up pointing the Spetdod on the back of it at the turret. Selecting a Penetrator needle she fires.

Ten says to no one in particular. "Yeah, like that was going to hurt in comparison to throwing myself through the wall.

There's a whufff of propellent gas as Ghost fires, and then a high pitched rising howl as a microscopic truster drive accelerates the needle to hyper-sonic velocity. Then a bang! The turrent is blown away in a shower of sparks.

Bee reaches for an exploding boomerang but pauses as Ghost proves to be faster.

Ten says to Ghost, as she rests briefly again. "Which way now?"

Queen Bee says, "Know where we should expect more of those?"

Ten says, "I should go first. I suspect I can hurt them more than they can hurt me!"

Bee holds up her boomerang. "Just don't get too far ahead," she says to Ten. "I can throw these around corners."

Ghost nods to Ten and Bee, and leads them towards the central elevator by a route that avoids as many of the turrets as possible.

Ten says, "Neat trick," to Bee, and takes point, ready to lash out with her staff as soon as she sees a turret.

Bee nods, "I'm full of them."

Ghost warns the others in advance each time the group reaches another of the turrets.

The three heroines make short of each turret in turn; Ten taking the shot, and Bee or Ghost disabling the turret. In a few minutes they reach the central shaft. The elevator is currently locked in position above this floor, in its service location. The elevator doors are closed.

Bee checks to see if she can pull the shaft doors open.

Ghost says, "Okay, I'm on this. Keep the toxics off my back."

Ghost tries to run a by-pass to get the elevator functional and retract the bulkhead.

Ten nods to Ghost. "Ok." She stands guard.

There's a shield over the controls, but one of you can smash it off. The display above the keypad is blinking. 'Security Level: Omega Black. Enter authorized genetic code.'"

Bee looks around for an unconscious employee.

Bee asks Ghost as she picks up the employee effortlessly. "Retina or blood?"

Ghost shrugs, "There's often a flaw in this type of setup. They use genetic or bio-metric identification. Thinking it's secure. But they forget that the output of the sensor package is a electronic or optical signal. You can usually just remove the sensor and input the required signal directly.

Bee sighs and looks at the security console for herself. Thrusting the employees finger in the hole, she says, "Don't over-complicate things."

Ghost looks up from the panel to see what Bee is doing. "That... is cheating." she says with a grin.

The panel blinks 'Analyzing'. Then, in red, "Access Denied: Insufficient Access level under Omega Black'

Ten says, "Great. Anyone high-ranking about?"

Queen Bee says, "We can try everyone here, but I'm worried about time."

Ghost plugs herself into the security system's diagnostic port. "Do it again." she asks Bee.

Bee sees a other few unconscious people around, most wearing lab coats. One woman in a tailored suit.

Bee shrugs and tries the lady in the suit.

The display blinks, then in Green 'Access Confirmed: Enter 1024 bit PIN' It starts counting down from 60.

Ghost says, "Check her pockets."

Bee hmms and mutters, "That's an awful long number to memorize" as she gets the same idea as Ghost.

Ten does so - indeed, who can remember a number that long?

Queen Bee says, "especially if it is rarely used."

Ghost gets to work, trying to hack the PIN.

Ten attempt to revive the woman while Ghost hacks her PDA.

Bee checks the ID for a swipe strip or other electronic 'pin'

Director Lyonne stirs around when the timer hits 27. Her eyes snap open, "Situation. Now!"

Ten says, "Bad guys in the basement. We're trying to get down and stop them - what's the password?"

Queen Bee says, "Bad guys downstairs. Locked bulkhead"

Bee hauls the director to her feet and toward the keypad

Lyonne curses under her breath, "Help me to the access lock.'

Lyonne nods to Bee. Her eyes glaze over as she starts rapidly punching in numbers. 30 seconds later, the elevator doors open, though the elevator is still parked above the level of the doors.

Ten says, "How far down is it?"

Ten looks.

Bee pulls out her grapple gun and looks down to see if the bulkhead Ghost described at the bottom of the elevator shaft is still in place.

Ten says, "I can carry you down."

Bee points and says to the director, "Anything you can do about that?"

Ten prepares to carry Ghost, if she permits.

Ghost nods, unplugging the lead from her temple cyberjack to the security system, "I'll take you up on that."

Bee frowns at Ten, "You fly?"

Lyonne sits down, "Best I can do from here. Overide has to be done from the central access when the building is in Autistic Mode. Fusion power plant is down there, beneath the greenhouse."

Ten says, "Nope. But I can swing on this staff as you can with your line-gun!"

Lyonne shakes her head woozily, "Shaft might still be in Omega Black security level. Dunno if its laser grid is active."

Bee prepares to leap and suddenly stops herself. "Thanks for mentioning that last."

Ghost says, "What sensor systems are in the shaft, lady?"

Ten looks down the shaft to see if there would be anywhere to rest if she alternated swinging down and taking out lasers.

Lyonne blinks unsteadily, "Uh. Full spectrum. IR through millimeter, plus sonar, and air motion sensors."

Bee nods and pulls a flash bomb out of another pouch. Dropping it down the shaft, she lets any potential lazers set it off.

Bee follows the first flash bomb with a second to test the flash's effectiveness.

Multiple beams of lasers light slash down from the bottom of the elevator to receptors on the face of the bulkhead, and vice versa, spinning in a complicated helix pattern, leaving few gaps. Once the pieces of the flashbombs stop bouncing around, the lasers shut off.

Ten says, "OK. I dangle above them, holding you, Ghost. You fire at them from above."

Ghost says, "Hold in position above their level, drop another of those flashs and shoot out the emitters. You two okay with that?"

Ten grins at Ghost. "Great minds."

Ghost nods.

Queen Bee says, "I have an alternate idea"

Bee asks the director, "Do you carry a compact?"

Ten says, "Hm. Could we drop the elevator down the shaft?"

Ghost looks up at the base of the elevator. "Okay, that seems resistant to the lasers. Ten, you're right. Let's drop the elevator down the shaft."

Ten says, "It likely has brakes to stop it falling too fast. We may have to disable them."

Queen Bee says, "If we do that, are you prepared to move rubble?"

Lyonne blinks, "Uh, yes... but those lasers would go right through a back-silvered mirror."

Bee says, "Good." and takes the mirror. She tries to use it to get a look at the emitters without taking a lazer to the face.

Bee flicks a boomerang up the shaft at the elevator.

Three boomerangs later, the laser emitters on the elevator are destroyed

Bee chucks several more exploding boomerangs down the shaft then says to Ten after lazers stop going off, "You first. The bombs should have weakened the bulkhead."

Ten swings down the shaft to make sure the lasers are destroyed, then returns to collect Ghost.

Bee leaps into empty air. Several floors down, she fires her grapple gun and slows her descent.

Ten avoids going full speed with Ghist, which might be a little unnerving!

The heroes smash through the bulkhead with a little effort. :)

Bee lets Ten again take the lead after the bulkhead doors are smashed open

The bulkhead opens on too the rest of the elevator shaft, another 10m. The doors at the bottom are open, and the smell of greenery wafts up the shaft.

Ten takes the lead, swinging down to see what's there - but ready to swing up again if need be.

As the heroines descend... Someone shoots at them from beyond the open doors!

Bee lowers herself on the grapple line and takes a look around with the compact.

Shoots 

''A lanky man in a silvery 'cowboy' suit, with gold chaps, fringes, and hat. Dozens of six-shooters are strapped to his body, along with multiple belts of ammunition. ''

Ten decides to go for the quick strike, attempting to grab Shoots with her staff before, well, he shoots!

Shoots oofs, "Wall that's not nice little lady!"

Ten wraps her staff tight around the 'cowboy's' arms... "Neither is whatever you're up to, I'm sure!"

Bee drops the last few feet into view, pushes off the side wall to throw herself out of direct line between the elevator shaft and shoots and throws her flash bomb at the silver cowboy before she lands, hoping to catch Shoots' unseen ally, trusting that she is fast enough to move before Ghost can be affected and Ten heals fast enough to take it.

Ten winces as her hyper-sensitve eyes are blinded.

Ghost fires at the only visible target. She switches to a Scrambler needle.

Shoots wriggles his shoulders, trying to get free.

Shoots cusses under his breath, so as not to offend the ladies present.

Ten says, "Slippery customer, huh?"

Ladders steps over the research hut into view, his leg-armor elongated like flexible stilts. "What's the problem Ladders... Oh. Huh." His right leg shrinks down as he kicks at Ghost with the other!

Ladders

''A short muscular man in a steel-grey body suit and matching helmet. His legs are covered in some sort of articulated armor plates.''

Ghost is stunned by the kick.

Shoots coughs and Ten squeezes him, gasping for breath.

Bee continues her sideways motion out from the elevator and disappears behind some greenery. Pulling a standard boomerang out of a pouch, she flings the silent projectile at Ladders so that its arc does not give away her position.

The boomerang bounces off Ladders' armor. He looks around, the bottom of his foot sweeping back and forth, "Where's that come from. Damnit. There's three of them!"

Ladders shrinks his legs to normal length and sits down cross legged, his arms raised, "We surrender."

Ten thinks. o O (That was easy!)

Ten says, "Great. Now what were you doing down here?"

Ten keeps hold of Shoots, but stops applying pressure.

Ladders answers, "Just some industrial espionage."

Bee lets Ten deal with these two and stealthily heads to check out what these two kooks have done.

Shoots nods, "Dang ImpTech's security is crazy! This job ain't worth the hassle no way."

Ten nods. "Haven't tampered with anything dangerous or anything?"

Ten says to Shoots, "You're telling me."

Ladders shakes his head, "No Ma'am. Just tried to access their secure data."

Ten says, "Fine then. If there's no crisis we'll just turn you over to the authorities."

Bee checks the open computer files first too see what these two have been into

Ladders nods, "Thank you for being understanding Ma'am."