Author Topic: INHUMAN Rebooted — Chapter 1: A Common Cause  (Read 155973 times)

Norum steps out and waits until the group is further down the hall before he reaches into his bag and takes out an earpiece and his phone. "Wait here," he says while tapping and swiping through his phone and tapping each of the earpieces to the back of the phone, then hands the earpieces to the two.

"Alright, open your phones and accept the prompt. This will link us all together in comms." They each take out their phones and see prompts to pair devices with scrambled letters and numbers. "Don't worry about the device names. In this field of work, you need a little secrecy."

After they accept the prompts, Norum's phone displays a prompt, which he closes and then tucks away back into his bag. "Alright, Daniel," Norum hands Daniel the real briefcase. "Take it directly there. Don't deviate from skylanes, and most importantly, don't lose it."

"Ryde . . . I need you to listen carefully. If we are stopped by the police, don't talk to them. If they ask you questions, you are on the way to a job interview or we are door to door sales associates. Roll with whichever one you can sell better. If we are stopped by Los Bastardos, do not talk to them. Do not talk to Quo, and especially don't. get. trigger-happy. Okay?"

He hands Ryde the other briefcase.

     Daniel took the briefcase and waited patiently for the others to leave before him.

Ryde nods to Norum. "I'll do that."

Ryde and Norum depart the building on Norum's scooter. Considering that there is nowhere to put the case, its likely anybody watching you saw it.

The day is sunny and the temperature is comfortable. Midtown West's architecture consists of low-rise offices and warehouses close to the shore. The area is cleaner than the parts of Pig Iron dedicated to warehousing you've seen so far. Here and there lay large concrete trenches, part of Aurum's colossal waste water management system that keeps the city from flooding during monsoon and typhoon season.

Traffic is heavy on the highways, but increasing as you go along. As you approach Salus, the area becomes more and more a mishmash of residential and commercial zoning, with the buildings becoming low rise and high rise structures. The value of the land drastically increases the closer you get to the border between districts. There are skyway bridges between some structures on some blocks. High above, skycar traffic is picking up along invisible traffic corridors. An airborne firetruck races overhead, hugging the contour of the Midtown skyline and disappearing behind a small high-rise as soon as it appeared.

For the first five or ten minutes, you have been undisturbed on your ride. Both Norum and Ryde begin to wonder if they really are being followed.



Dan remains at the office for now.

Ryde turns his head behind them in the traffic, trying to see if anyone is getting out of there cars to get to them.

     Daniel departed soon after Norum and Ryde, headed for his bike.  He stored the briefcase in one of the "saddle bags" on the rear of the bike, and quickly made off to join air-traffic.  He was sure to keep a reasonable speed, not caring to go above the limit and take his time.

"Ryde, you seeing anything?"

Ryde keeps looking out into traffic, only shaking his head in response to Norum. "Though I'm a bit worried about these quarters."

Norum remains focused on the road, "Yeah, I hate having to drive out here, but did you see anything of not?"

"No, not yet. My trigger finger is itch'n though, which means only one thing...", Ryde pauses for dramatic effect. "Absolutely no reason.", Ryde chuckles under his breath. "But really, no. Nothing that I can see without looking any further.

Ryde keeps looking out into traffic, only shaking his head in response to Norum. "Though I'm a bit worried about these quarters."


Ryde PER: 33
Ryde is not trained in Awareness, -20
Discerning a following vehicle is challenging, +/- 0
Test taken at 13
Roll: 89
Test Failed


Nothing catches your eye.



Theme

The buildings grow higher and Salus's high rises and superstructures grow menacingly tall. At the border of Midtown West and Salus, the buildings open up to reveal a massive wastewater trench running parallel to the border. Ahead traffic is packed and slowing down to well below highway speeds. Looming in front of you, partitioning Salus from the rest of the city is a three story tall wall structure. The Salus Hurdle, built to keep the unwashed masses away from the financial district. Along the wall there are a couple large high-rise like structures. These are the massive air exchanges that keep the Salus air clean when the wind moves in the wrong direction.

Salus's skyline is dominated by regular skyscrapers as well as monolithic superstructures that belong to some of the world's most powerful corporations. It is a city of wondrous light and prosperity. Advertisements for all manner of brands and merchandise are everywhere and unavoidable. Skycar traffic is busy overhead, but still moving as quickly as ever, unlike the vehicles on the ground.

You are nearly half way to the meeting point, but only by distance. Traffic is heavy.

     Daniel departed soon after Norum and Ryde, headed for his bike.  He stored the briefcase in one of the "saddle bags" on the rear of the bike, and quickly made off to join air-traffic.  He was sure to keep a reasonable speed, not caring to go above the limit and take his time.

You leave unhindered.

"No, I dont see anything... That's what scares me...", Ryde unsettle-y looks up at the skyscrapers above traffic, or any ledge that could let anyone spy over traffic, attempting to spot anyone spying them.

"I don't like this..."

"Daniel. How are things for you?"

     "Smooth sailing," Daniel replied, gliding easily through traffic toward his destination.

Norum pauses and sighs after merging around a beat-up grey sedan. "Elena? Elena are you there?" The channels remain open for everyone in the group to hear.