RP [Phoenix Team] - See Inside

"Well, they aren't going to get their greasy palms on my business," Seiren huffed. "At the very least, I can start pulling some investments into things, try to counter some of the bullshit tactics those types are known for - like pricing people out of their areas. And, in my personal workshop, I've got a few things I've been tinkering - mind you, mostly made to deal with horrible monsters, but with a bit of retooling can be used on people just as easily. I'll show any of y'all sometime if you come to visit my factory."

Seiren scratched the back of his neck, looking up at the ceiling.

"I guess, my biggest concern is," he began, "How do we know what's critical to them and what's not? Like, in a business, you've got a lot of small upkeepy things that play into a much larger thing, and then you have a major linchpin which, without it, makes all those small upkeepy things worthless even if you keep doing them."

 

55 Midway Beach, The Warehouse
"Sure, if nothing else we get free candy," Luca nodded at Seiren's suggestion to check their place out. If nothing else, getting to know each other's cribs and figuring out the lines of sight and vantage points were the best ways to spend an afternoon - to him, anyway.

"Yeah, he did, actually~!" Yttrium looked up, offering one of her metal fingers for the owl to perch on. She wiggled her finger enticingly at the owl, but it seemed to be ignoring it. The giant slumped, displeased with the lack of reaction from the bird and looking back down into the conversation. "I suppose we start soon..." Yttrium answered Breyja's direct question, now drumming her fingers against her knee.

"Yeah. They already have a good idea of what we can do," Luca ruminated, rubbing his temples. "So the sooner we get back on the front foot, the better..." He started outlining a few of the companies that Tanhauss had still operating within Sargasso: BigFruits! Co. in Ameshi Corner, the Blue Sky Society operating out of the CBD, Hildebrandt Cultivators over in Southern Palms, and an Algae Mill to the west of Central View out in the sticks. Other than that, the majority of Tanhauss' power was concentrated in Noir, and trickling into Sargasso behind catspaws and shady deals between politicians and foreign businesspeople. Yttrium had also been providing tidbits of insider knowledge where convenient and useful - but Luca cautioned the company's fingermen could change their tacks quickly - financing one gang one day, then pulling out suddenly and letting a competitor (of theirs) sweep in.

Meanwhile upon the bannister, Sparrow was more interested in looking out a window, gazing at the dog in the garish shirt on the other side of the street. The night progressed and the briefing below continued. The rain picked up, hammering harder against the window. It was the tail end of the dry season and the wet was slowly starting to seep back into Sargasso. A flash of lightning lit the upper echelons of the warehouse, and the owl's pupils contracted with the light.

Looking out onto the corrugated roof, the misnamed bird could see a vehicle meandering down Midway Beach - a black van pulling up opposite the warehouse. Sparrow squinted at the vehicle as its back doors opened and figures emerged. The owl begun flapping with irritation, feathers drifting down from above and landing upon the crates acting as the team's table. Luca looked up, noticing the bird bobbing its head around.

"Snuffles-" he said, watching the bird jumping up and down on the crossbeam while brushing feathers away from the table, "your bird's angry at something."

"Yeah, monkey face, you know those guys you said who were out to kill you, and really wanted to kill you a moment ago?" Sparrow asked, ramping up the mock tension in their screechy voice. "They're gonna try doing the killing you thing."

"It'll just be trying." Luca replied, indignant as he rolled his shoulders, standing up and looking towards the roller doors - and hoping Johnny didn't skimp on getting the doors armoured like he asked. "For them. How many?" He asked, booting one of the crates in front of him. As he waited for an answer he was better off not knowing, Luca popped the lid off, and Johnny reached out to pull it all the way open, and pass him a piece. "Ta." Luca replied, pulling the bolt back on a Service Carbine.

The bird watched a boot move into view, and stood with its wings akimbo, flaring all the feathers out to threaten the new arrival away. "Fuck off!" The foul-mouthed bird screeched as the owner of the boot drew the steel-toed appendage backwards. "Aw fuck they're comin' out the ceiling! Fuck off!" The bird hopped away, followed shortly by a smash of glass shards and a cylinder falling into the room, landing beside Luca and rolling beside his foot.

A lengthy set of metal fingers clutched the grenade, before the rest of the limb flicked upwards and tossed the bomb back the way it came - through the roof. "For the record-" he rose from his chair, tipping the crate of guns upward and inviting his potential customers to grab a piece and have a free demonstration. Even so however, he was putting distance between himself and where the fighting would be thinnest - the dunny, "-we'll talk damages and repair later. I'm sitting this one out. Not my circus-"

"-not your monkeys, I know." Luca finished off Johnny's sentence as the merchant disappeared into the bedroom. The bird swooped in after him, managing to catch him out before he could close the door. For Johnny, he couldn't have picked a worse place to sit out now.

Onto more pressing matters, Luca stepped back, getting away from the skylights in the roof, watching the corrugated iron roofing bend with bootsteps above. This was also followed by the sound of an engine starting outside the building, tyres screeching. "I think hugging it out is not gonna happen," Luca sighed, holding his gun upwards and firing into the ceiling - a suppressor fitted over the barrel kept noise levels manageable. A knock on the door also got Luca's attention.

A six piston, diesel powered knock - van shaped to boot. The whole roller door lurched forward as the metal creased and compressed with the weight of the van behind it - and Luca glanced towards the smashed door, only being kept in place by the frame. The vehicle could be heard reversing, but Luca had to focus on the ceiling. A bunny hop from Yttrium held the door shut, as she anticipated the next smash. "TOO SOON! TOO SOOOOOON!" She cried out, locking herself into place and holding the door. The man in red had a grin on his face as brass leapt across his field of vision and skittered across the floor.

The others had a chance to act - there were threats above and beside them.

 

Seiren confidently flicked out his wrist, expecting his gauntlet to come out. But then it occurred to him he put it away in his bag after dealing with the giant crustacean. So he did the next best thing - dash over to the crate, snagging a Snapshot PDW and two magazines of ammunition and then behind one of the crates in the room. He set the gun down on top of the thing, with the two mags facing upwards while he rummaged in his bag. And by rummaged, it is meant that he dumped the its contents on the other side of crate. Anybody looking on him would notice he was hopping from foot to foot like he was walking barefoot on a hot sidewalk, but it served a far more important purpose - charging his kinetic shoes. He only barely had enough time to slip on his Grav-Gauntlet bracelet before whatever happened next, happened next.

 

55 Midway Beach, The Warehouse
Looking up, Luca and Breyja saw what appeared to be a SWAT team of some sort - dressed in dark colours broken up by slashes of grey and pastel for a form of locally-tailored camouflage. Taking aim with their respective weapons, Luca watched them scurry across to the other rooftops adjacent to theirs, trying to avoid their lines of fire. The windows above started shattering into cubes of safety glass, letting in the rain and providing Luca with one less obstacle between his hook and one of the interlopers who hadn't gotten out of dodge. Breyja meanwhile wasn't going to let a little 'soft concealment' stop her from lining up a shot on someone laying low atop the building adjacent - she could see their rifle poking out.

"C'mere!" Luca goaded, reeling himself upwards and yanking his target through the empty skylight and sending them into the ground with a swing. While the goon fell to their demise, they were eerily silent - merely making a grunt of dull surprise as they fell headfirst into the floor. Luca didn't hear the usual sound of broken bones beneath tactical gear; it was an irregularity he'd have to investigate later - for now there were new targets from where he'd repositioned himself, and he had the advantage of being concealed from the skylights in the wave-patterned roof. Home field advantage, after all.

Breyja couldn't detect the usual smell of blood in the air as another of the footmen fell through the sunroof and landed beside her - her receptors were detecting something more like freshly cut vegetables, distinctly earthy, and mildly acidic, perhaps a too much nitrate in the soil. She was able to line up another shot with relative impunity from her covered position, but something warranted investigation, as a puddle of starchy-looking, coagulated blood grew beneath the new arrival.

Combined, Luca and Yttrium two were drawing the fire away from Yttrium and Ravnir - who were both against the door. In addition, they were preventing those puffs of concrete and lead shrapnel from getting too close to Seiren, but the crate would provide a formidable stopgap solution to incoming fire.

Yttrium however had herself locked into place, and her hydraulics were taking more time to react to Ravnir's instructions than the Crude's locomotion could deliver. The van came in as she was disengaging, and she ended up being pushed backwards into the massive warrior. Together however, the van ended up pinned against the roller doors, and spinning its wheels - unable to match the combined strength and girth of the Raiken and the Crude.

"Sorry~!" Yttrium cried out, painfully aware that she was in close proximity to the new Raiken - but she was still stood still and grounded well enough to begin trying to shred the van in her grasp apart with the same hydraulics. "I got it!" she called out as the metal creaked and screamed - sound of the engine getting louder and sputtering as the bonnet and grill were peeled open, and the vehicle's pipes were stretched and creased. "Oh my goodness - big sword! Put it in the van!" Her tone was elevated, melodic, and giddy at the prospect of seeing more magic in her life.

Bullets started to come through the roller doors, from where Yttrium guessed was - the bullets made holes in her latex-like exterior, exit wounds consisting of a splatter of oil, and fragments of any armour plates struck by the blow. Ravnir was hit with several 9mm bullets - slowed by travelling through the roller door and striking his hide. Snuffles provided a distraction by tossing the kettle's contents through the holes in roller shutter.

Luca and Breyja then followed up - lining up shots at the driver's seat beside Yttrium, then another at the passenger with carbine and railgun respectively.

"I'm going to get on the roof from the back way and flush them out, one of you watch up top," he announced to Seiren and Breyja as he strafed for the kitchen, watching the roof for more targets - then snapping ahead as he approached the back door, which was normally dead bolted shut. Luca lifted the bolt and hustled through into the night. A few moments later, Seiren and Breyja could see the light from a concussion grenade from the shattered skylights above - almost like a bolt of thunder in the night's storm, but too close to be mistaken for anything else, given Luca's outline of the plan.

Red lights above signalled the use of the his laser pistol, followed by the sight of a man being thrown into view for Seiren and Breyja - followed shortly by another landing not far. A third one was tossed atop the pile of concussed and strangely cultivated soldiers, but it slid against its fellows in the slippery rain, falling several feet away from Seiren.

Its helmet and mask came tumbling off as it landed, trying to claw for purchase - but Seiren could see a green face, pinstriped with bands of lignin, steel-rimmed eyes with a pair of red LEDs, and a head of hair not unlike broccoli. It tried to reach for the inventor to attack them, muttering: "Must. Attack. Targets." Whatever this person was, they must've been a severe mutant, or a derived life form from plants - what passed for blood smelled similar to overcooked greens, mashed and left in the sun.

Meanwhile, Luca had just finished smashing one of these "broccoli men's" faces into a green pulp, flicking his hands to get the gunk off. When he stood up, he spotted the lights and wailing of police sirens in the rain, heading for his address, turning a corner into Midway Beach. There was a quick response, but Luca hadn't called the police, nor had he floated the idea.

Maybe Johnny called the cops? He figured was the most likely explanation, as he approached the edge of the building facing the street, looking down at the van - the driver still had their feet on the pedals, even though they were likely bleeding out from the neck or head. The passenger meanwhile had been unfortunate enough to cop the railgun. He could also see more of the similarly clad artificial troopers flanking the van, trying to get a shot in at Ravnir, Snuffles, and Yttrium with rifles. In close quarters, the Chelti could've snatched one of the longarms away from the stiffly moving soldier of vegetation.

But he was wrong about his previous deductions regarding the incoming backup. The anonymous tipster to the unfolding incident at 55 Midway Beach had been wearing a floral-patterned shirt and sunglasses, and they were already on their scooter home.

 

"Night of the living Veggies? Sounds like dietary propaganda," Seiren said, perfectly fine with shooting what amounts to unintelligent cannon fodder in the face. Repeatedly. Particularly the one by his feet. Looking up, he could see one still ambling on the roof, so he pulled in the crate Johnny had emptied with a flick of his grav-gauntlet, then launched the heavy metal box straight at the wannabe soldier.

 

55 Midway Beach, The Warehouse
Something in the back of Luca's head was vaguely insulted that whoever sent these things were sending what he considered the dregs of someone's fighting force. Looking down from the top of the warehouse, he could see Breyja peppering the van and the remaining soldiers with submachine gun fire before Ravnir slowly begun replacing the roller shutter with ... the very bones of the earth. It was pushing the van upwards as its undercarriage was caught beneath the rising wall and the doorframe. Yttrium stood back and let the Raiken do their thing with magic, suitably awed.

Huh. I wonder if the insurance covers that? Luca wondered, his attention back to the flashing lights; Four police cars were seen driving down Midway Beach towards the warehouse, and the remaining Broccoli soldiers begun to scatter as the blue boys in blue came down the road. With a few of the vegetable soldiers missing heads or limbs, it was only a little unnerving to watch them attempt to split up and run. "Well, can't argue with those results," Luca said, turning around and heading towards the skylight, where one of the Broccoli soldiers was trying to stand back up.

As he ambled over with his pistol in hand, a box flew through the hole in the skylight and launched the vegetable soldier into the air. Figuring their final trajectory would be lethal, or at least be removed from the fight - Luca paid no mind and slipped in, reeling down to the ground. "The fuzz are here," he pointed out, dusting his hands as the sirens could be heard from outside. Car doors could be heard opening, followed by assertive directions and some muffled violence from outside. "Any of you guys call them?"

There was a knock on the non-roller door just beside the door. "Not me." Yttrium said as she moved out of the way of the new opened it as delicately as she could to let the officers in. She was greeted with several of Sargasso's finest, armed for bear. "Hi - it's a bit of a mess in here-" The officer let themselves in, followed by a few others who were understandably wary of what they'd seen from outside - what with a crate flying from the roof and a humanoid figure sailing through the air a moment ago.

Luca holstered his pistol and ushered the policemen in, "Make yourselves at-" he found himself handcuffed, "-home." He was sat down in a chair and given firm instruction not to do anything funny. Yttrium was also told to stand with her hands behind her head.

"You're dangerous, I saw you and these people on the news with the overgrown crayfish." A passing policewomen said, as she was cautioning others nearby to stand down as well. Another officer was examining the green stains and juices dripping from the ceiling with disgust.

Luca nodded, taking it as a complement. "Glad I could deliver. It'd be terrible if I wasn't," he replied glibly.


Soon, police officers were piled into and around the building, with a forensic team breaking off to examine the broccoli men around the area - removing helmets, faceplates, acquiring firearms, and looking for identification or insignia. Many of the firearms used by the Broccoli men were reported as stolen or unaccounted for - or simply lacked any identification, with the serial numbers filed away on most of their weapons.

In addition, statements were being recorded from nearby locals, and local security footage checked. Holographic cordons were put up, and as the evening turned darker and the rain slowly tapered off, Units were sent to fix the mess with the van. The police eventually found Johnny Longhands in the warehouse bathroom with Sparrow perched atop his head. Astounded at the damage and mayhem - as well as the rank smell of overcooked broccoli, Johnny gave Luca a withering look. The man in red just shrugged incredulously - things like this happened all the time around him.


"...so yeah we were together having a chat and a cuppa-" even the kettle and shards of mugs were taken as evidence "-when Sparrow begun squawking that we had uninvited guests rocking up." Luca summarised for the police, who were reviewing footage of what had happened and taking notes. "Said uninvited guests almost smashed through the roller doors with their van, and we defended ourselves to the best of our abilities." Vision of the van smashing into the roller doors and the soldiers corroborated this. "Think you can find who sent these goons?"

He had a sneaking suspicion of the answer, but wanted to see the police's perspective on the issue. "We'll be looking into it," the officer taking statements said. Not a very reassuring answer. "For now, you and your guests are off the hook - but we're watching you."

That's when Yttrium had an idea. "Actually - if you guys need help in the future with unusual threats - just call us! We're very good at doing it." She was trying to see if she could foster a positive relationship - after all, the results on the news spoke for themselves.

However, the cops had cheques of their own to earn and get cashed. "Are you saying my six-plus years of training and experience with law enforcement can be readily substituted with a bunch of vigilantes?" The policeman replied, remaining stern, "you can stick to private clients."

"Good idea! They pay more and award on merit instead of dynasty!" Luca snarked. Yttrium's membrane vibrated in shock at his statement ... even if it happened to be partly true in Sargasso, and entirely true in Noir.

The officer was offended by the notion, sucking air through his teeth. "...consider yourself lucky that Tannerman has a good word in for you, or I'd seize you and your assets right now." This only made Luca's defiance harder, and Yttrium's shock even more palpable.

"I've got ten-plus years in the UDD, EAD, and beyond," he stated plainly, content with his legacy of violence and scandal, "of dealing with things you guys can't." There were a lot of things the police couldn't deal with alone. "You couldn't deal with Codename Driver springing fifty prisoners from an armoured and supervised bus in broad daylight. I can-" the policeman seemed positively offended by the notion while Luca only seemed to be getting fierier, "-and I will - with or without your cooperation."

"Hey! You're on!" One of the forensics officers called out, looking up from a pile of mashed broccoli in ill-fitting SWAT gear which used to be one of the attackers. The police officer in front of Luca decided to disengage, only to discipline the forensics officer for making the Sergeant-Constable look bad.


Luca finally breathed a sigh of relief when the police and reconstruction Units packed up and left just past midnight with their evidence and findings, but left most of the mess behind. "Good. Thought they'd never leave us alone," he said, glad to be out of handcuffs for his own alleged safety.

"Not entirely." A voice called out from the back door, letting themselves in. It sounded like a Unit's voice - the artificial modulation made it easy to tell. Luca however recognised this one's voice. "I would like words with you alone, please."

Looking into the kitchen and spotting the humanoid-shaped Unit floating in watching him, he glanced down to a stain on the floor and the wall near it. "If you help us clean up, you're more than welcome..." The Unit brought a mop and bucket forward, nodding.

 

Once the cops arrived, Seiren unloaded the magazine in his gun and set it back on the crate he was using as cover, then casually put all his belongings back in his odd backpack - save the gauntlet, which he kept squarely on his wrist.

"Please stop antagonizing the normal people, guys. They have paperwork to file and we don't," Seiren sighed, leaving everybody to wonder whether his comment was purposefully insulting or not. He otherwise left himself out of the recount of the attack, since his input was not needed.

Once the police were gone, Seiren made sure he was altogether before telling Luca, "I'm ducking out now - I've got a meeting with my distributor tomorrow that I need to get sleep for. If the Unit tells you anything relevant, do give me a text, would you?"

After this, he left the warehouse.

 

55 Midway Beach, Cleaning Things Up
Late at Night, Overcast and chilly

The turn of events which lead to Luca scrubbing green splatters off the wall with a suddy broom wasn't how he envisioned an evening with his friends figuring out how to bust something wide open was going. After gathering said accomplices, trouble and danger followed quickly with him. At the very least, there was comfort in knowing what he wasn't: He wasn't safe from Tanhauss - and judging by how lukewarm he found his vegetable opponents - neither were they.

Yttrium was taking the intrusion with a little less enthusiasm - with her previous brush with thugs masquerading as police, she was keeping a close eye on them even after they'd left. When Seiren left, the oily giant and the man in red wished the inventor well on his travels home - and to keep him posted should anything interesting happen.

Dipping the front end of the broom into soapy water, Luca returned to a stubborn spot for another round of scrubbing; The cops could have their paperwork and cop politics - Luca was content with seeing results as the stain disintegrated right before his eyes - just the way he liked it. Johnny gathered his wares and put them back into proper storage, setting them aside for the team to look through later. "Luca, I'm considering bringing my bodyguard over next time we have to meet." Johnny had his noodly arms ensuring everything was in order. "Er, no offence towards you or your mates."

"None taken," Luca replied, tapping the opposite end of the broom against the floor, putting it away and grabbing a mop to start working on the floor. "How's she doing anyway? I barely see 'em."

It was a long-distance relationship. "What's the Unit doing here?" Johnny asked, dodging the question like a window would dodge an incoming brick. Luca shrugged - the Units ran the place in unseen ways, and if they were nudging people into doing things - it could've been for some greater experiment, or because they were moving known quantities around to stay out of directly interfering with the world they'd created. In either case, Luca felt wasn't worth fathoming the motivations of strange robots who were even more evasive than Johnny's squeeze.

"I am not interested in your business dealings with Mr. Pavone, Mr. Longhands." The Unit filled in, holding an open hand towards the Oddbody merchant in an attempt to mean no harm and diffuse any tension. "I advise those of you who aren't Mr. Pavone or Ms. Maganese go in peace while we have it in our grasps." It directed, the offer pointed squarely towards Ravnir, the Chelti, and Breyja. It was getting quite late out anyway - and the day had been long, tiring, and stressful - even if pistol-calibre rounds were as mosquito bites to the likes of Ravnir.

Johnny adjusted his eyeglasses, frowning a little - he never liked the Units asking questions or making directions, but he figured it was going to be more of Luca's problem than his - and Luca's problems tended to be massive. "I'll take the back way out, then. Be seeing you." Johnny waved goodbye before he saw himself out and made his way back to his shop in Dripton.


Snuffles was not allowed to keep the arm. It was evidence - since the police figured the more 'evidence' they had, the better their chances were of figuring out who was responsible. Even so, more disembodied appendages and scoops of green decaying vegetable matter did not put together any more of a complete picture - no matter how many of them could be arrayed into person-shapes and DNA-tagged to ensure subject number six's left arm didn't actually belong to subject number twelve.

"Something tells me they were not cleaning the bodies up for our benefit, but to hide them from further investigation by you, your companions, or contacts affiliated with Mr. Tannerman, as he too is vocally opposed to Gruppen Tanhauss." The Unit stated towards the Chelti. "Make of that what you will." Luca looked up from mopping the floor and eyed the Unit warily - he hadn't brought up his connections or affiliation (even if it was begrudging at best) with Mr. Tannerman yet.

Such a connection could raise a lot of questions with more savvy (or conspiratorial) locals like Breyja and Snuffles, while the Raiken knew Rex Tannerman was only the mayor of town - with a reputation for being a protectionist who wants the best from Sargasso's exports and workers, and had an adversary with foreign interests pumping his competitor with cash, and buying up local businesses and dumping local workers.

Chief among the questions: who's fight was it anyway? Luca wanted to believe it was his from moment he laid eyes on Yttrium and got her out of that paddy van. She had been nothing but trouble - but she made his life exciting again.