Unsolved Identities 5

Following the events of Unsolved Identities – 4, the european agents, Matt, Nicole and Dami learned from NASA top-management engineers, that they could counter-sabotage the worldwide cyberattack by routing the prototype hardware “Frequencer” and mapping its last usage entries. However, they need special equipment to achieve that, which can be located in advanced broadcasting satellite systems.

Scene 8 – Worldwide Network Collapse

The agents travel after midnight towards Brno outskirts, the Veveri Satellites. The streets coming out from Prague are incredibly crowded, the traffic jammed. They realize the system is collapsed, and they guess the chaos is worldwide. No internet, no phone lines, no TV, no Radio. This must be the biggest cyberattack ever happened. Riots on the streets, protests, and the police force running from here to there, confused, waiting for instructions.

[Random Scene → Six of Diamonds. Standard brawny challenge]
[Do they have trouble with rioting vandals? → Yes]
[Where does this happen? (Urban Locations) → Armory]

Dami Gonzalez is driving, Matt smoking a cigarette on the copilot seat, and Nicole is on the back, carrying the prototype, with the laptop on her lap. They make it to escape from the traffic jam by taking a narrow street on Prague, but they see a barricade in front, to the sides, no alternative option to turn around. The men in the barricade appear armed, and they raise their weapons.

_ Dami > Crap. Guys.
_ Matt > Are those guys armed? damn.
_ Nicole > Stop the car! Reverse (she looks back)

Dami stops the car, turns around to see on his back.

[Are they being surrounded? → No, and]
[And…? (answer involves…) → Assistance]

The street behind them is clear, and a man shows up from a garage door making signs with his hands, pointing at an entrance to his private garage as he opens the garage door, hurrying them.

_ Nicole > That man over there! We can hide there!
_ Matt > No! We let’s just reverse and find another way, Dami!

The barricade vandals being open fire, and Dami needs to react very quickly, and decide whether to rollback or hide in the garage. At that time, a man jumps from a balcony and falls on top of the car, starts smashing with a baseball bat the windows.

_ Nicole> Matt!!! Watch out! To your right!!!

[Matt: Quick opposed vs attacker → Uses ‘JiuJtsu training’ to defend himself. Matt wins]
[Dami: Careful (2) driving → Uses ‘Stunt Street Driver’ to perform reverse Stunt. Success (3)]
[Matt: Forceful opposed vs defender → 2 vs -1. Success with Style!]

Dami pushes for a reverse gear and twists right perfectly to enter the garage, as some vandals taking the street open fire at them with pistols and rocks. A vandal on top of the roof tries to smash the window, but Matt quickly opens the window, lets the bat come through and grabs it from the attacker, using the attacker’s force to pull the attacker, smashing him against the trash cans from the narrow street.

As the car enters the garage, the stranger quickly closes the curtains, but some vandals are running towards them very fast. But they manage to close the garage curtains in time.

Scene 9 – Stranger Rangers

[Who is the stranger → Deborah. Personality (Tag) → Old. Mannerism → Rubs eyes. Demeanor → Talks Loudly]

As they can see closer, with a candle in the dark garage, an old woman in sleeping pajamas, curler on her head, standing with a long hunting rifle in her hand, looks at them. She starts complaining and nervously speaking Czech… but Nicole knows some Czech

_ Deborah > Paahh… this generation is lost, I knew it. Government should have forced them to school. Ignorants. Worse than them! Or to the police force! At least they would have beaten them into their senses!
_ Nicole > eh… Thank you for helping us miss…
_ Deborah > Deborah! You can call me my dear. I like your tone.
_ Nicole > You were fast with the Garage, Miss Deborah. Thank you.
_ Deborah > Ah. It is nothing, my dear. It is the remote controller that does it all for me.
_ Dami > Nicole, what is she saying???
_ Nicole > It is dangerous outside. We did not know it was so bad… what is going on?

_ Deborah > I don’t know… I tried to call my nephew, but I can’t find him. I am worried. Nothing works. Internet or text message. It throws an error. The city is loud, people shouting and fighting and breaking things, the police is not coming in this direction, they only pass with armored cars very fast…

[Do the vandals attack? (or go away?) → They go away, and… are respectful of the house]

_ Nicole > It seems the city kind of entered a state of chaos, anarchy. It must have gotten worse while we were on the Hotel. What are we going to do? I guess the exits from the city are either barricaded or closed by the police forces.
_ Matt > Those civilians were armed to the teeth. They probably assaulted the weapons shop. There’s an armory nearby.

_ Dami > Nicole, can you ask the woman why the vandals don’t attack this ground-floor house? They seem to stay away.
_ Deborah > I can understand English, my dear! It is my ‘Protectron Z9’ that keeps them away. My nephew gave it to me as a gift…
_ Matt > Tell her we need the drone to clear the barricade. I will make sure the drone returns in one peace to protect the house
_ Nicole > You must be kidding…

Scene 10 – Fire in the Hole

[Random Scene → Ace of Spades. Scene changes. New NPC. Three of Spades (Agile Test)]
[New NPC → Francisco, Coward, Celebrity, Making Demands]

Dami and Nicole sit on the car, getting ready from the garage for the door to be open. They asked the old woman to go and hide on her room. Matt would press the controller to open the Garage, and he would load and check his 10MM Heavy Pistol, and check on the Drone again. Nicole made check the drone is configured for considering them three as allies, and to fire armed enemies.

The garage door rolls up, Matt and the Drone take a quick look, engine ready:

_ Franz > WAIT! Don’t SHOOT. F*CK!!

A man dressed in open leather jackets, an electric guitar on his back, tight jeans and colorful rock star clothing pieces shows his hands up.

Matt wants to figure out whether this man is being used as a bait.
[Careful (3). Using ‘Keen eye for people clues’. Success (4)]
[Is he being used as bait? → Yes, but] (He doesn’t know!)

Matt spots one of the baddies, apparently a sniper in a balcony. Another two dudes at the end of the narrow, dark street.

_ Matt > Get your head down, if you want to keep it in place

Matt quickly hovers to shoot down the sniper he spotted far away, it is an impossible hit, but in the worst case he intends to call suppression fire before he drops the drone in position.

[Matt Quick (3) to shoot down the Sniper. Calls a FATE Point to Field Agent. Success (4)]
[Nicole Clever (3) to synchronize the Drone. Spends a FATE Point on Electronics. Success (5)]
[Dami Flashy (2) uses Stunt Street Driver. Success (4)]

Matt hovers and quickly laser-dots the sniper, opens fire with his Blackfire 10MM Heavy Pistol. The balcony tears to pieces, and he can tell the sniper was shot and pulled back, the other two dudes start firing with submachine guns. The ridiculous rock star hunkers down, Matt manages to pull him off.

Nicole deploys the Drone instructions and sends it to focus fire on the barricade and the firing guys. Dami hastily drives the car out the garage and turns swiftly in the narrow street. Matt opens the door while opening fire and grabs the pop-star right into the car and hops inside himself.

_ Matt > Go, Go! Door is closed. Nicole, send the Drone back in!
_ Nicole > Done! Sending the drone back. Close the garage, now!

The drone pushes forward towards the barricade with a heavy-fire barrage, the vandals jumping out of the range of fire for their lives, some of them flee away. The escape is successful.

To be continued…

JeansenVaars