Deputy Imril - [END ACT II] And We Were All Getting Along So Well...
Chris Taylor
((Dim Office, The Redoubt, Vellum Pines — Planet Wherac-98))
Man: Well, if they’re that well trained, I think we’d better put you all to the test, don’t you?
Translation: “I’m going to make you get your hands dirty(er), so that no matter how today shakes out you’ll have nowhere safe to go but back to me.” Organized Crime 101.
Imril merely let out a sigh of ‘There it is!’.
Jaran: Oh. This is one of those things where you extort us into free labour, isn't it?
Ikaixar: response
A third monitor came to life. Positioned lower than the last. Set within an alleyway, looking primarily on a large green commercial garbage bin, the kind with two black lids and a bar to deter dumpster divers. But with a partial view out to the street at the top of the frame. Where a line of troops and hover vehicles was moving from left of frame to right.
Man: Normal operating procedure for those fascists is to send out a scanning team to examine the explosion site and determine if there’s a danger of plasma grid containment breach or subversive activity before calling for the appropriate response. Instead, every last one of them in the whole area pulled out. Not for long. Just long enough to disturb some delicate operations of mine. And long enough for you to get from there to here.
The monitor that displayed watch locations advanced from the team atop the first abandoned building to within Gavrin’s.
Imril: .oO(Hmm, you’ve numbered the circles. Very helpful, thanks.)Oo.
Jaran: What’s that supposed to show?
Gavrin titled his head from side to side, seemingly to steady himself against the pain of his ankle.
Ikaixar: response
He laughed again.
Man: Don’t be so modest. I think you clever fellows had another trick up your sleeve to get you where you needed to go. I think you did something to convince the troops to abandon the area. And I’m guessing the tools to do so came from here.
Yet another monitor. (Was this man made of monitors?) Security camera footage from the Transmission Hut parking lot. Imril watched themself step into the store with the others. The feed rezzed out a moment later, coinciding with the time freeze, and when it started up again the lot was partly full of police hover-vehicles. Herris, on a stretcher, was being lifted up into the back of a police van flanked by two hover-bikes.
Imril: Oh, So that’s where you got all the monitors. Is there an I Don’t Matter discount? ::Realizing that bit of snark was out loud:: Oh. Sorry. That was rude of me. Go on, please.
Jira snorted. Gavrin’s hand hushed a second response.
Ikaixar: response
The man's eyes narrowed and hardened.
Man: Whatever you did to send those troops packing, I’m providing you kind folks the opportunity to do it again. Don’t worry about where to send them. I’ll provide those details.
Imril decided to save Gavrin the trouble of getting caught in another terrible lie.
Imril: That was me. But there were extenuating circumstances. I can’t do it again, even if I wanted to.
The man’s smile disappeared.
Man: Well, you’d better un-extenuate them, Deputy Imril. Because you’re all going to repay the losses that you’ve cost our war of liberation. Or Mama Bear and the cubs are going to remain my guests for a long time to come.
Jaran: You can't be serious. How can you twirl your moustache and say something so obviously villainous and still think your movement is in the right?
Tarsan: ::murmuring:: He said ‘remain his guests’, not kill them. Maybe… they’re safer here anyway.
Ikaixar: response
The man stood for the first time from his apparent command station and walked to be face to face with the four. He was short, stout, his tie was too large and Imril had guessed correctly about the cybernetic eyes.
But Gavrin had called it; this man was not going to kill anyone. He needed everyone here alive and well for skills that he and his people did not have. He needed Marni and the kids to coerce cooperation. Whatever happened next wasn’t going to be fun, but Imril and the others would live through it. Next to Aesop, this Red was a teddy bear. Imril had no fear of him.
Man: I do what the Reds need done. They can be freedom fighters out there. But I am charged with something equally important: the things they will not claim. Even most of the ones who brought you here think you're just new recruits.
Jaran: I get it. So you get your hands dirty and the leaders of the organisation get to say they don't know about you. But didn't you say you were in charge?
Tarsan: Oh gods, you’re middle management.
Imril: If you could just let us all be our way, that would be great. Yeeeah.
Ikaixar: response
He laughed his little evil laugh again and leaned in. Gavrin was really resisting the urge to laugh, as he had to tilt his head back to look up at Gavrin.
Man: For you, I am the Reds. You don't need to concern yourself with anyone else.
Jira dug in for more than he wanted to share.
Jaran: Oh, I have some guesses. It would need to be someone who could rally people to them. You certainly don't have the charisma for that.
Tarsan: oO Or the stature Oo
Imril: ::Pointing to the monitors:: I do like your sense of flair in decorating. It says ‘Volcano lair on a budget’.
Ikaixar: Response
The man turned his back to them and lowered his head into his hands.
Man: Oh this is exhausting. You're going to poke and poke and hope I give something up that you can use to your advantage. Well, you can't. It would do you no good, even when I send you out to do your job. ::turning back around and leaning in intensely:: Think about it. Who is the only person who could organise something like this without anyone noticing? Who has the resources, the cult of personality, and the time? You know who. I can see it on your face already.
Imril, having no idea what the Man was talking about, looked to the person who did.
Jaran: No... but she...
Man: You have it.
Jaran: ::looking up wide-eyed:: Mayor Meyers???
Gavrin froze up.
Tarsan: How could she?! So many people have been hurt or killed!
Imril: What?! Why?! How!?
Ikaixar/Jaran: Response
Man: How could she? You’ve seen how the town responded. There’s a rot at the centre of Vellum Pines. How ready it was to turn on its own citizens.
The word ‘rot’ did not begin to explain or even acknowledge issues like the time freeze, the vanishing of an entire city block, the emergence of a cloaked dome over the city or a bodiless voice promising doom and destruction on a scale even greater than what had befallen the colony so far. The conspiratorial aims of the former mayor and her pet cyborg were small beans compared to those.
Imril: Wait, are you saying she wanted Aesop to replace her? To let him institute this reign of terror so she could take advantage of it in some way?
Ikaixar/Jaran: Response
The man waved a hand, dismissing their words and sneering..
Man: That’s none of your concern, and entirely irrelevant. You are going to do it, for the sake of your family, Mister Tarsan.
Imril turned to the man whose loved ones had just been threatened. What he said next would likely galvanize the group’s responses to this criminal. Would it be open rebellion, or submission with a side of sabotage?
Tarsan: No.
Man: What do you mean, ‘No’? I think I made myself clear, Mister Tarsan.
Tarsan: I mean no. oO Forgive me Marni. Four preserve you. Oo The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.
Ah, yes, the old Vulcabn proverb.
Imril: If I were Vulcan, I believe my response would be “Go to Hell.”... If I were Vulcan.
Ikaixar/Jaran: Response
The Man shook his head and returned to his seat.
Man: Wrong move.
He tapped the remote again. The four monitors, and four identical ones underneath them, formed a single mosaic image. A widescreen shot of Marni and the kids sitting on the bed in what looked to be a motel room or something decorated like one Though distinctly bereft of anything resembling communication gear or somewhat ironically, a recreational video monitor. Marni was in the middle, holding the two forlorn youths to her sides, their heads dropped against her shoulders.
Ikaixar/Jaran/Tarsan: Response
Man: Something to motivate a change in heart on your parts. ::Looking behind the foursome:: Take them somewhere where they can re-evaluate their choices.
A boot moved behind Imril. They turned to face the ambush, hand raised to deflect a strike to their head or judo-chop to their neck.
But that wasn't where the goon was aiming. A metal cylinder that had been meant for the backs of Imril's knees instead slammed onto the side of their right leg. They crumpled to the floor, seething with pain. Before they could get up, something dark and heavy came down over their head.
Ikaixar/Jaran/Tarsan: Response
TAG/End Of Act II For Imril
------------------------------------------
Deputy Imril
Definitely Captive
Vellum Pines
A240110I12