Summary:Another shot at a plan, a different audience, and a more tactful approach helps to find some traction. Log Info:Storyteller: None |
Related LogsTheme SongNone |
   |
Domino's attempt to rally the troops had been a bit less than successful but she's both too darn stubborn and too darn persistent to leave it there. After all, luck only ends once she's given up.
Maybe that's why she's decided to go all in, aiming for a private meeting with not one but BOTH of the highest names on the roster. If you're going to crash and burn then why not go out with the biggest blaze possible!
Veronica is the first target on her list. She had seemed to take the AIM attack on the campus the hardest at the time and they've already spoken in private a time or two before. It seems like as good of a place to start as any.
Of course, Karl is right there every step of the way as the albino arrives outside of Roni's office and makes her presence known. Politely, even!
Ugh, playing by the rules can be such a pain in the butt sometimes.
*
It's a bit before Veronica responds, as she ends a call and saves a few documents before finally openly acknowledging the call at her door. But rather than call 'come in', she does so by triggering the door … which swings itself out of the way and open, revealing her office inside. "Come on in, Neena. Thank you, Karl. If you have something to get to, feel free. I can escort Neena around as needed.
Karl seems a mite uncertain, but relieved, at Veronica's words. "I can be just outside, Ma'am. Just in case."
That said, Roni comes rolling out from behind her desk and towards the middle of the room, where other chairs are handy. "Come on in, Neena. Everything OK?" Of course, Roni is Neena's doctor, or one of them, after her incident. She cares and asks. It's who she is.
*
The art of 'hurry up and wait' never seems to go out of style. For those few minutes Neena stands out there and resists the urge to lean against the wall, who knows how long it's going to take? Though in an attempt at some humor she passes Karl a smirk and asks "Got any sevens?"
When the door opens by itself her posture straightens and her shoulders subtly roll into higher positions. A lengthy breath is taken in before the exchange between the others has her glancing back to her faithful escort. Again she has to resist an urge to fall back to old habits. This time with sarcasm.
Upon seeing so many windows opening up to the outside world some of the tension ebbs away from her frame. With Roni's offer and her following question Neena hesitates slightly mid-step, a thin frown edging onto her brow. "Fine" she quickly dismisses while settling into a seat..and waiting to make sure that the door is closed with Karl kept to the other side.
"Maybe not so much," she corrects, "but that's not why I'm here. I wanted to discuss the campus attack last month. Since then I've put out some feelers..and I've found something that we may be able to act upon."
*
Veronica rolls over in front of Neena once the albino chooses a seat, and then she reaches out, gently, and just touches a pale hand with her own. "Just so that you know taht if you're not so much, I'm here to listen. I'm not going to make you do anything, Neena. But I promise to listen, and respect what you have to say - and your privacy - if you decide you're ready to let me." Does Roni do it because she's a doctor? Maybe. But she has never once lied. She depends on others being able to have absolute faith in what she says.
"Campus at —" Roni begins, her mouth engaging before her brain kicks over to realize what this means. "You mean the nanite attack? The collapse of the Sandbox?" she inquires, waiting for the other woman to give her some sign that is what she means. As soon as she does, though, Roni holds up one finger. "Just one moment." she asks, imploring, as she reaches for her tablet in her lap, tapping out commands: one to sumon Toni to her office, keying the lock to her biosignature on file, and another engaging the increased privacy protections on the office to counter possible surveillance.
*
There's something about Roni's offer which has the gears in the back of the albino's mind turning. The brush of hands is allowed without event. There could potentially be something more to be gained from this interaction… Much like how Domino had been looking in the wrong direction about her proposed mission, maybe she hadn't been looking in the right places for a different format of help.
When Roni clarifies with the nanite attack Neena dips her head and confirms "That's the one." Then things change a little with Roni falling into action. Remaining in her seat with brows raised slightly, Neena considers the moment before saying "I may take you up on that offer later but did I say something wrong?"
This is a more significant response than what happened down in the meeting room. Suddenly she's glad that she didn't give Hank a 'full deck' with that USB drive. Tactical planning occurs at all times.
*
"You did not say anything wrong, Neena." Veronica explains firmly; there's no doubt, no wiggle there. She waits until her tablet shows a green telltale, and then she relaxes a bit. "Sorry." she then murmurs. "After what happened, we have been taking certain things a bit more seriously - perhaps a little paranoiacly - than we had been. Toni and I have installed additional privacy screening systems into our offices and labs to make absolutely sure no asshats like that can get any more intel than they already have." Like intel on whatever Domino may have found out about them.
That explained, Roni then says, "I also sent a message to Toni, asking her to join us. She has a longer history with AIM than I do, by far. She's the expert, so I'd rather have her here. Bonus is, then you only have to say it all once." That Roni, always practical when she can be. "And that offer remains open, for the record: any time."
*
Almost on cue, there's a knock at the door as Toni arrives, stretching a bit as she stands outside, in her common t-shirt, lab coat, jeans and sneakers, her hair pulled up in a no-nonsense bun held in place by a pair of chopsticks. She waits outside for the door to open, of course.
*
"There's something I don't hear often" Neena drily jokes at being told she didn't step out of line. The call for added security gets another faint nod but the albino smirks a hint when Roni drops a cuss. Yep, security measures have definitely been upgraded. "Welcome to Vegas" she says with some amusement.
Neena's just about to give a third nod when there's a knock on the door, prompting a look of surprise. A thumb is hooked toward the sound's origin. "That's some kind of efficient, right there."
It also means that it's straight to business they will go. Watch Neena not complain! Though the other offer remains..and it is being thoroughly mulled over.
After all, isn't RESCUE all about helping people? She had to have wound up with this group for a solid reason. Or..several, knowing her fortune.
*
The door opens automatically as soon as it detects Toni as the one touching it, allowing her inside. Veronica waves Toni over towards another open chair. "Thanks for coming. Neena has something to share with us. Something about AIM." Roni holds up her tablet, so that Toni can see that the extra security and privacy measures are in place.
*
Toni raises a brow, nodding to Needa as she sees her. "Hey Neena, Roni…what's up?" She walks over to the chair and plops down, crossing her legs as she leans back, her hands in her lap."AIM?" she says uncertainly, her interest immediately piqued."
*
"This sure is different from sharing deets over beers and some cards" Neena mutters mostly to herself as Toni is making her way over. With a lopsided smile and a casual salute to the arriving lady there is some time provided for Veronica to set the stage and Toni to settle in.
"Everyone's favorite acronymed baddie. Since we're going all uber undercover ursine here I should mention that this was first brought up with Posse, Martin, and McCoy the other day. It didn't go very far but enough was mentioned that if you're concerned about another on site security breach we should decide sooner than later whether to act."
"Word is that there's a two truck convoy which has been making some regular passes through the New York area. There's plenty of bottlenecks which means there's some predictable patterns in their movements. I'd like to hit these guys fast and hard at one of 'em. There's no telling what we might get for the effort but with two trucks full of mobile gear and however many people riding inside it'll be like a mobile intelligence buffet."
She lightly shrugs and adds "Besides, it's AIM. Who doesn't want to sucker-punch them into next week?"
*
Veronica listens intently, nodding at different points. "So, your feelers eventually turned this up? Just to make sure I'm remembering to ask the intelligent questions, how much do you trust these sources? What do you think is the percentage on this being a trap or a setup, rather than for real?" Hey, asking a gambler the odds ought to be a fair deal, right? "I'm not laying any blame. But they're your sources; you'd be the one best able to judge that, not us."
*
"And what are they doing, going through regular routes?" Toni says with a frown. "Transfering equipment around, or is this some sort of wierd scanning route they're taking, to keep a sensor on things inside the city?" she wonders curiously.
*
"That's fair" Neena assures Veronica with the question before gently leaning back to give it some proper thought. At least..she's -probably- considering the matter, though with how she's staring at Roni the whole time it might come across way more intimidating than planned. Confirmation is soon to follow, "It should be solid. The source knows fully well what to expect if they try to give me a bad hit."
To Toni, "Uncertain. Don't have eyes that deep. But we could certainly ask them what they're up to after playing some interference."
Knitting fingers together, she explains "This is a 'golden sweep.' An unsuspecting high value target which is both easy to track and expected to show minimal resistance. I'd make a move on this myself but having a second truck somewhat complicates a solo operation. I don't want them having any opportunities to call an SOS. Which, conveniently enough, is why hitting them in the Lincoln Tunnel would be particularly appealing."
*
Roni is pretty strong-willed, but yes, she does shy away after a good long stare; perhaps she assumes she's doing something wrong to make Dom uncomfortable? Or maybe she just acknowledges that the other woman is a better scarier than she is.
After Neena finishes, Roni looks to Toni. "You know them best. What do you think? Do you think we could take them safely, with some planning? Do you think we'd have a chance of getting the intel we have been lacking if we try?" She's no military expert, but this is as much a strategic decision as it is a tactical question. When it comes to the tactics, Neena already knows who Roni will call upon. But that is apparently not yet.
*
Toni considers. "AIM has a tendency to think they're smarter than everyone else. Their corporate culture is sort of built on it. So if they really don't think anyone has has noticed these regular transits, probably they haven't done more to add to their security, other than whatever might be in the trucks. Which is likely some AIM troopers at least, maybe some robotic weapons hidden in the trailers, that sort of thing." She shrugs her shoulders a little. "hard to say. That said, I'd be happy to mess up their day on general principle, though I'd hesistate to have anyone in the regular REACT teams to be part of this. Tehy're crisis intervention, they're not special operations. The alpha team of us, Posse, and whoever else who's powered who'd want to go, maybe…"
*
The exchange between the other two is allowed to happen without interruption while the albino silently observes. Any thoughts are held until Toni's voice trails off.
"Yeah..about that. I don't think Posse's too thrilled with the idea. This is your call to make of course but I could hit one of these LAPV's with a taser, four feet of detcord and a disposable motorcycle. If it would make your lives easier then only focus on the lead rig and I'll take care of the tail."
*
Veronica listens to what Toni says, and her eyebrows arch up a bit as Neena then weighs in. "I —" She sounds hesitant and uncertain, now. There is no one she trusts more than Posse in a fight. And she knows this is going to be a fight. AIM are bastards; they won't just roll over, and they'll try to hurt innocent people just to get away or prove a point. Roni looks at Toni, weighing the other woman's reactions.
"I have to be honest." Roni begins. "I, personally, don't feel like I could do this without Posse. I'm not saying it can't be done without her. Or even that it shouldn't be done without her. Only that I won't feel very confident without her there." A beat. "But … we don't have any other leads. And we need other leads. We have to bring them down before they use our tech to hurt people. Somehow."
*
Toni hmms. "I'd like to know why Posse wasn't keen on it and if we can do anything to fix that, if it's a matter of equipment or planning." she says thoughfully. "But yes, I'd like to get a few mor eneeds, and I think playing defense for AIM is going to end up with us being unpleasantly suprised again.
*
"If you want her there then have her there but one of you will have to bring her around," Neena suggests. "Given her outside connections it might be a hard sell. And between the three of us I'd much rather not have to deal with her telling me to put the explosives away."
To Toni, the albino clarifies "It was less about the equipment and the planning and more about it coming from me. She had some ..fairly colorful and targeted opinions to share on the matter. I'm starting to feel that perhaps she doesn't take me all that seriously."
*
Roni frowns at that. She knows that Ava was rather upset about the incident in the Ukraine. But she does not actually know why or how things have gotten worse. She thought things were getting better, what with Domino having been there during the upgrade surgery, and recovery process. This is confusing and upsetting for her, and surely must be for Dom as well, as she can tell. "I … I can try. But I do not know what is going on with her. Won't know, until I make her tell me." Yes. Roni is one of the few people in the entire world who can make Ava tell her things. It is a power the good doctor tries hard not to overuse or abuse.
*
"Mmm. Well. Let's plan to go forward on this. Even if it's just the three of us. Quietly." she emphasizes. "We're pretty visible as public figures, so attacking trucks in the middle of town will draw attention if we do it carelessly." She frowns. "Perhaps I can rig up a stealth field or hologram for us to use that will conceal identities for the purposes of this."
*
Neena gently nods once though if either of the others look closely enough they might pick up some concern of her own in those oddly glassed over eyes. "I have a guess. She comes from a vastly different background than I do. The things I'd consider to be a success she would consider to be a Charlie Foxtrot. My track record hasn't been so stirling around her, admittedly."
Back to Toni, she suggests "You have Io on the payroll. Why not have her do some fancy traffic re-routing? The target's already geared up to take the tunnel, they aren't going to want to back up into traffic and look for a last minute detour. Funnel them in then shut down the Lincoln. No civvies, no eyes, no ears. Just us and them in a concrete tube. I mean — not to rag on stealth fields and holograms and all that fancy stuff. I just like keeping it simple."
*