Clusterfrag

Falling into step behind the team, Tyros makes a quick gesture (centering) as his almost eight for frame and six foot claymore vanish from sight (invis, f4, through the sustaining focus). With another hand motion, this one unseen (centering), Tyros casts the new spell he has been perfecting for the last several weeks, very excited to put it to the test in a actual combst situation (improved reflexes, f4, through the sustaining focus). Tyros' gait seem to slow as his movements smooth to a almost unnatural rythm. As the team moves into the subway, Tyros makes sure to leave an open lane before him, ready to charge any threat that presents itself.

The team plods down the crumbling staircase in silence, each respective team member switching over to his specific form of enhanced vision. The walls begin to come alive with holo-grafitti, which has long since lost its phosphorus. Undulating shapes writhe against each other, though without internal lighting are impossible to discern. Debris is strewn about: discarded soy-meal cartons, used pneumato-derms and empty BTL casings.

In one corner, there are even a pile of empty SMG shell casings.

Kato keeps a firm grasp on the back of Max's shoulder, as he lacks augmented vision.

Small, flitting particles of IR criss-cross the arched entrance to the subway station. Laser trip-wires.

Doc holds his arms out to his sides, and stops.

"Hold up a sec."

Walking slowly, he moves to the side to get a better look down the lines of the beams, to better determine their source and number.

The trip beams appear to be emanating from deep holes in the concrete, obfuscating their source. They must be physically wired (old-school) to an alarm mechanism as no matrix nodes are broadcasting in the dim, dark tunnel.

Doc stoops low to the ground.

"Who here as thermal vision? This entrance is rigged with IR trip lasers."

He studies the beam patterns, looking for an opening large enough for a person to fit through.

Max hangs back, visibly irritated at the hangup. The elf nods to Doc, his look saying 'Take care of it.'

Doc looks back in the general direction of the team, his eyes unable to find the large Troll that he knows is standing nearby.

"Tyros, follow me. You shouldn't trip the IR if you remain invisible. I'm going to see if there's a way to take this system offline, and I could use some backup."


(( If there's a reasonable space for Doc to slip through, then that's what he's doing. ))

Tyros' thermal vision easily picks up the IR beams. "I'm with you Doc." Even trusting his spell to bend the IR beams around his person, Tyris still superstitiously tries to avoid as many of the beams as possible. "How do we disable this thing anyway?"

Sinjins eyes focus quickly in the near darkness of the subway terminal, his racial low light vision compensating for his lack of digital enhancements. Cyber ware had never been high on his list of wants, preferring the natural attunement of his body through physical training and methodical practice. Nostalgia tickles at his mind, the trash and graffiti and visible drug abuse littering the tunnels remind him of a youth spent on streets and abandoned shelters not dissimilar to where he stands now. Feeling entirely comfortable in the squalor and darkness, he idly trims at his fingernails with the edge of a throwing knife. A cursory glance would set the picture of a man at ease, but in truth his hard won instincts are on full alert, ears straining for sounds of skulking ambushers and eyes flicking about to study the shadows.

Doc arches his back and slips through the beams, successfully refraining from triggering any alarm.

Breathing a sigh of relief at the successful game of limbo, Doc sets to tracking down the system's workings. He looks for a panel, wiring, or other means of accessing and disrupting the IR triggers.

While Doc examines the electronics, Tyros peers down the tunnel ahead of them, cycling through thermal and astral vision as he strains to see what lies ahead.

Doc runs his fingers along the wall, tracing a path through the dust and grime that coat its surface. After a minute or two of diligent inspection, he uncovers an irregularity in the concrete--a bump that is likely home to a power conduit. His advanced knowledge of electrical wiring tells him that it's likely providing power to the IR transmitters, but probably terminates at a junction box where it can be easily accessed and monitored.

Neither astral sight nor thermographic sight reveal anything alive in the cavernous recess of the subway station, just dim, gray outlines of contoured concrete.

Doc steps lightly, one hand extended and a finger brushing the wall, as he follows the raised line of the conduit to its terminus.

Max stands eager and impatient, peering into the darkness with his lowlight eyes for the slightest glimpse of anything. He is antsy for the inevitable action and shifts uncomfortably from foot to foot as if he can't get comfortable in his own skin. Taking a smoke from his pack, the elf jabs the Lucky Strike between his lips and lets it sit there unlit. It would be distinctly unwise to light up a cigarette in this situation for a host of reasons-- the thermal signature could be picked up on IR or the ember could be seen from down the tunnel-- not to mention that somebody jonesing for his own smoke break might smell the tell-tale aroma from a subterranean city block away. Having to accept the cigarette dry and smokeless, Max salivates and quickly soaks into the filter-- rendering it now a chewy, relatively unsmokable object. In lieu of sparking of the harmless little cancer stick, Max will settle for simply chewing on it instead.

It will do.

Tyris squints his invisible eyes, fighting the build up of pressure behind them. What is wrong with his control of the flows of magic tonight? His balance is off, and it needs to be found again before real pressure is applied. Some frustration creating into his voice, "How would a group of gangers get through this? Can we just pull the power plug? What is the non-finesse way to get by undetected?"

Adams loses track of the faint line on the wall. Brushing his fingers up and down the concrete, he retraces it half a meter later.

"Power's buried under the concrete here," he whispers back at Tyros, "we just need to find where the line comes up for air, so we can disrupt it. There should be a junction right around here; circuit breakers if we're lucky."

The power conduit trails off towards the subway platform and the cavernous area beyond.

Adams curses under his breath as he looks at the conduit's trail. Tapping his commlink, he unloads the Knight Errant skillsoft package, and loads up the infiltration 'soft. He unslings his rifle, and holds it with one hand as he moves swiftly along the conduit's line with his head ducked down. He chances an occasional glance around him, looking for heat signatures of guards.

Doc tries to ignore the beads of perspiration collecting on his forehead and presses on down the silent tunnel, his combat boots making only the smallest of sounds as they lay tracks across the rubble-strewn corridor.

The subway platform is deserted, predictably... and more of the same. Rubbish has been pushed apathetically into corners and signs of drug use and the recreational discharge of firearms lays abundant. He pushes a pneumato-derm aside with his toe and crouches low, tracing the tell-tale concrete bulge to the edge of the platform. It bends 90 degrees vertically and again horizontally when it reaches the ground, to run parallel to the subway tracks.

A surprised and emaciated rat casts a single, quizzical glance at Doc and scampers off down the tunnel.

Doc pauses, belly-flat on the edge of the platform as his thermos pick up a splash of color at the far end of the tunnel.

Doc is becoming uncomfortably aware of how much distance he's putting between himself and the rest of the team. The low visibility in the station imparts a feeling of agoraphobia that even the low light and thermal overlays on his vision can't quite shake.

The thermal signature catches his attention immediately. Keeping prone, he brings his rifle out in front of him, and peers through the scope.

Max keys his comm so that the whole team can read him,

<Heads-up, fellas. I've got Milly making her way into the tunnels. You heard me right, and you don't want to know the rest. I'll keep you updated.>

Still gnawing idly on the unlit smoke, Max makes his way toward his former teammate. Unsure of whether she has made him, Max does his best to remain off her radar.

Val's brow furrows in confusion at Max's sudden announcement. Val swivels his head to Sinjin and mouths silently, "Who the frag is Milly?"

Max flashes the decker a glance and a shake of his head that says, 'Don't worry about it now.'

Through the narrow aperture of the scope, Doc can make out the orange caricature of an adult male, pacing back and forth at about 100 meters. From his gestures, Adams surmises the man is smoking a cigarette. The figure "disappears" and reappears at intervals as he passes behind concrete columns.

Val glances between Max and Sinjin, still confused. His eyes find the mutilated cigarette between Max's teeth, and his palms start sweating anew. Something ain't right, 'mano, he thinks nervously.

Doc is bewildered not just by Milly's presence in an abandoned subway in this drekhole armpit of the city, but by the warning tone in Max's voice.

He decides that with the uncertain motives of the Technomancer, his best option is to maintain radio silence.

Returning his attention to the figure in his scope, he releases the slack on the trigger, and slowly rises. He can only see one person, but he can't risk setting off an alarm if another person out of view sees the first one suddenly drop. He makes his way down the tunnel, keeping low, and hugging the wall.

Max concentrates and attemps to re-enact Doc's exact movements through the beam grid.
The spry elf slips through the laser trip-wires with little effort.

Max motions back to the team to stay put as he gives stealthy chase to Milly. He comms the team with the update,

<Doc/Tyros-- I'm through the grid and on your side. I'm checking out Milly. I'll let you know.>

Doc furrows his brow.

If what max says is true, then he just went through the IR web without being able to see the beams.

He resists the urge to berate the elf over the comm, and instead moves back up the tunnel to a position from which he can see what Max is up to.