Veridian Under Siege

[ngm_villains]

Time: 11:00 am Friday
Where: Veridian Dynamics
Who: Purifiers, Vargas, Marcelo, Sage, possibly others
What: The Purifiers have chosen to make a statement, and Marcelo's corporation is the unfortunate target.
Warnings: Possible violent content.

The time had come for the Crusade to make a big statement, to show its power and purpose to a world that seemed drifting towards damnation. The Brethren had made their orders, and Vargas was to lead a handpicked group of Purifiers in an assault on a major corporate power that had aligned itself with the mutant curse. Originally, Vargas had insisted they assault Shaw Industries directly but it had been vetoed by the Brethren on the grounds that Shaw Industries was a virtual fortress, possessed not only of defences but of actual weapons systems that would likely have turned any effort at attack into a bloody debacle, let alone the presence of numerous powerful mutants, but also because Veridian was an international corporation and the effects of the attack would echo beyond the borders of the United States.

They would make the approach by two directions, one from underground, blasting into the subbasements of Veridian and the other from the ground, approaching in an armoured helicopter. The attack from the ground would be directed by twenty armoured Purifiers, men equipped with heavy weaponry and armour proof against all but the strongest of attacks. From the air would descend another twelve, modern-day Disciples and Apostles, armed the same but made up of the most experienced and capable members of the organization, all former military men, mostly former special forces. Along with them would go Vargas himself, brandishing the blade he'd found many years ago, near the beginning of his personal war against the forces of genetic corruption.

Though he was the commander of this mission, he knew that in the end, he was naught but a servant, a faithful slave to the One True God, the Lord of Hosts. He had spent the journey to the Veridian Dynamics tower in prayer and contemplation, eagerly imploring the Lord's blessing in what they had to do. Their misson was to make a wreckage of Veridian Dynamics and seize Marcelo Alencar da Silva as a hostage. Vargas would have preferred that he be made a bloody example of, but the Brethren were wise and believed he had value as a hostage. Getting Veridian, the most important company to so far subscribe to the Shaw girl's blasphemous drive to accept mutants into the body politic to abandon the plans and getting rid of a prominent mutant sympathsizer to Brazil would be victories. He would trust his masters, both Earthly and Heavenly. He was a soldier, pledging his sword for Father, Son and Holy Spirit. To doubt or question was not his to do.

As they approached, they opened up fire against the side of the building. It was then that they got their first surprise. While the Vulcan cannon they used was capable of shattering individual panes, it wasn't capable of inflicting collateral damage. In fact, it was barely doing the job on individual panes as it was. Clearly, the glass being used in Veridian wasn't ordinary. But it didn't take long for enough of the top few floors to be cracked open for the teams to go in, lead by Vargas himself. The security guards armed with tasers and net guns were another small surprise, though the tasers were useless against the armoured shell of the Purifiers and even the nets, while somewhat inconvenient, assumed ordinary human targets or close to them. Knock-out gas would have been highly effective, save for the full NBC protection offered by the Purifier armour. 

In the end, the difference lay almost as much in the intent of the Purifiers. Veridian security had likely been organized around preventing theft and vandalism against motley bands of supervillains or mere terrorists, not military-trained men with heavy weaponry bent on making a statement about the enduring power of their faith before the world.

Comments

[vesper_verde]

Fridays were supposed to be relatively easy days. 11 AM saw a slightly drowsy Marcelo at his desk working on his paperwork before lunchtime. The building shaking and the alarms going off made him wake up in a hurry.

He blinked and glanced over at the monitor of his computer in disbelief. The klaxon he was hearing was not the standard one for a fire.

"Bosta," he whispered before jumping out of his chair. He grabbed a comm unit patched into the security feed out of his desk drawer. He flipped it on with his thumb.

"Status," he barked into it as he headed for his office door. The reports he got made his heart sink into his stomach.

He switched the channels on his comm unit to go into the buildings PA system. "This is not a drill. Please evacuate as calmly and quickly as possible."

He repeated it in Portuguese before switching back to the security band. "Those the can, fall back to the 29th or 1st floor. Help with evacuation."

He needed to find his father. And Sage. Both if he could help it.

[ngm_villains]

Several of the Purifiers were no doubt slightly disappointed they couldn't use their most frightening weapons at the moment, but using flamethrowers indiscriminately in the midst of the building would lead to disaster, for them as well as for their enemies. However, that being said, the security guards still had to deal with military-trained men in powered armour wielding high-powered machine guns and flashbang launchers.

Vargas himself was cutting a far more direct path towards Marcelo, literally, as he moved at an incredible, hellbent speed, wielding his blade against anyone who tried to stop him. The genetic detection device he had had been attuned to Marcelo's DNA, conveniently taken off of Stephanie. It detected both an exact match and close one, in the subbasements. A relative? Perhaps Marcelo's father.

In which case, they could make their argument for Veridian's withdrawal even more effectively. He patched in to the Purifiers entering the subbasements to find the father. He would find the son himself. As for the Holy Spirit, it animated and filled him. They would emerge triumphant today. And then none would doubt the power and commitment of the Crusade.

"Find the heretic and his sire. Take them alive if you find them. As for the rest, God shall provide for their ultimate salvation or damnation." It was as good as an order to kill anyone else they found in the building.

[thelivingcomputer]

Sage had been passively monitoring, well, everything, from her temporary office on the executive level of the Veridian Dynamics building. Thus far, her first week 'on the job' had gone by rather smoothly. It really came as no surprise that 'smooth' didn't last long. When did it ever?

She was on her feet, buckling holsters into place as she exited her office, virtual shades in place, giving her a real-time readout of the security system's information and the status of the beginning evacuation. She broke into Marcelo's private communications link and spoke, "I am approaching your position. Please do try not to die until I arrive."

[vesper_verde]

Marcelo stepped out of his office door and saw the executive staff grabbing things and going. He glanced toward Luiza, who was grabbing her massive purse. "Go. Quickly."

That was all he could spare for her before turning toward where Sage was coming from. His heart had climbed up into his chest to either clench hard or hammer against his sternum. It traded off on it.

[thelivingcomputer]

Fortunately, the intruders seemed to be entering from the lower levels and working their way up. Since she was on the same floor as Marcelo, she didn't encounter any of them yet. Even so, she used the security feeds to compile as much information about the armored men as she could and begin to detect flaws and weaknesses in their armor and weaponry.

When she reached Marcelo's office, she was glad to see it mostly empty. Not empty enough. "Evacuations mean all personnel," she reminded him. "Shall we go?"

[vesper_verde]

He shook his head. He closed his eyes for a moment to steel himself. Stephanie would not like this plan one bit. But his people needed him to do something than run for cover.

"I need to make sure as many people get out as possible. My security teams are dying. I have something vastly more important for you to do."

He clipped the comm unit on his belt. "I need you to find my father in the subbasement and get him out safely. Call help. Whatever help you can get. The police alone aren't going to cut it. Then come back and save me. Because by then I'll need it."

[thelivingcomputer]

Sage raised an eyebrow at the directions. He didn't want much, did he? "I'd much rather get the both of you out of here, now. Seems more efficient that way..."

Calling for help she could do, though. While she spoke with him, she put a message through to the X-Men. Hopefully, they wouldn't take long to arrive.

[ngm_villains]

Vargas was bearing down hard on Marcelo's location, cutting through anyone in his path, having already left several dead fools along his path. Perhaps God would have mercy upon their souls- if so, killing them was hardly a cruel thing to do for they would enjoy Heaven, if they were damned, though, it was simply Vargas doing his duty as a soldier of God. Along the way to Marcelo's office, he encountered a woman carrying an oversized purse.

It took only a few seconds for him to move towards her and with a flash of his blade too fast for the naked eye to even register, plunge the steel deep inside her. He knew Marcelo was on this floor.

He would hear the scream and then any sounds thereafter she made. It would take her several minutes to die, though it was virtually inevitable. Saving her life would have required the immediate presence of a dedicated trauma surgeon and a full operating theatre.

She didn't disappoint him. Now, it would be interesting to see if he came out to avenge her or if he simply let her die, alone.

[vesper_verde]

"My father's the most important person in this building. Get him out. I have to help my employees. Please, save him. I'm putting all my faith into you to do that." His fingers twitched. He wished he had his Vesper gear here. Even his old suit, but all of that was at that was at home.

Then came the godawful scream. He turned toward the sound. Had Luiza gone that way? Marcelo hoped with everything he had he misremembered. He glanced at Sage. "Go. Now."

He moved toward one of the fire extinguishers in the office. It could do as a weapon. Or remind him how he utterly fails at panicked public situations. He clamped down on his thoughts and went toward where he heard the screaming with the bright red extinguisher in hand.

Sage's Next Post Goes Here

[ngm_villains]

[Sage's next post can go here.]

[thelivingcomputer]

Alert for oncoming attacks, Sage noted the Purifier as he turned the corner and raised his weapon. Her brain, processing at super-computer speeds and beyond, recognized the weapon as a grenade launcher and she began to move to dodge as it was fired. Continuing to gather data as she moved, she determined the projectile to be a grenade of non-lethal variety, although it wasn't likely to be much fun, regardless.

As soon as it exploded, she accessed the mental processes that governed her auditory and visual receptors and made synopsis-quick adjustments to provide some protection from the assault. It wasn't perfect, but at least she didn't lose her senses entirely and so she was cognizant of the machine gun being aimed her way and dove, rolling across the floor and taking retaliatory shots at the armored man, aiming for the spots that had proved vulnerable on the last.

[ngm_villains]

It was an amazing triumph of Sage's mental will and mental command over herself that she was able to gather enough of her senses to realize her location and be able to take rational act at all. However, as for being able to place precise shots, it would be an impossibility. Her bullets bounced heavily off of the main armour of the Purifier.

Sensing that the attack was at least a partial success, the Purifier prepared to load a fragmentation grenade, with a kill radius of 15 meters. Sage would have to find cover very, very soon.

[thelivingcomputer]

Still reeling a little from the first grenade, in spite of her efforts to mitigate the impact, Sage knew she had to speed up this encounter if she wanted to get to the Senior Alencar da Silva before someone else did. Unfortunately, this building was not equipped for an all out assault.

She'd really have to discuss security upgrades with Marcelo after this.

Tapped into the building's computerized systems, she triggered the fire suppression system. The overhead sprinklers went off along with blaring alarms and flashing lights. Hoping it would distract her opponent enough, she ran at him, hoping to get to him before he loaded the next grenade.

[ngm_villains]

As it happened, fortuitously enough, the Purifier was receiving urgent communications from the squadron leader, allowing Sage a brief moment to make her escape, should she choose to take it. Fortunately, the Purifiers had spread out somewhat as the nature of the mission shifted slightly to finding any valuable survivors.

[thelivingcomputer]

As much as she hated to leave an adversary on his feet, she had other obligations to see to. Besides, she needed a moment to allow her body to regain its equilibrium.

As she ran for the sublevels, she tapped into the X-Men's communication link to check on their progress.

[ngm_villains]

Vargas sped down into the lower levels, searching for Marcelo's father. He would be happy enough to engage the mutant enemy, though he had a greater mission in mind at the moment. It was then that the detector indicated another mutant moving in the same direction as he was.

Perhaps she would know where the father was ... or perhaps he would simply be able to coat his blade in the blood of the mutant enemy. For the immediate moment, however, he remained as quiet as possible. Perhaps she would simply lead him to Marcelo's father. He remained out of sight. If she knew he was there, it would be because of enhanced senses of some sort ...

[thelivingcomputer]

No advanced senses in the organic sense, but her connection to the security feeds did give her a bit of an 'eyes in the back of her head' advantage. Eyes in the back, side, and all floors of the building advantage.

She noted the intruder moving in her direction, but she didn't react. Her primary goal was to reach Marcelo's father. Once she found him, she could deal with her shadow.

X-Men can start posting here

[ngm_villains]

X-Men can start posting here.

Re: X-Men can start posting here

[canadianwildboy]

The call to fight was at least something to do, and something he liked. Logan put it out that Purifiers were loose and anybody who wanted to play whack-a-mole was welcome to come along IF they could get to the Blackbird in 120 seconds.

Re: X-Men can start posting here

[ngm_xmen]

The call for X-Men went out and James Proudstar answered. He was seated in the Blackbird and checking on his knives as soon as he could manage. Sure, he was going with Wolverine so the stabbing quotient was met, but it never hurt to have additional sharp things with them.

Re: X-Men can start posting here

[ngm_xmen]

Sunspot managed to get on the Blackbird at about 115 seconds. That was about as stylishly late as he could manage. Any later and he was sure Wolverine would have left him behind.

Re: X-Men can start posting here

[talk_to_you]

In general, Doug avoided fieldwork. But with bodies in short supply and this too dangerous for the kids, someone had to step up to the plate. He dropped into a seat next to 'berto.

"Just like old times, eh?"

Re: X-Men can start posting here

[canadianwildboy]

"Times're gettin' older," Logan snapped as the bird was powered up. "Hang on. If ya fall out, I'm not catchin' anybdoy."

[ngm_xmen]

Jimmy raised an eyebrow as he settled more firmly into his seat. "If I 'fall out,' I'm taking you with me. Always wanted to find out who bounced better."

[ngm_xmen]

"Old times would require you dressing up in Cyclops' cast-offs, meu amigo," Sunspot reminded his freakishly lucky married friend. He still hadn't figured out how Doug managed to get Rachel.

He seemed unconcerned about falling out of the Blackbird, but that didn't stop him from harnessing himself in. He didn't want to have to run to Manhattan after all.