Serious Plots 9: Srsr and srsr

[Ironsmith]

[Town Hall]

"Couse nawt." The lady smiles. "We've been caeful nawt ta get too close ta da locals." She saunters up to Codebreaker, hands in her pockets. "Wit a few, awbvious exceptions, couse." She gives him a little poke in the chest. "Mistah Cawdbreakeh, amirite?"

[Deathkeeper]

Town Hall

Codebreaker’s chest is as soft as it looks.
”Oh, yeah. It’s coming back to me. From the sound of it you’re rather terrible at that rule considering you’re the one who’s been at the local beach for the last few weeks. Who’s ‘we?’ Your stalker club?” he asks indignantly, not answering the question.

[Ironsmith]

[Town Hall]

"My wife, actually." The lady smiles, as the door opens and closes behind him.

"Sorry about the delay. I didn't recognize him when he came in this morning." The secretary clears her throat. "Aside from his body type, he was nothing like our sources said he would be."

"You did allright, babe." The lady smirks. "Da impawtant thing is you found him."

[Deathkeeper]

Town Hall

Codebreaker continues to scowl, getting a grip on his backup plan in his pocket.
”Ladies, could you bear with me and give me an idea of what’s going on?” he asks, stepping to the side so he can look at both of them at once.
”Need I be concerned?”

[Ironsmith]

[Town Hall]

The lady and secretary brush aside their jacket flaps simultaneously, showing Codebreaker that they were armed.

"None of that." "Be a good little doggy and keep your hands where we can see them."

The secretary steps behind him, going to retrieve Codebreaker's backup. "Sorry if you have any trouble understanding Hazel. She doesn't enunciate quite right when she's excited."

"Sawry." The lady clears her throat. "Red leatha, yellow leatha, red leatha, yellow leatha..."

"But to answer your question; no, you've got nothing to worry about, as long as you behave." The secretary smiles. "We're the good guys here. We just need to borrow you for a little while, and we'll put you right back when we're done. With luck, nobody will even know you were gone."

[Deathkeeper]

Town Hall

They’re at a bit of a standoff with all of them being armed, but CB knows that his body isn’t fast enough on the draw to deal with both of them. His pocket pistol should be familiar by now.
”First of all, the racial slurs aren’t helping your case. Second, I have trouble believing that when everyone else seems to have very much noticed everyone else you’ve been hanging around being gone.
And third unless you badly need an accountant I don’t think I’m much use to most people.”

[Ironsmith]

[Town Hall]

The secretary fishes the pistol out of his pocket and tucks it into her jacket. "...Doggies are cute, though..."

"What Hana Jane means to say is 'sorry'." Hazel smiles. "And as for why we need you... well, it's right there in your name, isn't it?"

"We've been trying to tap the wire feeds of what we suspect to be an ARC cell out here in the Nexus, but of course, they encrypt everything, to a truly excessive degree. Even knowing what protocol they use, it'll still take our systems about twenty years to find their credentials, at which point they've expired at least four times over and the information is horribly out of date." The secretary smiles. "Unless we had the services of an expert..."

[Deathkeeper]

Town Hall

CB doesn’t seem impressed.
”Okay, round two. First off, I don’t know what ARC is. And second, if that’s what you wanted why didn’t you ask me first? There are five missing men that keep me from believing it’s as simple as a job offer. Not to mention you could hand me a laptop right here if it was just an encryption.” he shuffles. His legs are getting tired from standing around.

[Ironsmith]

[Town Hall]

"ARC is a terrorist group that's figured out how to penetrate the multiverse." Hazel replies, arms crossed. "They're responsible for some of the bloodiest attacks in recent Earth history. If they have a cell here, six missing wolfdudes are going to look downright trivial."

"And we couldn't just talk to you directly." Hana Jane volunteers. "If we talk to you about this, we need to make sure you're not going to tip off an ARC agent with regards to what we're doing. They know we're here, they know we're taking wolfen, but they don't know why. We intend to keep it that way."

[Deathkeeper]

Town Hall

Codebreaker’s eyes narrow because it’s been a long time since he’s seen this level of question dodging.
”You're talking to me directly about it right now.
And I would still like an explanation on why you’re taking wolf fellows considering half of uour victims have no expertise in code breaking. It’s not like you couldn’t have dropped a note in those envelopes, which I still don’t understand by the way.”

[Ironsmith]

[Town Hall]

"Buddy, I don't think you understand." Hazel leans in. "We're not interested in just any wolfdude. We've been looking for you."

"We didn't have a lot to go on. Just word-of-mouth for the most part." Hana Jane adds. "Heavyset dude. Rich. Probably an intellectual."

"Rude, too. Left town a while ago, so there's a bit of a gap in the records. It was entirely possible you moved, so we couldn't rely on your old address."

"Not that your maid would let us poke around there much, anyway." Hana Jane scowls. "Talk to her about that, by the way. I liked that hat."

"So, we had to resort to process of elimination. Is he this rich, abrasive wolfen? No? How about this one?" Hazel smirks. "I figured we'd either stumble on you eventually or you'd notice the pattern and come looking for us. Either way works, really."

[Deathkeeper]

Town Hall

Codebreaker’s eye twitches in a way he’s never actually been aware of.
”Are…are you people actually stupid?
My name is Codebreaker. I’m in the records. I’ve owned this place for years even if I’ve been gone a while. I run the shrine devoted to the magical quadratic spirit from the empirical plane who bloody else could it possibly have been? And you weren’t even sure but you were sending me easily tracked stacks of cash? What was your plan here exactly? I wasn’t here when the first two went missing but it should have been obvious who you were looking for if you had records, which you did because YOU WORK HERE.”
He’s getting kind of loud.

[Ironsmith]

[Town Hall]

"Waitwaitwait, back up..." Hazel frowns, turning to Hana Jane. "Did... did you send him any money?"

"What? No. That would be kind of pointless, wouldn't it?"

"Well, I know I certainly didn't."

"Huh. Weird." Hana Jane clears her throat. "And... actually, no, we don't work here."

"...So we probably ought to move this conversation somewhere else, before we're caught trespassing." Hazel nods toward the door.

[Deathkeeper]

Town Hall

Oh.
That’s from Kyrie, then. Hm, or maybe Siana got a side job? She has given him a guilty look or two. Arthfael seemed to accept CB’s insistence on the subject matter.
”Fine.” he says simply.
Maybe if they slip up and let him go outside he can simply walk out. They wouldn’t grab him in public.

[Ironsmith]

[Town Hall]

Codebreaker will be able to hear the distinct sound of handcuffs being opened behind him as Hazel goes to check if the hallways are clear. If he's planning on bolting, this would be the ideal time to do it.

Otherwise, they're going to cuff him and lead him out the back, to a conspicuous black van parked in the corner of the lot. Hazel will shove him into the back, and the lot of them will drive off to... somewhere. It's going to be nigh impossible to see out the windows, as tinted as they are, and Hazel will be in the way of looking out the windshield.

[Deathkeeper]

Town Hall

Wow they just- they're just sticking him in the back and leaving him there. Okay fair enough. Codebreaker reaches into his pocket and gets out his phone.
Hey Owena getting kidnapped they are absolute morons and didn't take my phone. said they mostly need an encryption broken and then I'll be released if I'm not back by dusk track this phone and send your uncle.
That being done he puts his phone away and leans forward.
"So you guys realize I could have just screamed at any point during that, right? Like this is an absolutely atrocious plan. You literally could have just given me a laptop and a seat at the library and it would be less obviously suspicious than this."

[Ironsmith]

[Town Hall]

"...The man's got a point, Haze. Why didn't we just do that?"

"Are you kidding? Information that sensitive, out in a public library? Why not put up a sign while we're at it? 'ARC interference welcome! One of us can't even run!'"

"No, I mean gag him."

"We didn't end up needing to, now, did we?"

"...I hate it when you do that."

Hazel smirks, as Codebreaker will be able to see through the rear view mirror. "I know you do."

"Can't we at least knock him out, now that he's in the van with us?"

"You want to stop and do it? I don't see much point."

[Deathkeeper]

Town Hall

"If either one of you touch me I will bite, and then you'll find out what being me is like every full moon." Codebreaker growls. He isn't actually contagious but given that not everyone they kidnapped is even a wolfen he's not sure they know the difference.
...not that he is 100% sure what a wolfen is. Besides what he is.
"And you know you could just turn off a computer's network connection off?"

[Ironsmith]

[Black Van]

"Is... are you serious?" Hazel turns to face him. "I thought wolfen weren't contagious?"

"It's not a full moon right now, anyway." Hana Jane points out.

"Well, whatever." Hazel sighs and pulls up a laptop. "Might as well get you started." She slips it back to Codebreaker, not bothering to uncuff him.

If Codebreaker gets the laptop open, he'll be greeted with an unintelligible string of characters.

[Deathkeeper]

Black Van

Codebreaker stares at them.
"And how exactly do you propose I get that open with my hands cuffed behind my back, squatting in this van?" he asks flatly.

[Ironsmith]

[Black Van]

"Well, gee, I thought you and your amazing intellect could figure that out on your own." Hazel snarks. If Codebreaker bothers to look up at this point, he'll see her and Hana Jane exchange a wordless high-five over this bit of snark; they were entirely too proud of themselves for mocking a handcuffed, out-of-shape wolfen for being unable to do what they wanted while handcuffed.

If Codebreaker does nothing, they'll let him out when they arrive at their destination. If not... well, they basically just invited him to go halfway through an escape attempt. It seems unlikely they're going to try to stop him as long as he stays in the van.

[Deathkeeper]

Black Van

Just for that CB gets his phone back out and sends a text to the Intersection emergency line.
Unless their van blocks phone signals this will likely become a problem in some minutes. But for now CB bides his time.

[Ironsmith]

[Black Van]

"...Crap."

"What's wro- okay, why is there a roadblock here?"

"...Haze, you did remember to take his phone, right?"

"No, I thought you did, when you took his gun."

"...Must have slipped my mind."

Hazel sighs as the van comes to a stop. "Allight. I'll handle tis, I guess." She pops open the van door and walks toward the blockade. "Can I help you?"

[Deathkeeper]

Black Van

It's a shame they were going so far away. Had the destination been only five minutes away there's no way Intersection could have possibly gotten there in time.
In this case, the officer is a nervous dark-skinned young man in a uniform that seems slightly too big. He's got a laser pistol on his hip with a very large grip.
"Ma'am we're responding to a distress call about a black van?" A black van which begins shaking as a large weight begins pounding against the side.
"I'm gonna need your hands where I can see them." says the officer with wide eyes.

[Ironsmith]

[Black Van]

Hazel gives him a smouldering smile and holds her hands up, walking toward him. "Sorry, officer, did I do something bad?" She croons, in what is very painfully obviously an attempt at a come-on. "Maybe we can... talk this out?" One of her hands goes to her jacket, which she slowly starts unzipping. "Good god, it's hot out here..."

[Deathkeeper]

Black Van

The officer flushes but takes a step back.
"Ma'am this is not a two-dollar DVD please step back." he says in his best stern voice.
Meanwhile, Codebreaker attempts to hop into the front of the van since it's clearly open enough for them to pass him the laptop.

[Ironsmith]

[Black Van]

Unfortunately, Hazel didn't need for it to go very far. She gets her hand down to the bottom of her jacket, still approaching the officer. When she's close enough, she gives him a cold, joyless smile. "Sorry about this. You seem like a good kid."

And she flicks up her pistol, taking a potshot at him.

Meanwhile, in the van, Hana Jane has noticed Codebreaker's attempts to get into the front seat and has drawn her own weapon. "Back against the door, mister." She drones. "I don't want to have to shoot you."

[Deathkeeper]

Black Van

Unfortunately, the quick and sudden movement and appearance of a weapon makes the officer jump.
Which happens to be the thing which activates his therianthropy. The officer explodes into an extremely large were-hippo. The bullet, which now has far too big a target to miss, punches into Dobbers' skin but fails to penetrate very far through his cursed hide. Assuming she doesn't pack silver bullets at least.
Melvin yelps and waves a hand. Glowing runes appear in front of his eyes, and the two girls might find their senses of sight switched. Dobbers jumps clear as it will now be rather difficult to aim even at a target as huge as him.
Meanwhile,
"Or what, you'll kill the person you kidnapped six people just to talk to?" Codebreaker barks.

[Ironsmith]

[Black Van]

Completely thrown off by this ailment, both the agents react in a way that is counterproductive to their circumstances.

Hana Jane, finding herself staring down a werehippo and a blockade, immediately dives for cover... which is to say, out into the open, from the van.

Hazel, finding herself staring down Codebreaker, who is attempting an escape, opens fire, aiming to disable him, rather than kill. This puts her shots as lining up approximately with the werehippo's pelvic area, and while they aren't silver, the bullets have quite a bit more penetration power than a modern handgun might.

[Deathkeeper]

Black Van

Luckily, Melvin has done this before. In fact this is his primary form of incapacitation. They ALWAYS open fire when he does this. So he knows the muster what tiny bit of defensive spells he knows. He's still getting rather painfully shot. But it's going to be a lot harder for these perps to keep track of him while he circles around and tries to get Hazel into a pin and cuff her. Normally someone his size couldn't possible do this stealthily, but it's much easier when they can't see him at all.

Meanwhile, with the guard gone and the door open Codebreaker attempts to simply throw himself out of the car so he can get to safety.