Tuesday, December 3, 2069 - 1:00 AM Eastern
The clock has finally ticked into Tuesday of this crazy week, but you couldn't prove it by Jason's biological clock, which insists that it's still Monday until he gets some sleep. Unfortunately, Mr. Desoto insisted that the pickup be made at this ungodly hour, which is why he's pulling up in front of the abandoned G-Motors Auto Service Facility. Two other cars have already pulled up, but are shut down and judging from the tiny red lights pulsing in their windows, have standard security systems preventing them from being stolen... Not that that would stop Jason for long if he wanted to break into one.
What does concern Jason is that the garage doors, formerly closed, have been opened, though the interior remains darkened. The aircar's headlights illuminate Mr. Desoto, flanked by six men dressed in full form-fitting armored jumpsuits. Desoto himself continues to wear a natty business suit, but one can assume that he has some kind of protection beneath it, perhaps a bulletproof vest like Jason's own. He's wearing sunglasses at night and makes no move to shield his eyes from the glare - some kind of smart vision at work, no doubt.
Inari slides one door open and slips out into the night. Garbed in a black armored jumpsuit, with a sleek black Naginata Divine Mercy sniper rifle - just like the one she used in her recent music video, if not the same one - she looks dressed to kill. Even her tail is black, though whether that's some kind of illusion or high-tech solution, Jason hasn't yet asked. "I'll be keeping an eye on you," her voice whispers through Jason's implant.
Robots report in electronically. Jason sees their views as tiny inset squares in his vision; Alpha, tucked behind a door in the parts display area, Beta, lurking in the supply room, Gamma in the break room, hidden beneath a chair, and Delta, concealed in the sofa - hopefully no one tries to sit on it or they'll get a lumpy surprise.
"If I do get actually taken down, I want you to take RIU and leave. Go help Tracy. There is no point in you getting killed too," Jason communicates back to Inari. "Now as for the fake takedown, I'll need to get back to the car, so I might need someone to drag me. Hm. Or of they're distracted enough I'll crawl my own way out." Jason adjusts his long coat now and strides towards the opened doors. His movements try to look controlled, but have a deliberate 'nervous' twitch about them. He wants them to think he's nervous after all. Emotional manipulation is a key point of controlling any situation, after all.
RIU shimmers invisible and darts toward the warehouse, high and hopefully out of vision of the armed thugs. Inari's voice says grimly over the comm, "Understood. Let's just hope they stay on-script. I hate improv."
"Unfortunately in these sorts of 'games' you have to be very adaptable and never afraid to use anything at hand. Such as shooting out a crane mount instead of an armored thug ... and letting the thug get squished by the crane, and so on as an example. I also wouldn't be surprised if they try and change the deal and just try and capture me. It seems Irongrip has been hiring them to gather certain people, after all," Jason notes. He continues onward towards the garage. "A rather lot of people to drag along just for a simple sales deal," he calls out to Desoto.
Mr. Desoto reaches down and switches on a lamp, illuminating the gray box on the ground in front of him as well as the smirk on his face. "Ah! The infamous Mr. Edwards. You'd be surprised how many people try to kill me over a few hundred New Dollars. I find a display of overwhelming force rather effective in preventing any... accidents."
"Infamous? What have you been listening to? I'm a small-time businessman," Jason claims as he continues forwards towards the box. "Confirm the goods before triggering the trap," he thinks.
"And if I haven't mentioned it, it's been great to see you, Inari," Jason thinks through his implant.
Inari's voice retorts. "Concentrate on the business at hand, you can flirt with me later, lover-boy!"
Desoto grins. "Not according to my source. Seems you've played with the big boys in your past! First Dantech, then Avatars... Impressive, I must say. In light of that, I trust you'll understand if I revise my estimate of your spending ability?" The box bears the Amaranth logo and some meaningless letters and numbers that presumably reflect the model number of the jumpsuit it contains.
"The deal was already agreed to," Jason helpfully points out, "Change the deal now and you've effectively called it off." He continues on towards the box. "And I've worked for a lot of people, I'm a freelancer in security. Doesn't make me special, or wealthy. You have a lot more ... interesting associates than I do."
The two nearby thugs in armored jumpsuit cover Jason with their guns as he approaches. They are armed with menacing-looking Spazztic! Rocker heavy machine guns, straps over their shoulders to help support the weight of the massive black frames. The other four thugs hold Spazztic! Hammerguns, similarly blocky pistols equipped with entirely superfluous vibroblade bayonets, but at least theirs are pointed down at the ground.
"And you're also extremely paranoid," Jason remarks and thumbs towards the heavy machine guns. "But for someone who's Irongrip's hired flunkies, I guess you should be. You do realize they'll kill you as soon as you're a liability, yes?" Jason adds as he gets more and more worried. "Quicker than your prostate problems will."
"To have interesting associates is my business!" claims Mr. Desoto. He scowls at Jason's crack. "Irongrip! Nothing but a jumped-up thug, selling muscle. But what has he to do with our business?"
"I know they're contracting with you. And I know that you're now at the end of your usefulness to them," Jason remarks as he crouches down to examine the box. Specifically, he 'listens' for signals on the box itself, such as an active trap system or the like.
Desoto frowns. "Contracting? I have no business with those fascists! They think that they can take control of the Dregs just by sending out a few of their jackbooted lackeys to intimidate us. But as they've found out, we have fangs." He lowers his Spazztic! Reaper shotgun briefly, rubbing his wrists. It must be pretty heavy.
Jason tries to open the lid and check the contents. "Then why did you contract with them to shoot down that policeman for them?" Jason asks.
"With them? It was from an anonymous-- how do you know about that?" Desoto raises his shotgun again, eying Jason suspiciously.
RIU hides in the rafters, eying the thugs warily and considering which one to zap first. Jason feels its nervousness rising.
"I'm in security, it's my job to know what is going on," Jason points out. "Do you think I would do dealings with you without knowing everything about you? I make it a point to learn all I can. And frankly, you should too as you would have known they hired you for that job. And it matters right now because we're all in a trap set by them. They want us all dead or out of the way. You've done your part ... and I'm a dangerous liability. They got to me five hours ago and made it clear that I had to ..." "Alpha. Take the shot, chest upper right, rubber round," he thinks to one of his bots.
"Cover breached, terminate all targets," echoes several metallic 'voices' in unison. A simultaneous shattering of wood and metal 'frame' echoes throughout the darkened warehouse as four doors explode inward into fragments. Four armored and armed combat robots enter. Their coloration is subdued, blacks and greys. The only visible marker on them is the infamous Irongrip logo, ever so lovingly painted by Tracy earlier. And the first target is chosen, one of the robots raises its gun-arm and aims it right at Jason.
KaPOW! The rubber bullet lands square on the red dye pack under Jason's shirt. Paint fountains outward as he reels backward realistically, but the bullet is fortunately rubber, or Inari would have a real mess to clean up. A tiny clack accompanies the sound of Alpha switching to its armor piercing bullets.
It's funny how when you come close to dying that everything seems to 'slow down'. The moment of the impact sends Jason backwards ... and of everything he could possibly be thinking of, he thinks, "DAMMIT THAT HURT!". He isn't even sure if he broadcast it or not to everyone else; it just hurt! Soon he finds himself sliding back along the floor on his side, leaving a red smear of paint in his wake.
"Initiating plan 'organic cleanse'," the other robots chime in, and open fire! Delta targets Thug 2, Gamma thug three, and Beta ... he targets Desoto!
Desoto turns with surprise to the incoming robots, but he's just now opening his mouth to yell, turning his gun toward one of the robots on the right, as the robots open fire.
"That is so going to leave one hell of a bruise," Jason thinks into his comm. "I'm okay, though. Just ... ow."
As bullets rip across the room, the mercenary designated as 'Thug 2' goes down, red fountaining from his head! Another mercenary staggers, taking what looks like a non-vital wound through his suit, hexagons crinkling and crumpling.
A third bullet smacks into Desoto's chest but apart from being staggered, he doesn't seem hurt. He finishes what he was going to yell, "Ambush! DROP THE HAMMER!"
Inari's voice says insistently over his implant, "Jason! An aircar just started its engine up behind us! About a hundred feet away!"
"Can you target its engines?" Jason thinks as he starts an authentically painful crawl towards the door. "Take it out if you can. Aim for stablizers or the engine!"
Desoto and the thugs begin firing wildly, trying to take out the robots before they can complete their 'organic cleansing' program!
PAF The Spazztic! Reaper unloads its full load of bullets into Beta's chest. The robot reels backward. Damage status reports start scrolling up Jason's vision. Gyroscopic compensator, disrupted! Adjustment in progress.
Eric pumps out bullet after bullet from his Spazztic! Rocker, the din like a heavy backbeat for some rock video. Alpha is driven against the wall of the warehouse, though the bullets don't seem to have penetrated its casing. It's a good thing Jason upgraded their armor!
Carl has better luck as he pounds poor Gamma. The robot literally flies to pieces as the bullets hammer home, rending piece from piece. Though that was fortunately not one of the robots that Jason had upgraded the software on.
The tiny Chinese dragon curled up in the rafter reaches out, clinging with two feet while it has both claw-hands exposed. ZAP! A bright blue levinbolt cracks across the room and hits Carl's heavy machine gun. Lightning arcs and crackles around it, causing Carl to yell in pain and drop it. "SONUVA!"
Inari's voice comes back. "It's a Road Warrior! I can see a machine gun bolted on the top, with a blast shield. They've just lit up. Driver's going to be a tough shot. Lining it up."
Lights appear out in the half-moon-lit night. Big headlights.
Jason 'struggles' to his feet, then heads towards his car, holding his shoulder! Sure, it hurts .. but hopefully anyone who sees it will 'assume' he's just trying to escape while hurt!
Mr. Desoto ratchets his shotgun to reload, but out the corner of his eye he notices running. "Don't try to run," he yells after Jason. "After we clean out these jerk robots of Irongrip's, we're going to have some real tough questions for you!" He opens fire on the more immediate threat.
Sparks fly from Alpha's carapace - and fire! It looks like the shotgun blast managed to do more than throw it off balance. But Desoto will need to reload next, shotguns like that don't normally have a large magazine.
Alpha crunches against the wall of the automotive service shop under the combined fire of the nearby thugs! Inari whispers, "Almost got this shot... Come into my crosshairs, baby."
Carl swears as he glares down at the lightning-crackling weapon. "Frotz! Where'd that come from?" He glares around, but never thinks to look up. The other thugs pop away with their handguns at the remaining robot on that side, Delta.
But do no more than scrape its paint!
"Try to calm down. If you're going to die, at least do it with a spine. It's been four years since Inari saw you last; don't ruin it now by panicking," Jason thinks as he slumps against the front of his car and closes his eyes for a moment. "Control module, reroute control through secondary channels, bypass damaged links on beta. Come on, these have redundant systems, just have to activate them."
Another bright blue bolt strikes down from the ceiling! The mercenary designated 'Thug Three' does a wild epileptic dance before crumpling in a pile of smoking jumpsuit.
Carl whirls around wildly. "Who done that? We're under attack! SCIENCE NINJAS!"
The surviving droids continue relentlessly onward! The abandoned garage is starting to resemble a classic horror action game scene with bodies sprawled everywhere. Bullets rip into Carl, who is knocked back against Desoto's feet, and "Thug 4" staggers under the impact of bullets from behind him.
The oncoming Road Warrior comes relentlessly onward, like an unstoppable juggernaut... And then a needle-thin beam of light cracks from the darkness besides Jason's car, right into the driver's viewport in its armor. It begins to slew sideways, while the gunner yells startledly.
"One down," Inari's voice says quietly over the comm.
"Jesus, never make Inari mad," Jason mutters, wide-eyed at the sudden shot.
Despite this, even knowing Inari is right there, Jason can't make out any signs of her presence. Maybe she moved to another vantage point.
Desoto catches sight of the Hammer slewing sideways. "Dominic!" he yells, presumably over his comm. "What's going on? Get that car under control!"
He swears as he empties the cartridge from his shotgun and reloads it.
Carl scrambles to his feet and lunges toward the closest weapon he can see - the Hammergun discarded by the fallen thug. "Come out wherever you are, SCIENCE NINJAS!" he yells. He's bleeding heavily - he must have popped some kind of stimulants.
Eric and his friend continue to plug away at Beta, but freshly rebooted with Jason's improved software, the bullets fail to do more than scratch away at its paint. Eric yells, "They're like the ABOMINATORS! They won't stop coming!"
The surviving two robots continue to fire their rifles with beautifully disciplined teamwork. Thug 4 dives out of the way of the bullets, but Carl, still groggy, gets smashed back down into the ground. This time he's out for good.
"Inari, try to hit the guy near the wrecked Alpha, the one closest to the car," Jason says into the comm, even though Inari is supposedly somewhere nearby.
Another zap! The mercenary wobbles, looking dazed by the electrical attack.
Jason lets out a long breath and makes his way around his car. "Time to actually help out," he mutters, popping open the trunk and exposing the mass of slit-open metal armor inside. He grabs the frame of the right arm and slides his into the fragment. "I feel like such an idiot," he thinks while doing so.
Desoto looks up, tracking the lightning bolt. "There's got to be someone up there!" he yells. But so far he's not looking in the right place. RIU emits worried feelings to Jason as he ducks back behind the rafter.
ZAP Another needle-thin beam of light pierces the air! This time it hits the red-colored jumpsuited thug next to the car, going right through his chest. He staggers, but there's no blood. The wound must have been instantly cauterized.
Desoto swears as his thugs are going down around him. "Mother of-- they've got a sniper out there! Find them and shoot them, Jacob!" He tries to find cover behind the car, drawing down on Beta with his freshly reloaded shotgun at close range.
As Desoto pulls the trigger however, the cheap Spazztic! assembly misfires and explodes in his face. BAM!
The Mexican businessman staggers back from the smoking remains of his shotgun. "AUGH!" he yells. The goggles protected his eyes from the shrapnel but that had to have hurt.
'Thug 4' whirls around as he hears the explosion. "Boss! Oh no! Are you okay? They've got grenades!" He jumps to a logical conclusion, followed by the logical answer: shoot the robot that just got his boss!
The Spazztic! Hammergun leaps in the thug's hands as it unloads bullets into Beta! With its programs rerouted around the damaged sensors, this proves to be too much. Bits of armor go flying as it staggers.
"Oh come on, secondary neural path. You can activate! Grrr," Jason thinks as he struggles with his armor behind the vehicle. The armor is going better than trying to find the secondary path in Beta and get it back online.
Zap! RIU tries again, but having pulled back into cover to avoid being seen, its aim is off. Lightning plays over the car, causing its headlights to go on briefly.
The line of light stabs for a third time... Boom, headshot! Missing his head, the red jumpsuited thug topples over with a thump of finality.
Jason begins to question why, exactly, he built this suit, since its effectiveness seems ... limited. Still, the final frame clamps closed and the segmented plating draws in, sealing itself around his body. Though it lacks hydraulics to make any noticeable movement sound, the weight does. Jason heads around the car now, encased in layers of steel and artificial muscle. "Desoto, it is over. Your gang's usefulness is at its end. Surrender now and we will permit you to live by handing you over to the police. Continue to fight and well ... I think you can figure out the outcome," he says through its voice unit. He marches towards the garage again. He's fairly certain the armor can hold up to a few shots bit ... testing is not the same thing as a real fight.
Desoto sobs, holding his burned hands. "You win! We surrender! Stand down, stand down everyone!" Jason hears servos whining as the heavy machine gun covering him from the Road Warrior turns away.
RIU emits a triumphant 8-bit victory tune over Jason's implant.
"Inari, stay hidden until everything is secure. You're still the ace in the hole, Jason transmits over the comm unit as he marches into the garage. "All of you, into the back room, parts and supplies. Now," Jason orders. "And as for you, Desoto, thank you for capturing the policeman. We will be collecting him shortly. It is a pity you will not be paid for the work," he claims.
The two surviving thugs march sullenly into the supply room. By the way they're eying their boss, it seems unlikely that Desoto will continue to hold much sway over Mav's Mavericks after this debacle. Desoto sweats but continues to hold his arms in the air. "Not paid--! You dirty, no-good..."
"You would have done the same," the armored figure points out as he directs them into the supply room. once they're all inside, Jason pulls closed what remains of the door. After eying that for a moment, he looks back to the abandoned car. "Better make sure they stay in there," he decides and goes to see if he can get the machine running enough to jam it up against the entrance.
With RIU hanging in the rafters, Jason methodically searches each thug and relieves them of their PDAs and weapons. They even had a few grenades. It makes for quite a nice pile - if only Jason knew a reputable dealer that could sell the weapons for him! Or he could hang onto them for later use.
Given the state of his home, Jason will hang onto them for now. The situation seems to just get uglier and they may be needed. Aside from being the sacrificial lamb, he doesn't feel like he did much here. Well, he did upgrade and place the robots ... but beyond that ... yes he feels a bit like the geek at a sports game. Setting himself to the task at hand, though, he gpes the the side of the car opposite the door. Bracing hhimself against it, he engages the muscular assist of the suit and pushes it across the floor and towards the supply room doors to block them in.
The derelict car's plastic shell creaks and crumples a bit under the armor's servos. With no real difficulty, Jason shoves the car into place. If he'd had this on from the start, the fight might have been over much more quickly...
Desoto hammers on the door. "Hey! What are you doing? We surrendered!"
"And you are alive, are you not?" Jason points out. "You're going to 'stay' there for a while so that you do not cause further complications. Now if you will excuse me, I have a hacker to track down." He heads towards the sneaksuit box now, figuring it's probably empty anyway. It didn't sound like Desoto planned to keep up his end of the deal, anyway.
The box contains a sleek black-looking jumpsuit, along with the charging unit and a manual and a variety of small parts which Jason would guess are accessories meant to be assembled after shipping. The label identifies it as the 'Amaranth Shadowsuit mk 1200'. A top of the line civilian grade sneaksuit.
Desoto grumbles. His erstwhile 'friends' begin yelling at him for screwing the deal up. "Six against one, man! And where was the intel on these Irongrip guys? You're supposed to know about this stuff!"
"Yes, that is about what I thought, not what was asked for," Jason thinks, completely not surprised. He shrugs and rethinks it a bit. It might be better to leave these guys loose to harass Iron grip now. So ... he'll not inform the police this time. He hefts up the box and heads back towards the car. "RIU, we're done here. You need rest ... and I need one heck of a sports bandaid and some camphor rub for my shoulder. Even with a vest, rubber bullets hurt//." And then he adds through the comm, "Inari ... you really scare me."
"Do I?" If Jason could see her, judging from her tone of voice, he'd say she was looking at him with her head tilted to one side, raising an eyebrow archly. "Good job in there, Jason. I only picked off one of them, it looks like your robots did a pretty good job."
RIU chirps! as he lands on Jason's shoulder as if to say that he had a pretty important role in there too!
"It could have gone better, but limited info means limited planning. Not to mention there wasn't much time," Jason says. He reaches the car and pops open the back door and tosses the suit inside. It may not be useful ... but dammit, he gets something for that bruise he knows is on his upper chest and shoulder. He also unhooks and pulls his helmet off for the moment. "And I'll have to collect the robots and repair what I can ... or Holly will complain about misusing Avatar's property. And ... enough grumbling. For someone who has been in music for four years, you haven't lost a single bit of your deadly touch."
Inari appears out of the darkness, a grin lighting her face as she helps Jason with the armor. "It's been fun." She nods toward the Road Warrior, its headlights still on. "Too bad that thing can't fly, it'd be a lot of fun to have our own tank."
"There are two other cars over there that have working flight systems. A little cutting and repurposing and who says it wouldn't be able to fly?" Jason points out and pauses to actually think about it. "The power output from the two ought to be enough..."
And maybe it's coming close to dying a few minutes ago, or maybe Jason has just finally snapped ... but with Inari right next to him. The black-clad fox-woman finds herself suddenly hugged and worse ... an awkward kiss planted on her cheek by the ragtag hacker. And in another moment, he's let go and remarking, "Yes, it might work. I think I'll try..." As if the fact he just hugged and kissed an international music star didn't even happen.
Inari snags Jason as he tries to let go and draws him up to her tightly, arms around his waist. Her golden eyes stare intently into his, as her cold wet fox nose touches his human nose. "Don't. You. Kiss. And. Run."
"Eek?" Jason stammers out, wide-eyed. "I was just, I heh, ah ... I'm still here I was going to try and make the tank fly? I wasn't running anywhere?"
Inari lowers her muzzle toward Jason. The teeth! The... kiss! The international music star is kissing Jason, deeply. And there are no camera robots around to save him. Or doom him, as the case might be.
Jason's brain just ... stalls. The only thing he finds himself very thankful for is that Tracy isn't here to see this ... nor are any cameras around to record it. It's embarrassing enough as it is. He's at least intelligent enough to not fight with Inari ... but the whole situation is rather odd. Particularly when he realizes he's hugging her back during it!
Inari's tongue is surprisingly soft, not at all raspy like he'd imagined, and her teeth... He feels himself being lowered to the ground, then her claws at the fasteners for his jumpsuit.
"Randall," Jason stammers out when his brain has some level of intelligence return to it. "We need to make sure Randall has been rescued," he reminds Inari, though he's not about to try and physically overpower her! "As much as I want to ... we have to make sure the others are safe first."
The moment lingers, with Inari's golden fox head silhouetted by the half-moon hanging over Jason's head, her hair draping across his face... and then she sighs. "You're right," she says. She licks Jason's nose. "Rain check for later then?"
Jason has never felt this terrified ... ever. He closes his eyes for a moment, trying to calm down every paranoia, fear, and stupid hangup that comes up any time he's around someone he finds attractive. When they open, he actually kisses Inari back, even if it is awkward and unpracticed. "Later," he agrees in whisper then it ends, "And I expect you to hold me to it and hunt me down if I panic. Just ... don't use that gun."
Inari grins. "Oh, this gun is no good for hunting wily Jasons," she whispers into his ear as she helps him up, and zips her own jumpsuit back up. "I'd prefer to do that with my own claws."
"Ah, yeah, claws," Jason stammers as he tries to organize his own disheveled clothing. "For what it's worth ... I'm sorry I didn't keep in better contact. You had been freed from your chains and I didn't want to ... impose new ones? I wanted you to be free? Or maybe I was just rationalizing excuses. I ... don't do well expression feelings of any sort about people. Particularly those I ... became fond of. Plus ... well ... me. I'm hardly a catch in the grands scheme of things. I never felt like I could make you happy. I am ... well ... not normal."
The golden fox rolls her eyes. "I'm not really a poster child for normality myself, so I'm hardly one to judge," she says as she helps Jason straighten up, then starts loading weapons into the back seat of the borrowed aircar. "But just that one thing about you... Wanting me to be free." Her hand closes over Jason's briefly. "That makes all the difference between you and Brian Montagne."
"I would never ask anyone to give up their dreams for me," Jason says as he rubs at his sore chest, "I would rather lose them if it meant they would be happier ... than be selfish and try to keep them to fulfill my own dreams. And there is something you should probably know about Brian; something I learned tonight when talking with Akiko."
"What's that?" Inari turns to look at Jason curiously.
"Akiko showed me a vid-clip of him. It was creepy to see someone that looked like a less scarred version of myself. I had Kimon, my computer, run a wireframe analysis of his build, focusing on his facial structures. He was a ninty-six percent match to my own. That, in nature, is unheard of. The variances the type you get from cosmetic surgery. It was like looking at a twin of myself; just ... younger and cleaner. I think Brian is the Avatar-World clone of me that was rescued when we escaped," Jason explains.
Inari pauses. "From the moment I saw him, he seemed familiar. He looked like someone I'd like. It didn't take me long to realize it was because he looked like you." She shakes her head, her dark hair half-hiding her face. "But he doesn't think like you do. He wanted me to give up music... To be his wife. Have his children. I..." Was that a stifled sob? "I don't even know if I can have children, let alone if they'd be healthy!"
Jason, ever unsure what what the right thing is to do ... ends up going behind Inari and just hugging her. "He should have asked you what would make you happy," he says, "Instead of requesting things that would make him happy. And I'm also worried he may be involved in what is going on now. I think it was him who made sure I wouldn't get any contact information from Akiko. But ... that's all guesswork; I have no real proof of it. I just ... worry he is now trying to do better than me in everything to prove he's more than just a copy."
Inari leans into Jason's arms. "Yes... That bastard. He wants so many things. You say he's your clone?... Maybe he thinks it's the only way he can prove he's real, to have everything."
"Well, I guess it's good he was a bastard, otherwise you wouldn't be here right now," Jason admits. Risking his own life again, he kisses the back of Inari's head lightly. "Come on, we had better find out how the others are faring before I change my mind and make later, ah, now," he admits sheepishly.
Inari smiles against Jason's neck, her muzzle turning back to address him. "Ah, temptations. You know, that's another way you're different from him..." She doesn't say anything else however. "Are you going to call them?"
"Oh, right, I suppose I could call them right now," Jason admits, having completely forgotten that he could when Inari nearly ruined his purity! (Yeah, right. Pure.) He's still holding onto Inari as he leans back against the car and closes his eyes. "/This is mostly-dead Jason calling Streaker-Tracy,/" he pipes into the implant and back through the comm-system. "/Desoto is neutralized and we're alive. More or less. How goes the recon of Randall's imprisonment?"
Tracy's voice responds, "We found him." It sounds like there's a ruckus going on behind her.
"And are you two able to extract him safely? Or do I need to come rescue you too?" Jason asks.
"They found him, but she hasn't told me much more than that. Sounds like a mess is going on there, too," Jason notes.
"Working on it," Tracy hisses. "The giant robot slowed us a down, and I throw like a girl.."
"You are a girl. Do you need me to come help ... or should I stay here with Inari and entertain her?" Jason asks.
Inari distracts Jason by nibbling on his ear -- teeth! -- while he subvocalizes.
"Inari, don't do ... " Jason starts to transmit into the comm, but catches himself in time to prevent saying just what Inari was doing to him to Tracy.
"Of course you should come and help!" Tracy replies. "Akiko's having problems with her robot."
"Oh fine. I'll contact Akiko and see if I can help remotely, otherwise, we'll head out," Jason replies in the comm. "I have to see if I can help Akiko she's having robot problems," he informs Inari ... then closes his eyes to focus on trying to contact Akiko now. "Akiko, Jason here. We're alive. Tracy says you need help?" he tries to send to the Asian woman.
"Almost there... Yes! Got it rebooted," Akiko sends back. She relays gun-camera feed of the unfolding tableau. A guy with a heavy machine gun aiming it at Randall, who's got a different thug as a human shield, Mara behind them warming up her breath weapon, two other thugs covering Randall... The standard: SNAFU.
"Robot problems again?" Inari commiserates. "Well, we should get everything packed up and head on over then."
"What is above the grunts with the guns?" Jason transmits, "Aim camera up a bit. May need an indirect attack here ... such as dropping a beam on their heads." Jason seems very reluctant to let Inari go, but he does so eventually. "Yes, we should. We've got a 'mexican standoff' going on over there." "We're on our way." he adds to the transmission back to Akiko.
"Thanks, Jason! Looking forward to having some sanity around here again." Akiko responds.
The camera tilts up to show the heavy lifter that would normally be used to move the subway cars around.
The feed shows the shackle around Mara's leg falling away. Mara lifts her head ... and breathes! Several of the guards turn into instant popsicles.
"And you'll need to drive. I'm going to dive and help them from the inside of the systems," Jason tells Inari as he now hurries to finish loading the car so the pair can take off. "Never a dull moment, is there? Lets go!"
Inari laughs. "That's what I've missed about hanging out with you, Jason."