Mercs, Storms, Secrets

[TalonDemonKing]

Time: 0954 Zulu (0554 Local); 28 April 2012
Current Location: Airspace over Governor’s island
Arrival Location: Liberty Helicopter Tours Helicopter Pad.
Estimated Distance to location: 1600 meters
Estimated Time till Arrival: 4 Minutes.

The din of the blades roared overhead, the cool night air rushing into helicopter as they started to descend towards their location. The air brought with it the smell of the water below, and the hint of what smelled of strawberries. Off in the distance, the first signs of daybreak were happening on the horizon, the sun soon about to rise.
Of course, this helicopter ride wasn’t for the scenery, but for a mission. In the belly of the copter was Team Iota, with all four members present:

Lucas Murdoch; Acting Squad Leader for Team Iota
Dmitri Alexikov; Engineer to Team Iota
Kevin Bluming; Medic to Team Iota
Zeke Panati; Recon to Team Iota

The mission was as sudden as the appearance of ‘The Fog’ over Manhattan island; receiving a call minutes before the news-broadcast happened telling Team Iota to report to Enigma Headquarters. From what the Media has released to the public; ‘The Fog’ (As they are describing it) seems to have cut off any communications between the island and those from without, but doesn’t seem to stop people from entering it. No one who has been sent through have made it back out.

Enigma hasn’t exactly been a great source of information about ‘The Fog’ either. With the same information passed down from Enigma Team Leader Ramsey, he also included that it happened around 0623 Zulu (0223 Local), and that Century has expressed intent to deal with ‘The Fog’, and had asked local police and military to allow Century to take care of ‘The Fog’. The mission goals were simple, but the details on how to complete them were nearly non-existent, handed down from the Allied Fourth of Century themselves.

1) Enter ‘The Fog’, find out what exactly is going on inside and if possible, and find an end to it.
2) Deal with “Unique Individuals.” If possible, capture, if not, kill, and then recover the bodies.
3) Find and collect “Unique Items” that may appear inside ‘The Fog.’
4) Limit civilian causalities, but do not let this interfere with the previous three goals.

Team Leader Ramsey said to contact him via long-range radio once Iota was in ‘The Fog’, if possible. If not, follow the goals, and make it back out safely. With those goals being said, Team Iota was boarded into the helicopter, and it took off to its destination.

[Toptomcat]

Kevin Bluming
Kevin is lost in focus for as he taps at a keyboard in the MODULE's gauntlet, putting a last-minute self-diagnostic routine for the armor and its integrated systems into motion. He moves seamlessly from that to checking his revolver and its ammunition, then checking every item of his medical kit in a swift but thorough and relentlessly methodical fashion. It seems like he's fully absorbed in this task until he speaks at last.

"This is ridiculous."

He holds the edge of a harmonic scalpel up to the light, closing one eye and peering at it before satisfying himself of its sharpness and placing it neatly back in its place.

"The briefing almost literally could not have been more vague if they'd tried. The odds are against us getting further clarification when we get there, since The Fog cuts off communication. What possible reason could Century have for being this opaque?"

[MilkManDan007]

Lucas Murdoch sat at the door seat of the helicopter, his right foot hanging nonchalantly out the door as they circled before their descent. He’d never been to Manhattan before, or any part of New York for that matter, but he’d seen plenty of it on television and in enough movies to know what the city was supposed to look like. What was waiting for them beneath the helicopter as the morning light began to crest the horizon was definitely not the typical New York morning. The entirety of the island of Manhattan was obscured by a purplish blanket, and the flashing lights from the police and military roadblocks at the borough’s bridges illuminated the thin strips of pavement that connected the now-isolated island to the rest of civilization.

Hell of a way to start a Saturday, he thought, lighting a cigarette and tightening the nylon belts holding him to the seat. He checked couplings between his MODULE suit and rifle and adjusted one of the interior pads in the helmet sitting on his lap.

He’d met the others briefly before boarding the helicopter. Nice blokes for the most part. The medic, Kevin Bluming, was fiddling with his supplies even in the vibrating cabin of the helicopter as it made a wide right turn to begin its descent.

“They could have been more specific, but what else is there to know? We go in, find out what the hell’s going on, fix it if we can, and get out,” Murdoch said to Bluming, commenting on the remark he made about the mission briefing being vague. He took a long drag from his cigarette before continuing, an impish smile on his lips. “And who knows, maybe the reason’s no one has come out of it is because the world’s biggest party is going on in there. We could run into the finest Shelias the world has to offer.”

[Hnau]

Zeke Panati

As they approach the target, Zeke pulls the facemask of his MODULE and powers it up. Instantly the world leaps out at him in razor sharp detail. Most people would be overwhelmed by the visual stimulation, but Zeke loves it. He presses another switch, and he seems to drop into the background, becoming difficult to see clearly.


"The briefing almost literally could not have been more vague if they'd tried. The odds are against us getting further clarification when we get there, since The Fog cuts off communication. What possible reason could Century have for being this opaque?"

"As long as it's dangerous and we're going towards it, I'm satisfied. I'm wondering why they're being so careful. This chopper is capable of a lot more speed than this."

Zeke leans out the door and takes a look at the target.


Observation-15, +3 for Hyperspectral Vision, ignoring the first -6 in distance penalties for Telescopic Vision.

[roll0]



When they get closer Zeke will power up his radar and see what that reveals.

[TalonDemonKing]

@Hnau

The Fog... is aptly named. A dark shround seems to stick on the edges of the small island, blocking any vision of the ground beneath. The Fog itself is a deep purple color, with occasional flashes from seemingly beneathe the exterior, making it look like a strangely colored lightning cloud.

A strange note; though, is that the fog isn't very high up -- Maybe only 50 yards off the ground. Many buildings on the island are taller than that, but do not poke through the fog -- It is as the island itself doesn't exist.

------

The helicopter pilot's voice was heard above the noise of the craft. "We're going to be entering The Fog here in about two minutes; I'd suggest buckling up." That was the only warning they got as the helicopter began to rapidly descend as it headed towards the small heli-pad that, normally, was on the inside of The Fog.

[Halna LeGavilk]

Damien looks down at the ground after buckling himself in. Checking his weapons once again, he looks up at the people he's flying with. "Five dollars says I have the first kill."

[Toptomcat]

Kevin Bluming
Kevin gives Damien an uncomfortable look.
"I'll give you twenty if you can make it out of this without killing anyone who doesn't need killing. We're supposed to capture first, kill second if at all."

[MilkManDan007]

The pilot announced their final descent and the helicopter began dropping toward the roiling purplish haze. Murdoch tossed his cigarette out the open door and latched on his helmet, hearing the now-familiar hiss as it sealed him off from the outside world. Who knew what was in that fog, or even if they could survive in it, but they were about to find out firsthand.

Murdoch leaned out the door, watching the fog for a minute before setting back in the seat and pulling the straps tight, cinching himself against the taut canvas of the seat. He wasn’t one to get nervous or balk at the unknown, he’d followed a flirty redhead right into the ladies room at a nightclub to convince her to give him her number, but something about that cloud didn’t sit right. It was something unnatural, something completely foreign.

“Hey, while you blokes were yabbering about who’s going to do what, did you happen to notice all the bloody buildings are missing? Looks like the whole island’s gone for a bush walk. And Bluming’s right, we’re here to investigate, not exterminate, got it?”

[Halna LeGavilk]

Damien laughs. "Do you really think that this mission is going to happen without some violence? Something caused those other teams to disappear, and it probably wasn't a horde of snuggle-bunnies."

[Hnau]

Zeke doesn't buckle up, but hangs on and prepares to leap out as soon as they are within 20 feet or so of the ground. As previously stated, he sweeps the cloud with his radar as soon as he is in range (1/2 mile). The effect that the fog has on radar might provide clues to its nature.

[Toptomcat]

Kevin Bluming
Kevin takes a long look out of the helicopter, then presses the intercom button to have a word with the pilot.

"Obviously there's something very strange going on with the buildings above the Fog. Is our planned landing site on a building that's above the fifty-meter mark set by the Fog? If so, please choose an alternate site to put us down on.'

[TalonDemonKing]

"Negative Operative Blumming; we're going to be landing at ground level on the Liberty Helicopter's Tour Pad, as per originally planned. Do you want us to continue along or would you want a different insertion point?" The helicoptor pilot's voice was smooth and curtious, as the helicopter began to slow its descent incase the insertion point was to be changed.

[Toptomcat]

Kevin Bluming
"...continue. Be prepared to autorotate down: who knows, the Fog may cause engine or avionics failure."

[Halna LeGavilk]

Damien scans the fog, trying to see anything of importance. Failing at it, he turns back to the rest of the team, and begans to strap on his helmet. After doing so, he flips on the comm. "Are we sure that we can even land? There's got to be buildings higher than that fog."

[MilkManDan007]

Looking at what should have been the city through the heads up display of the helmet made the hair on the back of Murdoch’s neck stand on end. There should be buildings, hundreds of them; apartment buildings, office buildings, towers of steel, blued glass and concrete stretching a hundred floors above the pavement. Yet, all Murdoch could see through the HUD was the boiling purple cloud.

“We’ll land at the designated spot,” Murdoch said over the comm.. “No need to deviate yet. We still don’t know what’s down there.”

Murdoch leaned back in the seat and closed his eyes for a moment. There really was no way of telling what was down there. It could be anything, especially with some of the scenarios that they had been thrown against in the simulators at Enigma. Giant robotic spiders, thirty-foot sentient blocks of cheddar, hell, the entire island could have been plunged back into the Cretaceous period for all he knew. He took a deep breath and tried to clear his head before looking back out of the open helicopter door.

“Whatever’s down there,” he said almost under his breath, not caring if the comm. channel was open or not, “we’re in for one hell of a ride.”

[Toptomcat]

Kevin Bluming
The colors of the scene abruptly fade, replaced by unreal-seeming, dull shades. Kevin looks about himself in horror, then abruptly screams like he's been shot, eyes crazed with terror.

"NO! Our reality is collapsing- doomed by the apathy of the godlike beings that maintain it for their amusement! Quickly- DO SOMETHING INTERESTING!"

(TDK? We need to move on or this game will die.)

[Halna LeGavilk]

Damien screams and begins firing his assault rifle everywhere spraying bullets. "Die, you [EXPLETIVE DELETED]! DIE! I'M NOT GONNA [EXPLETIVE DELETED] GO DOWN!"