Summary:Jeriah gets a message to meet Jemma. It's suspicious. Log Info:Storyteller: None |
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About 6.30am, Jeriah received a message asking him to meet Jemma at an office on the outskirts of New York City. The message indicated that this had something to do with the project they're working on and she'd explain more when she can meet him face to face.
This was a message and not a mind to mind request.
When he gets there, the office building is quiet, there's a couple of cars in parking lot but that's it. The office he's been asked to meet her at is on the first floor - and the doors to the building seem to be unlocked already.
Jeriah is suspicious. A message isn't a way he'd expect to be contacted and the location listed isn't so far as he can tell controlled by SHIELD. So when he arrives, he's armed. And there's a drone in the sky providing him a birds eye view. This might be awkward if it really is Jemma but…
Well. Better safe than sorry. There's lots and lots of people who do not like Jeriah and he's not about to give any of them a free shot. Now lets see. She should be just back this way.
When Jeriah makes his way to the office, Jemma isn't there. He might think to check their connection and snoop on her a bit - see where she is.
The door to the office is open though and his drone shows nothing untoward, at the moment.
"Come in, London …" He knows that voice. It's a voice of ghost from his past. One that he thought to be killed in action after his sortie on that PIE test facility.
It's then that he feels the interference on his network.
Jeriah's hand goes to his weapon and his disruption field activates instantly. Even without a network connection he's a fairly formidable combatant. "Maybe I will. Or maybe I'll just shoot through the door. It's not nice to mess with someone's wifi you know. Modern people can't seem to live without and if I can't check my facebook updates every thirty seconds I might well go stark raving mad."
It's not a trap. Not yet. For that there would have to be some kind of visible threat. The threat might still be there but at the moment this is really just a rude kind of invitation.
"Don't worry. The Kardashians are creating another scandal and the mets are going to win the superbowl. You can shoot but if you do, you won't find that lovely lady you work with …" Kenneth, that's his name, gestures. "… she really is quite remarkable, isn't she?"
The interference on the wifi ramps up, feeding him lots of data that's just noise.
Kenneth too is protected by his purple disruption field. He had been part of Jeriah's project, after all.
"I wanted to offer you a new job …"
"Are you suggesting that you've taken a SHIELD researcher hostage? Because if you are I'm gonna want proof of that. I don't think you're quite that smart, Kenneth." Jeriah says. He keeps the weapon out because you never know when you might need it.
"Why don't you keep talking though about this new job while I think of a way to take your head off." My, Jeriah is direct when he's annoyed. Or worried. Or both.
"Am I?" Kenneth smirks as he Jeriah gets direct. "Do you *think* we could have taken your lady friend?" Clearly they're not aware of the connection he has to Jemma, so that's something.
As Jeriah enters the office, Kenneth moves to stand in front of him. "Do you think you can? You left the project before they could offer you the upgrades." There's a buzzing feeling in Jeriah's spine the further he walks into the office, is it his imagination or is his personal disruption shield starting to falter?
"We want you to come and work with us …"
"On second thought no I kind of don't. Planning was never your strong suit." Jeriah says. As Kenneth moves the plasma weapon in his hand whirrs to life. "That's quite close enough. I don't know how charged plasma interacts with our disruption fields but I'm quite willing to experiment." Besides the guy might have a knife.
And if he can knock his shield down he wants Kenneth over there.
"Who exactly is US and what do they want done? Please tell me this isn't an organization in which YOU have a leadership position."
"You always had a way with words, London." Kenneth answers, holding up a small box in his hand. "Can you feel that? It feels like a bee in your backbone, doesn't it? When you went rogue, we had to find someone to work on us and we decided to try some kill switches."
Is it really a kill switch? Or is Kenneth just trying to trick Jeriah? Either way, there is a buzz where the small power source is. Something's interacting with it.
Still, Kenneth doesn't get any closer.
"A small group who took an interest in the work we had done. Particularly the way it's powered and controlled. We understand you have an in with the Researcher working on it. I work for a man called Moreau. David Moreau. He's paying well for anything he can get his hands on."
"You know I left the group because I didn't like who you were working for. Why on earth would I help you with another one of your clients? Particularly one who sounds like he should be experimenting on animals and creating new species." On his own island. Named for him.
"I think you're bluffing about the kill switch by the way. If you had one you'd have used it." That's actually Jeriah bluffing. He is sure that device does SOMETHING because he can feel it doing something. He also, however, thinks that Kenneth isn't confident that he could get what needs out of it before Jeriah killed him. Or at least, made a very good effort of it.
So it's a dangerous game they're playing here.
"I know that but my employee wanted to me to extend the offer before we went to other means." Kenneth shrugs. "Given you don't want to play nice, we'll do this hard way. Take him…"
The buzzing in Jeriah's bac amps right up and he can feel it trying to disable his shield. At the same time, there's an influx of data on his netware …. as two more men come in behind him and try to jump him.
He did bring a dog with him, didn't he?
He did but without a connection he can't issue it commands. Jeriah brought something else though. A KA-Bar.
His plasma gun opens up on Kenneth the moment the encounter turns hostile. The spray of energized gas may or may not penetrate his shield. Jeriah's own is weakening and he's trying to adapt his protocols which is a hard thing to do with the spam coming in. Eventually he has to just shut his netware down - and by eventually we mean only a second later.
When he's grabbed from behind the knife spins into his fist and he stabs down right at the thigh of the man to his left. The eight inch blade then twists to pull outward, tearing and gouging rather than making a clean cut. If he gets even one shoulder free the OTHER guy trying to restrain him is in BIG trouble if he's not at least as good as Jeriah is in hand to hand.
It's possible the dog will act on its own when it hears the kerfuffle. They've been behaving more and more like dogs the longer Jeriah's had them.
The blast of the plasma weapon hits Kenneths shield and is dispersed initially but the shield shimmers and seems to shatter. The other merc throws himself to the side, still being hit in the side by the blast. The smell of burning flesh fills the room.
The guys who grab London are *strong* but the knife plunges deep and the first assailant howls, his grip loosening just enough.
Jeriah's going to have to be quick though as that second guy tries to punch him in the side of the head.
Jeriah flips the blade in his hand and brigs it up to intercept the punch edge on. He still gets knocked in the head - the back of the head - and it rings his bells good. But the other guy gets a knife tip to the wrist and as the hacker twists free of the one whose thigh he just cut open he brings his gun around and fires.
At close range, against unarmored targets, the plasma spray goes through things like they're not even there. As for the dog. Well. Was that the sound of the front door being broken open? It certainly SOUNDED like shattering glass and twisting metal.
The knife connects with a glowing purple shield, plasma fire dispersing around the figures energy shield. Those shields shimmer and fade - they can't take another blast like that. The wall behind him disintegrates. Jeriah feels something sweep at his ankle as the merc with the torn thigh tries to bring him down.
If they've heard the shattering glass and twisting metal, neither of the attackers give any indication.
"Come now, London. This can go easy on you. Just come with us and it will all be over." That's Kenneth, standing slowly, cradling his wrecked arm. "I'll even forgive you my arm."
This is a bad situation to be in as a general rule. Three on one, his enemies trained close to what he is trained in. Close quarters. The hacker takes a tumble and loses grip on his gun. He still has his knife though which he jams into the shoulder of the downed merc next to him and uses the guy as leverage to pull himself away from a kick.
"The question is, Kenneth, will my dog forgive you?"
The door to the office explodes inward and RX-116 (The one they call Shep) comes in with his sonic machinegun deployed and tracking.
"Who's a good boy?"
Jeriahs enemies are trained close to his abilities, this is true and there's the noise on his network that he has to deal with. It seems like they got the drop on him, well and good - and yet, their shields don't seem to be standing up as well as his.
The knife thrust works, as Jeriahs gun tumbles free, the hacker-soldier managing to lever himself clear.
"Your … dog?" Kenneth blinks as Shep comes barreling into the room. "Abort. Everyone out, we need extraction." He's heading for the window. The other two are much, much slower to move.
"Kill." Jeriah tells the drone. Kelly and Jemma might be horrified but this is the kind of fight that Jeriah is trained in. Opponents are dealt with swiftly and lethally so that they cannot become problems later. It is a brutal way to fight but well… that's war.
He turns on the man he's already knifed twice and finishes him off. The dog blasts the other mercenary with its sonic weapon and then goes after Kenneth who had better have some kind of extraction strategy ready if he wants to get away from this thing.
Kenneth dives through the window as Shep and Jeriah finish off the other two. Jeriah can see the mans shield flicker and shimmer but they operate - just. There's a pool of blood on the ground from where his arm had been hit by the plasma gun.
The noise on Jeriah's netware abates. Sort of. Jeriah? Jeriah? What the hell is happening? Jemma. She even thinks in a british accent. Jeriah, answer me…
Sheps sonic blast, takes out the window and wall …. and shows Kenneth getting into a vehicle and speeding off.
Jeriah London says, "I'm here Jemma. Having a little bit of a problem right at the moment." Jeriah climbs onto Shep. "After him."
These dogs can move and they're made to be ridden. He might lose the guy anyway but he's going to try and catch him before he gets too far.
Sadly the turret has to go away for this. He'd love to just flip the car over with a well timed sonic blast but that's how these things go.
"I might need some medical attention when I get back."
"
I lost you for a while. Couldn't … feel…. What on earth on are you doing? I'm coming to you.
He might need to call her off. That's if she can work out where he is.
The car speeds off, far faster than Shep can travel. He can get the plate number - that's something. Which leaves Jeriah, riding a mechanical dog with a wrecked office behind him.
"I'm at the edge of town. Nevermind I'll come to you." Jeriah turns the dog back toward his car. It's going to be an hour or more drive back into the Triskelion depending on traffic. Fortunately there are painkillers in his car.
"I'm sending you a license plate number. Get someone to run it. I'll explain when I get in."
