Searching For Utopia

[The SheoDovah]

A State of Zen

Zen began to think about how to approach the mission and how to use the other's strengths to compliment hers or use her own strengths to agument their efficency as a team whilst they made their way towards the van. She studied the records of their targets as she sat down on the top right seat of the van. "There are ways to render one unable to speak but it's quite cruel and death may be best." She recalled the dirty work she was sent do throughout her career and the various methods she used to silence people. She smiled at the new member of the team. "True but it also raises the risk of an alert and we should assume that everything is connected to alert security of any explosions." She informed him as she crossed her right leg over her knee whilst getting a small black rag out and began to polish her gun. "If there is no body to be found, it complicates things for the local police and there are ways of ensuring one can never be found." Her tone was a bit cold as if to indicate she was no stranger to making a body disappear.

"The hacker is an easier and safer target. We can coerce, intimdate him into aiding us and as Ria said, has a higher chance of having more info."

[BetaB17]

"Sergei.. already been paid. Need no coercion, only obligation" she said in a unimpressively dry tone

[Velvet LeChance]

Rosa glanced between Ria and Zen, shaking her head. "Hacker can get us into the system, we know that--but he won't have a clue about the entrance/exit routes, guard positions, security locks, and so on, like the Taxanomists would have. For all we know he might have operated in a completely different building when he worked with the company."

Then she came to a halt, shaking her heads. "Not that I am suggesting we need the Taxanomists. I've done jobs like that before, you break in, knock them out, deactivate their headcomputers, etc.--not impossible, just difficult. But to be crystal clear, after the [&@%!] that was the last mission, that was last night--her gaze shot between Raven and Oni, I'm not sure we have the team that's going to pull that off without a hitch--because a hitch and suddenly the company they work for increases security and that only makes our job harder.

We can find a guard inside the building, beat the leaving bejaysus out of them, and hopefully get a lot of the information."

[captcanada]

Ressoar
after listening to his new teammates plans Ressoar finalizes the general explosives he plans to use "Low damage directional blast charges" He says calmly to as he passes 5 small chunks of c4 to the group to inspect. "I also cooked up a high damage Binary explosives, so long as the two vials aren't mix it will be as safe as a bowl of jello. finally i got a small cardboard box of kitty litter, Solid fire accelerant, perfect for distractions."
He returned his extra equipment into his bag, leaving what was planned for the job out. "I think the Taxonomist assistant would be the best one to hit first: we know her schedule, she isn't as guarded as her boss. and frankly, If we stop the train in the right manner we can disguise ourselves as security or paramedics and just snatch her up without anyone being the wiser."

[BetaB17]

Oni dipped her chin a bit, disliking the amount of time, her time, that was being wasted "Get Sergei first. Discuss options later"

[Kerr]

Tejon nodded in agreement with Oni. "Best place to start." said Tejon. "If we do catch the assistant, do we have anywhere we can hold them a few days?"

[The SheoDovah]

Zen

"Too risky." Zen looked at Ressoar. "They would have considered the possibility of someone using explosives to breach and snatching someone in public is just asking to get attention." She looked back down at her Deagle. "The hacker is a better asset and will provide us with more information. The taxanormist can be a secondary target but I suggest we focus on the hacker." She finished polishing the gun and inserted it back into it's holster underneath the duster. "Good question. I assume that we lack any safehouses for hostages. Abandoned flats, warehouses do make for a good temporary situation but that would add more time to our mission and could be compromised easily." She started to polish the other gun as she waited for the plan to be finalised.

[BetaB17]

Oni looked up at their handlers, cutting off Zen's talk like a sharp knife "Sergei, intel, relevance to extraction." Clearly wanting to keep things brief and close to their main objective

[captcanada]

Ressoar
Ressoar nods in agreement. "Yeah the security and containment issues would make the tax assistant an issue." He looks at the group once more before retrieving his equipment. "God, I hate snatch and grabs. Too much prep with a solid chance of stuff still going south."

[Alarra]

Ria

That does make things more difficult, Ria thought, as Rose explained that Sergei knew nothing of the security.

She listened to the discussions of her teammates, and offered, “I do have sedatives, if we need to hold onto somebody or get them out of the way for a while.” She hoped that if it came to it, they’d agree to put those to use rather than resorting to murder.

[Velvet LeChance]

Their conversation was interrupted by a collective ping resonating through their communications devices, as a promised. email covering Sergei's background appeared across all their inbox's.

Code: Select all

Name: Sergei Sokolov
Age: 36
Bio: Son of two Russians immigrants, BSc Computer Science, MSc Forensic Commuting. Been fired from at least one previous place, quit abruptly from two others. Worked at nextGenGenetics for 2 years, encrypting database transactions. The work was conducted from a different site and merely leveraged the same system--so he has told us he has a good understanding of the security software, but not the site itself. Was fired 6 months ago following a sexual harassment complaint filed by a junior developer. This was not his first complaint, as far as we gathered. From interviews, he's not easy to work with, but we are aware of no other individuals possessing his particular expertise.
Suggestion that he is doing other ops work for other groups--something which has been ongoing for years and conducted alongside regular jobs, including for the Falange Vermelha. Whatever he did, it didn't go well, because reports have it that the hanger he was letting was broken into 2 days ago and he was kidnapped--eye-witnesses said they said three men wearing their gang colours broke in with steel-head axes and, after a number of minutes, dragged him an loaded him into a van. He was covered in blood at this stage. We suspect, if he is still alive, he will have been taking to their makeshift base, the Saffioti.
Falange Vermelha are notoriously vicious but surprisingly entrepreneurial minded for a communist outfit--it's possible they'd willingly trade Sergei back, we are aware of similar cases. If Sergei remains alive, he's likely going to require urgent medical attention--we suggested you approach with a medic.

Rose spoke as soon as she has finished reading it. "We offer to trade, we ruin the element of surprise." She'd clearly made any decisions that need to be made. Then she took a breath: "but, we are all agreed, we get Sergei and then, maybe, the Taxanomists?"

[Aarah]

Donald

Sitting at the back on the minibus, Donald had remained quiet for the journey so far. Instead he busied himself by looking through his briefcase.
Hmm. Which one of you for this? Alright, yes, two.
His eyes gazed softly around the interior of the case, before removing two medium sized daggers from their velvet lined surroundings.
He smiled.
Yes. You. And you.
He slipped the two blades into sheaths situated on either side of his hip, then gently laid a hand upon one of the throwing knives neatly lined up along a white strap across the diagonal of his chest, blending in with his shirt.
His smart jacket was then buttoned, just once, and his briefcase closed.

Donald sat up straight in his seat.
"Yes, the hacker first. The taxonomists..." he shrugged, "sound like more trouble than they're worth. Interrogating a guard as per Miss Rosa's suggestion sounds...easier."
The brown eyed man's eyebrows raised, and his lips curved slightly into a sly smile, "And more...enjoyable. I'm well versed in getting people to talk. Mmm, well versed indeed."

[The SheoDovah]

Zen

"It's a pain in the arse but we can hold them. Sedatives, crippling can make them as easy to keep." She finished polishing her gun and checked each one for any signs of damage or wear that could interfer with their operational mechanics before hearing a ping. She read the file and nodded slightly. "That adds a small spanner to the works." She remarked as she thought about possible plans of actions to suggest. "Sergei is the priority and as Rose said, a trade tips them off, they seal it up and go on full alert." She paused as she placed her arms behind her back and put her feet up on the nearest empty space that was opposite her. "Unless we have access to a tank, a gunship and heavy weapons, I wouldn't suggest a full scale assault. It would backfire for us, get us killed or worse, get my hat shot to pieces." She smiled at the team.

"We should question the witnesses first to form possible leads and go from there but only one or two should do it." She looked at Oni for a second before looking at the rest of the team. "Preferrably someone who looks like your average joe and won't stand out."

[Kerr]

"This guy is a real piece of work" Tejon said with disgust in his voice. The sexual harassment charges did wonders for easing the man's conscience, if this hacker got hurt, well, so be it.

"Taxonomists are still worth going after, but let's get to Sergei before the Reaper does. Sooner the better, aye?"

Tejon paused, considering their options. "Do you think we could sorta, rent him? I mean, he wouldn't be told that, obviously. But well, I know it's unorthodox, but we don't need him when the jobs done. Might get us a discount, the promise that we'll leak his location back to Falange Vermelha under the table once we cut him loose. Not gonna drive him back to their door or anything, but, well, just slip the gang a hint, let them sort it out among themselves. If Sergei is foolish enough to stick around, it's hardly our fault."

[captcanada]

Ressoar
Ressaor looks at his new co-worker in confusion. "Rent him? Cause you know grabbing a kidnap victim is like grabbing a U-haul. We do that and they will either want to know everywhere we go or want something or someone to hold as collateral."

Ressoar looks around the group and says "The best option is a hostage exchange, we find some of their boys, drug them up, maybe put an inert charge or two with some random wires and a clock. BAM, they will be playing nice."

[Aarah]

Donald

"He may very well be dead already." Donald said calmly.
"If not, what would they be keeping him for? Information? Blackmail? I highly doubt a ransom."

[The SheoDovah]

Zen

"On a scale of 1 to 10, I would rate him a 1." Zen causally remarked as she checked the file for anything that could be of use to the team. "Kinda overlooked something, Res." She looked at him. "They may not value their boys.." She shrugged her shoulders. "Could be low life rentathugs, could be on their bad side or just an excuse to kill them and it could complicate things." She removed her hat and began to brush it with the palm of her hand. Her red hair was evenly brushed and kept in tiptop condition. It had the mild scent of strawberry shampoo. "If he is dead then we can fall back on the taxodermist." She looked at Tejon. "A lot kinder then what I would do." She put her hat back on. "I would geld him." Her tone was as blunt as smoking pot, which was to say, pretty sodding blunt.

[captcanada]

Ressoar
"Yeah that makes sense their boy are a ris-did you say geld? Like castrate? Jesus Christ. I would rather leave them with the crazy knife man." He says whilst pointing to Donald

[The SheoDovah]

Zen

"Yes." Zen stated bluntly as she inspected her fingernails. "It's likely they would do it if he has REALLY upset them." She looked at Ressor. "Or force him into tires and pour petrol over him before executing him via fire. It's a real nasty way to go." She looked at Ressora without blinking for a solid minute. "Dissolving him alive via acid, breaking every bone in his body and leaving him to die, chaining him up, they have a lot of nasty ways to kill." She spotted a small smudge on her dark faded brown leather combat boots. "It'll be much kinder to plant a 50 calibre between his eyes if you really want to kill him." She moved the right boot to the left to get a better view of the smudge. "Darn it. I thought I got rid of it." She remarked as she focused on the smudge. "But the threat of such a fate is quite convincing to some. Could use it as leeverage or just oughtright make him think one of us is gonna to geld him there and then."

[captcanada]

Ressoar
Ressoar looks both horrified and interested."Yeah acid could work but the issue is transporting enough to evaporate him, maybe if we use dry lye. And bone breaking is so... archaic, wheres the art?"
He pulls out a cheap phone and begins doing a series of calculation. Mumbling to himself he begins to rapidly type away till he looks at Zen. "The most portable and effective painful death would be a viper venom, some kind of hemotoxin mixed with some kind of paralyzing agent, though the cost and risk of milking a snake would, problematic."

He lightly laughs and says "Still more humane than castration though."

[Velvet LeChance]

Rose looked somewhat horrified by the direction the conversation had taken, and spoke over it. "You're right, he could be dead--it's a long time he's been kept alive for, but if he isn't dead then it's all worth a shot." She paused with that, adding a firm nod. "And I don't think asking to rent him is a bad idea, damn sight cheaper than buying the [&@%!] would be." She shrugged next. "Of course, though, it's possible they just take our money and kill us."

She nodded again. "Perhaps, though, we can do both. One group of us, make contact and arrange a rent--that'll confirm whether he is alive or not and the other group can sneak in behind enemy lines and snatch him up." She glanced between the assassins, "we have the skillset."

[Aarah]

Donald

Donald ignored Ressoar referring to him as 'crazy'. It wasn't the first time he'd been called such.

While the Portuguese man and red haired woman spoke of killing methods, he shook his head in distaste.

[BetaB17]

Oni wasnt liking any of this. The team, the lack of focus, the lack of so much more

She moved away from Tejon, further up the van until she neared the driver's compartment. With a single knock of her hand on the wall panel "Rio. Favelas. Hurry" it was hard to tell if she was aware time was of the essence, or she really just wanted this deadend of a discussion to be done.

[The SheoDovah]

Zen

Zen observed the rather annoying smudge on her boot as Ressoar spoke about ways to murder someone and resisted the temptation to roll her eyes at the man.His reliance on explosives was causing her to dislike him heavily and suspected that he was a guy who wanted to make something explode at any costs regardless of whether it assisted the team or not. She breathed a mental sigh of relief when Rosa interrupted him. "Wouldn't be the first time I've been involved in a long shot." She causally remarked as she slowly stood up to begin preparing herself for the mission. "They can try but the issue most gangs have are poor discpline, rubbish tactics and a belief that spraying is the best approach." She looked at the rest of the team. "Negotiation and infiltration teams need to be assembled with the former handling the tricky part."

[Kerr]

Tejon
"Right, Oni, you lead the infiltration team. I'll take negotiation. Rose, Zen, Res, you're with me. Tucan goes with you, Toro with me." said Tejon, pointing at the members of the team as he mentioned them. He gave Toro a reassuring pet after he mentioned him.

"Oni and I had a lot of misfortune on a recent job, you weren't there for that. So this time, for the love of god, if you're with me, don't start shooting until they start shooting. And don't rile them up! Even if we can't work out a deal that's good for us, we're buying time for them." Tejon nodded at Oni. "Longer they're focused on us, less attention they'll be paying to them."