JamieSneak up on the driver and knock him out and hijack the truck.
[Stealth: 5] [Driver Alertness: 3+1] There are many kinds of sneak. There is the sneaking people do in movies and video games where the hero crouches slightly and miraculously becomes invisible because their knees are at an angle, there's the real sneaking which involves breathing like a whisper and timing your sounds to that of your prey, and then there's the kind of bald face stealth where you walk up to a person in such a way that they never suspect that they're the target. The latter is your approach to the truck driver.
The mobile Thai cafe is of about the same quality you'd expect to find here. Lot's of tinfoil, salt, grease, and, as a heuristic estimate on your hud warns you, a strong likelihood of creatively sourced meats. You walk past the window of the food truck, giving every impression that you're just about to walk on by and pay him no mind. [Attack 4+2] [Driver Dodge 4-4] [Damage: 4+1+3 (Non-lethal)] Without looking, you grab him by the collar and yank down, slamming his forehead into the sill of the Thai truck. He goes down like a sack the moment you release your grip, revealing a small smear of blood and a dent in the aluminum of the truck. This strength might take some getting used to.
Immediately after you take out the driver, the few rag clad bums nearby on the street scatter. The individual in the least imposing armor (you're going to have to get names if this damn dream continues) immediately yanks open the driverside door, taking a seat in the still idling food truck. You shrug and take shotgun. Been a while since you had a chauffeur.
AdamFor now, stick with the scary gangster dude. If the truck isn't running/able to move when he hijacks it, get it moving.
The gangster takes out the rather unfortunate looking food truck owner in the blink of an eye. No hesitation, no wind up, no tension. Just sudden violence, as casually as if he'd brushed dust off his shoulder. That is a scary dude.
Still, you waste no time in climbing in the front seat. [Luck 9] The door to the driver side is unlocked, stunningly, and the engine is still running. In fact, as you scan the food truck's HUD, he's still logged into navigation. Poor fool must have just arrived. You pull up the local city map and tap on the precinct, setting as your current destination, then you lean back. The food truck begins to rev up, the autopilot syncing with local traffic in order to find the window needed to insert itself into blitz of constant 90mph city traffic.
The wheels twist, the vehicle preparing to lurch to life against the inertial dampening- and then it stops once more. The food truck HUD flashes red and displays a single line of ominous text.
DANGER: Injury detected in primary user. Halting vehicle and alerting emergency personnel...Akira"Didn't this piece of junk hear me? I said I wanted to go to the subway! SUB. WAY." Akira howls, shaking her fists at the sky.
The hud dims apologetically and switches your route over to go through the subway. It also orders you a sandwich at the nearest Subway chain, pulls up the webpage for a set of submarine apartments off the coast whose flier advocates living life the 'sub way', and gives you the information on an Arther Soobwei whose last known address was in the tenement you just left... Credit where credit is due, it's definitely trying.
Regardless of its efforts, you follow the directions to the crosswalk, wait for the signals, and then cross through to the other side. It's sort of interesting to think about what would happen if a car hit the suit while going at 90 miles per hour. Would the suit have some kind of ability to dampen the impact and make sure you didn't go flying, so you'd like cut through the car with your body, or would you still get crushed to goo? Doesn't really matter, you don't care to test it right now.
As you enter the subway, you get an askance look and a derogatory harrumph from a late night traveler. Apparently you look ridiculous enough that he assumed the rocket launcher on your back is fake. Heading down, you find everything as expected. No surprise clowns, no men with white coats to take you away, just a row of force screens and a tired looking woman in the ticket booth. The traveler ahead of you waves his pass chit absently ahead of him as he approaches the force screen, the rail pass deactivating the barrier before he reaches it.
Problematically, the suit doesn't have a bag, and there really isn't any way to check your pockets. You don't think you have a great way through those barriers.
The woman in the ticket booth eyes you up and down, her expression vaguely interested now.
"MEC-Con?" She asks, even the single word seeming to come only at effort.
ErnestFollow the yellow brick road line through the subway.
"Hey, Sleepwalker, is there any way for us to coordinate our actions? It'd be a damn shame if one team got bogged down in a firefight if the other team was a bit slower at getting into the cop shop."
You end up mostly following the female one that Sleepwalker said had Yakuza ties, and in the meantime you try to talk to Sleepwalker again. You don't get a response, but, considering the fact that you can hear what sounds like a bitten off curse in your ear, you still have a constant audio link to the others you woke up with. Turning towards where you left them, you can even see them marked as a blue outline. It would seem that the suits take care of that worry naturally. The two groups will be in constant audio contact, and you'll even be able to check up on their physical position.
When you reach the entrance to the subway station, the Yakuza chick stops in front of the force screens. You wonder if she realizes those things had a fifty pound press limit. Funny thing about the regs, is that, in a state of emergency (like a fire), people had to be able to freely exit the subway stations. So there was a safety threshold built in so that people could just tear through the screens if they were truly desperate.
Punching through them in one of these suits would be child's play.
Of course, there's also the large door with a caution strip, an employees only sign, and a large banner emblazoned with the word "Maintenance" that would probably also get you down to the actual subway tracks.
Akira NagamotoResistance: 10/10
HP: 10/10
Inventory:
H&K G172
Tretiak Combat Shotgun
Kiloton Rocket Launcher
Fame (minor): Small chance to encounter random fans. [9]
- Dedicated Fanbase: While they are scattered across the globe, there is a still a core group of several hundred rabid followers that maintain a webpage and forum in your honor. Getting in touch is as simple as logging in.
Stunner: Pretty is an understatement. You move with grace, speak in the tones of angels, and look drop-dead gorgeous. +(1-3) to casual persuasion checks, depending on gender, age, etc.[5]
- Dolled Up (Niche): Your time in the J-Pop business has given you a rather unique fashion sense. For a lot of people, it's a bit... much. For those that enjoy it, well, you can incite projectile nosebleeds if you go all out. You can, given adequate material, choose to 'dress up'. Depending on who you're interacting with, this can either double, or negate, the effects of your stunner perk.
Stealthy: Life has demanded that you take a... subtle approach to most situations. +2 to stealth [1]
- Flash Bang: Problematically, a life spent in the spotlight isn't the best preparation for stealth. You do not gain any bonus against individuals who've had any counter-intrusion training, but your ferocity is surprising despite your incompetence. +3 to hit on your first attack after breaking concealment.
Protean Class Strike Suit: Resonance (Lvl 1)Armor: 40/40
Energy: 60/60
Passive Boosts: +2 Speed, +2 Evasion. Can fire targeted short range shockwaves, 1d6 damage+stun. -6 to small arms damage (min 0), converts massive damage to basic damage.
Defensive Abilities: - Holo-Triple: 10 Energy. Generates 2 identical suits that move independently of you, drawing fire freely. Dissipate when they take any heavy damage.
Offensive Abilities:- Resonance Wave: 10 Energy. Creates a damaging (2d6) shockwave in a cone in front of you. Fragile materials (glass/crystal) shatter, hard materials crack (stone, concrete), and pliable materials weaken (metal).
Alternate Forms:None Unlocked Jamie WaltersResistance: 25/25
HP: 5/5
Inventory:
Damasc Machine Pistol
H&K G172
Arctic Wolf DMR
Impact Grenades x4
Blackware (Military): A military grade piece of E-enhancer wetware has been implanted into your brain, careful regulating your emotional and hormonal response during combat. You never, ever, lose focus. Global +2 to combat accuracy, +1 to evasion, +1 to melee damage. [8]
- Running Raw: This implant was never meant for extended use, in fact, it's very likely that this one was supposed to have decommed after the original soldier's tour. It doesn't have the same safeties that an athletic aug does, and prolonged usage is slowly killing you as your body tears itself to pieces. Resistance pool doubled, HP pool halved.
Infamy (Major): You've done some truly terrible things, and there's definitely a warrant out for your arrest. The good news is that most of the seedy underworld has probably heard of you, and are intimidating as fuck. +(1-3) for intimidation tactics and street cred. [5]
- Broken Chain: Following the crackdown on your organization, you were presumed dead. On the one hand this means that there is no active effort to apprehend you. The bad news is that most, if not all of your followers have scattered, and your territories and powers have by and large been consumed by other gangs.
Tough Motherfucker: You don't often go down, and you never stay down. +5 Resistance Points.[10]
- Indomitable: You've survived alley dogs, muggers, gang wars, cartel assassins, and, most recently, three bullets from a police sniper. Your flesh is only human, but your will to survive is made from much tougher stuff. When regenerating RP, regen rate increases by 1 per turn.
Protean Class Strike Suit: Dominos (Lvl 1)Armor: 60/60
Energy: 40/40
Passive Boosts: +3 Melee Damage, -2 damage taken (down to 1), integrated combat blade (1d6 melee, penetrates 3 DR). -6 to small arms damage (min 0), converts massive damage to basic damage.
Defensive Abilities: - Hyper-Armor: 20 Energy. -5 evasion, greatly reduced mobility. -10 damage from all sources, down to scratch. Lasts 3 rounds.
Offensive Abilities:- Arrow Mini-Rockets: 5 Energy. Fires 3 mini rockets that pierce 2 DR and deal 1d6 points of damage each. Rocket tracking is +2, but cannot do indirect fire. Can be activated up to 4 times in a round. Can be directed at multiple targets.
Alternate Forms:None Unlocked Ernest QuinnResistance: 10/10
HP: 10/10
Inventory: H&K G172 Impact Grenades x1
Tretiak Combat ShotgunHard-Bitten: Life has done Ernest no favors, and he's gotten used to that. Life is hard, and he has no illusions about what that means. +2 to detecting lies and subterfuge. [3]
- Grifter: Unfortunately, the cynical and pragmatic side of Ernest shows a little in the way he moves and looks. You can tell that he's a predator, if only a small one. -1 to casual conversation checks, +1 to intimidation.
Dirty Tactics: Leverage is everything, whether in a brawl or in a boardroom. Bonuses due to specific, temporary modifiers are increased by 50%. (Example: coercion with an incriminating tape, or tripping someone who already has a sprained ankle) [5]
- Animal Ferocity: Experience has taught Ernest value of exploiting weakness, and there is a part of him that deeply fears the same weakness being exploited in him. Negative status effects will also grant a minor positive boon.
Contacts (Minor): Ernest's, shall we say 'extra curricular', activities have netted him a fair network of petty criminals and compromised civilians that owe him favors. [7]
- Hardened Network: Ernest's pragmatism, and his interest in being smarter about robbery than his father, means that he holds something over every single member of his small network. This makes them much more motivated, and far less likely to turn against him or feed bad intel.
Protean Class Strike Suit: Villain (Lvl 1)Armor: 50/50
Energy: 50/50
Passive Boosts: +2 Strength, +1 Evasion. Integrated electrified cables (3 cables, 1/4 inch, break strength 4000lbs, 1d3 stun damage. Integrated Pitons to secure cables). -6 to small arms damage (min 0), converts massive damage to basic damage.
Defensive Abilities: - Optical/Thermal Cloaking: 5 Energy at start, doubled every round. Cost resets after 5 rounds of cooldown.
Offensive Abilities:- Magnetic Harpoon: 10 Energy. Onboard gauss launcher fires one of the three cables with a barbed piton attached. Deals 1d10 damage, and has a chance to lock regardless of armor penetration. If it deals HP damage, it also stuns for the electric cable's damage. Can be fired without a cable to launch only the barbed piton for 1d10 damage.
Alternate Forms:None Unlocked Adam JonesResistance: 10/10
HP: 10/10
Inventory:Damasc Machine Pistol H&K G172 C-7 x2
Brilliant: Brains, regrettably a resource the world is in short supply of, at least brains that want to do something other than be bathed in feel good chemicals. You get a +2 at most tasks that come down to intelligence. [1]
- Brilliant, not Smart: For all the brains packed into your head, you don't play the game well. You voice opinions because you believe them, not because it's a good idea or because it's political correct. Your honesty and straightforwardness is refreshing, though perhaps a little naive. +2 persuasion checks when honest, -2 to detecting or engaging in any kind of suberfuge.
Engineer (Electrical): You understand the strange black boxes and the hearts of copper and doped silica that beat inside of them. You're not a prodigy among engineers, but it's still utter magic to a layman. Can perform advanced repairs without penalty, as well as construct and tamper with advanced electronics with a moderate chance of success. +2 to working with electronics. [8]
- Protean Aptitude: Your educated background and native intelligence means that your mind naturally meshes well with the Protean suit. Your suit starts one level higher, and you have a chance to gain bonus Protean XP from encounters.
Allies (Minor): There are people who have your back. They're not strong, they're not backed up by any particular higher power, but they're damn good friends who'll answer at a moment's notice. [7]
- Tech Expertise: Your friends are engineers like yourself, and together you represent a pretty deep well of knowledge. If it needs identifying, repairing, or even fabricating, there's not much tech that's totally beyond your clique when given adequate time and resources.
Protean Class Strike Suit: Hierophant (Lvl 2)Armor: 45/45
Energy: 70/70
Passive Boosts: -2 damage against all (min 1). 50% of all base damage taken is added as energy. -6 to small arms damage (min 0), converts massive damage to basic damage.
Defensive Abilities: - Energy Shield: Damage taken is dealt to Energy instead of armor. Energy shield takes -4 damage against all (min 1), and converts massive damage to basic damage. Takes double damage from EM weapons. Shield can be altered to cover another nearby person or object instead of the Strike suit.
Offensive Abilities:- E-Shock: 5 Energy. Targets a unit and attempts to activate and overload their E-enhancer, dealing crippling (3d10) nonlethal if successful, and (1d10) nonlethal otherwise. Can be used three times per round.
- Reverse Shield: 10 Energy. Creates a one way bubble shield around target opponent, turned inwards. The shield has ten HP, and takes -2 damage from small arms. Prevents movement and outgoing fire, but does not prevent entry.
Alternate Forms:None Unlocked