Summary

Participants

A group of sept members set out to stake out the warehouse on Wallisville Road to find out who is taking it where ans why. First they took positions, with Kleio notably on overwatch at a nearby rooftop, Noelle disguised as a raven, and Rue nearly invisible to infiltrate the place for stealth.

A box truck arrived with a following car, and as Freya took photos and Kleio sighted the gate combination from her scope, Chuck and Rue overhear the Spanish they speak, talking about a 10 barrels, a shipment from "EIS" with clean salvage paperwork, and some Thursday cross-border shipment mentioned, mentioning someone by the name of Ramos. One of them was seasoned and calm, the other clearly worried about the stuff being 'cursed' and everything ill-fated.

Hallah took initiative to infiltrate the warehouse with them by hiding on top of the box truck, and then Rue and Chuck worked together to steal those documents from the truck cab's sun visor. Chuck created a distraction by confronting the group, claiming to "call dibs" on stealing their truck, and Freya attempted to de-escalate by posing as Chuck's girlfriend who had the "wrong address".

But that's precisely when Rue struck - quick as lightning! - opening the cab door and snatching the papers, freezing the superstitous driver who concludes he saw a ghost! That's when Hallah drops down from the top of the box truck, and the timing of the slight blur and sound of her landing broke all hell loose: the driver bolted out of his car in a loud, terrified panic, right in the middle of Freya's de-escalation attempts.

The young man who was already primed for trouble pulled his weapon and began shooting wildly - Chuck called up the Rage and shot the shooting man's more physically intimidating partner who was telling the shooter to calm down, landing a devastating center-mass blow, as the wild-eyed other one's bullets flew into Hallah.

It was a shot that would've killed her in moments without immediate intervention.

When the gunfire erupts, the sedan that accompanied the box truck slips away, unwilling to be part of all that heat.

Kleio shot Carlos in the arm from overwatch, Noelle, still in her raven form, swooped in to disarm the man that Chuck had shot, proteecting him from any retaliation. In an explosion of violence faster than any human could hope to move, Chuck killed Carlos, as Freya dove into the crossfire to provide aid to Hallah as she lay bleeding out.

In all the chaos, Chris Walker (The Gringo), attempted to flee in the box truck. Kleio disabled the vehicle with shots to its windshield/engine, forcing Walker to bail out and flee on foot, concussed from his bad landing.

Log

(Medina - 06:13 PM) The warehouse on Wallisville Road.

Gone is that suffocating, predatory stillness that choked the air during Noelle, Freya and Hallah's last visit. Instead of the sodium vapor lights that once jaundiced everything, now is the honest gray of an overcast November afternoon, where humidity hangs like a funeral shroud, thick and oppressive. It makes your clothes stick and your lungs work harder. And somewhere in the distance, the eternal background hum of the Ship Channel: the blare of tanker horns, the low industrial hum of compressors under refinery stacks, the distant, hiss and wheeze of machinery, droning on like manmade cicadas. The air still carries that acrid edge, that chemical-sweet wrong that never quite leaves, braided in wtih diesel fumes, kissed by something metallic.

A tall, lonely warehouse made of corrugated metal looms three stories over the block, its regiment of grille windows smeared and caked with industrial dirt and neglect where they aren't shattered and smashed in or boarded up. The structure stands silent in a parking lot that spreads like the looming shadow of a sunchoking stormcloud. The skeletons of two abandoned cars and a rusted out transport truck sit in the far portion of the lot, stripped of all their useful parts.

The grounds are surrounded by eight feet of wire fence, fanged with barbed wire, and the gigantic metal gates guarding the property's face speak to the world of cemeteries and institutions. They almost evoke the grim, haunted mansions of cloistered eccentrics, but the rust corrodes their once-was beetle-black finish into the unwelcoming color of dried blood.

The parking lot beyond the perimeter looks empty, cracked asphalt with weeds pushing through like reaching fingers.

The adjacent lot offers some visual camoflage among a smattering of stripped cars and industrial debris, and this is but one of countless warehouses here, all of them roughly the same height, swallowed in sprawling parking lots meant for semi-trailers and lumbering flatbeds.

As for the neighborhood at large - this warehouse is one of many similar structures - anonymous concrete boxes with roll-up doors and sun-blasted corrugated steel walls. The address matches, but there's no signage, no company name, nothing to distinguish it from the dozen other forgotten buildings on this stretch.

(Varous Perception + Alertness dice rolls made.)

(Chuck - 06:22 PM) Chuck rolls his truck into the neighborhood, loaded with whoever came along from Juniper. And a few little friends locked into the gunrack, too. He parks outside the fence in the middle of the block to the side of the property in question, killing the engine and peering around with his hands still on the steering wheel. "So, this is the place? What a pit. And you came out here before? Nobody spotted you, right?"

(Hallah - 06:23 PM) Hallah arrives while adorned in a long-sleeved dark green thermal knit top which is worn under a blue and green old flannel top. She has on black jeans faded to grey that fit in a way designed for ease of motion. Her long brown hair is pulled back into a scoungie held ponytail. She has old plaid bag with various supplies like lock pics, chalk, snacks, rope and a flashlight. She drove here an old RV with room for anyone who ants a ride. There are snacks and crafting supplies in the RV. A place to nap is there too!

(Hallah - 06:24 PM) Hallah also hide the license plate of her RV right after getting into the parking lot here. She likes vehicles and so goes to check them out first. She also is looking for the path of the barrels.

(Freya - 06:25 PM) Freya came with Hallah in the RV. When they get parked. She stays inside for the time being, looking out through one of the windows of the RV to the warehouse. She brought it camera with her this time, so she can take any pictures that might need to be taken while checking the place out.

(Noelle - 06:26 PM) "Well, there were a couple of kids we scared into leaving..." Noelle hops out of the truck then responds to Chuck's inquiry. "But yeah, this is totally the place. It's weird... it doesn't seem quite the same as it did last time, but it's hard to put a finger on it. But..." She looks around one more time. "Yeah, this is definitely the place."

(Kleio - 06:27 PM) Kleio hops out of the back of the truck, because that's the fun spot to ride! She shakes her head, snagging her rifle case before slinging it over her back, "First time here, going up top to get into position." She looks the area over, selecting the building that she thinks will give her the best vantage point and then heads off that way. Her form becomes blurry as she gets to an alley between them, then slips inside.

(Medina - 06:28 PM) When Kleio arrives, she'll see that the spacing of the warehouses is vast enough that she'll be grateful for her rifle scope. Most properties are fenced - the warehouse that is their target stands taller than the immediately surrounding structures, but she sees a handsome vantage point: a two story building with roof access! Some obstacles are currently in her way, but some teamwork will get her there: she'll need to get over the fence, which is itself eight feet tall and tilted outward to prevent wayward entrants. But the path is clear to her: there's a fire escape ladder... Which she'll need a boost to reach and climb thanks to how it dangles shy of reach, intended to help people escape from the top, not reach the roof.

(Medina - 06:34 PM) Chuck's attention is outward - as they set up and find places to fill in, he notices a white panel van sitting near the loading dock of an adjacent property, driver's side door hanging open, engine running Two men stand near the van, smoking, one of them wearing a Houston Oilers starter jacket despite the heat. They don't present an immediate threat, but they do present potential witnesses, as they talk to each other, on whatever break they may be.

(Rue - 06:34 PM) Rue was in jeans and a dark gray hoodie, her hair braided back and out of her face. Her eyes hunted a familiar and alien landscape, trying scout first the spaces the Gaian people would take up to make sure they were safe, before moving to the more interesting umbral aspects of the area.

(Rue: 'This whole stretch of the Ship Channel chokes the Penumbra with the spiritual exhaust of a century's industrial appetites, and the drive here was a tour in skittering rust spiders and a skein of impossible geometry of metal, flesh, spider's silk and pus.

Rust spiders skitter along the warehouse's spiritual reflection, which itself is double-exposured into her simultaneous view. Their carapaces are pitted and cancerous, their chrome bodies streaked with oily black residue that weeps from cracks in their shells. As they skitter, they're jerking, spasming, once perfeclty mathematical movements stuttering and catching, but they still work, still spin their webs, even though their spider silk's crystalline stati sparsk and shorts.

The loading dock manifests as three gaping maws, the bay doors rendered as rows of rust-red teeth.

They bleed. They weep black ichor, and it creeps in hairline fractures out from the structure, and what it touches on its slow approach withers, corrodes, sickens.

Above the warehouse, the Pattern Web stretches in vast, gleaming highways of crystalline apathy, courtesy of the corridor's sheer infrastructure. Some of it is that perfect Weaver's geometry, and it connects this space to the vast industrial network of the Ship Channel.)

(Medina - 06:45 PM) Freya looks for different cars. The rusted transport truck that sat abandoned near the fence line is gone now, replaced by empty space and crushed cigarette butts that look too new, as well as an empty, cracked bottle of Zima whose wrapper shows no signs of water damage, nor discoloration from the sun.

(Medina - 06:50 PM) Noelle and Hallah - the both of you notice it: fresh tire tracks cutting through the accumulated grime of the parking lot, black rubber streaks over oil-stained concrete.

(Freya, Noelle, and Hallah - You were here before. You see ethat the loading dock's bay doors, all three of them once shuttered tight during your last encounter, now show signs of use in the form of fresh scrape marks in the concrete where metal has dragged, a wooden pallet leaning against the frame.)

<OOC> Medina says, "Phew ok! Now - let's see here. Kleio - let's get you over that fence and into position! It'll be a 3 successes on strength or dexterity + athletics to climb that fence, diff 6. You can re-roll each time you fail at +1 difficulty. If other people help you up then I'll mak eit easier"

<OOC> Chuck says, "Want a boost?"

<OOC> Medina says, "Chuck what's your STR"

(Hallah - 06:52 PM) Hallah looks to the tire tracks and to the pallet. She bites her lower lip, seemingly thoughtful. "We need to follwo the barrels to the port." She says softly to whoever is near her maybe Noelle and Freya?

<OOC> Chuck says, "3."

<OOC> Chuck says, "I just wasn't sure if she was sure she could make it on her own."

<OOC> Medina says, "np just pre-looking up feats of str"

<OOC> Kleio will give it a shot, if she falters she'll give someone puppy eyes for a boost.

(dice roll) Kleio rolls Dexterity + Athletics vs 6 for 1 successes.

<OOC> Medina says, "Since you can give her a boost I'm not making her screw with the vertical jump rules yet :P But she's going to need to reach th eladder and climb it. We'll get htis out of the way mechanically rq"

<OOC> Medina says, "Re-roll vs 7"

(dice roll) Kleio rolls Dexterity + Athletics vs 7 for 4 successes.

<OOC> Medina says, "bam!"

<OOC> Medina says, "Alright. Next challenge is lara crofting your ass up that fire escape ladder that doesn't let you access it easily - you're gonna have to jump. Either Chuck can jump the fence with you and give you that boost or you can try to make it solo"

(Rue - 06:56 PM) The Kami's voice would break from the walkie talkies "The Weaver here has twisted, there's a lot of spiders, but they're rusted, they have pits and tumors, and they ooze sludge like your auntie's car that she never got the oil changed in, they move wrong, there's no pattern or fluency to it." She's whispering into the Walkie from where ever she's hiding and the Kami is very good at hiding. "The three docks are like...rusty angry maws, they weep the sludge, it runs through the cracks and fractures in them, I think it might be corroding where it goes." There's a pause before the walkie breaks open again "The pattern web above seems...okay." As if she wasn't sure okay was ever the right word for a pattern web, but the walkie goes quiet once more.

(Freya - 06:56 PM) Freya is still inside the RV looking out a window for the time being with a telescoping lens on her camera. She takes pictures of the parking lot, and the missing van. She takes pictures of the dock doors too from a distance for now. She waiting for the sun to do down if they are out here that long.

<OOC> Kleio will give it a jump, spend wp so she doesn't eat pavement. Hopefully. Kleio loses one Willpower

<OOC> Medina says, "Ok. It's a fixed access ladder, so it's 10 feet from the ground. Fun fact, in WOD, vertical jumps are a Str + Athletics difficulty 3, and each success launches you 2 feet up. You should clear 5 feet, then, so, str + ath diff 3, 3+ successes."

(Chuck - 06:58 PM) Chuck slides down out of the cab of the truck, tugging the front of his duster down to settle it into place. He glances off towards the other weird assholes in the street, then circles around to put the body of his truck between them and himself. He looks to Noelle, who's still nearby and doesn't require a walkie talkie to talk to, yet. "Alright. So this is the place. Once the overwatch is in position, you need to get back inside, right?"

(dice roll) Kleio rolls Strength + Athletics vs 3 for 3 successes.

<OOC> Kleio says, "So 4 and no cement eating, woo!"

<OOC> Medina says, "boom boom! You're in position :P"

<OOC> Noelle says, "medina -- Noelle is turning Raven and will just fly up where ever we need to go..."

(Kleio - 07:02 PM)

Kleio has a certain set of skills. She heads on over to the building chosen, getting herself up and over the fence quickly and quietly. She settles the case against her back again before approaching the ladder, taking a measured breath before she makes the jump. Grabbing the bottom rung she does a pull-up, hefting herself higher and up to where she can begin the climb to the roof and into position.

(dice roll) Noelle rolls Stamina + Primal Urge vs 6 for 4 successes.

<OOC> Medina says, "Now. Do any of us have the Impatient flaw >:)"

<OOC> Freya does

(Noelle - 07:07 PM)

WOOOOSH. Noelle pulls the ol' shifty-changey trick and after a flurry of black cloth and black feathers, she is now a stunning raven that has hopped up on Chuck's shoulder. "Yup, this is the place, and yeah need to get back inside. I'm going to stay close to you until I fly up there. Just let me know if you need anything from me." She caws it all out, but of course Chuck and everyone else in the sept can easily decipher what she is saying...

<OOC> Medina says, "Alright Freya, gimme a WP diff 6."

<OOC> Medina says, "you only need 1 success."

(dice roll) Freya rolls Willpower vs 6 for 2 successes.

<OOC> Medina says, "Curse your success, Freya."

(Medina - 07:20 PM) If only stakeouts were like they are in the movies.

But today, there's no dramatic soundtrack, no perfectly-timed coffee runs, no sick-ass Liam Neeson dialogues. Just hours of ... staring at the same rusted corrugated metal. The same cracked asphalt. The same mosquitoes.

Poor Kleio. There are so many mosquitos, Kleio, from the little puddle in the sag of the roof access shack that you've climbed up to. You could practically apply for an ag exemption for a mosquito farm.

Poor Noelle, too, this little raven on the rooftop has had to deal with sunscorched metal roofing through a Houston afternoon.

The sun sets, the warehouse sits silent, a coffin containing whatever spiritual rot doubtlessly festers inside.

...Until it finally isn't!

Headlights sweep across the road. It's a box truck, older model, no company markings, followed by two cars, both hanging back juuuust far enough to look like they're not with the truck. Maybe one isnt: as the box truck slows, its brake lights flaring red, the grey chevy Lumina right behind it changes lanes to keep going, and then the blue Camry that follows slows in time with the truck.

Two men exit the sedan first. One's got the build of someone who's done hard time, black ink creeping up his neck. The other's younger, skinnier, and he carries a nervous air with his Marlboro. They're speaking Spanish, low and terse.

<OOC> Medina says, "Give me some dexterity + stealth, the lot of you! Kleio and Noelle are exception, she's on a fucking roof and Noelle is a bird"

<OOC> Medina says, "I mean, if you WANT to be stealthy, Noelle, go for it"

(dice roll) Hallah rolls Dexterity + Stealth vs 6 for 4 successes.

(dice roll) Chuck rolls Dexterity + Stealth vs 6 for 2 successes.

(dice roll) Medina rolls 3 + 4 vs 6 for 2 successes.

(dice roll) Noelle rolls Dexterity + Stealth vs 6 for 5 successes.

(dice roll) Medina rolls 3 + 3 vs 6 for 1 successes.

(dice roll) Rue rolls Dexterity + Stealth for 8 successes.

<OOC> Freya will be taking pictures of cars/trucks, plates and people

<OOC> Hallah says, "for now, watching."

(Rue - 07:32 PM) As day gives to night, the Kami gives to one of her other sides and begins to change, there is no dramatic bone cracking, no sickening slick of skin and muscle and sinew giving way, now weird irony scents in the air, her gifts don't come from the blood and the spirit, they come only from the spirit, from Gaia herself, and so she does not shift so much as put another aspect of herself in focus.

Her feet grow quiet as soft pads develop, and her skin begins to blend into the background, taking on the weird patterns and textures around her like a cuttlefish might, and she fades easily from notice, practically disappearing.

(Medina - 07:33 PM) The nervous young man to the other: "Te digo que esto no me gusta, ese--"

"Basta ya. Lo movemos, nos pagan y aqui no paso nada.." Legally Distinct Danny Trejo approaches the gate's combination lock, and the chain that it houses clinks softly. He momentarily pauses to pull out a scrap of paper from the pocket of his black, Cubano camp collar shirt, squints at it in the dim light....Then starts working the little dials.

Click, click, turn.

Behind them, the truck driver remains in the cab, engine idling. Waiting.

The younger man shifts his weight, glances back toward the road, his caution vigilant, but the Kinfolk, Garou, and Kami are shadows. "Mano, Pero viste lo que paso! Te digo que esta madre esta embrujada. Estamos moviendo su--"

"Estamos moviendo producto. Y ya. Sin preguntas, sin broncas."

<OOC> Medina says, "Freya, youre still inside the RV correct?"

<OOC> Kleio would like to try and get the combo if possible.

You paged (Chuck, Rue) with 'hes saying, "I dont like this man" and the dudes like bro look we move it they pay us and then we have no problems. The nerous guy says maaan but you saw what happened, I told you this shit is cursed, we're moving thier--" then he gets interupted: "We are moving product. That's it. No questions. no problems."'

<OOC> Hallah says, "can try to sneak in the left in truck to check it out further?"

<OOC> Medina says, "OK Kleio, total feelsgood ST fiat number - wits + perception, diff 5."

(dice roll) Kleio rolls Wits + Perception vs 5 for 4 successes.

<OOC> Medina says, "you get the combo"

<OOC> Medina says, "hallah - to sneeky breeki, give me dexterity + stealth. I will be rolling for each witness! You'll need to meet/beat their successes. There are 2 cars, so, there's probably more than 2 peeps."

<OOC> Hallah says, "woot"

(dice roll) Hallah rolls Dexterity + Stealth for 3 successes.

Hallah loses one Willpower

(dice roll) Medina rolls 6 vs 5 FAILED => 1 1 2 4 5 7

(Hallah - 08:01 PM) Hallah creeps closer to the truck, moving with the a kind of sneaky and silent grace. She reaches the large mover truck. She looks to the doors and ponders opening them. She almost does open them or try to anyways. She then bites upon the swell of her lip and instead works on this climb of the truck that is both slow and quick at times. Slow to try and not jar around the truck too much. It maybe helps a bit that she is little, maybe, hopefully. She then moves very quickly when she covers the window part, taking advantage of the driving looking away and she scrambles up to the top and then lays flat. <OOC> Hallah says, "Oh, I am sorry, Freya. And Medina if you want to make me roll more, I am okay with that!" <OOC> Hallah says, "I could been clearer and had a clearer plan!" <OOC> Freya says, "No need to be sorry.. :) Just saying.. Medina is in charge.. :)"

(Medina - 08:04 PM) The gate swings open with a metallic groan, and Hallah gets her opportunity: the extra driver startles with revelation and then eagerly snatches something that fell in the passenger side foot well. Behold, a bag of milky ways! Meanwhile Hallah knows opportunity when it strikes! She is a careful shadow, pressed flat against the top of the box truck's cargo area as the driver shifts into gear. The truck lurches forward, into the warehouse lot. From Hallah's vantage point, she can't actually see too much thanks to the boxy body of the truck she's slid up onto, but above her she can see Noelle's silhouette on the rooftop, two blocks over, the two men walking alongside the truck as it rolls to a stop near the warehouse's side entrance.

Legally Distinct Danny Trejo pulls out a different key for the warehouse's personnel door, and he tells his partner in crime a few clipped words. The younger one fidgets with a pack of cigarettes, doesn't light one. He asks a pessimistic question, and he gets a patience-tested answer, a few sentences, and while there are no subtitles, the older man's voice drips with practiced cynicism.

The door opens.

The door opens. Fluorescent light spills out! Someone's inside. Has been. A third voice, and thank God, finally, ENGLISH: "About damn time. I got another pickup in Baytown at oh-three-hundred and I ain't trying to-"

"Save it." The older man cuts him off. "Help us load, you get your cut, you leave. Comprende?"

They disappear inside.

From Hallah's perch atop the truck, and Rue's freakish perch somewhere on the side of the building, she can hear the scrape and roll of barrel dollies... <OOC> Chuck says, "Wait. Wait a second. Did Hallah just turn a snack pack into a tactical advantage?" You paged (Chuck, Rue) with 'alright so then the TRANSLATION' <OOC> Medina says, "that is a sentence" <OOC> Noelle says, "LOLZ" <OOC> Chuck says, "I mean, I need to tell Samson about the possibilities!"

(Hallah - 08:07 PM) Hallah lays flat and tries not breath too loud! You paged (Chuck, Rue) with 'Trejo: Ten barrels, no more. They're already marked. Young guy: And if they ask where they came from? Trejo: Did you not listen to Ramos at all? Salvage from EIS. Purchased, documented. Paperwork is clean. That's what we pay these gringos for.'

(dice roll) Kleio rolls Intelligence + Streetwise vs 8 and fails.

(dice roll) Noelle rolls Intelligence + Streetwise vs 8 for 1 successes.

(dice roll) Hallah rolls Intelligence + Streetwise vs 8 for 2 successes.

(dice roll) Rue rolls Wits + Military Science vs 6 for 2 successes.

(Noelle - 08:16 PM) Noelle smirks as she watches Hallah do some pretty astounding gymnastics to get herself up on the truck and stay plastered to the top of the truck. Well done! But birds will be birds and now that the bay door is open, Noelle flies in like any other silly bird might and lands up high on the pipes and things that hang from the ceiling, quietly tucking herself away to be less obvious and preens here and there at a few feathers. You paged Rue with 'Also you know that'd be a peace offering to medina who doesn't want rue to do anything remotely risky' <OOC> Chuck indeed lacks streetwise, I was just checking. To (Chuck, Medina), Rue pages: I think Rue, without breaking cover, would probably ease close to Chuck and murmur that she's wants to make a play to get the documents. I figure they can either make a go together if he wants, or if he wants to do something else, he'll at least know where she went and what she was doing if she gets in trouble.

(Medina - 08:19 PM) Noelle, Hallah - this man's face is familiar because he made the news a few weeks back, tangentially connected to that federal bust on the human trafficking ring in East Houston. Not charged. Never charged. Questioned. The news coverage was brief: "Independent hauler Chris Walker, who provided transportation services to the facility, was questioned and released. Authorities state he is not a suspect at this time." He's known among certain dock workers, warehouse crews, and late-night dispatch operators as the guy you call when you need something moved and you really don't want questions asked. Not cartel himself. Too American, too independent. But happy to contract for anyone who pays.

(Freya - 08:20 PM) Freya watches Hallah and shakes her head a bit with a smile before she goes about taking more pictures, looking her telescoping lens to get in closer on faces and licenses plates from where she hides out in the RV. For once taking a more safer route then being out in the open. She has been in that place, and knows the lay out. She has been in there a few more times then she cares to admit, so if she can stay out of that place this time, she is going too.

(dice roll) Chuck rolls Dexterity + Stealth vs 6 for 2 successes.

(Medina - 08:24 PM) The GREAT LOADING COMMENCES. The group can hear and see the efforts of barrels being loaded onto dollies - well, everyone but Hallah. Hallah can /hear/ it, but if she lifts her head, that's probably ...Well, there are always worse ideas...

Anyway. It's a bunch of grunting effort, the hollow thunk of metal on metal...

It's hard to see them all the time, as they have to traverse the floor to get barrels, so their forms come in and out of the 'window' that is the open bay door, over time.

The younger man emerges into view, rolling a barrel on a dolly. His nervous energy is still keeping tha tmouth running hot: "I heard they're moving the big shipment Thursday. Cross-border. Ramos says after that, we're done with this contract, gracias a Dios..."

"Shut. Up."

Hallah can smell the waft of nicotine - the truck driver in the cab is lightsinga cigarette.

(dice roll) Medina rolls 6 vs 5 for 4 successes.

(dice roll) Rue rolls Wits + Primal Urge for 6 successes.

(Chuck - 08:35 PM) Chuck nods at Rue, and starts tiptoeing back towards the gate with the others and the vehicles and the evidence and... Oops. He kicks a hubcap bolt left on the sidewalk. And all eyes are on him. So he straightens up, tugs at his duster to resettle it, and looks back at them. He raises an eyebrow, then shrugs at them. "What, were you trying to steal this truck before I could? Fuck you, I call dibs."

(Rue - 08:40 PM) The Monster, that was also Rue, seeps towards Chuck, there's no other way to explain the slow creepying approach of a figure so well blended into their surrounding that even her skin takes on the texture of it, the grit of concrete, the rusted flaked metal of cars, a rubbery bit of power cord. There's a quick communion between them over the Spanish they've heard, and then they begin to move. Following the Kami is nearly impossible but it turns out following Chuck wasn't.

PLAN B!

Chuck draws attention, there's a fluidity to how fast they've pivoted the plan, it's clear they'd known this was a possibility from the beginning. He draws attention and she diverts to a side of the truck, because some where in the approach she remembered something important. See, she liked fucking with Medina, a lot of people did, and one of the things that drove Medina absolutely crazy was when his employees left their work forms in the cab's sun visor, it felt like a hundred piece puzzle clicking together all at once.

The Gaian avatar was off to the truck visor!

(Medina - 08:40 PM) Tink! Skitter! Everyone freezes in place.

The gringo's hand shoots to his waistband, the younger chicano drops the dolly handle and takes two steps back as it clatters, hand disappearing into his starter jacket. Legally Distinct Danny Trejo doesn't move except to turn his head, slow and deliberate, like a predator that's just spotted movement in the brush.

Then this motherfucker straightens up, casual as Sunday, and... calls dibs on their entire operation!?

Legally Distinct Danny Trejo shifts his weight. Balanced. "Que chingados?" Subtitle: What the fuck? And then- "You got a death wish, pendejo?"

The Gringo takes a step forward, squinting at Chuck in the sickly yellow light. "The hell are you supposed to be? Some kind of tweaker who stumbled onto the wrong block?" His voice has that edge of someone trying to figure out if he's about to have a very bad night. "Because if you're thinking about jacking this truck, you're about to learn a real painful lesson about whose product this is."

Then of course the young nervous guy, hand is still in his jacket, is vindicated for all his nervousness. It's in Spanish, but it's certainly a vexed I TOLD YOU THIS THING WAS A BAD IDEA.

Legally Distinct Danny Trejo doesn't take his eyes off Chuck. He's doing the math: one guy, alone, either crazy or stupid. But alone? Or is this a distraction? His gaze flicks past Chuck, scanning the shadows behind him, the rooftops, the street. "Who you with?"

(dice roll) Hallah rolls Stamina + Stealth vs 6 for 2 successes.

(dice roll) Medina rolls 6 vs 5 for 2 successes.

(dice roll) Rue rolls Dexterity + Stealth for 4 successes.

(dice roll) Medina rolls 6 vs 8 for 3 successes.

(dice roll) Chuck rolls Charisma + Intimidation + 1 vs 6 for 1 successes.

(dice roll) Medina rolls 6 vs 6 for 5 successes.

(Chuck - 09:10 PM) Chuck steps up closer, cracking his neck. He puffs up his shoulders, rising tall in his boots as he shifts over to commanding as much attention as he can possibly manage. "With? Who am I with? Right now, I'm with you. Who cares? And do I look like a tweaker? Really? Pequena Perra, do you really want to make this any harder than it has to be?"

(dice roll) Freya rolls Manipulation + Subterfuge vs 6 for 1 successes.

(Medina - 09:14 PM) The driver underneath Hallah takes a loooong drag on his cigarette, exhaling smoke through his nose as he watches the standoff developing twenty feet away. Some crazy gringo in a duster trying to call dibs on their truck? His boy's gonna put him in the ground or scare him off, either way this is gonna be--

The cab door whips open.

Not like a person opening it. Like wind. It just fucking opens, dog.

And so the driver's head snaps around and his cigarette falls from his lips to the perfect timing of Chuck calling the gringo a little bitch, and now his brain is just spinning tires in the mental mud, trying to process what his eyes are seeing -- or not?? seeing?????

Heat shimmer. The air itself is reaching past him toward the sun visor. He can't see it, he can feel it - the papers, the bill of lading, all of it just flutters on invisible fingers that pluck them free and this man is a fucking rabbit because MADRE DE DIOS, SANTA MARIA, FALLAS PAREDES, ARROZ CON POLLO - wat the FUCK

(Rue - 09:18 PM) For the rest of his days, which may be short judging by how this could go, that man will swear he had an encounter with the ghost, she can almost imagine him and the nervous young guy telling about this day like an old war story. But then it was a war, and not everyone made it out to tell their stories, and judging by how it was going with Chuck, it could go either way right now.

She snatched the papers and then the blur that looked like it belonged in a predator movie was booking it, trying to get distance, when she felt safe she'd give a whistle to let Chuck know, before moving again to keep from having her location outed.

(Freya - 09:24 PM) While everyone is distracted, Freya grabs a shirt that Hallah had in the RV an ties it on over her tank top, so she isn't all in black. She reaches up and pulls her hair out of the pony tail and shakes its free. Freya props up the girls so they are more on view then she would normally have them. She begins to head up street towards where Chuck is at. Her hips sway as if she were walking a cat walk as she does so. She tilts her head and calls out towards him as she moves closer to the fence of the warehouse. "What ya doing? Why are you over here?" she calls out to him as she makes her way through the fence and moves to stand beside Chuck. Her eyes looking over the other men before looking back to him. "This is the wrong address, Darlin.. " she chuckles a bit at him and smiles a bit. Her voice coming out and sweetly southern. "I'm sorry for the miss understand, fellas.. " she says sweetly.

(Medina - 09:32 PM) Chuck's aggressive posturing has the muscle of the group's gaze level, unintimidated. The other two shrink - either from the power of the Curse that speaks to their hindbrains or the power of his personality, the two are cowed, but it manifests differently: the young man with his hand in the starter jacket, his finger moves to the trigger guard as the Gringo backs up towards the box truck. "Hey now--"

Then Freya sashays into the light like Gisele Bundchen and casts a whole new (runway) light on the dynamic.

The tattoed chicano in the camp-collare shirt flicks his gaze to her, then back to Chuck, calculating. His gun doesn't lower but it doesn't rise either, his expression tense but pensive.

His partner's weapon actually drops a few inches, confusion breaking through his fear. "The fuck is happening right now?" He looks at Freya, then at Chuck, like he's trying to solve a puzzle with missing pieces. "Are these just-"

"Shut up." Legally Distinct Danny Trejo is still aiming center mass at Chuck, but his voice has lost some of that lethal certainty. Now he sounds annoyed, suspicious, but not quite ready to execute. "Wrong address?" His eyes narrow at Freya. "Lady, you and your darlin' just walked onto private property during a business transaction."

Cowardice is breeding compliance and negotiations: "Look, look-nobody needs to do anything stupid here," says the Gringo, latching onto the opportunity Freya brings.

Meanwhile...

(Hallah - 09:38 PM) Hallah thinks the driver is distracted. Is her distracted enough? Well time will tell! She rises up into a crouch and jumps off the side of the truck. Even though the jump was pretty good, she still winces. She gets down low and manages not to cry out or anything like that. It doesn't seem like she broke or sprained anything. She quickly looks about trying to get a feel if she can dart off toward any better cover.

(Medina - 09:41 PM) The driver's hand shoots up as he crosses himself and can not possibly get further back in the fucking bucket seat, shoulders hiked, the double chin of Great Bodily Recoil, all of it, his eyes are exploding, that cigarette is on the floorboard, and he WHEEZES because that was supposed to be a cry of fear because there's a fucking GHOST.

And then a whir! A blur! A flash! It's Hallah jumping off the truck and the whip of motion cracks pure terror out of the driver's throat. He THROWS the car door open and staggers out of the truck, shrieking something about el chupanibre or ghosts or something!!

Gringo drops into a crouch at the shrieking, hands up: "What the FUCK?!"

StarterJacket yanks his pistol free, wide-eyed, swinging around to the sudden movement, lifting his gun to fire!

-- The driver is sprinting right past Freya, something about holy mary full of grace --

And the tattoed man, the one who has kept his cool this whole time through, whips around like a rattlesnake, but there's something disciplined about him, his gun aimed toward the cab to track what just happened - aimed at Hallah.

(Chuck - 09:46 PM) Chuck looks over to Freya with a big smile. "Aw, shucks, really? Did I get lost, sweetie? I mean, directions and stuff was never my strong suit-" And then shit gets real, and bullets are actually being called into motion.

(Chuck - 10:18 PM) Chuck's eyes narrow as the assholes draw iron. He was trying to play around, to be nice. But no, not now. He didn't even have to look around, he was well aware of those behind and beside him that it was his duty to protect. Not even just his duty, but his honor, his desire. And so it's with cold eyes that as things go from shit talk to serious action, he pulls his pistol out from under his jacket and slams a .44 caliber slug into the man in front of him. Nothing personal, but you threatened my family. Get wrecked, son.

(Kleio - 10:25 PM) Kleio seems to be of the same mind, so seconds after Chuck starts firing there's that whistle-crack that comes with a high powered rifle shot. It wings the guy aimed at Hallah, but not enough to do more than send blood flying out. She cusses and reaches to rack another round.

(Hallah - 10:29 PM) Hallah sees a gun being fired in her direction and she does what most mortal people would do and tries to dart out of the way of the gunfire. Sometimes fear takes over though and Hallah instead of jumping to the side to the gunfire panics and heads straight into it. She screams as a bullet pierces her lower stomach, blood starts to slow and the scream fades into a whimper and to raspy terrible sounding breathing as she falls into a heap.

(Medina - 10:51 PM) Fights are like car wrecks - just as fast, just as pointless, and your life can just shatter like a windshield.

Chuck is a rattlesnake - his duster sweeps back, his gun clearing leather in liquid blur, and the report of his firearm CRACKS against the warehosue like thunder. His opponent, seasoned, disciplined, careful, having survived gang wars and prison and twenty years of this shit, takes the round center mass with a wet crack.

Just like that. One second he's a person with plans and problems and maybe a family waiting at home. The next he's meat, staggering backward, blood blooming across his shirt in a dark flower that looks almost fake in its sudden spread, and some sort of noise escapes him - a wheeze that might be a lung collapsing - over ten barrels of industrial degreaser. His legs fold and he hits his knees like a penitent in church. With a trembling hand, he lifts his gun, summons his will - if he's dying, he's bringing this motherfucker /with him/. He raises his weapon, and...

(Noelle - 10:57 PM) He may very well have a family waiting for him at home, but Chuck has a gf waiting for him! Noelle zeros in on the gun and the guy's target and is having none of this! As he raises his gun to try to level Chuck, Noelle leaps off the pipe, dive bombs the guy's wrist holding the gun. And miracle of miracles, she is able to change the trajectory of the gun just enough to prevent the guy from shooting Chuck! And did he just drop the gun too? She doesn't see on her way back up to the pipe but she hopes so!

(Hallah - 10:57 PM) Hallah is whimpering, moaning and bleeding.

(Medina - 11:00 PM) ...Woosh - a blur of black, a stabbing pain wrenches his hand, all feathers and momentum -- the man's gun clatters onto the warehouse floor. A split-second later comes another crack of lightning, a distant SNAP of Kleio's rifle, and the wet THUNK of a bullet into the young, panicked man and his starter jacket. Blood mists, he screams high and panicked and oh, so young, and he exactly what you're not supposed to do in a firefight because nobody actually knows what they're supposed to do when the bullets start flying and their friend is dying on the pavement: just blind shooting! That pistol bucks in his hands. The muzzle flash strobes like lightning, and this twenty three year old kid who probably could've been anywhere else to night is just just pointing and pulling the trigger. Bullets fly at the truck - and into Rue and Hallah, wrong place, wrong half-second of timing, and at first, it doesn't hurt - it's just wet. But once it does, it's white hot, debilitating. Hallah gets hit with such force she nearly spins on her way down into a boneless pile of pain and disorientation as Freya comes sprinting in to save her.

(Freya - 11:00 PM) While Freya would have most likely starting shooting with everyone else, when she see's Hallah get shot she darts towards her, ripping off the shirt she had over her tank top and pressing down on the wound. "Shit.. Hallah. " she says and looks down, at her, trying to keep her out of harms way. "Stay with me.. ok." she says to her, trying to keep the whimpering woman calm.

(Medina - 11:02 PM) The Gringo, seeing the muzzle flashes, hearing the screams, a total stranger drop - he makes the only smart decision anyone's making tonight: /fuck this/. Hands up, staying low, scrambling for the truck's cab like his life depends on it!! Because it does! The engine's still running and he throws himself into the driver's seat, door slamming, gears grinding. He's going home tonight! That's all that matters!! The vehicle engine roars to life and by God, he's gettin' out of here - as Freya clears the bay doors to run to Hallah's rescue, the boxy car whips around...

(Kleio - 11:10 PM) The truck rumbles back to life and the rifle on the roof pivots after seeing Chuck perforate the second fellow. Kleio cracks off a couple of shots, one for the engine and one through the middle of the windshield in an attempt to coax the driver into abandoning it/and or making it non-operational.

(Medina - 11:13 PM) CLANG! CLINK! PTOK! Ricochet and shattering- when the windshield spiders, the Gringo curses and panics. At first, he guns it blindly, but inevitably, he can't see where he's going. And so what Kleio sees next through her scope as she leads her next shot is the form of the man diving out of the car and cracking the back of his head on pavement at high speed. They never do tell you to tuck your chin when they show you people doing that in the movies. A wet pop. He's disoriented, and he gets up like a carstruck deer, all adrenaline, no sense, and makes a run for cover.

Meanwhile, faster than the eye and mind can comprehend, the Ahroun makes short, brutal work of the young man whose wild bullets had nearly taken Hallah's life - and soon he's assisting in Hallah's recovry through the intercession of the spiritual energy he can channel to heal her.

(Rue - 11:14 PM) The shooting started and Rue, masked as she was, did the absolute wrong thing. She froze and looked over her shoulder to the sound. She felt the impact of the bullet long before she felt the pain of it, making a strangled sound. But that's how it always was when she got shot, the momentum of it came first, the pain came later, sometimes there was burning in between.

Medina was not going to be happy.

(Freya - 11:17 PM) Freya is a bit scared, but glad that Chuck could heal Hallah and pissed. This should have never gone this far. The bigger dude trying to crawl away gets a bullet to the back of his head. She watches as his blood paints the ground. Its probably a good thing she is just kin and not garou, otherwise she may have ripped the man apart with how pissed she is.

(Hallah - 11:24 PM) Hallah wounds knit close and the bleeding ceases. The girl breathing is no longer that raspy near death shudder and sucks more like the panic breathing of a healthy girl who almost just died. She didn't really catch what Rue did for her, not yet anyways. Maybe she will one day realize. She was too busy falling to bullet fire at the time and is too ignorant of Rue can do to really grasp it. The healing even amazes her as she never been shot before and she never has been healed with mother's touch before either. Some part of her grasps that she almost died and was saved. She looks shocked, grateful, shocked and well her breathing is quick. "What...what....I'm stlll here..." She touches over herself and where the wound was.