"I really couldn't tell you," says Ariadne. "I've not really seen anything like that before. Hang on..." she says, and you hear loud voices in the background. "Uh... yeah, Dallas says to quit worrying about it..."
Ok, at this point, I still need loadouts from Barbarossa and Hammurabi (if he is playing)
Castor and Burn have bulk problems. Castor, I had to level you out at three spare clips for your guns. Burn, with a Dlask and Deagle you cannot carry any spare clips at all.
Hoping the small details like remaining Downloads and Loadiuts will be done soon, I shall move things on before I have to go...
-
Three days later
HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHnnnnnnnnnnkRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRHhhhhhhhhHHHHHHHHHHh...
HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHnnnnnnnnnnkRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRHhhhhhhhhHHHHHHHHHHh...
A sound like a buzz saw played through an open-air rock festival's PA system awoke Ariadne with a start, as she started guility at the code on the screens she was meant to be working on.
She got up and tried to locate the PA system through which the buzz saw was being played. It was Dallas, snoring.
HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHnnnnnnnnnnkRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRHhhhhhhhhHHHHHHHHHHh...
HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHnnnnnnnnnnkRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRHhhhhhhhhHHHHHHHHHHh...
She gently rocked him awake. Like a shot, Dallas' hand reaches out and felt for his hat, sitting and placing it on his head in one smooth motion.
"What? What? What is it? Dallas is ready..." he said.
"Well, it's time," she says. "They're moving soon."
"Ah! Excellent. Everything ok?" he asked, getting up and walking over to the monitors Ariadne was working on. He was halfway through working out the next few things he was going to say when he noticed that Ariadne had not answered.
"Hmm?" he said.
"Not exactly." Dallas rolled his eyes.
"You are such a moaner!" he said. "Always so damn gloomy!"
"Things are NOT good, Dallas. We're sending them into would could be a hardcore combat mission and they have no way out if it buggers up!"
"They'll be fine!" said Dallas. "Everything will be fine, you'll see." Ariadne sat back in her chair.
"I HAVE to see, that's the problem..."
"You should be worrying more about breaking that damn encryption," said Dallas.
"I don't have the first clue how to do that."
"See? Gloom gloom gloom... if anyone can do it, you can, Ariadne. So cheer up!"
"It's not just that." Dallas straightened his hat.
"Ok, what else?" he asked.
"We have sentinels in the area."
"Oh, damn squiddies, they won't sniff a damn thing whilst we are running this quiet."
"We can't run totally quiet, can we? Not whilst we are broadcasting!"
"Quiet enough. We'll be fine!"
"You don't understand, Dallas. They're not just passing by. They are doing a security sweep of this area! They know we use it for broadcasting."
"Ah, this area is huge, they won't see us..."
"Dallas, they are searching this area! Sooner or later one of those things is going to come down this tunnel and see us!" Dallas was silent for a few moments.
"We'll be fine," he eventually repeated, confidently. "We'll have the whole thing sorted out by then."
"And what if we need to call for help or contact the Percy?"
"We won't!"
"Or if they need to contact us?"
"Ah, Marduk won't do that..."
"Ok, what if we receive a priority transmission from Zion? We can't go anywhere without leaving broadcasting depth and killing the crew!"
Dallas sighed, and got up, leaving the room. A minute later he returned with a small but sturdy iron crowbar.
"Soon sort this out..." he said. Standing by the radio, he raised his arm and brought it back down, hard, seven times, until the radio was a mass of smashed circuitry, fizzling slightly in front of Ariadne's astonished eyes.
"There! Now you don't have to worry about it, do you? Get back to work."
"Oh, teriffic..." said Ariadne.
"And don't even think about telling any of those guys what you just told me," said Dallas, settling down to watch the monitors himself.
-
Ok then guys! You are outside the headquarters of the CCC. Inevitably, this is a vast skyscraper of mirrored glass in the Commercial district. You are currently in w wide plaza just outside it.
Your move.
Nah, no-one's checking you out, Azrael. Neither because of your odd look (the group size is an issue but in general that whole thing tends to get overlooked) nor, as far as you can tell, because someone is specifically watching for you.
In which case, you head into the lobby of the building, which is rather pretty, with fountains, friendly looking adverts, some demonstrations of CCC computer technology and a very large reception area.