Curiousity killed some cats (IMPACT)

[Day]

Atop the Theater, Day scoped out the area. It wasn’t just about the mausoleum. It included the egris. If things went sideways, he had to be ready to offer cover to get the group clear. As he set up the rifle, he was also watching the movement around the theater, the abandoned church and the few houses that were clustered about the area.

The houses were dark with no movement. The abandoned church, was empty save one lone human that was poking about. He trained his site on that human. Right now the human wasn’t looking overly suspicious, but the moment that human moved the wrong way, Day would take him out without hesitation. There was a couple strolling west toward the mausoleum, also not acting overly suspicious, but at the moment they would in the clear, and could be taken easily.

Yes Day could take them out. However, those figures could be part of Wendell’s plan. He had no idea who or how many people were in on Wendell’s plan. Knowing the Boss, the boss didn’t do anything in half measures. He needed to communicate with Wendell, but he wasn’t going to use the phone. To easy to have it monitored. He dug into the duffel bag and pulled out the radio and ear piece that Wendell gave him on the last mission.

Day slipped on the earpiece that was connected the radio set and tuned it into the frequency that Wendell usually used. “Test.” That was all he needed to say until he knew he was on the correct frequency. He continued to watch the area. He preplanned a path of retreat. If retreat was needed, it would be to go south by the homes, Day could offer firepower cover to keep the army at bay.

The Army. Using his binoculars, he watched the Army as they patrolled and milled about. The army was doing patrols, but they were not on a timed method. It was half-assed at best. There were two on patrol, but were not spaced correctly in their patrols. If Day were behind that patrol, there would always be someone within easy reach of the main gate. But not these patrollers. The soldiers were basically just walking a path, and crossing their paths with each other in the back of the Mausoleum, leaving the main gate completely uncovered for two and half minutes.

[Zodiac]

She looked over the girl's shoulder as she moved back and forth through the surveillance footage searching for a clear image. The woman who could be seen debating with Jennifer was not all that impressive. Not the type who really stood out in a crowd, but one of those who worked tirelessly behind the scenes in order to make others look good. The mystic was already considering scenarios that could fit this person. If this was the one they sought, she could understand why they would want to blow a story like this open. She would suddenly have value and no longer be in the shadows of her profession.

"Best three I can salvage, dear," Jennifer sighed. "The woman did not believe in standing still."

"Is fine, dear. None of us knew at the time. Print those up and make multiple copies for the others." Zodiac reassured her with a pat on the shoulder. She looked up from the monitor and smiled a bit. "Alexandrea has just arrived."

"Oh joy, more fun." the redhead sighed.

Zodiac laughed a bit, then went downstairs to greet her. "Sorry I did not answer you earlier, but I was involved in something that demanded my total attentions." she hugged her friend, then motioned for her to follow the gypsy into the back. "You sure you have enough explosives or whatever in your bag?" she teased as she took a seat at her reading table and began to bring the allurist up to speed on what she had discovered so far.

"Curious people do not ask for literature that describes the actual processes for reanimating the dead just because it sounds cool. Well, perhaps they would but knowing exactly what to ask for is beyond idle curious." she explained as Penny hopped into her lap. "The titles that were requested are not known to many, which suggests to me someone was wanting to compare notes to something else. I maybe wrong, but when you put all the odd parts together, can I just ignore it?" she petted the smaller cat briskly before encouraging her down to the floor. "Can I say the processes described in them actually make a zombie? I don't know, I have never tried, but I do know there are other things in those tomes that do work and I would not just sell them to anyone if I had them to sell."

A knock at the door and Jennifer entered with a folder. "Hey," she said to Alex as she handed the folder to Zodiac. "What's up, Mini Ginny? C'mon, I get ya some fish." The kitten scampered after the girl as the mystic handed the woman one of the prints.

"That is who is asking for the books. Would not leave a name, paid for her other purchases in cash, and left an e-mail address for contact when the tomes came in. No phone number. Now we could probably flush her out by replying and saying the books are in, but perhaps we should track her down in other ways first to be sure."

She then pulled an index card from her skirt pocket and began to copy the address onto a separate bit of paper. "I am going to send this to Mordie in a moment to see if it matches up with anything his spiders may have found, but it also occurs to me your pet police officer has access to ways to see who is on the other side of this address as well."

She slid the paper to Alex and then sat back in her chair. "As far as I know, Mordie and some others are looking into one end of the problem. The one who may have given our mystery woman the information she is trying to do something with. We have a chance to hopefully find the other half of this. So, can your pet cop be of value in all of this or not?" Personally, it mattered little to the gypsy if the cop had any value at all. He was a cop and in her eyes he was toxic. Her family history of her blood kin and what represented law and order were forever at odds. If this cop wasn't under Alex's control, she would swear the ******** would try to find a way to blame it all on her simply because of what she was. She excused herself as she focused her thoughts to Mordechai.

"Alexandrea is with me now and we are debating if the local law may be of help in catching one end of this. Meanwhile, I have an e-mail address for you to compare to the lists your spiders may have found." she whispered before sending the bit of information along to his own thoughts.

[Mordechai]

Mordechai stood silently, patiently, only his eyes moving. The shadows wrapped him oozing blackness and emptiness, hiding him from sight as he watched Wendigo and Macaria approach the sewer entrance. As his eyes traced the outlines of the buildings, he finally spotted where the one called Day must be. There had been just the slightest glimpse on top of the theater. A momentary glimpse of tree cancer, or in this case, parapet cancer. There was a saying that it took a sniper to catch a sniper, and it held true. The onlt reason he had spotted him was that he knew where he himself would be, if he had drawn overwatch. The views were excellent and he could cover three hundred sixty degrees.

He now had positions on all four players in Oldtown, and as he was turning to watch Wendigo's back trail he felt the familiar sound of his diminutive sireling the mystic Zodiac speaking into his mind. She had found the email address, and let him know that Alexandrea had joined the hunt. The blonde allurist had long ago long ago enthralled the Harper Rock police commissioner, Harold James O'Sullivan. He would be able to bring added manpower to the search for information under her command, and her own skills at breaking and entering might soon become invaluable once they had a final name and address.

The email addy that Zodiac passed on drew a frown, it was a disposable yahoo address. The street was still clear so he took a brief foray into the webz. A glance at the profile confirmed his first thought, he was sure that whoever created this address, had nor been born Jane Smith. Zodiac had not passed on a name, or any other information so he tagged the addy on to the tasking of the spiders and returned his attention to the streets. A three man patrol had just turned the corner, and were still a good block and a half from where the vampire couple was approaching the sewer entrance, when a slight dissonance in his mind let him know something was up with one of the spiders. Keeping an eye on the soldiers he quickly accessed the information. A hit. The yahoo address had been accessed from the computer at the paper that was assigned to the missing reporter. It had only been checked once, but that was all he had needed. Sending his the ingo in a short blast to Zo he followed up with "It is her. We need a name and address. By the loooks of things we might be here for a bit trying to get info on the source...so if you get the address, you and Alex will have to act on it. If she can get inside, get anything, ANYTHING, computer related, and get it out of there."

The soldier on point finally did his job. A raised arm pointed towards 'Digo as he lifted the manhole cover. "You succeeded, company is coming for dinner. Three have sent rsvp's. Let me know how many extra place settings you have, and I will make alternative seating arrangements for the rest." Slowly and silently the massive killer slid forward on an intercept course. Mordechai knew that it would take Macaria and Wendigo a moment to get set, so he passed on the other news to 'Digo as well. "Zodiac scored. I have confirmed the woman in her shop is the reporter. Alex has joined her. They are going for a name and address. Maybe a little recon of their own. I have you covered, but apprise overwatch that there are three hostiles inbound, and accounted. Have him make sure we are not interrupted." Finally reaching position behind the soldiers he followed them towards the open manhole, catching bits and pieces of their whispered conversation that they were almost caught up to the man with the binoculars.

[Wendigo]

The Catacombs were largely unfamiliar to Wendigo, but it was still the territory of the dead, and the advantage was theirs here. He split off from Macaria and worked his way towards the Mausoleum entrance to the south. It was here that he encountered the first of the advance patrol. The man wore night-vision goggles, but those were sufficient only to let them see in the darkness. Even these were not sufficient to defeat Shadow training, and so the man met with a quick and silent death.

Wendigo laid the body out in a corner: the denizens of this place would clear away the body in their own time. He took with him the man's weapon, goggles, radio, and form. He briefly peered through the goggles, although he could not tolerate it for long: the digital image was a mere facsimile of the real world. Appropriately so, it lacked the detail he could see with his own eyes. He raised them to set on his head: they could at least be a part of the disguise. Next, he placed the radio in his ear: military training allowed him to understand snippets, but they used their own terminology. It was always this way with this lot. At some point -- probably when they found the body -- they would use code-words to switch their channels and encryption, and he would be unable to follow the trail.

He had a short window of time in which to find a second guard. Using the image of the first would soften the second for interrogation. Slipping back into the shadows, he began the search for his unwilling informant.

Two guards stood at the stairway up to the Mausoleum: it would be difficult to get to one without alerting the other, and he pressed on to the east. Here, the corridor narrowed such that he had to turn to his side to squeeze through... even though he appeared in the shape of a man, his dimensions had grown beyond them, and the illusion was only that. The sound of the cloth of his coat dragging along the wall alerted a guard he planned to seek up on. The man in the night-vision turned quickly, raising the gun.

"Find anything?" Wendigo called out, using the voice of the guard he was wearing. The other guard paused. It was a moment of hesitation, and Wendigo probed the guard's mind as to why. The images came quickly: a scientist... an empty office... files missing... an angry officer... the scientist again... a middle-aged man... handing him something... a computer screen fitted into a radio... multiple signals... heart-rates?

Wendigo looked down to the radio at his belt, and found the switch the memories indicated: five active green lines tapping out a methodical pace... one yellow line pounding away rapidly next to the letters "SF". He glanced up and saw "Fitzgerald" written on the guard's uniform. Looking back down, a flat red line next to "RS". He knew what came next, but looked anyway. "Stone" was written on his own false uniform.

Well... that was new.

Fitzgerald opened fire, and Wendigo, squeezing as he was in the small space made for an easy target. He took three in the side before lashing out with mental powers. Fitzgerald adjusted his fire for the phantom images that began to appear before his eyes, and Wendigo turned his head to see laser sights about to come around the other corner. Pinned east to west, Wendigo went the only other direction his mostly-spent anima would allow: straight up.

Tunneling out of the south catacombs put him closer to the encampment that he would have liked, but on the safe side of the wall at least. He broke for the tree line, and made it just as the spotlights on that side of the camp came on.

"Ornery lot," he sent Day and Mordechai. He pulled out his phone and began typing a message. "Missing scientist and files. Didn't get much. They've caught on to infiltration methods. Time to regroup."

On the phone, he sent a simple message to his new contact: "They're on alert. Best to get out."

[Day]

Day got Wendell's message, and immediately thought 'shiiiiit'. The guards had seemed half-assed at best. But they were already on the Wendell'd trail , that they meant they were not as ******* shabby as Day had thought them to be.

He sighed, and readied himself to covered Wendell's retreat. However, Wendell's retreat took a northerly route. A route that Day could not cover. '****!' Another miscalculation. Day quickly shouldered the sniper rifle, and shoved everything else into the duffle bag. Before leaving, Day scoped the northerly route with his binoculars and then softly keyed his mike, "Single Bogey on your 6." He then went radio silent and retreated from his position on the roof top, to a position by the gas station. This one gave specific cover to the man hole entrance to the sewer.

[Mordechai]

"Ornery lot,Missing scientist and files. Didn't get much. They've caught on to infiltration methods. Time to regroup."

Evidently things had turned. Best laid plans of mice and vampires, and all that. Time to get things moving, Digo would most likely need a distraction. Summoning a sihde, he turned it loose on the farthest man. As it pounded him into a pile of broken bones and split flesh, the killer released the shadow and stepped behind the other two members of the patrol. There attention on their partner, they never noticed the massive seven foot killer moving in. As their weapons came up, he grabbed their heads, smashing them together, a small grin as he felt the skulls cracking beneath his hands. Kicking the three bodies through the hole, he slipped the manhole cover back into place, lifting the two Diemaco C7A1 that they had dropped and he had saved, he shouldered them and grabbed the radio laying on the ground next to them. A burst of speed brought him to the far western edge of the encampment, four hundred yards into the wilderness. unslinging one of the weapons, he began sporadic semi automatic fire into the air, when the thirty round magazine went dry he dropped it and keyed the mic "INCOMING, MULTIPLE BOGEYS INCOMING FROM THE WEST" Squeezing hard he broke the radio, and dropping it unslung the second rifle. Two long fully automatic bursts ripped from the barrel as he cleared the last of the Canadian ammo. Breaking the weapon over his leg, he tossed the pieces to the side, then tipping his head back looked to the skies. No air response yet. Taking to steps he lept into the air morphing into the shape of a harpy eagle and winging his way towards the heavens. "Plan B?" He broadcast out to the two he knew would be listening, Zodiac and Groom.

[Zodiac]

She sat quietly as Alex talked with her pet policeman. Mordie had given her instructions which made sense all things considered. Finding the place she was hiding would be a good thing, but-if she returned and discovered she had been robbed, there was no telling which way she would run. As the gypsy saw it, they would find a lot of the materials she would have researched from, but the sum total of the info and her findings would be on her or somewhere she could access easily. Possibly a thumb drive or a key to a deposit box.

"That's how I would play something like this," she sighed to herself. None of what they were doing would be sure to net the fish they were seeking. Also, there was no assurances the one who gave her the information would be caught as well.

She excused herself and went out into the shop proper and found Jennifer. The two women had a quick conversation as the gypsy told her what to expect and do if things happen as she hoped they might, then returned to her parlor. Once she was certain Alex had finished speaking to her pet, she opened her thoughts again to her.

"As much as it would be good to find this person's lair or better yet-find them in their lair, I think making them come to us might be the best option to work with." Her thoughts reached out farther now and found Mordie's again.

"Once you have finished, come to Pandora's please. While the police work to find her bolt hole, I am going to try and have her come to us."

She turned to her laptop and began to type.

FROM: mistresszodiac@pandorasbox. com

Blessings of the day to you.

I am pleased to inform you that your order has finally arrived and is available to be picked up. Please stop in at your earliest continence to purchase them. Due to the nature of these books, I cannot keep them long without voiding a refund on my part if they are not claimed, so please do be as prompt as possible or let me know ASAP if you have changed your mind.

Have a blessed day.
Mistress Zodiac
Owner. Pandora's Box

Underneath her text was the usual footnotes on how cash, check, and major credit cards are accepted here. Please consider joining our frequent shoppers club for savings, discounts and early notification of events and sales, and a small cartoon of a black cat sitting beside a purple pentacle. She pressed the SEND key and turned to look at Alex again.

"I just baited a hook. Let's hope this fish is still hungry for the worms it thinks I have for it."

[Mordechai]

"Once you have finished, come to Pandora's please. While the police work to find her bolt hole, I am going to try and have her come to us."

Wheeling about in the air the powerful wings swept the eagle over the camp where he saw man and machine scrambling to the west. Already the sound of gunfire reached his ears, as the panicked men opened fire on ghosts and shadows, letting the killer know how scared the troops were. turning south towards Honeymead Market, the eagle homed in on the tea house as he reached out to Wendigo. "Regroup at the Pentacle Tea House in Honeymead. Zodiac has information and a plan, and we need a face to face. We need plans." Circling downwards the killer slowly folded his wings, then flared as he dropped behind Zo's shop and shifted. Walking to the door, he reached out to his sireling "I am here, madam Zo, company is on the way" Entering the shop, he started to make his way towards the rear of the tea room.

[Wendigo]

Wendigo paused between two trees. To say he needed to catch his breath would be erroneous: at a certain point, his body just stopped responding to his will. This was an unfortunate place to experience such a failure: he was vulnerable in the forest, and his reserves were dry to the point where transformation into the vulture was impossible. Channeling his blood to summon spirits would also be a hazard, as he had learned such powers were unpredictable in Fae territory. It was a gamble either way.

Worse, he was bleeding from the side, making his supply precariously low, and probably making him a glowing beacon to whatever monsters dwelt out there. The bullets did not pain him per se -- he no longer felt pain -- but they weakened him, and he felt the resultant lethargy and dizziness.

He would have preferred pain.

He leaned heavily against the tree to his left, away from the wounds on his right, to better examine the damage. These soldiers had definitely upgraded their armaments. He had underestimated this lot... it was something he aimed never to do. Going back as far back as the Blood Thieves, he had argued vehemently that no enemy should be underestimated, and that every enemy should be treated as a genuine threat. As a result, for the first time in ages, Wendigo felt something: disappointment.

Once again, he would have preferred pain. He closed his eyes to rest... uncharacteristically human of him.

"Regroup at the Pentacle Tea House in Honeymead. Zodiac has information and a plan, and we need a face to face. We need plans."

His eyes snapped open with the voice in his mind. Had he lapsed into Stillness? If so, it would make for two apparent regressions in a night. This was, after all, no time to rest and give up. He would have to concern himself with such matters later: his allies required him now.

Turning his mind toward Day and Macaria he passed along the message. "Meeting at Pentacle Tea House: Honeymead." Spending most of the last of his blood, he brought spirits to them, and used their power to turn himself into the vulture. Sailing out of the wood as the trees began rustling angrily around him, he flew south toward the Tea House. Being the vulture always gave him a little more energy, but tonight, it felt like being alive again.

That was three.

[Day]

Day got the message. "Meeting at Pentacle Tea House: Honeymead." That told Day thing's went completely south. He knew things were not right. But as bad as a full out withdrawal?! No. Before he was prepared to give full cover to those who needed it. But now, as he relinquished his position, he was not sure what he was prepared to 'give' or 'take'. The way it sounded to him; they were not in the position to offer any sort of offensive.. or dare he think it.. defensive positioning at all.

Day waited until every figure he, personally recognized, as being part of the -plan- got clear before he took the retreat position to cover everyone's exit.