Participants

Summary

After interrogating Pentex pawn Richard Martinez, Gabriel learns about Building 7 at Smith International's refinery where experimental solvent XK-47 is systematically corrupting workers. Richard's panicked confessions arise from Gabriel's gift of Persuasion., revealing that Building 7 storees XK-47, an "industrial degreaser" that was part of Omar's delivery route, spreading contamination between facilities. It occurs to the newly defunct pawn that Pentex is going to sanitize operations once he officially goes missing, so he gives Gabriel his access card in response to being given a life-changing sum to skip town and turn his life around.

Che Vuoi, then, infiltrate the plant in Pasadena through the Umbra, bypassing outer security to hit Building 7 during night shift. What began as reconnaissance became full combat when Enzo's mis-step once he's out of the Umbra reveals the Garou. Ambush becomes no longer an option, and so they jump right into an attack. The three Garou dominate a plant caught off guard, tearing through the on-site armed security that certainly didn't expect THIS kind of company. A handful of fomori are present, likely corrupted by the XK-47 exposure, but they're dispatched quickly. A worker named Eddie triggers the chemical evacuation alarms, clearing innocent civilians while the pack destroy the fomori -- and him. One young worker, Tommy, falls victim to the Delirium as he' caught in the crossfire, hiding behind industrial barrels, to eventually be swept up by a morally conflicted Gabriel. He's taken to psychiatric care.

Lead-Up

Discovering Omar: Sideshow Freakshow Part 1
The Cliaths Confront Omar: Sideshow Freakshow Part 2
Gabriel Interrogates Richard: Sideshow Corpo
Meanwhile, at the same IC time: A Frightening Look Into America's Most Frightening Pasttime - Delia, Tori and Ajax visit Omar's mom in Richard's car.

Log

(Medina - 07:13 PM) Richard is in Gabriel's car riding passenger seat. He's trying to still work out internally the details of his life and he's given Gabriel an idea of where he lives, since he's asked him to drop him off near home. And amid conversations of starting a farm and starting over and so on, Ricky suddenly balks at something he remembers. "Oh fuck, they're gonna know something's up when I drop off the map! They're gonna lock down everything I had access to and start moving shit around."

(Gabriel - 07:17 PM) "Then we're limited for time," Gabriel replies, patiently. "Tell me what you know of the refinery. I might as well go there, quick. But, here." He stops by the corner of a building, goes into it, emerges from it and gives Richard a stack of cash. "This will help you on your new journey. If you are in deep trouble and need anything before leaving, just drive straight into Juniper, and you'll be fine. But if you do that, there'll be strings attached to the favor you'll owe the community there."

(Medina - 07:25 PM) "I don't know everything they do," Richard adds, like he's trying to talk himself down from his panic. "I'm small fish. They can't really want to hunt me down that hard, right?" He glances to Gabriel, then he doesn't give him time to answer that because he does not want him to answer that. "But -- that's way above my pay grade. But Building 7's where I had clearance, that's where they store this new solvent they're developing, XK-47 or something like that. Omar's delivery route always includes a stop there to pick up containers of the stuff? They'll start moving the shit out of Building 7 once I just go *missing.* They don't take chances, with people running off with their ideas."

When Gabriel gives him this life changing sum of money he blinks at it, whistles in hiso wn amazement, and takes it. "Thank you. Why are you helping me?" But he takes it, and when he processes 'tell me verything', he clears his throat and thinks for a second. "Well, they told us it's some kind of industrial degreaser, supposed to be way more effective than the regular stuff for cleaning heavy equipment, pipes, that kind of thing. They said it could strip years of buildup off machinery in minutes, save the company millions in maintenance costs. I'm sure it'll change the industry right over!" There's a brief moment of genuine pride and excitment at the idea of technological innovation from the ignorant pawn. "Special storage, special delivery routes, only certain people can touch it. Like Omar. He's my little cousin, I tried picking up this contract so I could make sure he was alright, he's been doing a lot of --" Some kind of revelation obviously comes together in his head.

""Wait... you said Omar had some kind of flesh-eating bacteria, right? From spiders?" His voice gets higher. "Jesus Christ, what if it's the XK-47? What if that shit's not just a solvent?!"

(Gabriel - 07:31 PM) "Well, if it's not -just- a solvent, I just spared you from a trip to a vat full of that. Or your little cousin, you realize." Gabriel keeps the car on standby, waiting for someone, apparently. "As for why I'm helping you, I doubt you knew how much of a pack of dirtbags those people were. Well, those are the perks of working for the environment, you learn about this shit, you get to tell other people - off the record, of course."

"I guess I'm going to figure out what's going on at that storage unit, then. And maybe learn a thing or two about where they're making it. Don't worry about figuring it out yourself. If anything, my advice is to know as little about it as possible, because the more you know, the more involved in shit you'll happen to be. We don't want that."

"Anyway, good on you to watch over your cousin, but now you've got to get the fuck out of dodge. For yourself. Omar'll be fine."

(Medina - 07:34 PM) "That's a 24 hour operation," Rick adds, trying to calm himself down instead of freaking out. "Look, uhh, I have my access card..." He fumbles with his wallet. The two are in Gabe's muscle car. Richard is dressed in street clothes, a light-skinned Black man in his late twenties with hazel brown eyes and a corporate-friendly low fade with a nice and neat little office-friendly lineup. He puts up the cash in his wallet and fishes out his ID. Richard Martinez. Has his photo and a magnetic strip. "I was supposed to use it tomorrow night to do inventory on the shipments... This thing gets me into the chemical storage, the loading dock, even the supervisor's office. They're gonna deactivate it when they realize I'm missing, so you gotta use it fast."

He listens, but he starts spiraling again. "Omar's been handling those containers for months, and he's been acting weird, getting aggressive, sweating that nasty...Oh FUCK, man!" He looks at his own hands, then rubs at sweaty palms, then shakes his head to shake off the case of the willies. "I always thought it was weird how they'd test it on the oldest, grimiest equipment first. Said they wanted to see how it performed on the worst cases, but that means, you have people fucking with it for longer. Jesus, you know, it's just like these companies, I bet they get some kind of kickbacks from the goddamn doctors, they're just keeping each other in business!"

Gabriel loses one Willpower (Gabriel rolls Wits + Rituals vs 7 for 3 successes.) (Gabriel rolls Willpower vs 5 for 2 successes.)

(Francesca - 07:51 PM) Francesca is at the place where Gabriel called her to meet at. She picked up Enzo along the way. The two of them are currently sitting in Francesca's vehicle, which Enzo likes to drive, as it's a black, Dodge charger. While they're trying to keep a low profile, both of their hands are flying about, like they're arguing about something - Enzo's driving, cleanliness, the weather, who knows.

(Medina - 07:55 PM) The sodium vapor lights cast everything in the city in that familiar orange glow, at the late hour, there's nobody here, and once Ricky is sent on his way, Gabe has enough darkness and solitude for what he needs to do. With his carefully selected ritual materials he is able to summon healing spirits and convince them of the urgent need for its assistance. The air shimmers slightly as a gentle presence responds. A small mending spirit, a brief negotiation, and soon Gabriel has two healing gourds that carry the breath of Gaia.

(Enzo - 07:58 PM) Enzo drives with one hand on the wheel and the other arm slung out the open window. Hazel eyes track the building Gabriel slipped into, HUD flickering faintly as his overlay feeds him data. "Who do you think is going to be the first to start shooting? Mmmm? I put money on you..." he mutters, deadpan, before glancing sideways at Frankie with a half-smirk. Enzo has voted for you.

(Gabriel - 08:02 PM) An address is spoken over their 'totem telecomm', which is also implied to be their pick-up point. Gabriel isn't going by Don Gabriel yet, which is good, because the amount of shit Francesca would give him for it is off the charts.

He's got his gear ready now, at least, and for this particular engagement he has eschewed the grungy/punk rock attire for something more... fitting for a hitman. Black shirt, a balaklava, black pants, military boots with nondescript soles. And he has his holstered gun, of course.

Likely they'll have to waltz in and shoot to kill people as soon as they can spot 'em, and so dropping off Ricky at the bus stop and going back to HQ to prepare before making the talens means that he has spent some time prior to the rendezvous.

But it's go-time now.

(Medina - 08:03 PM) Before Richard is sent on his way, he shifts nervously in the passenger seat, checking his watch. "Security's not... it's not like Fort Knox or nothing, I mean, but not nothing, there's a main gate checkpoint. They got two guards there 24/7, but mostly they're checking for delivery trucks and making sure employees badge in. You just drive up there like you belong and use my badge and they probably won't even ID you, that's what the badge is for. Especially at night, they don't pay those sumbitches enough to care."

He rubs his forehead, trying to remember details. "Building 7 has its own perimeter inside the complex. It's a biiig place, you know. Like a city. But building seven has its own separate fence, couple of roving patrols. But the guards are more worried about keeping people OUT of the really dangerous areas than..." Well, he's not stupid: "Well, whatever you're planning." He's also not asking what he's planning.

As for shift change: "Shift change is 6 AM and 6 PM. Around 5:45, you get this clusterfuck where the day guys are showing up early and the night guys are dragging ass trying to finish their rounds. Everyone's focused on paperwork and getting the hell out, so, uh, if you need the distraction... There it is."

When he's asked about points of egress: "There's a service road that runs along the east side. Maintenance vehicles use it. Goes right past Building 7's loading dock. And there's always the storm drainage system, uh, if you want to get megacancer tuburculosis, but, I hear it works for Michelangelo and Donatello."

And then he notes security. Gotta love the 90s, an age of bulky, analog cameras where VHS tapes are expensive as shit: "There's a couple cameras at the main gate and mmmaaaaybe one at Building 7's entrance?" He shrugs, no idea, really. "I haven't exactly been secret squirreling it up to really pay attention. But I mean, I'm sure they're just recording to tapes that nobody really watches unless something happens. I bet if you stay out of the direct light, you're probably fine."

And then, Ricky is dropped off, and Che Vuoi is left to find out the supernatural puzzle pieces themselves.

(Francesca - 08:04 PM) "Probably me," Francesca agrees with Enzo's assessment. Once they spot Gabriel, and whatever signals should be given are given, Francesca steps out of the car, dressed in a pair of black jeans, tanktop, and jacket. She's carrying whatever gun she usually carries. Spotting Gabriel, she offers a silent upnod, and awaits briefing.

(Enzo - 08:15 PM) Enzo kills the engine with a soft click, the Charger settling quietly as he steps out, Chucks hitting the pavement as he stands. He gives Frankie a sideways glance and a crooked grin. The jacket shifts on his shoulders as he adjusts it, his pistol holstered and hidden, his stilettos concealed about his person, his eyes already tracking Gabriel in the dark. A low whistle slips from him, not loud, just enough to announce and get the theurge's attention. Then he walks up and says with a flat but sharp voice. "Alright, what's the plan?"

(Gabriel - 08:19 PM) "The plan is we are heading into Building 7. We may not want to go with my car." Gabriel comments to Enzo, in reply, before looking to him and Francesca. "We could go in through the Umbra and go out at the nearest point past that, if they aren't expecting anything of the sort."

"Then we can use the card we do have, and we can get access to the building's secure perimeter. Expect a manner of glory here, and a fight."

(Medina - 08:23 PM) Twenty miles southeast of downtown Houston, Pasadena sprawls like an industrial cancer across the flat coastal plain. Welcome to the petrochemical heart of America, where crude oil becomes gasoline, plastics, and a thousand other products that keep the modern world spinning! This isn't just Houston anymore, although it's a satellite thereof. It's the beating, toxic heart of the energy economy, where billion-dollar refineries stretch for miles along the Ship Channel like steel cathedrals to capitalism.

The Smith International plant rises from the darkness, and Ricky wasn't playing when he said it's like its own city. It's about the size of a university campus or a small town, an acrid-smelling maze of towering distillation columns, cracking towers, and processing units that climb toward the orange-stained night time sky. Hundreds of pipes snake between the structures like metallic arteries. Some are thick as subway tunnels abnd others thin as garden hoses but they're all carrying their various chemical loads through the industrial organism. White plumes of steam from hissing vents dissipate into the humid night air and safety flares burn at the tops of hundred-foot stacks like massive, industrial torches.

The sound is overwhelming. It's a constant industrial symphony of machinery humming, pumps churning, steam hissing, and metal expanding and contracting with temperature changes. In the distance, compressors cycle on and off. From somewhere deep in the facility, heavy equipment grinds and rumbles. The smell is immense. It's that sweet, acrid bite of refining crude oil mixed with sulfur, benzene, and a dozen other chemicals that make your eyes water and your throat burn.

There's security lighting. It floods the facility in harsh white glare across acres of pipes, tanks, and processing equipment. The perimeter fence stretches for what looks like miles, topped with razor wire and dotted with warning signs in English and Spanish: DANGER - AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY - HAZARDOUS MATERIALS. Guard towers rise at regular intervals, and you can see the occasional sweep of patrol vehicles along the internal roads that wind between the processing units.

This is, of course, the view from just beyond. The trio can see the guard post that Ricky mentioned that you can drive through with his keycard, although, it's anybody's guess if they'll notice a different car. Maybe they will, maybe they won't: a place this huge has got to have a lot of faces, not all of them easy to remember.

(Francesca - 08:25 PM) "I agree," Francesca remarks, to Gabriel, doing her best to conceal the AR that one of them has given her, although her jacket will only partially conceal it. A glance to Enzo then, assuming he'll be on the same page as their alpha's plan.

(Enzo - 08:29 PM) Enzo doesn't argue and simply nods once, sharply and cleanly. "Umbra's the better play. Less worry about the noise, less chance some rent-a-cop sees something they shouldn't and dies dumber than they lived." Without another word, he steps back to the Charger and pops the trunk. The soft thunk of the latch is followed by the scrape of metal zippers and shifting gear. He shrugs off the shearling jacket and folds it with surprising care before tucking it away. The shoulder rig stays on, pistol holstered beneath his arm. But it's the swords he's after: twin short blades, matte black with urban-warfare grips. He straps them on across his back in practiced motions, movements smooth from muscle memory.

For Frankie, he reaches into a separate case and pulls the assault rifle tricked out with a laser sight. Extra clips follow. He hands it all to her without a word, just a slight tilt of his head and a grin. Then, with the trunk slammed shut and everything in place, he turns to Gabriel and gestures once with two fingers. "Lead the way, boss. Let's go see what the Wyrm's up to."

(Gabriel rolls Gnosis for 3 successes)

(Gabriel - 08:34 PM) Gabriel doesn't hesitate to bring out a piece of mirror, and he starts making a magician's trick with his spare hand; he stretches it INTO the mirror's surface, which warps like waves on a pond, and then he holds fast to the Umbra once the two packmates have attached to him. Then, he'll slowly but surely pull the three of them into the other side, at which point he takes a moment to regain his bearings, and quietly retrieve his holstered pistol, holding it with one hand, and the mirror in the other. Amazingly, he seems to have no problem using both hands with an equal amount of dexterity.

"We're going to move fast and try not to make noise on our way in. Don't hesitate to kill Banes, particularly the eyestalk ones, you know what I'm talking about. But I have a feeling they haven't had much time to get themselves set up here."

(Medina - 08:41 PM) Once Che Vuoi steps sideways, the spiritual landscape they approach at the plant is a nightmare fusion of corporate order and industrial decay. Where the physical world shows steel towers reaching skyward, the Umbra reveals a vast web of black iron conduits that chitter and hum unettlingly. The towering distillation columns have become twisted spires of corroded metal and bone, their surfaces crawling with geometric patterns that hurt to look at directly.

Thick cables of crystalline cables weave between the structures like spider silk, but they're shot through with rust and corrosion that gives off an unhealthy green glow. Weaver-spirits are visible from a distance, scuttling along among stranger things that have no names. The air itself is toxic, a whispy wet, blanket of despair twisting between the buildings like poisonous fog, accumulated anguish hanging in the air. Where steam vents in the physical world, here geysers of liquid shadow erupt into the orange-stained sky. Patches of the ground weep a black ichor that stains everything it touches.

(Francesca - 08:43 PM) Taking the AR from Enzo, Francesca lifts it in her arms, ensuring that everything's as it should be - scope is aligned, safety is on, all the good things. "Thank you," she tells him. Then, she tucks the weapon against her body, not quite concealing it, but doing her best to make the weapon less obvious. "You don't think there are any innocents to pull out - " she says to Gabriel. It's more a confirmation than a question, but wanting to be sure just in case.

Then, once they're in the Umbra, she stays close to the other two, quiet, taking up the middle of the pack. Her eyes track the scuttling weaver spirits, as well as the steam vents, tracking what moves and how it moves, in the event that something tries to get the jump on them, here.

(Gabriel rolls Stamina + Primal Urge vs 7 for 4 successes.)

(Francesca rolls Stealth + Dexterity vs 6 for 4 successes.)

(Gabriel rolls Stealth + Dexterity (Total: 5) vs 6 for 4 successes.)

(Enzo - 08:47 PM) As they slip through the membrane of the gauntlet, Enzo exhales through his nose, sharp and short like he's shaking off the last vestige of the human world. The instant the Umbra takes hold, he shifts. Bones grind, joints pop, muscles bulk beneath skin that stretches taut with sudden mass.

In his glabro form his hazel eyes dim a shade, cold now, clearer in the half-light of this broken reflection. The swords come free with a low shhhkt, drawn smooth, one in each hand. He moves to Gabriel's flank, quiet, alert before looking over to check on Frankie.

(Too-Tough-To-Die - 08:48 PM) Too-Tough-To-Die shifts into his glabro form.

(Gabriel - 08:48 PM) "Inside that refinery, there are no innocents, just collateral damage." Gabriel glances about, and though they navigate closer to the corroded, corrupted web, he looks on with distaste as they near Building Seven. He shifts to Glabro, just as a protective measure, and gestures for the others to do so, before actually starting to stalk towards their objective and destination. This is where ugly things take place.

"Eyes on the target, ears to the ground. Move slowly. Surprise is the element." He speaks into their totem-comm.

(Too-Tough-To-Die rolls Dexterity + Stealth vs 6 and fails.)

(Medina - 09:02 PM) In the spirit world, Building 7 appears like some kind of festering wound in reality itself. It stands out even among the shithole that is this pockmarked patch of the penumbra, and its concrete walls weep a black, oily substance that pools on the ground and never quite dries. The corrugated steel sections have warped into bizarre chitinous plates that pulse with a sickly rhythm. As the Walkers creep through the facility, those skittering pattern spiders look ... Wrong. Their shining bodies are shining no longer, pitted and cancerous, their movements shuddering and jerking up close. One of them notices Enzo, cleaning its mandibles and suddenly stopping to take the Glabro in, but then it scuttles off, and unless they follow it, causes no trouble. No immediate trouble, anyway.

Where the facility itself has bright security lighting, there's unwelcoming will o wisps of light that shouldn't be. The roll up doors that section off here and there look like rows of metallic teeth. Chemical drums scattered around the area look more like tumorous growths, and thoes painful-to-look-at webs are twisted into agonized knots of crystalline structure that speak more of the anatomical, sparking and shorting as they bleed digital static.

As the trio gets into the umbra and step into shadows, behind wall, whatever - they can hear the cranking of a valve wheel on a tank and see a man watching a pressure gague climb as this XK-47 chemcal transfers through the overhead lines to the loading station. The stuff has a weird consistency. It's thicker than regular solvent, with an oily rainbow sheen that seems to move on its own.

"Eddie, you getting anything on the flow meter over there?"

"Yeah, showing 150 gallons per minute," Eddie calls back from the control panel, squinting at the digital readout. He's running the automated pump sequence.

"WHOA WHOA WHOA!" Marcus suddenly shouts across the floor. "Tommy! Get away from that electrical panel with those wet gloves, you trying to kill us all?!"

A pimply young kid who is only legally a man freezes mid-reach toward the high-voltage switch box, his rubber gloves dripping with residue. "I was just gonna-!!"

"You was just gonna fry yourself AND blow the main power coupling!" Eddie yells from the crane controls. "You see that steam pipe up there?! We get an electrical fire and this whole section goes up like the Fourth of July!"

Tommy backs away, looking confused. "But... isn't that an OSHA violation? Having exposed electrical near the chemical lines? Shouldn't we report..."

(Francesca - 09:09 PM) Watching the stopped pattern spider, Frankie tracks it with her eyes, only, until it's definitely gone on its way. She continues to move with the others until they're in the refinery room. Lips - wolfman looking lips - set into a thin line as she observes the encounter between Eddie, Marcus, and Tommy. Brow lofting, she looks toward Gabriel, waiting.

<OOC> Medina says, "Oh! That exchange doesn't get wintessed until you do step back into the materail world, just for the record. Give me a perception + alertness or investigation, whichevr is more complimentary to yuo, vs 6, for like, ... tactical awarenss, finding the shit your'e lookin' for,e tc."

<OOC> Medina says, "all of yall can"

(Gabriel rolls Perception + Investigation vs 6 for 2 successes.)

(Too-Tough-To-Die (Enzo) - 09:12 PM) Too-Tough-To-Die follows along with his swords out, activating his heightened senses and using that with the feeds from his optics to track their path, listen for danger and just to be ready to go.

(Francesca rolls Perception + Alertness vs 6 and fails/)

<OOC> Medina says, "Enzo, what I did have in mind is that stealth roll failure is going to kick in when youre back out the umbra. Whether it' knockin' over ad rum on accident, triggering a motion sensor, whatever, but the point is an /ambush/ won't be possible as an approach. If you want to come up with how you fail ICly then I welcome you to or otherwise I can come up with it but ambush isn't gonna be an option because of the failed stealth roll"

<OOC> Gabriel says, "Hey, I love a running and shooting start"

<OOC> Gabriel puts on some SAMURAI for this

<OOC> Medina says, "ballad of buck ravers"

(Too-Tough-To-Die rolls Perception + Alertness vs 4 for 6 successes)

<OOC> Medina says, "Okay, going in some broader tsrokes because of the time: the heaviest Bane activity clusters around what would be the chemical storage section. It's the northeastern corner where the XK-47 containers are kept. Secondary concentration appears to be in the central area which is by yoru estimation from the penumbra probably the main work floor where the night shift handles the experimental chemicals"

<OOC> Too-Tough-To-Die says, "You can pose whatever makes sense on the fail, I'm good with whatever"

<OOC> Medina says, "yall both can tell that the chemicals torage area is definitely the heart of whatever's wrong here."

<OOC> Medina says, "do y'all strike immediately or do y'all wait a little longer btw"

<OOC> Medina says, "let me know what y'all do"

<OOC> Gabriel says, "Our game plan is, since we don't have the advantage of an ambush, we're going in guns blazing; if collateral damage wishes to flee, fine, but we'll hold out enough to do a Rite of Cleansing near the main Bane area to cause them to agonize and maybe actually -do- clean the area if we can."

<OOC> Gabriel says, "Then we'll destroy the things binding them to this plane in a more controlled fashion, ie: with enough time for us to get out of here."

<OOC> Medina says, "his name is tommy gabriel, god"

<OOC> Medina says, "dehumanizing my BOY"

(Medina - 09:31 PM) The building is 2 stories real-world side. The ground floor that they're on is a large open work area with chemical processing equipment, storage tanks, and the XK-47 handling station in the corner. The Loading dock with roll-up doors on the east side within sprinting idstance. There's a small break room and equipment storage. The chemical storage has gigantic rosw of containers full of chemicals and other experimental solvents. Lots of heavy ventilation, concrete containment floors, lots of pipes overhead, they're steam lines. There's electrical panels near the chemical storage, poor ventilation creating toxic air pockets, and a bunch of random OSHA violations that you can use your imagination on.

(Medina - 10:16 PM) So there these cats were, enjoying a beuatiful day, when all of a sudden, Enzo happens. Enzo is an event. Enzo is a cuisinart, and so is Gabe, and Frankie brings bullets in spades. For a split second, nobody quite processes what they;re seeing, then Gabriel's first shot cracks right through the industrial hum like thunder. Those guards have Level IIIA vests but his bullets tear through like it's so much tissue paper, dropping one of the four in a spray of blood before he can even clear leather! His second target staggers backward, clutching a devastating chest wound but still standing.

Meanwhile Cuisinart moves like liquid fucking death, his shortswords singing through the air on some 1980s action movie shit, carving into the guard that's reaching for his shoudler radio. The man never gets a chance to call for backup! The first blade opens his throat, the second finds his heart. He collapses in a growing pool of blood, radio clattering uselessly to the concrete.

Francesca erupts in full-auto, brass casings raining down and, you know, our beautiful girl, she kind of whiffs it and serves storm trooper but really the boys are doctors of death curing their patients of breath and they always can use this soundtrack she's laying, right? The rounds splatter against the remaining guard's body armor, leaving him bruised but upright and alive enough to have the hope to fire off a round! Which I haven't even rolled for yet, but ooo lawd, it's comin'!

(Medina - 10:21 PM) The security guard fires off his bewildered shot, but Enzo can't be bargained with. It can't be reasoned with. It doesn't feel pity, or remorse, or fear. And it absolutely will not stop, ever, until everyone is dead.

(Medina - 10:23 PM) Meanwhile, the man who was yelling at Tommy yells, and he's not the only one screaming. He runs straight for an alarm panel, snatching up a wrench. There's a big red lever that says CHEMICAL EMERGENCY behidn glasss and he is busting it, frantically using that tool, and as he does, among the bullets come the klaxons!

(Gabriel - 10:27 PM) After killing one guy and putting a hole in the other, Gabriel turns, profile flattened to avoid catching a bad case of flying bullets before he shoots at some machinery close to the doors; when he does, the thing sort of dismantles itself after a ricochet, the heavy machinery falling right on top of the door, barring hostiles from entering the 'institutional way'. Which can be a good thing.

(Medina - 10:28 PM) Between the klaxon bursts, a pre-recorded voice echoes through tinny PA speakers! "ATTENTION. CHEMICAL EMERGENCY. ALL PERSONNEL EVACUATE BUILDING SEVEN IMMEDIATELY. PROCEED TO DESIGNATED STAGING AREA. THIS IS NOT A DRILL."

(Medina - 11:02 PM) The facility has erupted into absolut chaos. Workers scattered in all directions, their screams echoing off the concrete walls as they dive for cover behind chemical drums and processing equipmentm sprint frantically for the bay doors as this psycho with his trick shots make their hope of escape dimmer and dimmer. The remaining guard - the single one still breathing - frantically shouts warnings that mix with the industrial alarms now blaring through the facility. Clutching his bleeding side, in a panic, he empties his entire weapon on Gabriel, thoughtlessly spraying and definitely praying.

Somewhere in the distance, heavy footsteps pound against metal grating.

Enzo explodes into his war form, a towerof muscle and fury as he launches himself at the first berserker fomor. His claws tear through the creature's torso in a spray of black, caustic blood that hisses and steams where it splatters across his fur, and the fomor just drops as its entrails explode like a fucked up caustic party pinata. Gabriel's rifle makes another impossible shot, his bullet severing the crane's main support cable with surgical accuracy! It sends the massive overhead apparatus crashing down onto the Drilco tech below, and the poor son of a bitch vanishes beneath tons of twisted metal and chemical drums in a thunderous crash that shakes the whole fuckin' building. The barrels of XK-47 spill across the concrete in spreading pools of experimental poison.

Francesca shifts to her war form mid-charge. Her claws find only air on her first swipe. Her second attack catches Eddie - the worker with the wrench - across the chest, opening deep furrows that sends him staggering backward, blood streaming down his coveralls, and it's such a devastating blow it sends him straight into unresponsive shock.

The chemical alarm continues to wail as emergency strobes bathe everything in hellish red light.

(Medina - 11:23 PM) As the bloodbath rages on, those klaxon bells keep screaming. The facility is emptying itself of any worker that has a lick of sanity. Meaning, the best route out of here once the blood stops flowing is actually probably the mundane waltz right out of the facility, no umbral travel needed. The industrial machinery and the klaxons are doing work to cover up the reports of silenced rifle fire, but maybe not the screaming. Either way, Ray Charles can see the easiest way out is to literally just leave once they're done here, which is kind of comical, really.

(Gabriel - 11:24 PM) The alpha and Adren Theurge isn't too happy when three more motherfuckers appear to show up at the party, but there is a more emergent problem in the shape of a surprise possessed person manipulating a fucking crane over their heads. Gabriel sidesteps and lines up a shot perfectly into the crane's winch, which also ricochets against the latticed structure, and it bends, and falls slowly... on top of the guy trying to add a ton of barrels and canisters of toxic waste to their body mass.

He then rolls to the left and lines up a hard shot at one of Enzo's opponents' head; squeezing the trigger as the rapport sounds out like thunder before it splatters the head of the poor soul who dared cross paths with him tonight. Well, souls. He's apparently a fomor. His lips twitch up, ever so slightly.

"Shoot the exposed circuits, let's start a fire after you're done with our present party company. Never-Lies, assist him." All thoughts in his head that get pushed onto theirs as part of their totem's blessings of communication.

He reaches into a pocket and grabs a flask of vial containing first dawn's dew and tosses it at the center where they'd seen all the Banes are accumulating, and he starts invoking something in Spirit Speech.

As he does so, the Theurge threatens and gloats about his superiority to the Banes here present as a component of the ritual, seeking to cause them pain with the cleansing ritual before fire destroys the things they are bound to.

Finally, once he's fairly sure he's done a lot of damage to those wicked Wyrmlings, he lines up a shot to the circuit. Then another. "Scram!"

If there are stragglers, survivors, well, he has to uphold the Veil... so he'll probably be shooting workers on his way out if they seem like they are not under the Delirium and immobile.

It's unfortunately, but it is what it is.

As he said: there are no innocents, just collateral damage.

(Too-Tough-To-Die - 11:26 PM) Enzo moves quickly, sharply, and mercilessly. His glabro form closes the gap with terrifying speed, twin short swords flashing in the crimson pulse of emergency strobes. The first guard barely registers the blur before a blade opens his throat, arterial spray catching the light in an arc of red. The second sword punches straight into the man's chest, angled up between the ribs. He jerks once, then crumples, radio falling from limp fingers as Enzo steps through him like he's already forgotten the body.

But then the klaxons wail, and the scent changes: fear, blood, poison, and the enemy stops being human. Enzo answers the shift with his own.

Muscles expand, bones stretch and snap, fur bursts from the skin. Glabro becomes Crinos in the blink of an eye. Nine feet of predator roars into the chaos, blades discarded in favor of claws that are long and black. He tears into the next enemy with brutal strikes, claws ripping through flesh and armor like tissue. The creature barely has time to scream before its torso splits open, spraying black ichor that hisses against Enzo's fur. It hits like acid, but Too-Tough-To-Die doesn't slow. The next attack is just as fast and furious but does little damage to the enemy, and he moves on, slamming the last with his claws and teasing it apart with a loud roar.

(Medina - 11:30 PM) All of this and there's Tommy - poor Tommy - had been hiding. Frozen behind a stack of chemical drums, his mind completely shattered by what he was witnessing. Eleven-foot monsters with claws and fangs, moving impossibly fast, tearing people apart with their bare hands. His rational mind tries to process it, but the Delirium hits him like a sledgehammer.

Whatever he stammers is panicked incoherence. "That's... that's not... people don't..." His voice is barely a whisper, lips just moving along the detached feminine voice of the alert. His hands shake uncontrollably as he presse himself against the concrete wall, hyperventilating. "Oh God, oh Jesus, what ARE they? What the fuck ARE they?!"

The emergency strobes make everything worse. The creatures -- they're flickering in and out of exitence, even more nightmarish in the stuttering red light, the blood, the ribbons of copper-smelling blood. The teenager's leg give out and he slumps to the floor, still conscious but completely catatonic, his mind refusing to accept what his eyes are showing him. He'd wet himself without realizing it, reduced to a traumatized animal cowering behind industrial equipment while literal monsters fight a supernatural war around him.

(Medina - 11:31 PM) "Not real, not real, not real,..." Tommy whispers it like a mantra, rocking back and forth with his eyes squeezed shut, praying it'll all go away. The chemical alarm's wailing echoes the screaming inside his skull as his worldview collapses entirely.

OOCly dicussed:

Francesca will cover the breach of the Veil by removing security footage.
Gabriel will kill delirium-resistant workers on their way out with his gun. There must not be a lot of them.
They will feed the deets to Katherine so they have first drop on the news cycle.
The three of them might drop Tommy at a mental institution and claim (using Persuasion) that he's had a mental breakdown. They will swipe his Drilco credentials and leave only his wallet with his driver's license.
Gabriel's Breath of Gaia talens are used up on Tommy's chemical burns.

(Francesca rolls Intelligence + Computer for 2 successes.)

(It's a peaceful skip hop and jump to the cctv room where, god bless the 90s, it's just vhs tapes. you identify them and straight up just, fuckin' take 'em really. Gabe, as for the delirium resistant workers, they were the ones that ran at you to attac you really. Eddie did yall a favor really, clearing the building of most workers. Y'all are able to bring tommy somewhere, he's basically catatonic. Francesca elects to find him a job and keep him close for a while.)