His Eye is Always on You IC

[JonRG]

"Fine, I'll just go by myself then, if you're all so desperate to pawn me off on somebody else." Talhar crosses his arms with a huff.

[OracleofSilence]

"I am desperate to do no such thing, its just that my talents will be more useful in a more wide open environment. If you really care, I would still be fine working with you on this though." Daniel grins a bit at the outburst, but he tries to keep composed. No need to offend him more.

[josienoms]

A look of genuine concern fills Rachael's eyes. "I wasn't trying to offend you, Talhar. I'm just trying to make sure that the best people are grouped together. I don't want any of us to get hurt." Though she leaves off saying "especially you and Shana", it's heavily implied.

[Obscurejones]

Coiling his mustache around the edge of his claw, the raptor's response is sardonic.
"It's a poor terrorist Talhar, that lets himself get grumpy over whether he's popular with the rest of his cell."

[GenericMook]

Verity smiles at Rucks' comment, but composes herself before long. "This should work either way, but if Dan goes with you, it'll leave us with one wasted sniper that could be covering any one of us. The natural choice is Shana, just for the sake of safety. Rachel and I should be fine on our own, and if you go with Vaughn, you'll have enough firepower and someone with more than enough experience. Try not to take it personally."

[JonRG]

"Do whatever you want. I don't care. Just don't bend over backwards to make sure I have a babysitter. Vaughn's prolly got his own stuff to do."

[Kell_tamer]

Shana glances at the solar and slides her chair closer to him. "If you want I'll work w-w-ith you, a c-c-crossbow is quieter than a rifle. Keep them from n-n-knowing I have backup." the girl blushes as she talks to him.

[JonRG]

Talhar quirks a smile and puts a hand on Shana's shoulder. "Thanks, but I'm probably gonna be needed getting our guys out. I'm sure Dan'll take good care of ya."

[horus42]

Vaughn nods. "That works for me. And don't apologize, Rachael. That's what these meetings are for. If any of you think I'm making the wrong call, I want you to tell me. I won't keep you silent, or punish you for questioning me. Those days are behind me..." He trails off slightly, then sits down at a stool at the bar.

"We've done some good work here tonight, people. Go home. Get some rest. We'll start preparations in the morning."

[Kell_tamer]

Shana waves as the Dawn gets up. "Have a g-g-good night Vaughn." She sits waiting to see what everyone else is doing before she decides what to do.

[JonRG]

Talhar stands with a stretch. "Night everyone." He looks at Shana. "If you need somewhere to crash tonight, I've got space upstairs."

[Kell_tamer]

The girl smiles. "I-i-if it's n-n-not too much t-t-trouble."

[JonRG]

Talhar grins at her. "Nah, it's cool."

[horus42]

The next morning, Vaughn gathers you all back in the bar. "I hope everyone's well rested, because we've got a lot of work to do today. Lots of last minute preparations to make before we do our thing." He passes out papers to the groups.

Spoiler: Talhar

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Inside the packet he hands you are directions to the entrance to the tunnel, as well as the guard roster. you should expect two Dragon-Blooded, as well as several mortal guards at the entrance. The tunnel itself is less heavily guarded, but there are many more people inside the prison itself. The packet also contains a rough schematic of the facility, with important rooms labelled.

Spoiler: Shana and Daniel

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The packet Vaughn gives you describes a parade in the Perfect's honor that's supposed to be going on downtown that afternoon. There will be lots of people there, but a fairly small military presence, should you time it right. He gives the address of a building where Daniel can set up his sniper's nest, as well as a parade schedule for Shana, so that she can dino-up at the right moment.

Spoiler: Verity and Rachael

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Your packet contains technical data on how to make the broadcast, as well as the location of the local PNN (Paragon News Network) station. Security is expected to be fairly tight, though under such short notice, Vaughn's spies couldn't get the exact number. he gives you a map with the layout of the building, with likely entrances and escape routes clearly marked.

To Rucks, he simply says "Keep things running for now. Don't draw attention. The usual." he pauses briefly. "Everybody clear?"

[Kell_tamer]

Shana blinks as she reads the packet. "W-w-where is there g-g-going to be the le-le-least civilians? I d-d-don't want to hurt them..."

[josienoms]

Rachael reads through the packet, and then looks across the table at Verity. "Seems simple enough. Do you have the script ready? I'd like to get recording as soon as possible."

[horus42]

"Around the block where Dan'll have his gun set up is the least crowded section of the parade route every year. It's just off 52nd street, so it's a pretty sparsely populated area. Mostly business."

Vaughn turns to look at Talhar. "I wouldn't expect you to go alone. Not that I don't think you can't handle it, but I'd feel left out if I wasn't in on the action. You all know that I'm a hands-on guy."

[JonRG]

Talhar nods. "All right, but you'll have to follow my lead if we're gonna be quiet about this -- and I do intend to be quiet about this." Though young, he holds the conviction of a man twice his age.

[Kell_tamer]

Shana looks to Dan. "Are y-y-you ready?" Despite the stutter she seems confident enough. The speech impediment was not a good indicator of the girls bravery. If she's asking it means she is ready willing and able.

[GenericMook]

Verity nods, and passes two sheets to Rachel. "Of course. They're not final, since I'm doing this under short notice, but I did manage to come up with two separate approaches for this. The first is that we're real patriots of Paragon, and how we feel it's being undermined by the Perfect and his rule. The next one is far more direct, focusing on the failings of the state as a whole. Overall, it's not pretty for the Perfect, so it should be fine. What do you think?"

She then opens up her packet and looks inside. "Wow. This is kind of dangerous. Moreso than normal, I mean. We might want to go for impersonating someone, rather than sneak our way in. Vaughn, can you try and get us a list of crew members at the news station, or at least some info on how their credentials look like?"

[josienoms]

Rachael nods, looking over the scripts thoughtfully. "Well, I think I'd prefer the second one, if I'm on the video. The first is uncomfortably close to lying for me. We also might not be believed either. Most terrorists think of themselves as the "true patriots" after all. Presenting facts, however, is another matter. You can't argue with the truth."

She frowns, thinking of home for a moment. Of all the friends she'd left behind, and the husband who had abandoned her. She took comfort in the fact that they would see each other again, either in this life or the next.

Though if she never saw Gabe again, she wouldn't quite mind. She knew she should forgive him, but she had a hard time doing it. Her one greatest struggle, more difficult than she would have believed.

[GenericMook]

"I suppose that's fine. Although, knowing how the Perfect operates, he'll argue with the truth regardless. Still, make whatever amendments you want to the script, and we can start recording. How do you want the presentation for the recording done?" asked Verity, taking back the first sheet of paper and writing something on the back of the sheet.

She was hoping that this would all go well. She needed to report to both the Convention on Fire and her Gold Faction superiors, so she couldn't be directly involved in any attacks. The Convention wasn't aware - as far as she knew - about her involvement in the resistance, so she wouldn't be blamed for the attacks. She'd be asked to produce leads on a timetable, but she could always throw them off.

[OracleofSilence]

Daniel nods in assent to Shana, "Me? Always. I'll be at the nest tomorrow morning. Pick up some type of disposable communication, and we can be ready to go." He stays in the meeting room until the others are begin to leave themselves, then heads to his room. Sleep wasn't really his preferred means of rest anymore, but there was not point in flaunting the curfew before such a big job.

[horus42]

Vaughn nods back, smiling. "I'll have your back, Talhar. You're the expert."

He purses his lips as he looks to Verity. "I'll see what I can do. Let me make some phone calls."

He goes off to make the calls, and comes back a few minutes later. "We just got someone on the inside at PNN a few days ago. She sent me this." He passes his smartphone over to Verity. On the screen is a picture of one of the official press badges. "Seems pretty easy to forge." He frowns and holds up his tattooed hand. "Rachael, you sure you don't want us to fake you a Mark? You're gonna stand out without one."

[Kell_tamer]

Shana sighs being slightly jealous of the Dragon Blooded for their ability to communicate without such things. "I d-d-don't have m-m-money for a phone, and is-is-isn't it illegal to get a n-n-non sanctioned phone?" The child obviously wasn't worried about breaking horrible laws, she just wasn't sure where she could get a cellphone like that.

[OracleofSilence]

"Probably. I would prefer to avoid stealing them from citizens, but the black market must have access to a few. If it really comes down to the wire, I can probably wrangle some up, but that would mean calling on favors that I really don't want to." Eh, it might come up, but it probably wouldn't matter so much. "Just try to get your hands on a police radio at some point. Once the shooting starts we can use those if we really need them." he heads over to Verity and Rachel "If things go smoothly with Shana, I can probably get in position to cover you once you're in the news building. I wouldn't count on it, but I may even be able to get inside in the confusion. 'S up to you of course."

[josienoms]

"We'll need someplace dark, to conceal my identity. If I'm exposed, then that could lead the Perfect's soldiers back here."

She frowns at Vaughn as he holds up his hand. "Can't I just wear gloves? Though we won't be there very long, so it might be easier to just draw one on with a sharpie, or something. I doubt anyone will look closely enough to notice." It was a temporary solution and she knew it, but she steadfastly refused to be tattooed with that mark of oppression. It would be unfair for her to do it in order to blend in while so many others had it forced upon them.

[JonRG]

"I've faked the Eye loads of times. I can whip you up a nice forgery. Speaking of which...." Talhar leans over to look at Vaughn's phone. "I can probably help with that too, Verity, if you need it." He drums his fingers against the table. Dan was putting a lot of pressure on Shana there... "Lemme poke around upstairs. I know I have a handheld scanner, and I might have a pre-paid I never wound up usin'."

[GenericMook]

Verity nodded after examining the phone. The press badge didn't loot particularly complex, which was good news."That should be fine, if Talhar is willing to make a forgery for us. As far as the Mark is concerned, yeah, Rachael, you'll want a proper fake. Maybe once this is over, I can get some of my contacts to hook you up with a fake Mark, but for now, we'll have to work with something quick," says Verity, turning to look at the bartender.

"Rucks, do you have any abandoned or unused rooms that we can use for the recording?"

[Kell_tamer]

Shana nods to Talhar, "i-i-if it's n-n-not trouble that w-w-would help." She smiles