His Eye is Always on You IC

[horus42]

In the wee hours of the morning, the streets of Paragon are deserted. Not from any danger, because no one dares to break the laws, but because the citizens are simply asleep. Nestled in between the blocks of identical, drably colored buildings lies a bar called Raptor Attack. It stands out slightly, and some citizens view it as extravagant. Though it's fairly modest compared to say, Meruvian standards.

Despite being long after hours, the bar is still packed with people. Those who would fight against the oppressive regime of The Perfect. Those who have had their Marks removed, or in some cases, never got them to begin with. The resistance is a motley bunch. Native and foreign, human and Dragon King, mortal and Exalted, all are united with a single goal.

Leading the meeting is a grizzled, middle aged man named Matthew Vaughn. He sits at a table near the bar, looking through stacks of intelligence papers and debriefings he's accumulated from his ring of spies. He sets the papers down, and looks up at the gathered members of the resistance. None of the assembled freedom fighters are the usual rank and file soldiers. Most are officers and spies.

Vaughn stands up, and walks around to the front of the table. He's dark of skin and eye, and keeps his head shaved. Despite his numerous scars, he give the impression of someone who's deadly in a fight, and as a former member of the Darian Secret Police and a current Dawn Caste Solar, he truly is. His tone is authoritative, without being overly so. "Alright people, listen up. Because the Regime is cracking down, we've gotta hit some heavy targets, and soon. We've got a few options, our men inside the Regime have given us some good intel. I trust all of you, so I'm asking your opinion on this one. Our two most promising targets are here in Paragon, though up till now, both were pretty well hidden."

Vaughn picks up the stack of papers again. "We can help cripple The Perfect's war machine by hitting the lab where they create his Dragon-Blooded, or... We can rescue some of our own people. They're keeping a lot of our guys prisoner in a secure facility underground, torturing them for info on us and our plans. We'll end up doing both, what I'm asking is, which do you all wanna do first?"

[JonRG]

Talhar drums his fingers idly against his water glass. Though the teen could obtain alcohol, he preferred to have his mind clear when it came to the Resistance. His age was already a mark against him. No sense in adding to that. He clears his throat. "We should rescue our people first. If we strike the lab, the Perfect might execute them in retaliation." He purses his lips. "I hate to suggest this, but how solid are these leads? Could either of them be a trap?"

[Obscurejones]

Rucks shudders at the thought of the Perfect's torture apparatus. He vaguely recalls a few techniques from his last life and quietly hopes they haven't been improved upon.
"We get our people. We can take a few more trumped up stormtroopers. We can't take the loss of our secrets."

[GenericMook]

Verity leaned back in her chair, and thought through the whole process for a moment. Attacking either facility would cause them to raise security in the other facilities across the city, so they would need to hit the most important one.

"I'm with Rucks. We can't let our secrets fall into the enemy's hands. Plus, there might be additional intel that we can take from the place."

[Kell_tamer]

A rather innocuous looking stray cat sits up in the chair it was in. It blinks a moment before shifting into the body of a small red haired girl. A girl everyone at this table, even the Dawn knows can figuratively and literally hold her own. She chimes in with a bit of a stutter.

"It's n-n-not so much the secrets that concern me, it's the fact that they s-s-shouldn't be made to endure this T-t-trouble any longer. So I v-v-vote for the rescue."

She leans her elbows on the table looking a bit distant...

"Besides, like Rucks s-said, we've f-f-fought Dragon B-B-Bloods before. What's one or t-t-two more? "

[josienoms]

Rachael shifts uncomfortably in her seat. Thoughts of her own time as a prisoner of The Perfect haunt her. "Shana's right. We can recover from The Perfect's men learning our secrets. But no one deserves to be treated that way. Believe me, I know." She steels her resolve, shoving the memories aside and keeping her hands steady.

"We'll save the prisoners. Show the Regime that we're better than them. We don't leave people behind."

[OracleofSilence]

"The captives are the best choice. We can't leave them imprisoned, and we need to prove that people won't be abandoned in the Resistance as soon as there is a setback." He pauses, considering briefly what, suggestion would draw the best response from those gathered, then continues. "We should hit a few secondary targets. maybe just a little after we start on the holding facility. If we have enough time, I think we can organize something that will completely draw attention away from the holding facility. I'm not sure we really have the time for that, but we should be able to manage something pretty good."

[horus42]

Vaughn smiles fiercely, showing off his teeth. "That's the answer I was looking for. The holding facility is technically outside the city, but the access tunnels leading to it are inside, near the Wall." No other city in the modern world is still walled. Firearms and air raids, and other changes in the way wars are waged, made city walls obsolete a long time ago. But Paragon isn't walled to keep invaders out. It's walled to keep the citizens in.

"We don't have a lot of manpower to spare to hit multiple targets at once, but I'd say we could arrange at least one other major operation as a distraction. Too many of our people are untrained for us to manage much more. But once we rescue the P.O.W.s and get our new recruits up to fighting form, we'll be a force to be reckoned with again."

Vaughn turns to Talhar, to address his concerns. "The intel''s good, I promise you that. I've got an Air-Aspect on the inside, and he gave all this to me. I trust him with my life, we used to serve together before I Exalted and joined the Resistance."

He pauses, and shifts through the papers. "We can't risk an attack on both high profile targets at once, too much could go wrong. Any suggestions for minor targets? Something that'd be a good distraction, while still making strides for the cause?"

[JonRG]

"Communications," Talhar blurts out. "Part of the reason the Resistance hasn't been very effective is that the Perfect puts his own spin on whatever we do. No one wants to align with a terrorist or a criminal after all. If we shut down even part of the propaganda machine, people will be able to come to their own conclusions without the help of our "Glorious" Leader." He looks up at Vaughn. "The presses, radio stations and server farms are non-military, so they'll be less guarded, and it doesn't take much training to start a fire. Besides, fewer personnel means they'll be less likely to cause casualties that'll turn people against us." He stares into his water glass. "At least, that's what I figure."

[Kell_tamer]

"I have...other m-m-more direct ideas. I can c-c-cause quite a d-d-distraction if I n-n-need to..." Those that know about the lunar know about what she means.

[JonRG]

"Could always do both. You could be the distraction for our distraction." Talhar takes a swig from his glass and tries to look friendly towards the skittish Shana.

[OracleofSilence]

Daniel nods at the young thief's recommendation "That is a good idea, but we might be able to go further then simple property damage. We can set prerecord a broadcast, plainly state our goals, the conditions within the nation, and our vision of what we replace this with, and we get that sent out. Give the people something to counter the Perfects side of things, give extra-nationals someone to send money to, and give the government a public black eye." And other things. That didn't need to be talked about yet though. "Maybe Verity can whip up a script? The other option is simple. Shana can cause havoc somewhere, I help make sure nothing gets out of hand." Then again, for now, headlines were all that was needed.

[JonRG]

Talhar shrugs with a forced calm. "Not a bad idea. Just have to destroy whatever we use to broadcast afterwards, not to mention anonymize whoever we use in the actual recording."

[Kell_tamer]

"I d-d-don't want to be used as a w-w-weapon of terror. Just remember I w-w-won't hurt ci-ci-civilians." Shana had no problem ruining the day of one of the corrupt cops, but many people were obeying laws and such out of fear. Those people didn't deserve to be hurt.

[JonRG]

"Of course not. You could probably just stand there and serve as an effective distraction." Talhar smiles warmly in her direction.

[josienoms]

"The fewer people we hurt, the better. And I know that if more people outside the country knew what was going on, we could get more help. It's why I'm here, after all." She shrugs slightly. "Also, The Perfect and his people might be so focused on damage control from our broadcast that they might not even notice a few missing prisoners. At least, not until it's too late for them to do anything about it."

[Kell_tamer]

Shana blushes a bit and looks down at her feet.

[OracleofSilence]

"And I wouldn't want to use you as one. There are plenty of people in this city who deserve their share of the terror they have been inflicting on regular citizens. Even killing military targets may be a bad idea. It just gives the propaganda machine more to work with." Daniel stretches briefly, then turns to the other, no, his fellow rebels. "How should we split up? I know a few of us have... talents, but putting all our eggs in one basket is never a good idea."

[horus42]

"I'd suggest sending Talhar and you to get the prisoners, Daniel. Verity and Rachael should infiltrate the communications depot. Shana could theoretically do her part alone, but if she wants someone to watch her back, she can choose who. And I'll go wherever I'm needed. Rucks, are you in for a mission, or would you rather hold down the fort?"

[JonRG]

Talhar glances over at the bartender. That guy unnerved him and wasn't much of a subtle type. "It could work. You have some way to keep those guns quiet, yeah? I don't like a lot of noise on a job." He placed his crossbow on the corner of the table.

[GenericMook]

"That works with me. I'll get the script for our own propaganda done in a day or two, probably with fantastic music to go along. But here's my suggestion: We don't burn down anything. We infiltrate, and broadcast from their own stations. If we broadcast during the news, they'll investigate. Leaving no trace is relatively easy, so it'll be a dead end for the most part. Provides us with a sizeable distraction, too." said Verity, taking a sip from her own glass of water.

[josienoms]

Rachael nods. "Seems like a solid plan. I assume I'll be on the video itself, right? I mean, I do have a way with words." She smiles softly, just enough to convey her natural charisma.

[JonRG]

Talhar shakes his head. "I'm not sure. What's to stop them from cutting us off mid-broadcast, or issuing a broadcast afterwards to tell everyone we're a band of delusional liars? If we don't control the narrative, then our story won't do much good."

[OracleofSilence]

"Not so much. I just don't like using them." he turns briefly to Vaughn "You have a silencer I could borrow for this job? My personal weapon is... not really suited for indoor work, and I haven't been able to sneak anything else in." He nods at Talhar "I've been looking forwards to working with you. I can probably get us through the guards without a great deal of trouble, but I can definitely use your help getting in." his expression changes almost imperceptibly as he turns to Shana "Be careful. I know you can handle cops... just don't get too many eyes on you, alright? Make sure you can get out if you need to." He throws a semi-formal salute to Vaughn "I'll be good to go when you give the word."

[JonRG]

"Same." Talhar pauses a moment in thought. "Rucks, could you make sure somebody's around in case Therana has a nightmare and comes looking for me?"

[Kell_tamer]

She smiles at Daniel. "Y-y-you know I won't be showing up looking like this, I c-c-can't let them f-f-follow me." The child was young but she knew what she was doing. At least as far as slipping in and out of places was concerned, not as good as Talhar, but its easy to just hide as a dog or something when you can turn into one.

[Obscurejones]

The bar's proprietor grunts his decision.
"Not really enough of a sneak for most of this. I'll look after the homestead and make sure there's a fire burning and ready for anyone comes in. Try and whip up some healers for the walking wounded."

[josienoms]

Rachel rubs her chin thoughtfully. "I'm not trying to contradict you or anything, Vaughn, but it might make more sense to put Daniel and Shana together. He can cover her with that rifle of his, since he's a better sniper than an infiltrator. Maybe you should go with Talhar."

She wasn't quite sure if it was really her place to suggest such a thing, but in the years since she'd known him, Vaughn seemed to be pretty reasonable and pragmatic, so she thought it might be work the risk.

[Kell_tamer]

Shana looks at the Zenith then back at Dan. "I'm ok with th-th-that if you are."

[OracleofSilence]

"I would be a little more comfortable with that myself." Ah well. There would be an opportunity to work with the Solar later. Shana could probably use the help anyway.