2020-23-11 Matchstick House
Matchstick House
Participants: Christian Karner Vy Kaden Chess Aspen Vic Los Perdidos
Storyteller: Lysistrata
Location: Unknown House by the Santa Monica Airport
Date and Time: November 23rd, 2020 10:00 pm
Summary: A blaze of glory and gore.
---<Lysistrata>---------------
The house been staked out and carefully watched for some time now, plans made and coordinated with the noises of the nearby airport, and electronics seeming successfully jammed. The flight that was being waited on is just a few minutes late, but something like that was expected and planned for. The pilot can be seen doing final prep, and like a well oiled machine, the team's plan comes to life just in time to the jet engine. The house is being watched for movements as the assault team makes it way to the side to climb the scaffolding in preparation for an assault. The jamming seems like it worked as the yard lights don't go on this time. The climb up the scaffolding is smooth, and any noise is easily covered by the plane.
Perched up on the scaffolding the group has a view inside to one room on the second floor, the walls of which are lined with books in a somewhat enviable library space. A few lamps are on inside, and three men -- perhaps half of those inside the house -- can be seen playing cards together. They're definitely focused on the game, not on high alert. At the same time, they haven't completely dropped their guard. Two heavy pistols can be seen on the table, and propped against book shelves can be seen assault rifles and shotguns. The assault team definitely has the jump on them, but a firefight is not out of the question.
The jet engine gets even louder, as the plane prepares for take off.
---<Aspen>---------------
Aspen is inside the driver's seat of an off-white decommissioned Chevy Van 20, V8, 1985, still running with an active killswitch on the dashboard. The back of the van contains wood paneling and Karner, assumedly, as well as a hula-girl doing undulations in a grass skirt on the counter where fat, flickering CRT monitors sit. Taking a moment to breathe, Aspen turns the ignition off and hits the red-lit killswitch. The engine rumbles and dies.
"How's it going back here, Karn?" the woman asks, poking her head through a pair of stained, avocado green panel curtains that separate the cab from the rest of the van. The monitors before them show the front of the house in green grayscale, a bit fuzzy, but well enough. A line buzzes across the main monitor and Aspen slaps the side of it, bringing the image into sharper focus. "There we go!" she chirps, taking a moment to rightly ignore the interior's musty smell. "Only 33,000 miles on this baby. Got her from a government fleet auction. Nice, huh? Oh!"
Aspen opens a drawer below the monitors and pulls out a plastic purple bundle from underneath. She tosses it to Karner. "Diapers. We might be here awhile. I can go up front if you need privacy for a hot second to get 'em situated."
Giving Karner a quick, efficient salute, Aspen crawls out the side-door and grabs her rifle on the way. She sets herself up alongside the back of the van, still obscured by it, watching the front of the house.
---<Christian>---------------
"Infiltration, begin."
Christian's voice comes in through the comms as he starts running towards the left window on the second floor. He's quicker than any human has a right to be, and the fact he was athletic in his mortal life really shows itself to be true here.
With his claws already extended, sharp black points that are straight rather than curve at their sharp points, he runs off the wall to vault towards the second floor, tumbling in so as to shatter the window and stand after a roll into the room.
He whips around quickly, fangs bared. The Baron of Santa Monica hasn't played with his abilities in a little while, making a move for one of the guys sitting at the table.
And he's pissed off.
---<Karner>---------------
Karner leans forward to flick the hulu girl with his fingers, making her dance. He's dressed all in black, wearing a fitted black leather jacket and black sunglasses with shiny blue lenses. "Yes, darling, she's lovely," he deadpans to Aspen. He does not, in fact, attempt to catch the diapers. Being a vampire, he doesn't need diapers. Perhaps Aspen, in all of her charming semi-mortality, has forgotten? But given that he's Karner, he still has an answer for her. "Oh, by all means, Aspen, feel free to do your business right in front of me." Then he gives her his most charming smile.
It lingers disturbingly on his face for a few more moments as he watches Aspen leave. The purple diapers are on the floor now as Karner turns to observe the monitors. Presumably he has a headset and can whisper in the ears of the others if need be.
---<Vy>---------------
Always dressed for the occasion, Vy's donned a pair of black leggings, black boots with a low, sensible heel, a blank tanktop, and a black, leather moto jcket - the sort of outfit one could have a pleasant chit chat with the police about and perhaps have them be none the wiser that it's covered in blood.
When Christian breaks through the window, she follows, presumably after Kaden and Noah, wherever she's told to stand. Even if Vy herself doesn't realize it, she's essentially occupying the 'mage/sorcerer' position in the dungeon party. When the moment's right, she tries to work her tricks. Focusing on one of the twitchy card players, she fixes her hazel eyed gaze on him, bats her lashes, and murmurs, "Help us?"
---<Kaden>---------------
Kaden follows Christian's lead, dressed in all black and gray with several knives and stakes hidden about his body. Running with the Baron, he lets him take the lead and follows in right behind him. Moving quickly and quietly up the scaffolding, he looks back to make sure Noah is covering Vy. Once they're all at the top, he draws a pair of knives while Noah readies his shotgun dressed in tactical gear with a kevlar vest.
When the Baron busts in through the window, he moves in with Noah right behind him. Both men move to kick away any guns or weapons before the group within can react. Pointing his knives at the group with Noah, Vy, and Christian all at the ready, he adds, "Stay down, hands up. Don't be stupid."
---<Lysistrata>---------------
With the jet engine overhead, the sound of breaking glass can't be heard on the street, keeping the initial assault and breech a stealthy operation at least as far as the neighbors are concerned. Those watching outside will see the assault team dissappear through one of the second floor windows, in an action coordinated with near military precision. A slight change of lighting can be seen through the other second floor window just moments after. It's quite subtle, and very little difference can be seen. The best guest would be a light going on in an adjacent room, a slight change in ambient lighting being seen.
While those inside playing poker had nearby weapons, they were definitely not at immediate ready. As the three crash through the window, one of the poker players reacts almost instantly, diving to the side for a nearby assault rifle. The man across from him flinches, but is quickly reaching for a nearby shotgun. The man in the center of the table freezes up like a deer-in-the-headlights. Despite having a heavy pistol right in front of him on the table, he doesn't think to even reach for it, he still holds his hand of cards, while his other hand gestures back in forth between himself and Vy, as if he's trying to figure out what 'help us?' might mean and whether this woman is actually talking to him, he almost seems ammenable to the idea, just a bit conused.
---<Aspen>---------------
Aspen, just before shutting the side door to the old surveillance van, gives Karner a look of pure, unbridled joy for his remark.
Then she slams the door.
Presently, she checks the bolt on her rifle. The police officer lifts the weapon and trains it at the front entrance in a test stance for a moment. Similar to Karner, she wears an ear piece and microphone, connected well to the man inside the vehicle and the rest of the team. She is garbed in all black - jeans, hoodie, boots - in order to better blend with the dark backdrop of the street.
Setting herself up against the chrome bumper, Aspen sets up her shot and taps her left ear piece - she is on the frequency for Karner and Vic. There is a strange vacuum of sound on the other side, no doubt heard by Karner as well, like a stereoscopic whine that bursts into the ear cavity. She instantly flinches in response.
"Can you hear me, Karn? Vic?" A change of light through a window catches her eye - she hunkers down and sets her sights down the barrel of the rifle, stilling.
---<Karner>---------------
The eagle eyes of the Man in the Van take note of that second floor lighting change. "I can hear you, Aspen, but I'm going to change frequencies. Stand by." And then he switches to the third one, the one that everyone can hear. Congratulations, people: you all have the slightly supercilious voice of Karner Blue in your heads now. "There's someone in the room next door," he says quietly. "Be aware of that. They seem to realize your presence, and that could be potentially dangerous. Look alive, people, look alive." It's clear that he's rather enjoying this, possibly a little too much.
---<Vy>---------------
Ignoring the boys and their assault on the other two, Vy continues to focus on deer in the headlights. Moving toward him, she reaches for his gun, trusting that Kaden, Christian, and Noah will keep her from being shot by one or both of the other two. Eyes on deer in the headlights, meaning to be non-threatening, she picks up his gun and points it down, moving between him and his two companions, if she can, hoping that she's entrancing enough that he'll be disinclined to hurt her.
---<Christian>---------------
The Baron of Santa Monica is one weirdly martial thinblood.
When the guy goes for the shotgun, literally one of the deadliest weapons in anyone's arsenal, the Baron steps in and swipes in an uppercut at his forearm, seeking to deter thae man from picking up the weapon. Sure, that will elicit a rooster of blood on the wall, given the force of the slash and the sheer speed it was executed, but there is no smile in satisfaction on Christian's face for the act undertaken.
If anything, it's more approaching silent resignation; knowing that this is a necessity.
---<Kaden>---------------
Kaden moves fast, trusting Noah to cover Vy and Christian to handle his target. Spotting the man moving for the weapon, he moves forward to stab and slash with his knives in an attempt to deter his target from grabbing that weapon. It's a fast, furious assault that strikes with precision. He's a trained fighter, and it shows as he shifts grips when slashing and stabbing.
---<Lysistrata>---------------
The man reaching for a shotgun was not just disabled, but literally disarmed, the claws taking it right off before it can even tough the shotgun; the edge of the claw even grazes the man's neck, and had Christian not pulled his attack, there might be a head removed along with said arm. The man is severely wounded, but from the way he takes the wound, it seems clear that he's a Vampire, or at least not human.
Kaden manages two nasty knife attacks on the man going for the assaut rifle. It does not stop the man from actually grabbing the weapon, but it does throw him off enough that he hasn't yet properly gripped the weapon.
While watching two of his friends get severely brutalized sort of puts an end to the idea of 'help us?' for Mr. Deer-in-the-Headlights, it's a little bit of a late coming realization. All he manages to do is drop his hand of cards into his lap as he watches Vy take his pistol right from him. He eyes the other one on the table, but hasn't quite managed to decie if he has the nerve to attempt to go for it.
The airplane engine can be heard taking off and still providing some cover from the sound.
Headlights can be seen approaching on the street, the car doesn't appear to be moving with any real urgency, and there's nothing in it's actions to suggest that it is anything more than a coincidence -- though that doesn't mean it necessarily is.
---<Christian>---------------
Well, that's interesting. Christian takes a good look at the vampire, whirling about and kicking the man's face to complete the job. If he's not torpored after the Baron of Santa Monica decides to superman him, then this will get somewhat weird. Without intent to actually murder Captain Hook, there is a decided effort to simply put the other vampire out of commission. A strong enough hit might help.
Right now, the Baron of Santa Monica feels more like he's vampire Liam Neeson than anything else. And these people have decided to screw with his territory.
If any others need disabling, well, he might actually do something about it this time around.
---<Aspen>---------------
Aspen clenches one eye shut, silently poised over the chrome bumper and unmoving. She keeps her line of sight down the barrel of the rifle, nodding only once to Karner buzzing over the airwaves in her ear. Something catches her eye, a bending of light, and then Aspen taps the earpiece to put the entire team on notice. Her words are whispered but fierce. "Second floor window light. I think someone's moving for downstairs."
Aspen takes her stance for the shot, her head turning in slight alarm when a pair of high beams catches the glint off her pupil. In a moment, she appears to disappear entirely, fading into the backdrop.
---<Vy>---------------
Reaching for the second pistol, Vy takes that as well, flicking the safety and tucking it into the waistband of her leggings. "Let's go see what's going on next door? You'll keep me safe, right?" she wonders - she doesn't necessarily need her entranced buddy to keep her safe, but she's hoping he gets the hint and enters the room before her, providing cover of sorts.
---<Karner>---------------
Karner's voice crackles softly over the radio frequency that only the people outside can hear, the first band. That's Aspen, Chess, and (maybe) Vic. "As far as I can tell, that car is not dangerous to us. You will have to trust me on this one." It's a rather mysterious thing to say, but Karner can be rather mysterious sometimes. He glances over at the purple diapers on the floor and toes at it with his black boot. Then he flicks the hula girl on the dash, just because. "Now, I can't be one hundred percent certain, but I am reasonably certain. Over."
---<Kaden>---------------
Pointing one of the blades towards the man he just assaulted, Kaden shakes his head at him. "Drop it, and you'll be fine. Make a move, and you die." With both of his bloodied blades at the ready, he stares the other man down, waiting for him to comply. Noah keeps his weapon trained on the man before Vy, the shotgun aimed at his head and held steady.
---<Lysistrata>---------------
Down an arm, and with a kick to the head, one of the Vampires gets dropped by Christian, falling out of his seat an on top of the shotgun he was going for.
Vy grabs the second pistol off the table, and seems to be almost convincing the man in the center to put his hands up.
Kaden's attempt to intimidate puts the man with the assault rifle into 'ride or die' mode, and a squeeze of the assault rifle's trigger sends a burst of three bullets right at Kaden.
This seems to get the man in the center to change his mind, as his hands move from 'going up' to reaching for something behind him.
Those outside watching see the car approaching along the street, there appears to just be a driver. He doesn't seem to notice as a burst of an assault rifle -- barely muffled by an overhead plane -- cracks out the second floor window of the house under surveillance. Those watching from the van would very clearly be aware that their teammates have been fired upon, movements indicating someone got hit, but it's really hard to tell what exactly happened. It is also not quite clear what else might be goin on inside the house, the last clear movement beside the current combat scene, already reported on by Aspen.
---<Christian>---------------
Surging forward with his claws, Christian does a one-two combo at Kaden's shooter's arms, raking through bone and flesh without mercy or much thought on it. It's in defense of his Warlord and coteriemate and each swipe is brutal, but surgical. He does precisely as much as he needs to incapacitate the attacker, trying to keep his promise to Aspen in mind.
Once that's done, the Baron upnods. "We'll do a quick perusal of the surroundings and destroy anything we find to be untoward here." Blood drips from his claws. He doesn't notice.
---<Aspen>---------------
Aspen draws up a tight line on her mouth, the corners curling downward when Karner's voice comes over the line. "Reasonably certain," she mutters into the mic, then adds, "I'm reasonably certain those diapers are brand new, Karn. Can't be one hundred percent, though."
The car moves through, and Aspen observes stiffly near the back corner of the van when the sudden report of gunfire draws her attention up to the house. Her eyes narrow, brow drawn down, and then her eyes flick over to the edge of the property. Striding forward, Aspen keeps her rifle aimed near that area. She puts her mic to her mouth and whispers to the entire team, "Backyard movement. Going in to investigate."
Aspen slinks along the van, moving towards the property line.Aspen's eyes dart down the fence line, eyes taking the shape of almond pinpricks. She sweeps her rifle up, grabs the mic, and wrinkles her nose. Ducking her head lower than the fence, she hisses into the mic for the entire team to hear: "Guys, I smell gasoline coming from the house and there's something here by the property line. You need to get out of there, fast. You copy?"
---<Vy>---------------
Since using entrancement isn't super effective when arms are getting torn off, Vy changes tactics. Her pretty face contorts and twists, revealing the beast that lurks inside her, deep and hungry, as the mask of humanity every so briefly falls away. Perhaps it's effective, perhaps not, because at that moment, dear Noah is apparently putting a bullet in the man's head. Does she get blood and brains on her? Better not! If she does though, she'll do her best to calmly blink, then mutter, in her earpiece, addressing Aspen: "Copy..."
---<Kaden>---------------
"Mother ffffff-" Kaden curses as the assault rifle goes off and he catches a bullet in the shoulder, the other two of the three-round bust just missing him. Backed off from the blast's sound and force, it gives Christian the space he needs to attack. Giving the Baron a nod of thanks, he turns just in time to spot the other man reaching for a sawed-off shotgun, only to have his head blown off by Noah after shaking off the Dread Gaze Vy laid on him.
With this room cleared, he nods to Noah as the pair grab the topored vampires and drag them out to the scaffolding for Chess and Vic to collect and take to the van. Slipping back into the room with Vy and Christian, they nod, with their weapons ready to move. Catching the conversation on the coms, he adds, "Copy... We have two tangos on the scaffolding for extraction. We can question them later." Looking to the group in the room, he asks, "What's the move?"
---<Chess>---------------
Chess moves with Vic, then, to grab the motionless bodies and transport them one by one. She keeps glancing toward the house and back.
---<Karner>---------------
Karner speaks into the radio, "There's someone in a car down here, and they heard those shots. I don't think they mean to harm us, but they could become a liability. Someone may want to take care of them as well." Then he says, in a higher-pitched tone, "It's something to think about!" And begins humming to himself a little as he flicks the little hula dancer. If he's concerned about all of the imminent threats in the area, he at least /appears/ to be as cool, calm and collected as ever.
---<Lysistrata>---------------
The upstairs library/poker room is a bit of a mess now. Broken glass inside, bullet holes in the wall, two torpored vampires each missing a different arm lying on the ground on top of weapons, and a now headless ghoul slimped forward across the poker table; blood and brains sprayed all over some nice hardcovers.
The airplane overhead managed to provide a fair amount of cover for that fire fight, but that's starting to provide less and less assistance. More shots are likely to be noticed, in fact as Karner indicates, the approaching car seemed to noticed at least the second exchange, but it's not yet clear what their intention is, they might not even know.
Those in the house, as well as Aspen are smelling accelerant of some kind on the first floor. From the initial surveillance, the best guess was there were maybe half-a-dozen people in the house, give or take; the upstairs action accounting for approximately half. A triple burst of assault rifle can be heard downstairs, but no bullets seems to come towards anyone in the group, so it is not clear what is going on with that shooting or who or what it might be aimed at.
The burst of fire causes whatever is at the back fence to pull back, but it's still not clear if it's a cat or a person.
This burst of assault rifle fire seems to get the person in the car that was passing by to start accelerating forward rapidly. A second car behind them honks and flashes their brights.
---<Kaden>---------------
Reaching into a spot between his vest and the small of his back, Noah pulls out a folded-up duffle back. Opening it up, he starts to put weapons into the bag as Kaden hands them off, working quickly before making a quick search of the room for anything else of value to them. "Should we grab the phones? Keep them all jammed and see if we can get any info too?" Kaden looks to the group, nodding to Noah when the weapons are collected to search the dead man's body for anything useful. "We out of here? Do we know if this place has a good fire suppression system?"
---<Christian>---------------
Taking his time with a fully offlined phone (especially ROM flashed to never connect, ever), Christian makes sure to take some pictures of their erstwhile enemy's structure, making note of the library/poker room, before the smell of accelerant catches his attention. "We don't have time, let's just get out of here and hope that the fire catches fast."
---<Aspen>--------------- Aspen follows the fence line, only to come across a mangy alley cat who bunches up and hisses her way. The animal's whiskers twitch, then it jumps down off the fence into the adjacent property, out of sight. Aspen sighs, eases off the trigger, and turns.
Unfortunately, she comes face to face with a black attired man brandishing a shotgun pointed at her person. Freezing like a hare in a snare, the auburn-haired woman takes a moment of decision to mull through her options. The man looks down at her fuller stomach, up again, and Aspen takes the opportunity to lower her weapon just slightly, of no clear interest in having a standoff.
From there the man hops the fence, following the direction of the cat, and Aspen releases a breath she didn't know she was holding. Her gun lowers, a look of angst crosses her features, and then she lifts the weapon again and cuts back up the property line towards the van.
---<Aspen>---------------
On her way back to the van, Aspen taps her earpiece to address the entire group: "Listen up. There was a man in black that intercepted me in the backyard. He had a shotgun - I think he came out of the back door of the house. He let me go, but hopped the fence. Couldn't get any detail on him. Last I saw he's moving across the adjacent property. Can one of you tail him?"
Aspen reaches the van, yanks open the door, and hops inside before shutting it behind her. She seems winded. "Hey, Karner. Chess." She sets the rifle aside and runs a shaking hand through her hair.
---<Chess>---------------
Outside the van, Chess gives Aspen a nod and then turns her attention to the house, watching for the others--or the enemy. Her gun's unholstered, held beneath her jacket but ready to fire.
---<Christian>---------------
Once he's made his way out of the window, after expressing satisfaction with the pictures he'd snapped, Christian listens in to Aspen's communication. He first asks, "Are you okay?" But then decides to push past that. "Alright, Kaden, try to grab Vic and go after the dude if you can see him. I'm going to check the back real fast."
---<Karner>---------------
"Yes, go after him immediately!" Karner says over the comms, then mutes it so he can turn to look at Aspen. "Are you quite all right, darling? He let you go...how interesting." His shaded gaze moves pointedly to the purple diaper still on the floor. "If you need to use those after your fright...please, be my guest."
---<Vy>---------------
Moving out with the rest, Vy radios back to Aspen: "We're coming out with three, like Kaden says. I can't carry them all myself." A pause, her tone dry, although she's moving quickly: "Just....fyi..." FYI? "They're a bit....yucky. Over."
---<Aspen>---------------
"Yeah, I don't know why. Maybe because.." Aspen motions down to the swell of her stomach and shrugs when she answers Karner. "I'll be fine. I just need to .. " She gives Karner an overly exaggerated eyeroll and a stark grin for the remark on the discarded diaper, but a strange expression fills her face when she sees the bodies of two staked vampires in the van. "Wow, okay. That's new."
Lifting her mic, Aspen gets on the line long enough to send a message to Christian: "Still alive. Hope you all are. Well, your version of it."
From there she seems to be struck with delayed inspiration. She slides the door to the van aside, hops out, and rounds the vehicle to jog across the street to the front entrance of the house. After a moment's consideration she pulls her pistol from her holster and begins to poke around, peering through windows and trying the door. She disappears inside for at most a minute, then bursts back out clutching a copy of 'Rubaiyat of Imar Khayyam'. Coughing, the young woman races back to the van and joins the others inside. "Hah!" she exclaims between wheezes, "I have a book." She keeps it tucked securely at her side. "Also, I can read books. But not this one. Not yet."
---<Kaden>---------------
Kaden lugs both the topored vampires on his shoulders, with Noah following close behind him. The ghoul has a black duffle bag full of weapons they stole from the house. Flopping the bodies in the back, he helps Noah with the weapons back before saying, "Hey Karner. We need to make sure their phones are jammed or whatever..." Smiling as Aspen returns, he fills her in on the same info, motioning to the pair of vampires, "Well, have to figure out how not to be traced by their devices, maybe we grab any data now then destroy them before leaving?" Motioning Noah to go around the back of the house to keep watch and guard Vy he asks the pair in the van, "Seemed all clear in the house?"
---<Karner>---------------
"Where are you going?" Karner hisses after Aspen as she leaves, but doesn't attempt to follow her. Maybe he can even see her on his monitors. When Aspen returns clutching the Rubaiyat, even Karner looks a little surprised. "Did you find that inside? Let me see that." He holds out a hand to her, expecting her to place the book in it, then flares his nostrils. "That house is going to go up at any moment. We have /got/ to get away."
Those torpored bodies appearing in the back of the van seem to surprise even him, however briefly. "Well, Strong, that sounds like a very wise idea. However, I have no idea how to do...that sort of thing. I can try, I suppose, if you give me said devices." And now he's making a grabby hand towards Kaden, too.
---<Aspen>---------------
Aspen recoils from Karner when he holds out his hand, shaking her head resolutely. "No, I need to decipher it. There's code inside, written in the margins in blue ink." She cocks her head to the side, holding the book to her chest with both forearms criss-crossed over it. "I'll let you know when I figure it out. This is where I shine." She looks appreciatively down at the book, grasping it tightly.
On the point of getting away, she can't agree more. She smells and looks like burnt toast. "Yeah, let's get out of here! Where's Christian?" Aspen, never one to sit still, pops back out of the van again and takes off with the Rubaiyat to find her husband.
---<Vy>---------------
Once it's time for everyone to get back in the van, Vy joins the crew, Noah on her heels. She speaks quietly. "We're clear, as far as I can tell. The fire will be a problem - but - hopefully not our prob - " and then she sniffs the air, a delicate sort of nose wrinkle, catching the scent Aspen's left behind."
---<Christian>---------------
Having rejoined the others in the van, Christian is somber and quiet. Once Vic is also on board, he nods to Aspen, flashes her a smile. "If there are electronic devices, I can hack and brick them later; we'd need to pop the SIM cards, though."
---<Kaden>---------------
"It's ok Karner, I think we got this." Kaden searches for the topored bodies and looks for phones, watches, and other electronics. Noah helps out as he returns, and anything they find is handed off to Christian and Aspen as he adds, "If we have faraday bags, we should power those off and drop them in. We can check for data later." Checking on Vy, he smiles as they start to do the headcount. "We all good to roll out? Is everyone safe? All the bases covered?"
---<Aspen>---------------
Aspen sags in obvious relief when Christian gets back to the van. She follows him in, still guarding the book with her life. Settling next to him, she glances up in stony-eyed silence and returns a weak smile. To Kaden, she nods. The van is exceedingly tight and she smells like sulfur. "Ready to go."
