We Care for Your Safety

[applesaucemod]

Protecting the city from the rifties -- and the rifties from the city -- is a full time job. That's never been more true than it is today, when there are metaphorical (and sometimes physical) fires to put out all over Manhattan. It's been a rough time at ROMAC in general; most of the organization's people are unfamiliar with the specifics of the recent animal attack, but even those who don't know that a number of prisoners guests of ROMAC have gone missing in the last few days (or that the computer system is still compromised) know that something has thrown the organization into disarray.

Unfortunately for ROMAC and fortunately for certain other people, ROMAC's resources are spread thin by whatever's put the Rift in a tizzy. As large as the organization is, though, there's surely nothing to worry about from the handful of malcontents at large in the city.

Surely.


[OOC: And here's the thread for taking down ROMAC! There will be a couple of player characters on ROMAC's side (check to see whether their threads are open to all before tagging in, as they may have limited availability due to prior plans), and anyone in need of 'enemies' to tag against can request an NPC from the mods. Have at!]

Comments

[mr_fring]

Another failure.

Noble and Wood have escaped, left the city and the world altogether it seems, and accordingly the rift is lashing out, a breached system desperately patching itself back up. So the researchers have reported. Gus does not particularly care. His job has been to acquire Iman Asadi, a job which has become more important than ever in the wake of the destruction she rained down on them, armed with only her mysteriously uncodified capabilities and an urban bestiary headed by a dinosaur. Gus has faced many trials in his life, none so absurd as this, and he will not be outdone now by a small arrogant woman and a herd of creatures.

Well, as it happens, one failure serves the rectification of another: with Noble and Wood went their reclaimed children, leaving Greta Baker available for his purposes. He, along with almost everyone, it seems, received Asadi's recent message concerning the woman. He hadn't given it much thought at the time, but some nights ago, when Ms. Baker met with Asadi, well. It seems there might be something to that.

So it is he arrives outside her door. He instructs the accompanying guard to wait nearby - no need for that, not yet. The woman may prove reasonable.

He raises a hand and he knocks gently.

[andhiswife]

The loss of the children stings more than it ought to. It's good that they're back with their parents, where they belong. Not just their parents, but Andrew, the first friend she made, here. She couldn't wish the children back, not knowing who she'd been depriving.

But the apartment is much quieter without them, and she feels very alone.

When the knock comes, she hesitates for a moment before quietly treading over to the door. It might just be the Balladeer, though his knocks tend to be a bit more cheerful. She peers through the peephole, sees a well-dressed stranger, and thinks: oh, dear. Someone from ROMAC? Who else would it be? She's already been questioned about the disappearance of the children, but they might want to question her again. Pressing her lips together, she retreats back towards her bedside table, where she's left her phone.

"Er - one moment," she calls out, unlocking the device with shaking hands.

[mr_fring]

She is not adept at hiding her fear. Most are not.

Gus motions to the guard to stay put, slips his master key into the door lock and opens the door with quick grace.

"Put the phone down, Ms. Baker," he says smoothly.

[andhiswife]

It's almost impossible to type, and it's only thanks to her phone's autocorrect function that she manages to complete 'ROMAC is' before the door just opens. The man steps inside as if he has every right to be here - well, she thinks dismally, he would - and she glances down at her sorry excuse for a message. She's not in such a state that she can't hit 'send' as she sets the device back down on the table, though.

Iman will be so worried. She'll come running. Greta hopes she doesn't almost as much as she hopes she does.

"I'm sorry," she says, attempting to regain some of her faltering composure. "I... what is this about? Who are you?"

[mr_fring]

"I am Gustavo Fring," he tells her. "I am assistant director of human resources at ROMAC. I would like you to tell me where to find Iman Asadi."

Brief. Simple. There is no sense being coy now.

"We know you were with her three nights ago," he says, "and I believe you just sent her some sort of warning, did you not?" He nods at the phone. "Ms. Asadi is a dangerous woman and a talented liar. I have no doubt she is using you to her own gain. It would be better for you, and easier for all of us, if you tell me where I might find her now." He spreads his hands in a show of passive rationality. "And we'll leave you in peace."

[andhiswife]

They--how do they know? Did someone follow her to Wilmot's? If so, why didn't they make their move that very night? She's heard, of course, that Wilmot's is neutral ground, but she wouldn't expect ROMAC to respect such unwritten rules. They're not above torture or murder or stealing someone's children away, why wouldn't they just invade the pub?

That doesn't matter. What matters is that ROMAC already knows so much. Mr. Fring knows she's met with Iman, he's even guessed that she texted her...

But.

He doesn't know everything. He doesn't know about the device on her door; otherwise he would have waited for her to open it. And he doesn't know Iman. His cold summary of her dear friend's character is--is outrageous. Iman might be dangerous to some, and she might be a gifted liar, but not to Greta. Never to her. And using her? Does he honestly think she'd take his word on that?

How dare he?

It's only a tiny seed of defiant indignation, but it's enough to straighten her spine and diminish the trembling in her hands. She barely processes the rest of his ridiculous request, but it doesn't matter. She knows what he wants, and she won't be giving it to him.

"I have nothing to tell you. I don't know where she is." And then she presses her lips together and flattens her palms against her skirt, waiting for his response.

[mr_fring]

He heaves a very small sigh, nodding slightly, as though this show of defiance does not surprise him, but rather disappoints him a little.

"Then I am afraid you'll have to come with me," he says. "If you cooperate you will not be harmed."

He believes this woman to be a relative innocent and he doubts his superiors would want her blood spilled for any reason. He has no desire to hurt her. But Asadi came to get Rush and she'll come for this woman as well; especially if she believes Gus would do to her anything like what he did to Rush.

"Please, do not resist me," he says, part advising, holding out a hand to draw her toward the door.

[andhiswife]

Greta hesitates a moment, a fresh shiver of fear passing through her. She knows what they did to Rush, seeking information they only presumed that he had. What might they do to her? She has nothing to give them, whatever they might think. Whatever they might do. However long her quiet defiance holds, she will have nothing to offer them.

And she has no recourse, now, no real means of resistance. What is she going to do, throw the kettle at him? She isn't a warrior maiden. She's only a baker's wife.

"I have told you all I know," she quietly insists, gripping fistfuls of her apron.

[mr_fring]

"That is immaterial," he says softly. "Please." It is not a request but a suggestion. He beckons with a subtle motion of his wrist. She is afraid, of course - no doubt she knows about what happened to Dr. Rush. He means not necessarily to frighten but to encourage. He has a talent for performing both at once.

[omnomnom_feels]

Everything is chaos.

Everything is chaos.

As much as Rashad is capable of alarm, he is alarmed. It would be more accurate to state that he is experiencing a heightened state of urgency as he observes ROMAC rapidly falling into disorder all around him. It began with a general alarm -- that is, alarm in the audible sense, klaxons blaring as the offices and cubicles were plunged into as much darkness as they could be on a sunny day -- and a sudden failure on the part of his computerized work station. What might have been a mere technological malfunction is more, though; everywhere he turns there is something else or someone else not functioning as intended, orderly systems of data and behavior disintegrating around him. No one with authority knows what is happening, much less what is to be done about it. Fring is absent, no, missing when he is needed most, and Rashad does not know how to fix this but fix it he will.

There is nothing he can do for the offices upstairs; he can navigate the computer system well enough to perform his duties but he does not understand its reassuringly orderly not-mind well enough to bring it back from apparent death. The source of the problem is not upstairs, and he knows enough of what is downstairs to intuit that the source may be in the basement, to even guess what who that source might possibly be.

He will venture to the basement, he will find a figure of authority if he can, and he will set things right so that the alarms can be silenced and the building put back to rights. It is easy -- far too easy -- to make his way to the subterranean levels, unimpeded by the locks and guards that formerly demanded stealth and secrecy, and far too easy to walk in and out of the labs and other formerly safe, secret places as he searches for someone or something he can use (or that he can allow to use him) as the tool that will put this broken machine to rights. He pushes open door after door, peering into rooms full of equipment he can barely begin to understand, his exterior calm and cool despite his rapid progression.

[wildmage_daine]

Once again, Daine finds herself deep within ROMAC and causing a ruction.

There was even less of a plan this time than the last. The People had told her of the alarms, and she, already in crow shape, had come to investigate. Folk had been pouring out of the building as if there was a fire, though there hadn't been any scent of one. Then she'd overheard a few ROMAC employees talking of 'security breaches' and 'system failures' and other fancy words for 'everything is falling to pieces,' and had decided to go in with the intention of either helping folk who needed it or wrecking things that also needed it. She might not get a chance like this again, and if she and her friends can make a big enough mess, maybe ROMAC will be too busy cleaning it up to cause any trouble for the next several months.

She's done some strategic window-breaking on the upper levels, allowing her friends access to the offices. They won't harm any two-leggers they come across, but computers and other delicate equipment won't be left in working order.

Then she heads down, not so far as she went with Iman, but to the labs. Some part of her wonders if she ought to not ruin anything they're doing regarding the rift itself, in case any of it's actually useful... but that sort of information might be stored in places she can't get to, anyway. She knows enough about how computers work to know she doesn't know how to destroy all of it, even if she wanted to.

So she settles for destroying the things she can get her paws on.

Anyone who would have been down here has fled, as far as she can tell, so she has free reign. At the moment, she's standing on a long table in tiger shape and knocking things to the floor, methodical and without discretion. If it can be knocked over, it will be. A monitor lands on the tile with a satisfying crash, and then she places her paw on a large, glass beaker and starts to shove it towards the edge.

[omnomnom_feels]

He was not expecting to find a tiger. As far as Rashad is aware, none of the people he has identified as direct threats to ROMAC are tigers, or own tigers. Rashad pauses in the doorway of this lab and quietly notes to himself that this explains the specifics of the pattern of destruction he has witnessed in a few key areas along the way to where he now finds himself.

"Do not do that," he commands the animal, stepping through the doorway and holding out a hand. Likely it cannot understand him, but he will give it the benefit of the doubt before he takes stronger measures. Clearly and firmly, he enunciates, "No. Bad tiger."

[wildmage_daine]

Daine freezes, the beaker still an inch or so from the edge of the table, and looks up at the intruder in surprise. She'd expect anyone who saw her to run for it, not try to command her like a dog. 'Bad tiger,' indeed. She flicks her ears back, unimpressed. Then, without breaking eye contact, she gives the beaker a gentle, deliberate shove, until it topples to the floor and shatters. As if any self-respecting cat would take orders from a two-legger.

[omnomnom_feels]

She might be someone's trained animal. It was worth the chance, at least, that she might listen and not have to be dealt with so severely as it now appears is required.

He steps further in, drawing himself up to his full height (which is regrettably not so very large even for a human male), and allows flames to spurt from his palms and lick up his forearms. "I told you to stop that," he repeats, mostly trying to intimidate the animal so he can herd it out of the room. He will destroy it if necessary, but it would be preferable not to end a life needlessly.

[wildmage_daine]

Oh, bother. It seems he's going to be difficult. Daine snarls at the appearance of the flames, wishing she had her bow on her. The weapons she currently has at her disposal only work in close quarters, and she doesn't want to burn her paws on someone who's on fire.

But she's hardly helpless. Hooking her paw beneath a microscope, she swats it in the intruder's general direction.

[omnomnom_feels]

Rashad's response to the snarl is to draw himself up onto the balls of his feet and spread his arms, attempting to appear yet larger still. Unfortunately he mostly manages to present a yet larger target, and the microscope that comes winging his way scores a glancing blow against his shin that makes him stagger for a moment.

She will not be intimidated or herded, then. So be it. "OUT," he commands, voice booming, and he rushes at her, lobbing a smallish fireball at her hindquarters to drive the point home, still working under the assumption that she's an unruly animal to be removed from the premises rather than a sapient foe.

[wildmage_daine]

If Rashad had hoped to avoid further chaos, he's taking the wrong approach. Daine leaps forward to avoid the fireball, and in the process, sends several more (doubtless expensive) things crashing to the floor. The table wobbles beneath her weight as she turns about to swat a few more objects in the flaming two-legger's direction: another beaker, an abandoned coffee mug, and a centrifuge in that order.

[for Gabriel]

[bibliophale]

Ordinarily Aziraphale would have looked at this human-built organization causing mortals so many problems and shrugged and said That is the way sometimes, gone on about his angelic duties, thwarting, saving, illuminating where possible.

But no longer. The rules here are sufficiently distinct (or entirely devoid). The mortals here are his friends, perhaps even his family. ROMAC has caused trouble enough. They resorted to kidnapping a man's infant children to blackmail him into kidnapping another child. Enough is enough; the place must go.

Word has spread quickly, as words often do, that ROMAC's resources are spread rather thin, that certain rifties are going in and sabotaging whatever they can find, reclaiming their agency, displaced though they might be; choosing a moral high ground over freely offered comfort. It's heartening to see.

What sort of angel would he be if he did not partake?

Thusfar he has mostly been assisting the escape of those ROMAC has employed who are nonetheless not part of ROMAC's corroded machine. It's only when he ventures down lower, down to the area where Melanie had been kept, that he starts to sense more worrisome things. Little bursts of energy - not strong enough to be Lucifer, and it certainly wouldn't be Crowley, the old serpent will have gotten himself to high ground by now most likely - but someone powerful is smashing about, and he isn't sure he likes it. Could be Rashad. Rashad works for ROMAC, doesn't he - no doubt he'll be upholding their ideals to the bitter end, bloody inconvenience that he is.

He ventures down lower, down into what appears to be a wing of laboratories, puts his hands on his hips and tries to ascertain the source of the surges.

[has_a_horn]

ROMAC is falling apart and Gabriel isn't going to let it fall without having a hand in it. Iman and Rush are probably somewhere upstairs, but he's going to start where he can make the most impact. He flies into a lower level and starts working his way down. There are people being kept here and he releases them as finds them, either by forcing the doors or shorting out the electronic locks.

He doesn't ask why they're imprisoned. He just gets them out.

When he goes down another level, the cells are there, but they're empty. Some are larger, some have clearly been improved and fortified. This is definitely where they are building the new angel cages. Where a level up he'd been working methodically, here Gabriel just starts pushing through walls. His cage had had it's source of power in the wall, and he doesn't want to miss anything.

[bibliophale]

Oh, now, that is very recognizable power. Aziraphale startles a little to feel it, then drifts instinctively toward it. An archangel in wrath is never an archangel he wants to be around, but the circumstances are highly unusual, he supposes a little stretching of his comfort zone is in order.

"Gabriel," he murmurs when he discovers the shorter yet infinitely greater angel. His presence is rather worrisome, though Aziraphale knows he'd better not mention it aloud. Aziraphale is there to help those who need it. Gabriel is actively contributing to the destruction. "I didn't know you had a stake in this."

[has_a_horn]

Gabriel pushes through a wall as he becomes aware of Aziraphale on the same floor. He's more or less covered in a fine layer of plaster dust, which in place makes him look pale and worn. But while in motion he looks more like the center of a storm.

As Aziraphale arrives, he steps into the room and pushes into the next wall. In this one he finds circuitry, but not the kind he had seen before. For some other creature then? It doesn't matter. A surge of power runs through his hands as he rips it from the wall. By the time he drops it to the floor, it's a hunk of metal.

"They were going to build more angel cages. We both have a stake."

[bibliophale]

Aziraphale blinks, baffled at the thought. Cages, to hold them? For what purpose? What damage have they done? He looks Gabriel up and down, stunned by his appearance, by the ruthless destruction - he's seen angelic destruction aplenty, doled out some of his very own, but never quite like this.

"Are you sure they weren't meant for Lucifer?" he ventures uncertainly. Crowley might be included in that, and perhaps Rashad - well, only one of those he'd take issue with, but that he's confident he can handle.

[has_a_horn]

Trapped in a cage with his brother. He'd never hear the end of it about the irony.

But there's clearly some information that Aziraphale is missing here. Gabriel pauses in his destruction long enough to throw a withering gaze in Aziraphale's direction. Could he really be so clueless? "They're meant for me. I broke out of the last one, so they had to put together a better mousetrap."

[bibliophale]

"Wh-" He sputters for a few solid moments before drawing closer. "But why? Didn't they understand what you-" He waves a hand to make up for his difficulty articulating, and it's as though he can hear Crowley huffing in exasperation, probably with a roll of his eyes behind those shades.

Of course they understood. Gabriel frightened them, and they took action. He's never been cautious about who knew what he was, but now he sees firsthand the true danger he could have been putting himself in, the darker edge of human fear and curiosity. That they could contain one so great as Gabriel-

It's horrifying to imagine.

He sets his jaw a little firmer. "How can I help?"

[has_a_horn]

"Go help people out. I can finish down-" At that moment, an enormous thump shakes the building, followed by a tremendous roar. Gabriel looks up, as if he's worried that the concrete above them might crumble. When it doesn't, he looks back to Aziraphale. "Same plan. I emptied cells a floor up, but I bet people are going to need more help to get out. I'll go find out what that was."