Planning

[hazlogs]

DATE:  Tuesday, September 15, 1998
Place:  City safehouse

There is the sound of the key in the front door of the house, followed a 
   moment later by the opening of the front door and the slight squeak of 
   floorboards and leather shoe, footsteps, then J.J. is emerging from the 
   living room with a half-gone cigarette in his mouth. He gives the Uktena 
   crisp nod of his chin. "Good evening, Patrick."
Patrick, sitting in a chair at one end of the table and flipping through a 
   magazine, looks up and nods to JJ. "Evening."
Jeff raps lightly on the door before slipping it open and walking in. He moves 
   to the group, giving each a light nod before finding a seat.
Lisa enters with a large bulge in her bag, rectangular shape, and dumps her 
   stuff into a chair. "Heya. Nigel and the others should be here. If not, I'm 
   going to get Chef on their asses..."
Salem enters with a lit cigarette dangling from his mouth, his expression as 
   grim as it usually is, hands in his pockets.
JJ Malone answers the door as appropriate, before taking a seat at the dining 
   room table on the opposite end from Patrick. An accordion-pleated manilla 
   folder tied with red twine around the open end comes out from under the 
   jacket and onto the table, followed by a nice pen. He grunts softly at 
   Lisa. "Let's hope they do, or I'll be helping. Where's the rest of .your. 
   pack?" he directs at the Uktena a trifle abruptly but with curiousity.
Cassandra comes in from outside.
Lisa roots through her backpack, a copy of Lenny Bruce's "How to Talk Dirty 
   and Influence People" hitting the table with a thump.
Patrick nods to the door as Cassandra walks through. "There's part. Andrea 
   said she'd be a bit late, but to go on and start without her, if people 
   actually showed on time."
Jacket slung over her shoulder, Cassandra saunters into the room and shuts the 
   door behind her. "Andrea'll be here in a minute, she said," she says, 
   almost on the heels of Patrick's announcement, and flops down onto a 
   comfortable patch of floor. Her eyes run over the faces she doesn't know, 
   and she raises an eyebrow.
Salem picks a convenient piece of wall to lean against and remains silent, 
   smoking.
Jeff lets out a light yawn before glancing around again. He remains quiet, 
   looking a bit tired from a few late nights of work.
JJ Malone's mirrored gaze looks over Cassandra briefly, giving her a shallow 
   nod of greeting before turning back to Patrick. "Missing three on my side, 
   too. I wouldn't mind waiting," he says deferentially, but his fingers tap 
   on the manilla folder in front of him with undisguised nervous energy.
Cassandra looks up at Salem, frowns a moment, then pulls a small and flat 
   black box and a Zippo from her jacket. Cracking the box, she pulls a clove 
   from it and stick it in her mouth. "Mind if I smoke? Andrea'll show in a 
   few and I didn't wanna let Touch Deer off the leash tonight. Was afraid the 
   Gnawers'd get ahold of him."
Patrick nods, glancing at his watch. "It's just a little past 7," he notes. 
   "Give 'em a little while to show." He nods to the folder, then asks, "Your 
   complete notes, I presume?"
Salem lifts his eyebrows a bit at Cassandra's look, but otherwise his 
   expression changes not a flicker.
Lisa watches cigarettes get light. Brushing her hair from her eyes, she 
   collects her things, keeping a notebook free, and sits down beside an air 
   conditioning vent. Strands of hair fly skywards against the breeze.
If J.J. minds if Cassandra smokes, he doesn't speak up to say so, tacit 
   permission in anyone's book. He simply nods to Patrick, explaining, "Just 
   in case Andrea wants to see them first hand, and to refresh my memory if 
   necessary. It's been a while since I've looked at it."
Patrick nods, adding the comment, "We've been doing a little more research of 
   our own, as well."
Taking the lack of response as permission, Cassandra lights up and leans back, 
   coughing a bit as she inhales.
JJ Malone pulls the material out of the folder, leaning forward a little as he 
   straightens the papers. "You won't mind me taking notes and adding it to my 
   own files, will you?"
Andrea comes in from outside.
Patrick nods as the door opens. "Said she'd be here in just a second. Where 
   are yours now?" he asks JJ, smiling.
Cassandra is sprawled out on the floor, a clove cigarette in one hand as she 
   leans back againstthe wall. The jacket slides from her shoulder to the 
   floor as she looks up andwaves to Andrea. "Yo babe."
Lisa sighs and reaches for her notebook, flipping past page after page of 
   scribbled notes. "Lessee...Rite of Packmate summoning...know it's in here 
   somwhere."
JJ Malone obviously doesn't see the intended-humor in Patrick's question, and 
   scowls darkly, before remembering himself and giving Andrea a respectful 
   nod in greeting. "Late. If everyone from your pack is here, I say start. 
   I'll deal with them later."
Cassandra draws off the clove and lets out a cloud of smoke. "Aw, come on, 
   it's not their fault they suck."
Patrick shrugs. "As much of the pack that's able to come into the city tonight 
   is here. We have to leave one or two to watch territory, just in case."
Andrea nods in return before darting a quick smile to Cassandra. "Babe. You 
   make me feel half my age." Returning her attention to the Walker Elder, she 
   adds, "I think we're all that can come in, tonight. I'll let you know if 
   things change." After sharing that pretty much in stereo with Patrick, she 
   moves toward her two dark moon packmates.
JJ Malone shoots Cassandra a cold look, then looks at Andrea and Patrick. "I 
   *won't* sit by for insults to my tribemates when they're not here to defend 
   themselves, though. Can we be civil tonight?"
Cassandra rolls her eyes towards the ceiling. "It was a joke, sheesh. Sor-ry."
Jeff lets out a light sigh, shaking his head, "Perhaps a joke like that is 
   unappropriate in this circumstance." He gives JJ a quiet glance before 
   returning his attentions elsewhere.
Lisa just rolls her eyes and opens her notebook. "Yeah, if we wanted to be 
   insulted, we could have gone to a comedy club and have professionals tell 
   us we're lazy scum." She smiles. "And union professionals at that. Can't 
   forget to look for the union lable."
Andrea chuckles softly, "I thought when a new moon did it, it was a 
   professional." She does, however, give JJ another slight nod and reach over 
   to rest her hand on the top of Cassandra's head.
Cassandra looks up at Andrea, but the gaze is faraway and just a but odd.
Lisa lifts her eyes, "When new moons do it? My, isn't that a personal 
   question? Especially when related to pricing?" She smirks.
Patrick clears his throat. "Excuse me, can we save the cut-down and other 
   inanities until /after/ the rest of the business? Afterwards, you can sit 
   here and shoot your mouth all you want, I promise."
Cassandra raises an eyebrow andtakes the cigarette out of her mouth. "You're 
   pricing our talents? Cool. I need cash." She puts it back in her mouth and 
   leans back , putting her hands behind her head.
JJ Malone flicks ash from his nearly spent cigarette into the ashtray at his 
   left, nodding to Patrick. "Agreed." He gives Lisa a brief look, then asks 
   Patrick but also includes Andrea in a glance, "Where do you want to start?"
Lisa nods and says, "Vun pound for a quickie, ten pounds for a full sketch. 
   Punchlines are extra, though." She cracks her notebook open to an empty 
   page and waits.
Patrick leans back in his chair and starts, "I'm sure you're all wondering why 
   I've called you here.... Well, no, you have a pretty damn good idea, but 
   I've always wanted to say that. Basically, we're gonna need to get a group 
   together and go back into Turner's place."
Lisa glances around at the other Walkers and says, "Ah, joy. We'll have to 
   dust off our visitor's passes again."
A corner of J.J.'s mouth twitches with sardonic bemusement at Patrick's 
   statement. "Nothing new. What's the plan?"
Salem grimaces faintly and flicks ash onto the floor. "Certainly. After all, 
   we didn't get killed the last time," the Ahroun remarks, dryly.
Patrick replies, just as drily, "You didn't come out with a fetish, either."
Cassandra is quiet, smoking, and to all appearances has her eyes closed.
Lisa turns to Salem and JJ. "Fetish? Was that on our shopping list?"
Jeff leans forward, listening quietly for a long moment. Finally, he asks, 
   "What exactly are we going back in there for? I don't suppose its for 
   blowing the hell out of that building, is it?"
Patrick continues, "First of all, she does have some sort of fetish or 
   something that allows her to control Consumer in some way, shape, or form. 
   And you open your smart-assed mouth one more time, and I'll shut it for 
   you. There is a time and place for those comments, trust me, and this damn 
   well isn't it."
JJ Malone studies Patrick for a moment or two, then indicates the Uktena 
   ragabash for Lisa with the remnants of his cigarette. "This is their party 
   now."
Lisa narrows her eyes into tiny pinpricks, sharp enough to gain a 
   monomolecular edge, but says nothing. She just nods to JJ.
Patrick nods a thanks to JJ, then goes back to the subject at hand. "At any 
   rate, she managed to get her hands on a fetish of some sort quite a while 
   back, wanting to use it to punish the Garou. She vaguely failed, but had 
   plenty of patience. She's wanting to finish things off now, it seems. She's 
   toying with us for now." He leans forward again, adding, "But if we can get 
   the fetish from her, then her ability to harm the caern is crippled 
   immeasurably. And we can use /it/ to force Consumer into another binding 
   like the last one."
"Too bad you can't just get rid of the damn thing directly," Cassandra mutters 
   under her breath.
Lisa sketches something in her notebook with hard, deep strokes.
"And this fetish," Jeff asks, "Do we know exactly what it is? What it looks 
   like? Where it's being kept?"
Andrea lets Patrick do all the talking, finally sitting next to Cassandra 
   until something calls for her comment.
Patrick ticks off points on his fingers. "We know she keeps it relatively near 
   her, but not on her person. It's probably kept in some sort of box, maybe 
   like a safe. No idea exactly what it looks like; despite the research we've 
   done so far, we've not been able to get any sort of description. Most 
   likely, no one's seen it besides Turner herself for a century. However," he 
   counters, shifting position, "Andrea or I could at least tell that 
   something was a fetish, if we can find it."
Andrea nods, supporting that. She also adds, "She wasn't carrying it on her 
   when I met her."
JJ Malone jots something down, then crushes out his spent cigarette, replacing 
   it with a new one in deft motions. "So, there a plan yet, or we coming up 
   with one at this meeting?"
Patrick grins wryly. "Yes. You know more about her office, her schedule, and 
   such. We know more of what we're looking for and why. I want a relatively 
   small, competant group for a quick insert and get-the-Hell-out."
JJ Malone nods with approval, then leans forward in his chair once more. "Who 
   from your pack?" he asks, looking from Patrick to Andrea to Cassandra then 
   back with curious questioning.
Patrick nods at his two packmates present. "Probably just these two. Cassie's 
   a good sneak; Quiet can sneak and can deal with the thing."
Cassandra stretches luxuriantly and cracks her knuckles. "I've got some 
   experience with B&E," she comments. "I'd almost..." She stops as Patrick 
   speaks, then nods. "Yeah."
Andrea nods once. "I used to be in a scout pack, and I'm a backup for Patrick 
   on fetish spidey-sense. Or he is for me, if you like that better." She 
   grins up quickly at her packmate before continuing to JJ. "But if it goes 
   all new moon, I'll lay out. Whatever the final plan is."
JJ Malone frowns faintly, but says without pause, "Then you won't want more 
   than possibly two of us. I'm going in this time." He gives Salem a glance, 
   but then looks back at Patrick without addressing the other ahroun. "Lisa 
   and John have most of the schedule information. Lisa and Jack, here, are 
   the ones who went in last time. Part of what you're going to need to decide 
   is *where* the thing is." Out of the stack of paper comes a folded 
   blueprint, which the metis proceeds to unfold across the table. Between a 
   large office building and a second one is a hand-penciled in third, plans 
   fairly detailed for it as well. "There are three on the grounds."
Salem shifts his weight, straightening up. He gives his cigarette another 
   flick, sending a mild spray of ash down onto the floor.
Andrea gets up so she can see the plans, dusting her hands on her jeans. 
   "What's the Umbra there like?"
Cassandra flicks her own ashes and lets the clove sit in the ashtray for a 
   minute. "I'd almost say go in flipside and find it that way...." She shoots 
   a look at Andrea, grinning. "Great minds think alike."
Jeff coughs softly, looking to JJ a moment, then back to the others. "As I 
   recall, we marked that option out."
Salem gives his head a slight shake at the suggestion to go Umbral, but lets 
   the other Walkers do the talking.
JJ Malone leans over the table, arms splayed out with hands supporting the 
   weight of his upper torso, shooting Jeff a sardonically wry look. Turning 
   serious once more, he uses the cigarette in his left hand as a pointer to 
   the "second" building and office building. "Typical of office buildings 
   which have been around in the city. Lots of pattern spiders, dirty, that 
   sort of thing. If it's anything smaller than gibbous moon, I wouldn't touch 
   it with a ten-foot-pole. That," he indicates the penciled in building, "has 
   a quantity of net spiders and traces of some rather large and nasty 
   Wyrm-corrupted pattern spiders lurking in it's depth. Ops," he names that 
   one, then points at the "second" and office building and naming them, 
   "warehouse, administration."
Patrick nods slowly, pursing his lips. "Cameras, I assume?"
Andrea lifts one shoulder in a shrug. "There's a way to look over and see 
   sleeping spirits in fetishes without stepping over. But without that, any 
   guess from me would be a crap shoot, outside the parameters we've already 
   said."
JJ Malone answers Patrick, then looks at Andrea at her comment. "Then we 
   should go under full moon, then. Personal recommendation. I think given our 
   assets, it's the safest bet to actually succeed."
Patrick nods in agreement. "Anything done Umbrally gets done under full moon. 
   It might hurt us some Realmside, but that detriment is more than made up by 
   the bonus in the Umbra."
Andrea asks, "Do we want to take any others as fighting backup, or do you 
   still think we can do it with the ones we mentioned?" Her eyes flick from 
   Lisa to Jeff and back to JJ Malone, questioningly.
Salem wordlessly lights a second cigarette on the heels of the first.
Jeff lifts a brow, looking toward JJ at the mention of extra muscle.
"I'm thinking Jack," J.J. replies as if discussing the price of tea at the 
   market. "If fighting backup is what's called for. I was waiting to see if 
   Lisa's firsthand knowledge or either Nigel or Jayson would be more 
   beneficial to what you had in mind."
Patrick replies, "If at all possible, we want in and out as quickly as 
   possible. We don't /want/ to fight, and if it becomes necessary, we still 
   want to get out more than fighting."
Andrea nods, "I was only speaking of the Umbra itself. Certainly we want to be 
   in and out quickly in the realm."
Jeff clears his throat, looking toward JJ as he asks, "Do you think we'll be 
   needed any," a pause, "Special equipment from my company. Mind you, I can't 
   get anything large, but I'm thinking the larger items would just draw 
   attention."
JJ Malone nods at Patrick and Andrea. "We're going at night. I'll lay you odds 
   we run into Ashley Turner." That pointed out in a normal enough tone, he 
   turns to Jeff. "Normally, I'd love to, but I don't think we could get any 
   in through the flipside. Unless Andrea has any ideas." That comment is 
   accompanied with a sidelong look at the theurge, before he focuses 
   attention back on the philodox. "I'm thinking anyone who doesn't go in 
   should do what we did last time. Backup, distraction, and getaway duty. It 
   might help in that case, you think?"
Patrick frowns and purses his lips. "Deliveries? What sort do they tend to 
   get, and how are they logged?"
JJ Malone still focuses on Jeff while digging out a couple of sheets of legal 
   paper from the sheaf of others to hand over to Patrick, indicating Lisa as 
   someone to talk to for more about it. The sheets have some notes about the 
   delivery schedules and truck companies observed dropping things off, which 
   range 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Andrea frowns. "One. It adds a complication, though. There's nothing binding 
   both missions to the same night, unless we think she'll move the fetish 
   often. Probably she keeps it somewhere, like a safe, and doesn't move it 
   much." She shrugs. "We'll be there anyway, trying to determine the 
   location, so it might be just as well to strike from the Umbra." Her eyes 
   go to Jeff. "As far as things to take over, I can only take over the 
   living. To take the unliving is a gift beyond my rank, if they can't be 
   dedicated."
Patrick nods, looking over the sheets. "It's another way to get in relatively 
   safely, if we want to do a daytime insertion to avoid Her. I could take a 
   driver's place; they'd never recognize me again."
Jeff folds his hand and goes quiet, watching the new conversation on 
   deliveries. He nods to Andrea's statement once and says, "I suppose I'll 
   get enough for the backup to have. I'm afraid I don't have any access to 
   Umbral weapons."
Cassandra puts in quietly, "I'd rather just use my own," from her corner.
JJ Malone frowns at the line of planning developing. "Depending on where the 
   fetish is located, getting in during the day is going to be tough. My first 
   thought is that it'd probably be in the admin building," he says pointing 
   to that one again, "in her office on the top floor in a room with no 
   windows. Keycards on all the doors, tight security. Typical. If the 
   warehouse or ops center is connected to it underground, it's not in the 
   plans. If it's in the warehouse or the ops center, sneaking in as a 
   delivery driver *may* work again."
Patrick nods slowly. "True, but if we go in at night, we get much better 
   chances of running into her. So we have potential hosings, regardless."
JJ Malone smiles thinly. "If it were up to me, I'd say night. She needs to go 
   down. But, I already told you what I thought about that."
Andrea frowns suddenly, her brow knitting.
Patrick raises an eyebrow at Andrea. "Hm?"
At Patrick's monosyllabic query, J.J. looks up and over at Andrea as well, 
   curiously.
Andrea says slowly, "Jade said her control on the fetish was getting firmer. 
   Some rare fetishes can be used when the person isn't holding them." She 
   looks to Patrick. "Tell me I'm paranoid."
Patrick replies firmly, "You're being paranoid. Besides, if it's wrested far 
   enough away, she shouldn't be able to use it, bond or no."
Patrick leans back in his chair again and says, "Okay, then. We'll try a night 
   snatch-and-grab, even if it means we might have to deal with her. With any 
   luck, we can get away from her despite her being awake." Wryly, he adds, 
   "With enough luck, we'll be Realmside for a very short time, and not have 
   to worry about it."