(H-1) [April 3, 2039 - 0440 local time] [a very large briefing room in the Palace B2 level] [session start] Things are finally starting to really move. The new team members are being shown into a large room for their first briefing as part of H-1. The room is much larger than it needs to be for the nine people who are entering. * Shihei-san is nursing a half-liter can of Red Bull. * Hikaru is still in the t-shirt with the name of a London Cricket team on it, and yawning spectacularly as he walks in. He's gotten himself a (now half- consumed) liter bottle of mountain dew, which doesn't seem to really be combating the bags under his eyes. * LadySnow yawns real big and stretches, trying to wake herself back up as she's lead into the room. She's changed back into her light blue dress with the long sleeve undershirt, big socks and cute little blue shoes. * LadySnow is really fighting a losing battle against her sleepiness though as it's way past her bedtime. * LadyBobOmb has picked up some mountain dew herself, and she still looks tired. She's sipping that while reading intently on her PDA, and occasionally glancing back at the paperwork that's done, moving from one page to another. * Ozawa is fussing over a pile of duffel bags on a table in the first row. He's a very handsome, VERY fit man in his mid-30's, with a military buzz cut. As he moves, you realize that his left leg is completely stiff. * LadyKiss is nursing a cup of coffee. It's going very, very slowly. * LadyBobOmb is still in the same outfit as before - the one that's mostly skin. * LadySnow tries her best to walk straight after her night of fun and drinking. She stumbles a bit as she enters the room, looking for a place to sit. * Hikaru walks - though obviously tired, he doesn't seem to be having any stability issues - over to a chair and sets his bottled beverage down on the table in front of it. He remains standing behind it rather than sitting down, resting his folded arms on the chair's back. * PrincessRoyal is still in dress slacks, but she's changed into a regular suit jacket that doesn't quite cover the T-E general's insignia peeking from her shirt collar. She takes a casual swig from the coffee mug she holds, and eyes everyone. * LadyBobOmb holds out a seat for Lady Kiss, again, before taking a seat herself. * LadyTwister is handling herself somewhat better than Snow, although the faint shuffle's there. She at least looks like she's attentive. And dressed like some Western stripper. Sort-of. * Ozawa finally looks up from his gear, half-flinches as he sees the new team, then focuses on Royal. He walks over in front of her, snaps to attention, and salutes. SIR! * PrincessRoyal gives Ozawa a curt nod. "At ease...soldier." * LadySnow slumps into the nearest available chair she finds, leaning heavily on the table and trying desperately to focus. * PrincessRoyal has the resigned, slightly tired look of someone who's had enough crappy late nights to be able to handle it, and hates that fact. * LadyTwister decides to sit right next to Snow, taking a moment to pat her on the shoulder. "Okay, maybe we need to cut back on your intake a little." * Ozawa barely relaxes. "Ma'am, I'm Sergeant-Major Ozawa. ...retired. I served under you in the Kuwait deployment, ma'am, and it's an honor to work for you again. I'm your adjutant, and armorer, and all-around, uh..." He looks at all the young faces. "Babysitter. Ma'am." * LadyKiss looks around, trying to keep a smile on her face. It's an uphill battle she's losing. I... told you I couldn't handle it like you... *another big yawn* * Hikari walks over to a chair and takes a seat, trying to draw as little attention to herself as she can. Once seated, she begins to scan the room for the rest of these people she will be working with, trying to size them up, so to speak. It's easy. Water. Lots of water. * LadyTwister does take a moment to scan about, lips pursing now and then. * Hikaru snickers at the man's choice of the term "babysitter." * PrincessRoyal nods again, less curtly this time. "Ah. Well, I thank you for your service, past and present, Sergeant-Major." * LadyBobOmb smiles, and nods politely at Sergeant-Major Ozawa. ^^ * A little spider crawls its way up onto the cap closing Hikaru's soda bottle. It almost seems to be looking around. * PrincessRoyal does a quick headcount. "Everyone here? Are we ready to get started?" * Ozawa moves to stand behind the loose row of MG's. I think this is it. * LadyKiss just nods at Princess Royal, still fighting with that smile. I was drinking water up until I fell asleep in that room they stuck us in... *water starts condensing around the spots of the table she's leaning on. Anyone who sits next to her finds it to be noticeably cooler around her.* * LadyBobOmb nods at Princess Royal, with the same smile she gave Ozawa. "Hai." Ladies and Lord, welcome. I'm afraid this is not the way we prefer to put H-1 teams together, but the crisis at hand has forced us to rush. A lot. Yes, ma'am. Highness? * LadyTwister gives Snow another pat, then looks up and listens. * LadySnow looks a bit confused at Royal trying to recognize her. * Hikaru shivers, since he's coincidentally on the other side of Snow from Twister. He doesn't seem to mind, though. * LadySnow blinks a couple times and rubs her eyes, looking up. There she freezes and her eyes immediately widen looking rather panicked. There's... a... spider! * LadySnow clings to Twister for protection ignoring the fact that she's very very cold to be next to. ... and? * Shihei-san looks askance. * PrincessRoyal raises an eyebrow. And spiders bite! * LadyTwister glances over, then takes a moment to pry Snow off of her politely. "We have a meeeetiiiing..." * LadyKiss shrugs. "I'm sure the dear spider thinks the same of you." * LadyBobOmb glances tiredly over at Snow, idly noting that Spiders = Woke Up Snow. But but but... Shhh. I see a couple of you have already recognized Princess General Royal. She's going to be your team leader. * LadyTwister holds a finger to her lips, then points towards the important peoples. * PrincessRoyal smiles a small smile. "Good mooorning, everyone." * Hikaru blinks. "That's just Spinner. He won't bite." * LadySnow gets up and shuffles to the other side of Twister, trying REALLY hard not to look at the spider, but still keeping an eye on it in case it attacks. A pleasure to meet you, Princess General. It's a uh... *glances at the spider* honor, your Highness. * LadyBobOmb stands, and bows deeply at Royal. "It will be a pleasure to work under you." She sits back down. Normally we prefer to draw the leaders from within the team, but that's not possible, and we may need the extra throw weight. And she was on this team. Once. Sort of. It's a real pleasure to meet you, Ma'am. * Hikaru reaches down and holds his palm out. Spinner crawls from the cap to the young man's hand, and up his arm. "I am terribly sorry, miss," says the spider in what is either a small boy's or a young woman's voice, "I promise I will not accost you." * LadySnow gives an awkward curtsy. * LadyTwister nods respectfully. "Morning, ma'am." * Hikaru bows politely, once the spider is comfortably ensconced on his shoulder. "A veteran in this team's duties. An honor and a privilege, ma'am." You better not... *she mumbles back sheepishly at the spider* Okay, here's what's going on. * LadySnow looks up again as something infinitely more exciting piques her interest.. "She's gonna be our leader? Will she sign my cards?" * Hikaru holds a hand over his mouth as he bites back a yawn, still standing and trying to pay attention. * LadyTwister stifles a stretch and a yawn, glowing eyes blinking a few times in the patch of darkness covering them. She then also gives Snow a polite elbow to the side. The front whiteboard lights up, becoming a wide display, showing some strange scenes of crushed cars near a park. * LadySnow eeps and goes quiet with another mumbled "Sorry." You'll remember the to-do a month ago with the EU embassies over parking and traffic and... things. * PrincessRoyal quirks her lips. "Maybe later." She turns to the display. The uh... Yeah, okay. *tries to remember* * PrincessRoyal winces at the mention of "embassies." After that... we started watching the EU member nations closer, and were twigged to some... odd things being smuggled in by the Belgians. The biologicals? We heard, third-hand, that some biologicals were coming in yesterday. We scanned the diplomatic luggage with sonics and thermal imaging, and spotted something suspicious. Odd things. I imagine nothing legal, ma'am? I don't think they'd be smuggling legal stuff. Image changes to a thermal scan of a suitcase, with a small warm spot. * LadyKiss bites her lip, scowling a bit. We don't know exactly what. H-1 had a good idea of who in the embassy was involved, and they followed them when left the embassy last night about 2000. But it's something they'd want to kill Ladies for I guess... They tracked the Belgians' car across the city, to the Ningyo City parking garage. I'm more worried that they -could- kill Ladies. * LadySnow sounds very depressed about this idea. That would cause a diplomatic shit-storm, though, even if they could. Do... do we know how they were...killed? Well... you're going to go take a look at that in a little bit. Eww... * LadyTwister simply nods, biting back another yawn. Lady Jump, the team leader, must have smelled some sort of trouble, because she had H-4 already scrambling to the scene before we lost contact. When was this? Apparently the Belgians were meeting some people on the roof of the garage, and H-1 swooped in to sweep up all of them, and the package. Must have been... 2100? Right around then. Let me guess: The package was gone when H-4 got there. And that's when we lost contact with H-1. Then... the H-4 team arrived, and their radiation sensors started going nuts. How long before she called H-4 and you lost contact with her? Judging by the fact that we're here, the sweeping failed... but radiation. Bomb-making material, maybe? There's a span of about five minutes when we have no information about what happened in the garage. No cameras or anything? * PrincessRoyal shoves her hands into the pockets of her dress slacks and frowns. The radiation's the really freaky part, since the airport sensors detected none when the package was scanned. Maybe it wasn't from the package thingy then. As for cameras in the garage... they were fried by a surge before the Belgians arrived. What about external cameras or ones on nearby buildings? Oh so convenient. Isn't it? So we can assume the Belgians' contact was there, and well-equipped. * LadyBobOmb frowns. "The cameras being fried sounds intentional." * Hikaru smiles and nods. Doesn't it, though. How were they disabled? Well, unless the container was lined with something that could block radiation... that, or something else introduced it. Either or, we'll find out something if we're going to go there. Quite. Lead or whatever would show up on scanners, wouldn't it? <_< No. * Hikaru opens his soda and drinks some of it. From the sound of the hiss when he unscrewed it, it still hasn't gone flat. Mmm. What's the scene like beside the radiation? How were the Ladies killed? You'll see. * LadySnow you can almost see the wheels turning in her head as she's trying to figure everything out. * Shihei-san stands up. "I'm sorry, Princess, that we've dumped you into this with so little background. If you've got questions, call me." We'll know when we know... huh. Sakura-sama may also be going on-site as well, and I know you know her. * PrincessRoyal pinches the bridge of her nose, but shakes her head. "Don't worry about it. I've seen worse last-minute briefings. Thank you." Ah, yes. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to get to work on Her Majesty's morning briefing. Of course. Wait, but, so... we're just going out there? Now? Yup. Hope you got your best out of that nap. * Shihei-san lurches away from the desk, tossing her empty energy drink in the trash as she exits the room. I didn't, but I'll manage... do we have any evidence-gathering equipment? * PrincessRoyal nods to Ozawa. "What d'you have for us, Sergeant-Major?" * LadyTwister stretches again, smacking her lips and fighting through the last bits of hangover-fog. Of course Ma'am. Not much forensic gear, but H-4 is mostly handling that anyway. Right. Ooh, we get stuff? I do have standard 11mm's for everyone - H-1 members customarily go into the field armed with at least that much. * Hikaru takes another gulp of soda, wincing as the fizz burns his throat on the way down, and caps the drink again. Ah well. Also, I have H-2 PDA's and agency EI's, so you can interface with other agencies. * LadyKiss smiles nodding at all this. There are a few other goodies in the bags, just in case, but I'm hoping we won't have to break out the heavy weapons today. You and me both, Ozawa. Intra-team communications? Or at least not before we can settle into the new headquarters. Ooooh, we get a headquarters?! The PDA's are on the Hierarchy datanet. If you need a headset attachment, I've got those. * LadyTwister smiles, just a tad. "Sounds like we're actually going into the field decently decked-out." Probably a good idea, just in case. Even if it is mostly nostalgia. Never know when you might need both hands. ... nostalgia, ma'am? * PrincessRoyal half-grins at Twister. "Tell you later." We can gin up more customized gear later. This is just the very basics. Gotcha. All right, team, let's grab and go. We can play the introductions game on the way, since I'm guessing most of you don't know each other. I'm Lady Snow! * PrincessRoyal takes a duffel and swings it over her shoulder by way of example, then steps back to allow the rest of the team access. We've got transport in the northern garage. * LadyTwister blinks at the grin... then eyes Chi. "I don't know what I'm going to do with you, girl." Nonetheless, she stands up and gets to moving. * Hikaru laughs. "I'm D-- Lord Fate. Sorry, old habits die hard." * LadySnow gets up and grabs a duffle as well. She's more awake now that she's had people to interact with but you can still tell she's tired and fighting a hangover. * PrincessRoyal looks around. "Is everyone transformed?" * LadyKiss smiles standing up grabbing her stuff. "I'm Lady Kiss, as in...the chocolate." * Hikaru grabs a pack of the equipment, and utters some gibberish. The monocle screen over his right eye flashes what looks like a confirmation as his EI has his PDA start interfacing with the H-2 one, linking him into the Agency datanet. The rest of the pack...where'd it go? My sister and I aren't. I suppose we should. Yes. * LadyBobOmb stands up, and partakes of goodies. She looks at both PDA's for a moment, then, "Glitch, reroute to this new PDA." I transformed when I got here. Your Highness. * PrincessRoyal nods approvingly at Lady Snow. Both Kasumi's and Hikaru's EI's report that they can not transfer, and are only being granted limited access to the H-2 devices. And... hm. Lady Twister. Pleasure to meetcha all. * LadyBobOmb blinks. "Oh, my." Problem? * LadySnow roots around in the bag, finding the shiniest looking thing to play with. * LadyTwister fiddles around in her duffel, then gets things into place with a minimum of fuss. The company PDA doesn't like Glitch. Strictly speaking the stuff in the bags is not shiny at all. Most of it is matte black. Ah. We'll get that cleared up when we get back, then. * LadySnow finds the PDA catches her interest the most and pulls it out and starts pushing buttons. I'm transformed Ma'am. * Hikaru babbles something, then continues in his British-accented Japanese, "Same here. I'll discuss it with the techies when we're done. I've got datanet communication, so that should suffice." Bah. I just think Wyrd's being antisocial. You always think Wyrd's being antisocial. * LadyBobOmb nods. Then switches to the new PDA, and starts setting it up. * Hikaru pronounced that word in English, like "weird". * LadySnow walks up in step with Royal as they head out. "Your Highness, ma'am. Can I just say that it's a great honor to be working with you? Even if the circumstances aren't really the most ideal..." * LadyTwister mouths 'weird', then shakes her head and cracks her knuckles. "Chi, you're something else. You know that, right?" * Ozawa watches to make sure that everyone looks like they know what they're doing with their pistols, then packs up and follows the Princess out. * LadyBobOmb then asks the new EI to do a search on other EI's and cameras in the area to see if they caught anything. And to be thorough. She then tucks it away. * Hikaru 's pistols have vanished, along with the rest of the gear he grabbed, except the PDA, which is sitting next to his own on his belt. * LadySnow blinks at Twister. "What am I supposed to be, Mari?" * PrincessRoyal heads...to the northern garage! * LadyBobOmb follows along. She's not used to this place yet. * LadySnow leaves her pistol in the bag for the time being. * PrincessRoyal nods at Snow. "Oh? Thank you, Lady Snow." There's a 15-passenger bus waiting for them. The team boards, and they drive out through the security tunnels, then onto the South Tokyo Bypass. * LadySnow blushes a bit at being addressed directly. Special. Heh. It's worrisome that there were no worthwhile survivors. * LadyTwister gives Snow a pat on the back and grins, eyes gleaming brightly in amusement. And and if there's anything I can do to help you out, please please let me know and I'd be more than happy to do it. Your Highness. Ma'am. * LadyKiss smiles looking over at every one. * Hikaru pulls a heavy jacket-looking thing out, and starts donning it while they ride. * PrincessRoyal looks at Snow directly, a gleam of amusement in her eye. "I believe, for now, your duties as part of this team will suffice. I'll keep the offer in mind, though." * Hikaru can't help but giggling - a bit on the manic side - at Snow's hero- worshipful tones. * LadyBobOmb giggles at Snow. * Hikaru chugs a bit more of his drink. Spinner seems to have disappeared for the moment. This... this is going to make for interesting times. I can already tell. * LadySnow nod nods and smiles brightly. I think you're right. The van moves carefully through traffic, which thins out quickly as the main loop heads north. The team rolls on eastward for a few kilometers, then through a police cordon at the exit to Ningyo City. * LadySnow fights and fails to hold back the urge to fangirl gush. "So you knew the first Queen then, Miss Royal?" * LadyBobOmb blinks, and watches Snow. * LadyTwister almost says something, but keeps it down, instead taking her ten-gallon off and idly polishing the star on it. ...yes. Not well, though. I was only a Lady at the time- probably Junior Lady, by today's standards-and so I wasn't close to her by any means. But you still got to talk to her, right? What was she like? * LadyKiss settles back and watches Princess Royal taking interest in the conversation. A bit, at meetings, briefings and the like. I only ever saw her official side, which was...well, official. * LadyBobOmb stifles a giggle at 'official.' Mm. *nods absorbing this new information and filing it away for later* * Hikaru pulls out a European longsword with engravings in some strange alphabet all along its blade. Hikari grasps the hilt and, as they both hold it, they state in unison, "By this sword, the Omen of things to come, let Fate and Destiny walk upon this earth." * Hikari grabs the longsword that Hikaru has pulled out and recites along with him, ""By this sword, the Omen of things to come, let Fate and Destiny walk upon this earth." * Ozawa eyes the transformation critically, but withholds comment. * LadyTwister takes a moment to look back at Hikaru and Hikari. "Huh..." * Hikaru simply...changes. For a moment, it looked as if he would be clad in a suit from an indeterminate era, but then he's just wearing what he was before. His hair, however, is now a platinum blond, and his features a bit more angular. The bags under his eyes seem gone, too. * LadyBobOmb then applauds Hik^2. "How interesting. What does the sword say?" * LadyBobOmb pulls her EI out, playing back the recording of the transformation and freezing a frame of the sword, seeing what the text on the sword translates to. * Hikari stands there for a moment and then a moderately bright flash of light occurs around her. When the light is gone, you can see that her jeans and shirt outfit has changed to an elegant black floor-length dress with a shawl draped about her arms. Her hair has gone blond also, and is now a good six to eight inches longer than it was before. That IS interesting there. * Weaver is clinging to Lord Fate's left wrist. He's about half the size of a human fist, and his legs are angular in the extreme, almost making him look like a piece of jewelry with them wrapped around the Lord's wrist. * PrincessRoyal raises her eyebrows. "Hm." I wish there was more info on her. I looked on the internet and stuff but it's hard to find any real reliable information. I guess it's cause the Palace wasn't public back then... *is mostly oblivious to the transformation having seen enough of them in school and the like.* It's name. *yawns, less extravagantly than before; he certainly doesn't look nearly so tired now* It's called Omen. Iiiinteresting. That's a long name. ^^ It says other things, but nothing really important. It takes effort for me to read it. * LadyKiss smiles a bit. "It's a beautiful weapon though." Where'd you get it? Ah. I'd love to know the full text, if you have the time. ^^ * Lord_Fate puts sheathes it over his shoulder, and leans back in his seat. The sword seems to be gone. He just smiles at Lady Snow, partly mysterious, mostly mischievous. We'd lose part of our mystery if we just came out and told you where it came from. The bus has been winding its way around the parking garage, and comes to a stop on the sixth floor. I imagine some questions are best left unanswered, Chi. Mystery? *blinks* Just don't ask Destiny about who you're going to marry. She -hates- that. Who am I going to marry? ... The door opens, and the team exits into the midst of an improvised decontamination zone. You can see the future?! * LadyBobOmb nods. "Knowing the ..." * LadyKiss smiles right into Fate's face. "Don't worry dear, I think I make my own destiny in that matter." * PrincessRoyal exits slowly, taking everything in. * LadyKiss is still smiling as she gets out and looks around. Yeah, but I don't really like to talk about it. Makes people think that they can change their destiny. But... knowing your destiny takes all the fun out of it. * LadySnow puts her hands behind her back. "How many fingers am I holding up?" * LadyTwister shrugs. "It's harder to life for the moment when you know what it'll be. And Chi, stop that." In relation to the floor? All of them. * LadySnow looks at Twister and pouts. "Whaaaat?" Don't treat teammates' powers like cheap party tricks. Men and women in H-4 standard, bright yellow NBC protection suits are moving around busily. Also, there's a Ningyo. * LadyTwister wags a finger, but is obviously amused as all get-out. But you made me make ice that time we ran out! That was important. I don't like my gin cold. * LadySnow climbs out as she talks. Excuse me... EXCUSE MEEE! * LadyTwister catches the ningyo out of the corner of her eye, and can't help but look. Ooh. Crime scene. It's like we're on TV. * LadyKiss looks at the lady screaming excuse me. * PrincessRoyal 's hand twitches almost imperceptibly, but she stops it. * Anya is floating along above a thin sheen of water, her tail twitching in visible frustration. * Lord_Fate laughs, still a bit giddily. He helps his sister down out of the bus, almost gentlemanly. * LadySnow holds up her PDA and points it at various things. * LadyTwister seems to change in demeanor almost automatically once she realizes what's going on, but she also looks frustrated. "Shit, I feel like I should be helping with the investigation." One of you is a Princess, I know, I can feel you. * LadyDestiny accepts Fate's help out of the bus and then strolls over to the possibly-irate person trying to get peoples' attention. Good morning, miss. *he addresses the Ningyo* These things take pictures don't they? How do you make them do that? * PrincessRoyal crosses her arms. "Can we help you?" * Lord_Fate utters some gibberish, quietly, and Snow gets a small program sent to her PDA offering to perform picture-taking duties for her. Oooh. Neat. Snow? Ask it to auto-record and index everything. They usually also have a voice interface. Simply ask it to. * LadySnow takes lots and lots of pictures as she looks around. I want to know when you're going to get your goons out of our parking garage! The tourist attractions are opening up in *checks her watch* Less than three hours, and if we can't park people, we can't do business!! Uh... we'll be quick? Hi Ms. Ningyo! I'm sorry, but we need to look at everything before we let anyone else in here. I'm sorry for the inconvenience, but if the garage is contaminated, you probably won't get much business anyway. * LadyTwister is busy getting used to her PDA, although she's still looking between the scene and the ningyo. * Lord_Fate sets his own EI to scanning the garage, and has it issue instructions to the agency one to acquire any information from local equipment on what's been found since the briefing. "I'm sure you want this handled as thoroughly as we do, given the severity of the situation, miss." I'll see what I can do, though. And the Lady - the little insolent brat! - you have in charge here is saying that we may not have it open for a week! WHO'S GOING TO PAY FOR THE ECONOMIC DAMAGE! What Lady? * LadyKiss knows when to keep her mouth shut so goes to look around. She's with H-4, I think. You'd have to pay a lot of economic damage if people came here and sued you, too. But yes, let's speak the Lady in charge here. * Ozawa stays in the van. It's not safe yet, Miss. If you let people in now, your tourists wouldn't appreciate becoming sick because they visited. * LadyTwister seems content to use the PDA to scan and record, mostly testing it out. "Not bad at all... could use some kind of biological scanner, though..." Hey now, we don't have to scare her. * Anya flounces alongside Royal, gritting her teeth. We can't give any assurances without knowing the full situation, either. * LadyBobOmb has both her EI’s already interfacing with local equipment and EI's as much as they can. * LadyDestiny is perfectly content scanning the area with her own two eyes. * Lord_Fate looks around for the corpses and for damaged architecture, trying to ascertain what sort of ordinance might have been utilized. He's somewhat following Royal and the Ningyo, though, keeping them in earshot. * LadySnow walks over to her and says as politely as she can, "I'm very sorry for the inconvenience, but it's very important that we be allowed to work here without being disturbed. I'm sure the Palace will be more than willing whatever financial damages you incur because of our presence here." The only person you don't see here with in full-body protective gear is wearing an H-4 Captain insignia, and is watching the decontamination shower system as it is tested. * PrincessRoyal winces. "Snow, come here." * LadySnow walks over to Royal. "Yes, Your Highness, ma'am?" The captain's name tag identifies her. Are you sure we've got enough water flow? You really, really don't want to miss anything... Ah, I know you probably haven't had occasion to encounter her yet, but it's not a good idea to make financial assurances if we aren't certain we can back them up. * PrincessRoyal says that in a lowered tone. * LadyDestiny walks up to Lord Fate. "Looks like someone broke the place before you got the chance this time." I'm just trying to reassure her everything is going to be okay. I think it's better than saying stuff to scare her... I'm sure something can be negotiated... I'm sorry, I wasn't trying to overstep my authority or anything, ma'am. Your Highness. It's okay. We'll talk about it later. I know. Rude of them, wot? * PrincessRoyal turns to the captain. "Good morning," she eyes the tag, "Captain Lady Zero. Can I ask about the situation here?" * LadyTwister takes a moment to look at the decontam shower, then further in to see what she can see. * LadyZero turns around. "Princess! Glad you made it. The faster you guys can walk through the crime scene, the less of this shit is going to make it into the environment. Oh, we intend to get through pretty quickly. What do you have here? The showers are stalls made out of tarpaulins, with big hoses pointed at them from above. * LadyBobOmb watches the Ningyo for a while. Being close to one is distracting. But you won't at least open the bottom floors? ... it much be strong enough to light people up inside the perimeter. * LadySnow turns away from the Princess a bit disappointed. She smiles at the Ningyo apologetically. * LadyZero winces. We'll see what we can do when we finish, okay? Ma'am, I'm afraid this is a class-4 hazardous spill, and a crime scene. Personally, I've never seen a mess this bad before. I have. But not in a first-world city. What is the mess? Miss Ningyo? Perhaps it would go faster if you helped them with the decontamination. * PrincessRoyal sucks in a breath. "Shit. Do we need gear?" Let's just see what's going on. The sooner we're in, the faster we're done. I'm sure you would be of great assistance. * Anya looks like she'll start frothing in a moment. "You're destroying our livelihoods!" We're very sorry! But these things happen. Please understand. Shouting isn't going to make the problem go away. Ma'am, if normal humans parked in this garage right now, they would probably die of cancer in two months. Radiation poisoning if they park on the ninth, in three days. * LadySnow steps back over to the Ningyo talking as nicely and politely as she can and smiling all the while. We didn't cause the radiation, miss. Now, now. How would all those tourists feel if they knew this was a crime scene? I don't think they would be interested in coming to such a recent one. * Lord_Fate laughs. You can be certain we want to clean this up as fast as we can, but we don't KNOW how long that will take. Are you kidding? People love a good crime scene. Not an irradiated one. The train wreck effect and all that? A good crime scene that's old. Not a recent one that might recur. It's Hierarchy business. We know there were Ladies here when this happened. How many civvie fatalities were due to rubber-neckers thinking it was a lark, Sis? Our people do not carry this sort of equipment, miss. The Hierarchy will make good our losses, or there's going to be hell to pay. If you have concerns about financial liability that you wish to hold us accountable for, I would suggest lodging a complaint with Duchess Squeegee. * Lord_Fate turns, opening his mouth to scold the Ningyo, but bites his tongue. * LadyDestiny tilts her head towards Fate. "Many. And I don't think these arguments are really helping solve problems." * PrincessRoyal smiles, all politeness. Only a close observer would notice the slightly malicious gleam in her eye at that one. * LadyTwister just walks over to Lady Zero, staying a step behind Royal. "... really, what do we need to do to get this over and done? Tensions seem to be getting a bit high..." She looks back at Anya. * Anya stalks - a real accomplishment with no legs - off to the stairwell. ...oi. * PrincessRoyal shakes her head. "Now, yes. Gear, do you think?" Really, we're very sorry this happened. Being mad isn't going help it any though. Transformed, we're okay on this floor. * LadySnow frowns a bit as she turns back to what they're supposed to be doing. All right, then. You're going to want breather masks on nine. * Lord_Fate nods, grinding his teeth. Lovely. I can walk you through the scene in a minute. SHINOHARA - NEED EIGHT MASKS! AND TELL THE LOCALS TO KEEP THE FUCKING FISH OUT! * PrincessRoyal unzips her duffel and takes out her PDA and a headset, putting it on. "Thanks much." * LadySnow frowns even more at Zero. "That was just uncalled for..." * LadyBobOmb pauses. "If I'm going up to the ninth floor, I may want a full suit." * LadyTwister idly slaps on the headset, then drops her hat on top, adjusting the mike. "Some people don't know much tact, Chi... hoi. You machine. Pick up anything and everything biological y'can that I point you at. ^Got me?^" The PDA chirps brightly. * LadyKiss puts on the headset following the lead. I don't see why it's so hard to just be nice to people... * LadyZero snaps back at Snow. "You haven't been working around that bitch all night. ...okay, go down to five and suit up if you need one." So what do we do now, Your Highness? We should also sweep eight and ten, but if something is lurking on nine, we may want the full team for a combat scenario. So if you're uncomfortable, you should seek a full suit. You can fight in one, right? Well maybe she has a right to be upset. We are interfering with her livelihood. * LadyBobOmb pauses, and think a moment. "Yes." Let the Lady do her job. Now, let's take a look at what we've got here.... We are, but some things take precedence. Yes Ma'am. * LadyZero checks with a few subordinates, then grabs a mask off a cart that a man rolls up with. * LadyDestiny puts on her headset, a simple headphones/mic combo. With her PDA in her left hand, she appears ready to go. "Hopefully nobody stupid is lurking about." No one is lurking about. * LadyBobOmb has had a headset in since the bus. * PrincessRoyal takes a mask as well, then jerks her head at the cart, to the team. * LadyZero sounds very muffled under her mask, and you strain to hear her. I think it would be a question of power, not intelligence. * Lord_Fate obtains a pair of masks, and puts one on. * LadyTwister snags a mask and puts it on. "Bleh." We cleared the building six hours ago. * LadySnow takes a mask, eyeing it for a moment before trying it on. * LadyBobOmb puts on a mask, since she's not to a suit yet, and adjusts it and the headset/mike so she can at least be heard well over that. The masks are snug and stifling. How long after contact was lost with Jump did you arrive on the scene? * Lord_Fate yawns in his; it sounds really odd over the mics, muffled and echoed by the mask as it is. Thing's getting in the way of my hat. * LadyTwister takes a moment to adjust. "Ready." * LadyKiss sighs heavily looking around. "Could we see where they were found?" I got here about seventy minutes later, with the hazmat team. * LadyDestiny pulls a mask remarkably like all the others out from behind her back. After donning it, she says a simple, "Ready." ^You should consider not being in uniform when you transform if it gets in the way of functionality, Lady Twister.^ *in perfect British English* Were you all first on the scene? No, there was a combat and biocontainment group that was first here. Have they left yet? ^Eh? The situation didn't allow for that, really.^ * LadyTwister sighs nonetheless. "... it was a nice party, too." I took charge from them - I'm afraid a few of them are going to be very radiation-sick, and they're at the hospital. They didn't see anything, though. ^Understood.^ * PrincessRoyal winces, and shakes her head. * LadyBobOmb pulls up a map of the parking structure. Before the explosion, anyways. And reviews that. Are we all ready? That really is a shame. Yes Ma'am. * LadySnow nods. "I am." * LadyBobOmb nods. "Hai." Ready to go. Good to go. Ready. Hey, Chi... after this, when we get some downtime? How about another night of karaoke? * LadyTwister smirks Snow's way. * LadyZero leads the group up around the ramps. ... *blinks and looks at Twister* Kay. *she was obviously thinking of something else* * PrincessRoyal follows Zero. * LadyDestiny follows along, keeping her eyes open. Shinny, could you have the folks on nine and ten come down for about ten minutes? Thanks. * LadyBobOmb double-checks her suit a final time. Not a bit of skin is showing. * Lord_Fate follows, turning his head this way and that in a professional, scanning manner. In his armored jacket, he looks almost like a cop. Bob-Omb feels airtight! So, what are we looking at exactly? * LadyTwister is in the queue, keeping her bright yellow 'eyes' peeled. * LadyBobOmb looks around as she follows! First is the ninth floor. That's where the radioactive shit is all from. * LadySnow goes back to thinking. Is that where the bodies are? The group passes a dozen suited people heading downwards. * LadyZero waves a hand at a van parked on 8. "That's the van the H-1 team came in. Ladies Midnight and Pickup went up from here, and appear to have been ambushed on 9." Any idea what with and how many? Or *what* ambushed them? The team rounds the corner, then another, and finds themselves at the base of the ramp up to 10. You checked for finger prints and foot prints already, didn't you? * Lord_Fate nods, eyeing the van and scanning for potential ambush points on this level. Even though they're unlikely. * LadyBobOmb looks for Pickup and Midnight on 9. Where are their.... bodies? There are two corpses here - two young women in combat gear. One of them has an impossibly large chunk of torso blasted away and spattered over ten meters of floor behind her. The other one is more or less missing her head. ... Uhhhnn. * PrincessRoyal presses her lips together. "Here, I'd say." * LadyTwister starts scanning the bodies with the PDA. * LadyKiss gasps in surprise and disgust. "Oh... my. What COULD do this?" * LadyBobOmb makes a not-good sound from within the suit. * LadyTwister even steps closer to them, kneeling next to their bodies. Many, many things could do this. * LadySnow swallows hard and tries not to freak out. ^Ay, Dios mio.^ * LadyBobOmb then bites it down, and goes to look at the headless one first. Clean cut, ripped off, etc? * PrincessRoyal steps up beside Twister, doing the same. "Hmm." The floor around them is covered in a greyish-purplish dust, and a car beyond Midnight is twisted around some sort of projectile. Another projectile is embedded in a support pillar by Pickup. * LadySnow keeps her distance still, just looking. She has to do this. This is her job. Damn it. >< Pickup's head seems to have been simply sheared off. * LadySnow goes to look at the car. The car is easier to handle. * PrincessRoyal pulls on gloves and kneels down carefully, examining the dust. * LadyTwister follows the obvious trail. "We at least know trajectory... but damn. That had to have taken some serious firepower to do this much damage." The projectiles are fairly large, bigger than a soccer ball, and the same purple-grey color. * LadyBobOmb stands up fro Pickup, and makes a quick guess about where her neck would be, then looks at the projectiles to see if they were responsible. Any idea what the purple dust is? Oh, you're going to love that part. Oh? * LadyDestiny walks over to the car and then turns to face the direction the projectiles came from. Are we really? The dust, the... cannon balls. They're a uranium ore. A very pure uranium ore. * LadyTwister winces. ... Huh? *she takes back from the car she was looking at carefully.* Like being hit with a DU round. * Lord_Fate kneels down and examines the wounds. His expression is unreadable behind his mask as he looks for hints as to what caused the damage. Specifically, any ammunition left in the wounds or embedded in the cement. And... it's okay for us to be around it? Oh... my... word... That MUCH of it? We'll recover, Chi. The magic'll protect us enough. That would tend to be enough force to harm us. The question is, how was it propelled? We're okay, but even Ladies wouldn't want to inhale it. Did you find any traces of the ambushers? Blood stains or samples? No. No traces of the ambushers. Alright, machine. Start scanning. * PrincessRoyal stands up, shaking the dust from her gloves. There is a set of tire tracks through the dust. * LadyTwister trails the PDA along the dust, the bodies, and the immediate area, even following the supposed trajectory for a bit. That's about the only thing of note. But it's a standard issue tire on Hondas. Hmm. No rifling marks on the spheres. Anything large enough to propel them at lethal velocity would be nearly impossible to move out without leaving a trail. How big of one? * LadySnow looks at Fate. "Unless it was magic..." The wheelbase was consistent with several sedan models. * LadyTwister rises from the bodies, idly crossing herself. "... wait, magic? There's only two kinds of magic, and this wouldn't be covered by the Ningyo." * LadySnow swallows again. * LadyZero snerks. Anyway, there's something else about the projectiles. The implications of that are...interesting. Yes? A Lady wouldn't do something like this, would she? Still, it's got no sane explanation aside from that, and it bothers me---eh? Oh? You're...telling me that some thing killed three magical girls and didn't leave signs of itself? * LadyDestiny turns away from where she was looking and towards Twister. "That's a rather dangerous accusation there." They're manmade or magical. It's not just uranium ore - the uranium in the ore is pure U-235. This is out beyond weapons-grade, out into near physical impossibility. I think we've ruled out manmade pretty well, unless they were manmade and had magical support. Dangerous or not, I don't have anything else to go on... unless some agency's made a linear launcher that throws uranium---... * LadyTwister *stares* at Zero. So then it HAS to be magic, doesn't it? Like a Lady Uranium or something. * PrincessRoyal hisses. "Well...well, well." ... I really, really don't want to think that it is, but we're getting into that range. But if someone had that skill, and wanted to use it... why wouldn't they just sell the product? ... Why use it here? Maybe they were testing it? Maybe they don't have anyone they want to sell it to? They wanted what the Belgians were carrying. C'mon. I need to show you what's on the roof. Testing it by killing everyone around with it? Yes Ma'am. This is... frightening. * Lord_Fate turns to Zero. "The item that these Ladies were here to take from the couriers was not found?" * LadySnow turns from the car, still not wanting to really look at the bodies. "Okay. Roof. That sounds good." I'm ripe with anticipation. * LadyZero leads the team up the last ramp. * LadyTwister looks ready to move, nonetheless, putting the PDA away for the moment. "This should be fun." * LadyBobOmb follows. Lady Jump was the third team member on the scene. She apparently jumped in. * Lord_Fate follows, eyeing Zero quietly. As befits her name. * LadyZero leads the team to another body. This one looks generally battered, with several broken fingers and limbs, but the cause of death is obvious - something fist-sized smashing her forehead in. * LadyTwister is already on her way to the body, PDA back up and scanning, especially around the killing wound. "... ow." The coroner said that it looked like she fell badly, as if from fifty meters... and *then* was killed. * LadyKiss makes another little gasp. * Lord_Fate nods, as if he expected this. "That is the natural result." ...interception in midair... My...-- So um... there's nothing there in the wound we could um... check? No, no, the spatter shows that she was clobbered after she landed. That, or someone interfered with her on the way in. They'll do that back at the lab. Any idea what... messed up her landing? * LadySnow is taking deep breathes. Yeah, but something had to have put her off balance, with a powerset like that. Someone with one hell of a punch did this... and did it well. There's a bruise on the side of her head too. Whoever finished her off was strong. *looks up* Magic. * LadyTwister nonetheless rises, and crosses herself once more. "Great way to start the new job. Mngh." Where did she jump from? It's why we're here. Nothing is ever coincidence, Lady Twister. We don't know where she jumped from. * LadySnow looks around at nearby buildings. * LadyBobOmb recites, as if from a lesson, "There's no such thing as a coincidence for MGs." I know, but the fun's in the surprises. There are no buildings nearby - nothing taller than five stories, at least. Do we know where she was when she contacted H-4? If we could draw a line... maybe we can find whatever hit her that messed up her landing. Have we checked their logs? Was anyone in contact with her when she died? She didn't contact H-4 directly. She had the last member of her team do that... and he was ten klicks away. We need to speak with him. Next on the list. Definitely need to speak to him. * LadyBobOmb kneels down, and looks over Jump closer. She's dead, but what about her equipment? * LadyKiss shakes her head. "A lot of business there." How far exactly does she uh... jump? * Lord_Fate starts walking around the scene, spiraling outwards from the corpse, just trying to piece together what he can of the fight. Jump's weapons are still there, but her PDA and sensor pod are gone. What about H-1's target? What happened to them? Crossfire, or targets as well? * PrincessRoyal steps back, and looks around, frowning. * LadyDestiny walks about, taking in the scenery from various angles. "The why of all this still bothers me. I want to know why." I don't know how far she can jump, but her dossier uses language that makes me think she might have jumped from the ground. And do we know whether Jump or the other two were killed first? Ah, yes, the targets. That would answer a lot, but I think 'why' will take some doing to get to, Destiny. * LadyBobOmb asks her H-2 PDA to see if Jump's EI was auto-recording, and if so, to pull up the audio and video logs of the last 20 minutes before she landed. Did the biocontainment or your team take her PDA and sensor pod? * LadyZero leads the team around the garage to another cluster of corpses and damage. It all converges on what the Belgians were carrying. Trace the history, and you can project the future. Strangely, there are some puddles here. Project... but not completely determine. Puddles, eh? * Lord_Fate 's eyes grin at Twister over his mask. "You would be surprised." There are some inch-deep puddles around two corpses, while a third body seems to be burnt into almost nothing. Nearby, a car exploded and burned. ... machine. Get to it. None of them had their PDA's on them. Is that... water? * LadyTwister starts scanning the puddles, getting closer. Yes. As a matter of fact, it's sea water. * LadyKiss gasped. "Oh my, do we have any idea at all whose body that is?" ... now that's problematic. And do we know for certain that's what killed them? * LadyTwister snaps the machine up, but still looks to see just *how* they died. * PrincessRoyal frowns harder, and bends to examine more closely. "Shit. And the f-Ningyo, of course, have no idea about it and swear themselves bl--pink that no Ningyo where anywhere near here, yeah?" These three seem to be locals. We're still working on the ID's, but one of them is an employee of Harvest Wind Global Contracting. What do they do? And yes, the Ningyo liaison to H-4 has told us that no Ningyo were involved. As easy as it is to blame the Ningyo, let us remember that any of us could bring sea water up here with the proper equipment, like say buckets. Interesting. *touches the puddle, and rubs his fingers to see how the water feels* True, but there's no reason not to check. * Lord_Fate looks up at Destiny. "There are a few MGs that could, even. And no known Ningyo powers allow them to throw Uranium." This doesn't rule out Ningyo involvement, but I doubt it to be official. It's water. Rogue Ladies working with rogue Ningyo? There was magic involved, and it wasn't the Ningyo. 'Why?' becomes the question again, and it all goes back to whatever was in the Belgians' case at the time. Of course it wouldn't be official. And whether or not Ningyo were involved, there *is* another party here to think about. * LadyTwister eyes Snow. "That would be a disaster strong enough to wear relations thin, if it were true and more things started happening." * PrincessRoyal turns slightly. "Snow, the guy's company does military contracting." Which brings up interesting connections in itself. For Belgium? No, mostly for us here at T-E, and a little for Japan, as well. Mmm. The Belgians... * LadyKiss shakes her head. "There's too many things just not fitting." * LadyZero goes over to the burned-out car. Do we know if these guys are the buyers or the ones that were transporting whatever it was? That looks to be our job, filling the blanks. * PrincessRoyal looks at Kiss. "That's H-1 all over." This was their car. You can see their corpses inside. * PrincessRoyal walks over and peers inside to see if there's anything else strange and nonconforming. They're not the Belgians. So they're either buyers, thieves, or bystanders. * LadyTwister crosses once more, then turns to the one body that was burnt down. "... huh." * Lord_Fate doesn't sound at all like he believes the last option. The biocontrol folks recovered the little refrigeration unit from their bags... well, it wasn't much of anything by the time the fire was done. Yeah, that could be transporting anything. But was whatever was in it still inside? * LadyBobOmb cranes her neck, and looks Up. It had apparently burst open as it melted. The bio guys tell me that whatever was inside basically cooked into carbonized goo. So it is possible that the attackers destroyed the cargo, rather than took it? Whoever did this knew it was happening, had some training, and were smart enough to get out quickly without leaving any obvious clues. And that adds 'who' to the equation. I don't know if that's a relief or not. So then they weren't even after that? Then why were they here? Just to kill everyone? And they had magic, or magic support . Intriguing. We -must- find out where the cargo came from. Princess Royal, if I may, I will begin such research as well as I can once my EI has had clearances granted. Why here, why then? Certainly, Fate. Maybe this was some sort of evidence that whoever it was didn't want to get out. To keep something out of others' hands. And that's basically the end of the tour. As far as we know, there's ... the H-1 team, and the Belgians. The H-1 team was about to finish up the Belgian affair. There's just too many questions to sort this out at the moment. We'll need some time to process all this data. Hmmm. Is there anything else you want to see, or can I have my people start cleaning up? That about covers it, I think. Lady Zero? * PrincessRoyal looks at the team. "Anything else, team?" Yes? What was the last thing the cameras recorded before they were fried? Destiny and I have taken out exchanges where our sole job was to destroy the cargo. Usually, the cargo was stolen from our employer. I don't think they were here because of H-1. Maybe H-1 forced their hands with their dealing with the Belgians. * LadyTwister turns over to her. "When you have all the data that you can give us within our clearance, mind sending a copy my way? Just to have an extra pair of eyes on the data and all, of course." A bright flash - and there does seem to have been a lightning strike here about that time. * Lord_Fate shakes his head. "This doesn't seem like the shit hit the fan for the assailants. They were expecting something along these lines." People noticed because there was only one. Thank you for showing us this. The third party was expecting H-1 and the Belgians to meet? Huh. And yes, a copy of the data would be nice. Quite possibly. The Belgians could have been set up, too. Lightning wouldn't normally do that though... Don't they have a lightning ground on this building? Controlled lightning. Quite possibly more magic. I haven't checked the design of the structure. But you can see some lightning rods around the edges... * LadyBobOmb checks the weather around then. So it would've had to have been a targeted strike to take out all the cameras. It was cloudy, some sprinkles, even, but no real storms. How was the car burned? Did the gas tank explode? Was it a car bomb? It didn't zorch all the cams, though. It's the DVR that's fried. * Lord_Fate examines the corpses in the puddles once more, just double- checking the wounds to identify the specific cause of death. The gas tank did explode, but there's some indication it was punctured from above. * LadyKiss just listens to everything trying to take it all in. I imagine even having a spike protector on the DVR wouldn't have saved it from a direct or mostly-direct hit. It's hard to say if that was a bomb or a blast or a weapon or... Mm. From above? * LadyBobOmb looks Up again. "Where Jump was coming from." How big of puncture? It's hard to say - the tank did more or less explode, but the guy who stuck his head under there said that whatever kicked it off entered from the top of the tank. Maybe a stray fragment from the flying uranium shot? That's... something. But that was below us. Hmm... where's the tank on a car like this? that would be difficult to do, wouldn't it? * LadyTwister pauses, trying to orient herself with where the take it, and where Jump's corpse was. If you had magic, say, you were a rogue magical girl... We have 3 maybe 4 different powersets at work here it seems. She looked like she fell badly, but I don't think her jump would be that powerful... hm. Couldn't be. * LadyBobOmb nods at Snow. * LadyZero is looking impatient. ... what bothers me most is that this being the work of rogue MGs is the most obvious answer, and there's got to be more to it than that. The uranium wielder laying in ambush. Either there to guard the entrance, they caught Pickup and Midnight, or they were waiting for the Belgians.... The longer we take here, the more dust is blowing out into the environment. Where's the DVR stored, Miss Zero? Can we see that? * LadyTwister groans. "Right, right... Your Highness?" Yeah. If there's nothing else we need on-site, we can continue the theorizing elsewhere. Indeed. Let's go so that the cleanup can start. Take samples of the dust. Try to preserve the uranium balls, and figure out how they were launched. Forensics should at least be able to determine the velocities involved, if not the launch points. * LadyZero walks the teams down the ramps. Of course. Lead on Ma'am. * LadySnow follows continuing to think to herself. Do not discount possible mundane --*yawns, rather extravagantly even through the mask*-- er, mundane... uh.. ... so much in just an hour. All of us need to shower. Thoroughly. And you need to leave your clothing here. And at least one person above to keep watch. Either for H-1 or the Belgians. They saw Jump, *starts walking down*, dealt with her, and then the same person or someone else on the roof taking out the Belgians car. Uh... means of getting this done. Right. Of course. We need to get a time of death on everyone to know what path they took. * Lord_Fate mumbles some gibberish, and his EI starts pulling up all the research articles it's seen in the last year on uranium weaponry for him to look at later. As far as we can tell, everything happened in ten or fifteen seconds. Typical. Best way to do an ambush. Then that would also imply multiple ambushers. Yeah--*yawn*--a good ambush has more'n one person. I think we almost have to assume that. It's actually very difficult to do an ambush with one person. * LadyTwister looks down, being in full uni since she'd basically partially slept off a party's-worth of booze. "We'll have more answers when the data comes in." Wha' sis said. The team files off to the cold, cold showers as the sun begins to peek over the horizon. * LadySnow counts on her fingers, "Let's see... one that creates and fires those uranium balls, one that makes lightning, one with super strength, possibly one that controls fire and one with water powers that could be a Ningyo..." * PrincessRoyal turns to Zero. "Thanks for your help. Sorry about the delay and the Ningyo." [end session] Session Close: Sat May 27 17:53:21 2006