To the Chinook:
“Thank you. And if it’s any consolation, sorry about Chaggo. Let’s make sure we take Johnson down so his death won’t be in vain.”
Goethe walks over to the pile of ammunition and grabs a bunch of clips, both for his pistol and the AK.
“So I guess we just wait here until this Jackal guy is located, eh?”
4509 gestures to the console, directing the employees to get to work. Once they’re doing so under Goethe’s watch he moves back into the hallway and looks for any ammunition he can use. He’s unconcerned with Chaggo’s death.
The ammunition in the area is plentiful enough that Goethe, 4509, and Nail need not worry about running out for the remainder of this run.
No credits were recovered from the dead. None of the men had any reason to carry money on them while on duty.
Three agents get to work on consoles nearby. Kirk watches them intently through Solomon, to prevent betrayal. The agents all seem to be cooperating.
The man 4509 assigned to lead the group says, "In order to pinpoint Jackal’s location immediately, we must enslave his communications device. It won’t be easy to do without him noticing, but we will be able to force the device to broadcast a signal we can track. If you want results right now, that’s the best course of action.
Another option is to listen passively for his device to ping our sensors. It will take longer to find him, but he will not be aware he is being tracked. If you want to catch Johnson and his bodyguards by surprise, this is the only way to do it."
“Any element of surprise we had we lost running errands for the last half hour. Just get me his location,” speaks the cyborg as he returns to the room, firearms reloaded. He stands at the center of the office, waiting. After a few moments, as an afterthought: “Are you the ones jamming me?”
Nail stands up and waits silently while the shaman finishes his prayer. When he leaves, Nail stoops over Chaggo’s lifeless body. “Stupid orc. You think you were invincible or something?” he says, his derision a thin attempt to cover his sadness. Staring down for a few seconds, he can’t help but notice Chaggo’s face is frozen in an expression of battle fury, an almost ecstatic rage. Pausing briefly, he utters only a quick “Hm,” and gets up to walk past Seneth and Goethe and into the terminal room to check on 4509.
Inside the terminal room, after hearing the options presented by the techie, Nail says: “For once I agree with the terminator here. Let’s just get this over with.”
"Agreed. They’ve been expecting us for a while now. Unless anyone has an idea of how to fake that we didn’t succeed in taking this area and have been defeated–and don’t look at me because I’m a lousy con-artist–there’s really no sense in going the subtle route.
The lead surveillance agent responds, “Well, yes. It was the last order Johnson gave us. Our interference signal jammed all of the comlinks - even ours. It was a last-ditch effort to stop you. We have to stop broadcasting the signal in order to track Jackal. Your comlinks will be operational again soon.”
As the surveillance agents get to work, the Universal Omnitech commando crew 4509 sent to the security mainframe meets with the rest of the team in the surveillance office. Only 3 men from the crew are left, one of them the leader.
“Bad news,” the lead commando says. “We couldn’t take the mainframe back from Synthcorp. They found the chip, and they’re clearing the virus from their system now.”
Synthcorp’s combat drones will now be much more effective in combat.
As the commando speaks, Donovan and Kirk walk into the office. Donovan is clearly upset.
“Don’t mind him. He just saw that dumb ork’s body,” Kirk says, completely void of compassion. She immediately rushes to the drone Solomon. “You poor thing!” She cries. “Those barbarians dented you! Don’t worry, when this is over I’ll fix you good as new. Better, even!”
Donovan says, “That ork was the only person I know understood what it’s like, working for these monsters - to hold hate in your heart so long it kills part of you. He didn’t even get to see justice served.”
The surveillance agent says, “It’s done. Jackal’s comlink has broadcast his location. He’s on the 41st floor, south service hallway. We’re locking the area down now.”
“You hacked his comlink?” Donovan asks. “Does he know what you’ve done?”
“Almost certainly,” the man responds. “Jackal is very observant.”
“Can we talk to him?” Donovan asks.
The surveillance worker pauses, before responding, “I guess so. Why would you want to, though?”
Donovan glances at the others, a sinister grin on his face. “Does anyone have something to say to Johnson, before we tear his head off?”
“Ask him he likes owls.”
4509 doesn’t bother, uninterested in gloating or making threats over comm. He heads to the nearest elevator to make his way up to the 41st floor.
To Donovan:
“Well, we’ll just have to make sure Chaggo’s death won’t be in vain then. And I’ve got something to say to Johnson.”
Goethe says over the commlink into Jackal’s hacked frequency
“Hey Jackal, tell that backstabbing cretin of a boss of yours that maybe next time he ought to think twice before betraying those in his employ. Of course, if we have our way, he’ll never even get that chance. It’s not too late to save yourself, though. Even if you think you can win this, how long before Johnson decides you’ve lived out your usefulness and know too much? Think about that as we close in on you, eh?”
Then to the surveillance agents:
“By the way, if it’s any consolation, none of us really wanted any of this. Your boss forced our hands when we realized he was going to kill us upon completion of our original assignment.”
He then double checks that he’s got a full clip in both his pistol and AK as he follows the cyborg toward the elevator.
“Are we going to kill this Johnson fellow or merely take him captive?”
When Donovan asks his question, all Nail can do is subtly roll his eyes. He finishes smoking a cigarette and then goes to join 4509.
While on the way, to Seneth’s question he responds: “That will be up to him.”
At first, there is no response to Goethe and Seneth’s transmission to Jackal. The surveillance crew brings the area up on video via a stationary camera on the 41st floor. The crew sees Jackal with an armed crew of 10 seasoned Synthcorp fighters, standing protectively around a man Donovan recognizes as Johnson.
When Jackal realizes the area has been sealed, he activates his comlink and steps toward the camera. Slowly and deliberately, Jackal says in a robotic voice, “You’re already dead, punks.” His hand wraps around his comlink and squeezes, obliterating the device and breaking the signal. Then, he points his finger at the camera, and pushes. On an enormous surveillance screen, the crew can see Jackal’s single finger push through the bullet-proof protective glass surrounding the camera, breaking through to the lens. Abruptly, the screen shows only static.
Donovan draws his pistol and stands in a corner of the office. “Someone has to keep the wage-slaves honest,” he says. “Much as I want to see the look in Johnson’s eyes when that bullet hits him, I’ll stay here with Miss Marvel. Just say the word and we’ll open the doors for you.”
Kirk and Donovan will stay behind to watch over the surveillance operatives.
Seneth, Goethe, Nail, 4509, and a group of Universal Omnitech commandos and Chinook tribesmen make their way to the 41st floor. As they go, Walken’s voice comes over their comlinks.
“I was beginning to worry, Asset,” Walken says, clearly addressing 4509. “Your uplink has been reestablished. I’m happy to see you still have your crew in line, and have found Johnson. Synthcorp has reorganized their defense effort into a wipe-out operation. They are deleting files and destroying data as fast as possible, but your astute decision to divert resources toward the salvage operation will ensure a seamless transition to Synthcorp’s new management. The only obstacle remaining is Johnson himself. The Chinook want him alive, but a future relationship with these Natives is not a high priority. The decision to capture or execute Johnson is yours.”
Walken receives data from the surveillance operatives, and uploads schematics for the area Johnson is holed up in. The surveillance cameras in the area are disabled, and it is impossible to determine how the bodyguard crew are organized within the area.
The 41st floor is an executive compound. There are four large rooms of roughly equal size arranged in a square. Each room is a separate office/living quarters for a different Synthcorp Executive. Each room has a private elevator leading to an underground area, which is not detailed in the schematics. It’s clear that Johnson’s security crew, having been unable to evacuate him via helicopter, was attempting to access the underground area through the Executives’ private quarters.
4509 immediately notices the ceilings in this area are reinforced with a steel plate in between the 41st and 42nd floors. It’s a common defense against precisely the type of operation the crew is attempting to pull off.
Surrounding the 4 suites is a long service corridor, where servants can access and deliveries can be made without bothering the inhabitants of the suites. There is a separate freight elevator that can access the service corridor. Johnson’s security team is locked inside the suites, unable to exit through the elevators, or access the service corridor.
I’m not sure how Seneth is doing overall, but I am proceeding as if he is at full health and feeling no drain.
If Seneth believes they are close enough to Johnson, he will cast Detect Enemies to try to determine how many entities are in there with him.
Goethe to the Chinook Warriors and over the Commlink so that Donovan can hear as well:
"Why do you want Johnson captured alive? From what I understand, Chaggo wanted him dead. And I know that Donovan wants him dead. Me? I don’t really care from any personal reason, but I think someone that claims to be a businessman yet has such little disregard for honoring his agreements clearly shouldn’t be in his line of work. And I know as long as he’s alive, he’s no doubt going to want me dead. He was planning my death, and Nail’s, and probably even Seneth’s from the moment we agreed to work for him. Now, if Sasheille was telling the truth, and there’s no reason to think he wasn’t, regardless of what happens to Johnson, this crew is already no doubt on the radar of whoever Johnson was affiliated with, and I’d really like to only have to worry about one nebulous evil guy behind the curtain at any given moment. So my life is easier if Johnson is dead, and it’s not as if the asshole doesn’t have it coming.
"So that’s where I stand. If you can give me a good reason, and for that matter Nail and Seneth as well, as to why we should not bestow upon him the full fruits of his labors, we just might try to spare him.
"Of course, you still have to convince Donovan that Johnson is better off left alive. He’s part of this team as well, and his opinions counts just as much as anyone else.
“And then there’s 4509. Though he disregards life so much that he’ll probably spare Johnson simply by you asking him nicely to do so. As far as I can tell, the only skin he’s got in this game is his paycheck.”
“Johnson dies.” 4509’s tone has a cold finality to it.
The sole shaman who survived among the Chinook responds. “Chaggo was not one of us, although he understood our tragedy. Johnson has killed or ruined many of my people, and he will meet justice as decided by our elders. He will be our prisoner. That is the price for our help in this attack.”
4509 doesn’t bother responding to the Chinook. He looks to the surviving trio of Universal Omnitech commandos, speaking to them via comm (Goethe and Nail are patched in as well, but the Chinook are left out), “We each take a door. On my signal we breach and flash the suites. If you get a shot at Johnson, take it.”
Seneth speaks very firmly, and louder than anyone has heard him speak thus far.
“Stop. Right. Now. Johnson does** NOT** die, children. We take him captive, get out of here, and we will* ruin *him.”
“So Donovan, what do you think? Apparently we have some disagreement on what we should actually do with Johnson, and the Chinook are unlikely to help us if we don’t spare Johnson for them to deal with in the end. You have a personal stake in this, are you willing to let them deal out the justice on their terms, especially if the can guarantee that Johnson will never be in a position to harm anyone again?”
To the warriors and over the commlink for Donovan’s sake:
“What will your people do with Johnson? He’s wronged many people, and isn’t the type to stop doing so as long as he has the opportunity. He’s a threat to my life and many of my team members. What assurance can you give us that he’ll never be able to commit such acts again? He’s a sociopath who cares nothing but for his own personal gain. I will not hand him over to you only to see him treated lightly.”