Vice: 2120 (IC)

[Segmentia]

Victoria

The team moved with the precision that came after hundreds of training sessions, though it was a bit stiffer, as least that Victoria could see, but it was natural to be a bit more nervous when the rounds that might be shot at you were meant to kill you directly, rather then accidentally. Regardless, it was good enough. Two gangsters dropped, but they weren't even a dent in the sheer numbers. Victoria slid herself into some solid looking cover as the firefight raged on.

“I don't think we have enough ammo for this.” She mused aloud, trying to adapt the sheer scale of the firefight into some kind of workable plan. A control room was still the primary factor, if they could get one and take control of the archologies systems they could close off the rampage into compartments and snuff them out one by one, like a fire deprived of oxygen. It would be considerable work getting to and securing one though, and they would have to skirt around the main gang fighting if possible.

“Stay in cover and keep your eyes open, people. Let's try to not draw the attention of the entire horde of them, yeah?”

[Morrdh]

"This level is far too large to clear with just the two of us. I believe our best move is to find an large enough access point to open. We should flood this level with arbitrators. Let us hug the wall and head right until we find a control room. There may be a loading bay door we can open from there." Connor replied. "Take point, I shall cover our rears." He added.

"Good a plan as any." McNeill conceded. "Worth keeping an eye out for a map or data-terminal to get a better idea of where we are."

Once again Uxia took point, automatically going back to the 'tap' system of communications she'd used in the sewers and otherwise not using her radio unless absolutely needed. It was slow progress but simply charging blindly ahead would land them in a heap of serious trouble. Though Uxia couldn't help but feel an overwhelming sense of isolation, cut off as they were from the rest of the team and events elsewhere.

[Antimersia]

Progress was slow, but steady. Each few steps being preceded by the taps on the comms. Connor kept his eyes peeled for data terminals as well. But his focus was primarily on making sure they were secure from behind as they advanced through the level. with each step Connor grows more anxious. So much gunfire up top. and yet there seemed to be barely any sign of life down here at all. Part of him feels like he made a mistake even taking this route. He feels useless. but he is equally distrusting that he and Mcneill are truly alone.

"I have seen no data terminals yet. Have you?" connor asks over comes with a hushed voice.

[Revlona]

Savannah moved slowly back towards the stairs, losing some vision of the firefight in the process of gaining a bit extra cover behind the wall that held the door that lead to the stairs. She looked up and to her right for a slight second and was happy to see that the breach of the second floor had gone well.

“Which way to the control room? If we can get there we can get a better overview of what exactly is going on and be better prepared to react,” She said into the teams communication frequency, wondering if the others agreed or not.

[Pragia]

John Marcus
0724 Hours, 0+00:07:24 from weapons free
Sector 13 Precinct CIC

John was, suffice to say, given the short end of the stick. Unlike the rest of his team, he was not able to make the VTOL insertion, and was instead assigned to overwatch. While it was something he had been trained to do, he was no dispatcher, and the CIC was a new environment for him. Turns out the Academy surveillance courses were much more oriented to on-site activity rather than sitting back in a chair. Despite this, the indignance would need to wait as he holds and even expression, as the situation was escalated to a sector alert for a mass shooting. Despite the call up for the 212, John was assigned as overwatch for his fellow cadets who he should have taken to the field with.

He would walk past occupied seats, a wall of inspectors at a wall of computers orchestrating the response of the Justice Department. Alert lights were flashing at some stations as the large sector map was ablaze with high priority situations. The Watch Master was not yet raising sector alarm, which surprised John, seeing as there were currently 5 simultaneous mass shootings requiring heavy response. He would refocus as he reaches the first empty terminal, the only empty terminal. He would slide into the seat with some urgency and scan in his credentials to log his presence. His left hand would be still typing in early reports as his right hand grabs hold of the direct line. The cord was maybe a half inch thick, braided cloth surrounding a cord of high-bandwidth fiber-optic cables that was tipped in a conduit with a three-inch needle at the end for a datajack.

John braces himself as he slips the cable under his headrest, slipping the needle into the corresponding port at the base of his skull. He would flinch for a moment as it completes the circuit with his nervous system. He would then open the prompt and tap enter before he would jolt at the activation of the connection. Things would then begin to materialize rapidly as his mind interacts with the computer faster than his fingers could ever hope to. Floor plans for the New Oakland Mall Complex would flash to his screen immediately as he pulls them from building registration files. Dots would flash onto the screen as locational data from RFID chips identify where each new inspector on his team was in the complex. Camera feeds would begin to appear atop each dot as the data feeds were linked up, along with data feeds from the drone operators who were monitoring enemy communications. This is what Command and Control feels like in the Justice Department, taking in all of the data of the situation and organizing it into a flow of information to ensure that proper justice is dispensed on the assembled perpetrators.

He would begin arranging communication circuits for various levels within the team along with direct lines. His actual voice would be synthesized as using his voice properly would take far more time than just thinking the words and directing it to proper channels. He would announce curtly on the open team circuit “Overwatch being established now, could use access to that control room if possible.” He would echo the expressed sentiments of Inspector Druminil in a calm monotone that approximated his voice, “According to schematics the control room is on the twentieth floor, at the center of the arcology.” He was trying to add the surveillance systems of the arcology beyond the cameras on each Inspector, but the system appeared to be resisting his attempts, with feeds beginning to appear and overlap. Based on distance the perps would be marked on the map. With the decided lack of information from damaged cameras, he would begin to set up his own creative solutions, using audio feeds from each camera to try to triangulate locations of the gunfire. He would begin to relay locations of active perps as they became relevant.

[Caltharus]

Carefully Adrian advanced over the corpses of the two gangers. As per Victoria's idea he was attempting to locate the nearest control room. Yet they had to be careful as they couldn't risk gaining the attention of the full horde battling below.

His movement was far smoother than it had been in the stairs. The adrenaline from the encourter with the two gangers by the door made him much more certain of his actions. With that newfound confidence he slightly picked up pase, intent on finding the control room and putting end to the slaughter as soon as possible.

[Endem]

Isaac Shrike

Isaac parked his motorbike some 300 meters from the cordoned-off Oakland Mall. The ride has been rough and he was late, the motorbike he was assigned acted up when he was about to ride it which caused him to be late, he was worried, has he screwed up, will he just be failed on the spot for that fact, he hoped not to but the pervasive thought remained all throughout the ride through the war zone that is the Arcology 13 right now.

He thankfully was informed that the group had separated into two teams, one apparently going through the lobby and second through the sewers, he would want to join the second one, as it seemed like the safer route, but he didn't knew if he could, and thus he determined he would do best if he would report to the Inspector they were assigned to, another nail in the coffin it seems. He rushed to the Command point, taking off his helmet, he saluted to Inspector Zvezda hoping she would give him enough time to explain why he was late.

"I-i am-am s-sorry for lateness ma'am, the motorcycle assigned to-to m-me h-had technical troubles"

He could feel as his prosthetic cheek was moving on the servo motors up and down, it caused a sting in his mouth, the same with the skin on the back of his head as one of the plates moved from left to right and the second mirroring the movement, both of those revealing muscles and flesh mixed in with servos, normally he would hold the cheek it down, but that was not an option now.

"Permission t-to j-join t-the t-team in-in t-the sewers?"

He hoped that Inspector wouldn't notice that he was stuttering, but he knew she would noticed, everybody noticed, that's why he preferred not to talk.

[Imperialisium]

Arcology Main Security Suite

clack clack clak

The pockmarked thuds and clacking of automatic weapons cycling filled the hallway as a three way battle was fought around the Main Security Suite far above the Ground Floor Team. The rival gangs trading fire in chaotic, but not less ferocious, cascades of rolling gunfire. Pockmarking and chipping the concrete superstructure of the Arcology. Debris from shattered glass, destroyed booths, overturned furniture, and the half demolished ruin of a show car by an elevated automatic vehicle purchase company filled the pedestrian area. The Main Security Suite itself was somewhat central in a bulbous concrete and steel reinforced structure. The blast shields had been lowered and rated to stop anything short of a dedicated bunker buster rocket. Inside were a semi-circle of computer terminals and panels. Controlling the central security and surveillance mainframe of the entire Arcology.

"Ah, fuck, man.." groaned a propped security guard. His blue uniform bore a dark red stain across his lower abdomen. Circled around a hole in the fabric. Gunshot wound. The middle aged man clutched his side as he held his side arm close. Before him two more security guards lay still. Dead. Thats when the man noticed the figure squatting beside him. Blue uniform. An emergency trauma kit beside him as the middle aged man's compatriot measured some anti-biotic injection mixed with painkillers. Applying the cocktail through a quick injection in the upper right arm.

"Any communications yet? Camera 22 just went down. Thats sixteen cameras so far. No contact from Stephen in Auxiliary Suite 1. Other suites?"

The middle aged man panned his head over to see. Another security guard was standing before a terminal and manipulating a roto-mouse. A slightly shorter and more rotund compatriot pointing at something out of view, on the panel. "Negative no communications. We'll have to assume someone tapped into the mainframes communication sub-routine and is actively trying to shut us out."

"Who the bloody fucking hell can do that? System has multi-layer defense from hacking."

"Well then explain to me how whenever I punch up the communication protocols to send distress signals to the Judiciary I only get a system error?!"

"Here, they have to be fucking with the system here. Its an old manual communication hub on this floor next to the TJ Macy's. Put there during construction and left there in case main digital systems fail. But it is connected to the mainframe. They get codes from any auxiliary suite and they can keep us out for hours if their hackers got the chops."

"There is six of us left up and moving since Reggie over there took a 9 mil to the gut."

"We don-."

"No other suite has checked in since Stephen. He's so far ignored our internal check in calls."

"Th-."

"Thomas, Cooper, and I will go. We'll sneak through the Jared Jewelry Store. Use their side hallway to put us next to the AmeriBank. From there you should see us across the terminal we need to clear. It should be visible to us. We shoot whoever is using it and keep it clear so you can contact the Sector Precinct."

"I--alright."

The more rotund man lowered his head as he admitted defeat while his compatriot rose and checked his vest straps. They were given pretty standard reinforced kevlar vests capable of EPI plates. Though, none of those had been issued by by Sec. Inc. when they were given the contract to run security over the arcology. Nor did they have helmets either. Something to do with contract and the Arcology being 'low-crime.' Low-crime compared to what? Some damn villas six Sectors away in the Mountains? This was Sector 13. There were no 'low-crime areas.' Just another block in the sec'.

Reggie, the man indicated to who was shot and getting treatment from the colleague beside him, Jonah. Watched as the man turned to reveal himself to be Logan, the shift supervisor. Moving to the reinforced, practically vault like door providing the single entrance to the Main Security Suite, Logan glanced back at Reggie and said, "Hang tight Reggie." Punching in a seven digit sequence the shift supervisor known as Logan swiftly exited the suite into a hallway wide enough for two people to walk side by side. In the hallway were other two other security guards, Thomas and Cooper, who had been watching the end of the hallway from the shelter of a janitor closet and Security's office room. Both had kept their weapons, both sub-machineguns, aimed down the hallway. Then the sedative kicked in...

Logan had been on the job for two years. Thirty-two years old and a veteran of the Pacifican Army. Beside him were Cooper and Thomas. Cooper was a lanky twenty-four year old who took the job to provide extra income for his mothers seamstress business. Thomas was an old forty year old who'd been doing security for ten years. "Alright, so here's the plan..."

Zvezda

The Inspector turned as Isaac walked up. Late. But excusable I suppose. The rookie seemed nervous, had every right to be after all, what with chance of dying in a not so pretty fashion being just another statistic for the Judiciary to tally. "Excusable, Inspector Isaac. Permission granted." Zvezda blink clicked the icon for John Marcus, who had also recently arrived, "Inspector Marcus. Route Isaac to the sewer team. They should be in the sub-levels."

Colonel Fawkes glanced over, his helmet lenses meeting Zvezdas, not even acknowledging Isaac’s presence, "Still no word from the Arcology Security Team. Sec. Inc., confirms that fourteen officers would have been on duty this morning. Interference by Sector AI yields a 98% chance that the mainframe in the Arcology has been hacked or currently compromised."

"That wont do. Inspector Marcus, how well can you work on the move?" Zvezda pulled her Lawman from its holster and checked the ammo count. Fawkes turned to his staff and spoke quickly, "Zvezda's going in. Spread word to sniper teams of updated whereabouts."

Sub-levels

The sub-levels were dank and dark as Uxia and Connor moved through them. They appeared alone, at least until they heard a whisper, turning and shining their lights would reveal a huddle of workers hiding amid some containers. Full petrified faces as it took seconds for their terrified brains to process who was standing before them. Their first sign of not being in immediate danger, they weren't being riddled with bullets, and then the uniforms. Recognizing Connor and Uxia before them one of the huddled workers slowly raised his hands and walked forwards. Chest heaving with the stress as his bio-signs would be picked up by the Inspector's HUDs. Telling them what they could visually see, spiked blood pressure, cardiovascular stress: panic.

"Inspectors?" said the man in a low voice, yet, still uncertainty was in his voice.

[Endem]

Isaac Shrike

As soon as he gained permission he raced off to the entrance of the sewers, putting his helmet back on along the way, he dropped into the sewers, the HUD of the helmet was very helpful right now, as it indicated for him a clear path in the dark and damp sewers, lighted scarcely by the occasional sewer grate, he wondered how did the two that descended there previously had found a way.

He raced through the tunnels along the path, it was dark, it was wet, and perhaps most of all, it was nearly soundless outside of Isaac's footsteps echoing throughout, he was reminded, of that lab, of the needles inserted into his body, his chest cavity split open. He stopped, breathed, long breath, before giving himself a slap on the face, he needed to shake off bad memories and relentlessly pouring in thoughts.

He started to race again, shaking his head, trying to shake off the memories of his childhood, he could nearly hear the motors, pumps, and other mechanisms in his legs working, both of them were replaced, down below the knee he only had a pair of skeletal looking mechanisms, they didn't even bother to give them a covering, Isaac tried to disguise this with clothes, but he wasn't sure if it worked, ever.

He reached an opening of some kind, his path ended here, he crawled up, and in this rare moment he wished they had implanted some kind of noctovision into his eyes, though, if they'd do that he would probably be blind, he resorted to instead switching on his comms

"U-uxia" he stopped for a second, his mind filled with questions did he adress her in a wrong way, if he did would that result in the termination of his inspectorship, did he fail everything, he started to speak again "I-i h-have c-come as-as reinforcements, w-where are-are y-you?"

[Morrdh]

Arcology Main Security SuiteSub-levels

The sub-levels were dank and dark as Uxia and Connor moved through them. They appeared alone, at least until they heard a whisper, turning and shining their lights would reveal a huddle of workers hiding amid some containers. Full petrified faces as it took seconds for their terrified brains to process who was standing before them. Their first sign of not being in immediate danger, they weren't being riddled with bullets, and then the uniforms. Recognizing Connor and Uxia before them one of the huddled workers slowly raised his hands and walked forwards. Chest heaving with the stress as his bio-signs would be picked up by the Inspector's HUDs. Telling them what they could visually see, spiked blood pressure, cardiovascular stress: panic.

"Inspectors?" said the man in a low voice, yet, still uncertainty was in his voice.

"Frak!" Uxia exclaimed in surprise, her expectations to find the sub-levels shattered in an instance. Foolish to have presumed so, though a lesson to be learned.

"Yes, we're Inspectors." She answered once she'd recovered her wits. "We need to get to the nearest control room, can you help?"

Just then, her coms crackled to life.

"U-uxia. I-i h-have c-come as-as reinforcements, w-where are-are y-you?"

Uxia cursed under her breath before replying curtly. "Coms silence, follow HUD."

[Caltharus]

Shortly tapping his right thigh Adrian came to halt and quickly spoke to his squadmates through helmet's integrated comms: "Does anyone have the exact location of the control room? We hardly can just wander around here until we stumble upon it." While he spoke he kept his eyes firmly on the hallways before him, but luckily for now they seemed empty.

Then he again tapped his thigh signaling to Pasha that they would start moving again. As the pair advanced further they passed some of the firefights raging below, opting to not get involved as per Victoria's plan. The few lonely gangers that did stray to their path were delt with haste, not giving them any time to alert others. Yet he couldn't get rid of the the thought that these halls were too empty. The idea of a horde of gangers suddenly jumping at them gnawed in the back of his head. Until now it seemed that luck had carried them, but what would happen when it ran out?

[Endem]

Isaac Shrike

"Coms silence, follow HUD."

He wanted to answer yes, or understood, or something along those lines, but in this situation he just shut up and followed the path indicated by HUD of his helmet, he tried to move as silently as he could, eventually he found the two inspectors after what felt like eternity, though it was probably just the fact nothing appeared to change in the darkness until he found something other than walls and floor.

Before the two inspectors was a couple of workers, terrified, faces stretched in grimmaces of terror, the various HUD pop-ups only confirm this. Isaac wondered, did he look like this when he was found, curled up in a dark and decrepit room, with a face of utter terror at the new sight. He activated his comms for the last time, sending a message that only read "A-am H-here" before moving in to stand next to Uxia and Connor.

[Antimersia]

Connor felt an odd sense of relief, seeing workers down in these levels. He had not believed it likely that workers down here would have been able to easily get out safely. And seeing a number of them huddled together like this confirms this. He quietly approached the group, whispering as he spoke to the one who approached them. "Inspector Slack. If any of you are injured, tell me now. Otherwise, I shall escort you back through the sewers to be hide the perimeter that the Arbitrators have established." He said confidently, with a calm and hushed tone to try and ease some of the panic that his HUD displays from within the workers. Hearing Isaac coming to provide further backup meant that Uxia would still have cover without Connor. Freeing him up to help the civilians. Connor took a deep breath and focused, now having three things to listen for and process all at once. The response from the worker, any communications from Uxia or Isaac, as well as listening for any sounds that are out of the ordinary within the sub-levels. Connor is skilled, but this is starting to spread him thin. Making him grateful that he has someone there to watch his back for a change. Rather than the other watching other's.

[Pragia]

John would reply quickly to the inspector’s command; the overwatch being somewhat concerned as he observes inspector Shrike’s bodycam. He would not render any comment, as it seems the junior inspector was able to intuit where to go without guidance. John had some level of sympathy, but it was overwhelmed by a certain spite. Judging by his breathing and cadence in his voice, his fear was evident, and the tight quarters of the lower levels likely would not help. He would, however, upload to the sub-level team a HUD element, a map of the sub-level according to the building specs to know where they are and where they are going if they loose contact. He would announce as much on a select channel to the under-level team, sure to include the lead Inspector “I’m throwing the floor plan onto your HUD, having some difficulty with accessing camera feeds.”

With the second command, the junior inspector would sink into his seat quickly. “I can work on the move, be advised that dumpshock is going to reduce capacity.” He says as diplomatically as he can muster. Connecting your nervous system to a powerful computer for direct interface has the unfortunate side effect of desensitization and loss of precise motor functions for a period of time after exiting the interface. Even the most advanced datajacks had this problem, it was an issue of neural responses to electronic overstimulation. Nonetheless, there was no time for the advised window of low activity following disconnect. He would relay to Voss “As stated, inspector, the control room is at the center of the arcology on the twentieth floor, I would suggest securing a stairwell and reaching the level: the height advantage would be helpful to not be ambushed by opposition.” He would curse to himself, not over comms, as more cameras continue to disconnect or distort, the local systems quickly removing his intrusion.

John would take a deep breath, his perception of time having been warped by the stimulation. What had felt like half an hour had taken maybe a minute or two, a fact he would become painfully aware of as his senses reassert himself and the circuit is broken and the plug is pulled. It feels like he had just fallen out of bed after a nap that had gone on too long. The adrenaline would kick in briefly, the inspector taking a deep breath and sitting up, nobody else in CNC paying much mind, as such a response was normal. He would slide to his side, copying over some of the keys to his datapad on his wrist to try and stay in the loop with the much less efficient physical interface. He would get to his feet and begin legging it to the mustering area.

He was equipped with the standard light equipment of an Inspector on duty even in the CIC, as the heightened alert level would keep him on edge. He would make it to the motor pool easily enough, his head twitching some as the level of stimulation is still trying to normalize. He was dizzy by the end of his short run, seeing a handful of gunships of the 212th Attack Battalion. He would run toward one, displaying his identification as an inspector to the squad leader and boarding the aircraft. He would hold up his datapad and continue to observe the situation as he continues his flight over.

[Parcia]

Pasha

He kept his hand on his point man's shoulder as they walked, the barrel of his AK jutting past his ear and just in to his line of view. Luckily for him, Pasha had fitted a barrel device to it to cut down on muzzle flash and his helmet should cut down on potential flash blindness. This was put to the test when his point man would down two gangers almost on reflex, with Pasha in turn putting a pair of rounds in to them as they fell.

No sense in trying to keep em breathing when they were given the Death Sentence by default.

He repeated this a few more times, either snapping off shots first or double tapping those dispatched by Adrian's Lawmen. They worked together well, and the much younger kid seemed to have paid attention well in his direct action classes, he was quick, attentive, with little hesitation beyond identifying targets. He reminded Pasha of his Black Snakes, and for a few moments the Mall seemed more familiar, almost like it was some hab block in Old Belgrade. Oh what times those were.

He snapped him self back to the present and tapped the kid on the shoulder, finding his magazine light. "Reloading, cover front."

[Caltharus]

Adrian

As Pasha halted to reload Adrian tensed and stopped as well. Now the pair only had eyes towards the keep them safe. However more importantly, they had arrived to the right place, not too far away there was a large staircase. If the info his helmet feed had was correct, those stairs went all the way through the arcology, and as such they would get them to the control room. Adrian had to remark how fast Pasha was able to reload. Yes they had been trained to do it in a blink, yet Pasha did it with speed and certainty only experience could bring.

When he received the signal that reloading was finished he silently counted to three and began moving once more calmly stating: “Let’s secure those stairs and wait there until the rest get here”. The stairs themselves were ordinary half landing ones, so common within arcologies. Just before them the pathway split forming a T shaped crossing.

Arriving at the foot of the stairs they could hear the unmistakable sound people coming down the stairs. Adrian cursed under his breath. Shouting and bursts of gunfire revealed the people gaing down as likely being gangers. A sliver of panic started setting in before training took over. As per protocol he quickly assessed the situation. First they had to get any cover they could, probably from the recessed doorways to their sides, then they had to cut down the first gangers to come down. After that they could hold there and hang on until the Savannah and Victoria arrived. The four of them could then flush the remaining gangers from the stairs and advance upwards.

Adrian dashed towards the doorways to their left taking what cover he could in one of them. He knelt, placed his ballistic shield firmly before him and took aim.