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Nick Brophy Nick took in his new surroundings rather quietly. Mz Kulagina was more than adequately explaining things that were currently happening, and nobody in the organization was keen on revealing stuff before it was absolutely necessary. Something that he'd have to look forward to. He chose a bed in the barracks as yet unoccupied by the others. It didn't matter too much to him which one he claimed since these were temporary accommodations anyway. He locked up his jacket and sat to scribble down a couple things in a notebook he kept on him. He made a mental note to check in the janitor's closet later on regardless of Mz. Kulagina's recommendation. So what if it's just janitorial supplies, sometimes it's good to know where the bleach is kept. He grabbed a danish and a cup of coffee from the table in the meeting room and took a seat next to Frank. "Considering the company, you may not need to. Don't worry though, they're pretty easy to use." He took a big bite out of his danish, and a swig of the coffee. "What's the duration of the probationary period, and what goals are we shooting for to pass the grade? Also, are we going to be confined to the barracks when on an operation? I'm a P.I., I do my best work on the streets. Say what you will about the internet, nothing beats good legwork."
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Jun 2, 2015 00:26
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Roy "That reminds me," Roy says suddenly, looking up from his coffee after Nick doles out some important questions. "And I agree with you on how-to-policework there, by the way," he notes with an appreciative nod to the P.I. That one certainly seems to have a similar perspective in Roy's book. He looks over at their handler next, gesturing with his coffee cup as he speaks. "So while we're on the subject of how-tos and poo poo: how exactly does this operation fit into any sort of legal framework? We have any loving rules and procedures we have to follow? What actual authority do we have or not have, either on behalf of the org itself or via whatever cover we will inevitably have? I mean I get that all this is supposed to be super-secret and all, and has to stay that way, but I guess it's probably important we clarify what we are allowed to do or have the authority to do when pursuing or investigating something that falls under this organization's...mandate, for lack of a better word."
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Jun 2, 2015 03:04
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Stone Jack stone chokes on a piece of danish, coughs it up, and then begins laughing uproariously. "Legal? Legal!? Bwah hah hah! You think anything the warehouse does is 'legal?'" Composing himself, Stone launches into a speech. "Ok, I know some of you guys are coming from a background where things like "laws" are actually important, but come on. Surely you know enough to realize that what we're going to be dealing with goes way above and beyond anything you've seen before. Laws are created to compel people capable of certain things to act in certain ways. We are not going to be dealing with people capable of normal things. Give a man in the 1860's a computer, and tell him to act within the law. Give a man in the 1600s a machine gun, and tell him to act within the law. Give a roman legionnaire a battleship and tell him to act within the laws. The laws necessary to restrict what we're going to be doing don't exist yet. And the ones which may constrain our ability to go toe-to-toe with the dangers we're probably going to face will only get us, and other people, killed." Taking a deep breath, (And a quick pull from his flask) Stone continues. "The only thing that matters in paranormal situations is that you act in the way you're instructed to, or in the way you can live with. I don't know how the Warehouse does things, but in PRIDE an agent in the field supersedes everything. Legality, morality, commands from superiors, all of that goes out the door when you're dealing with the kind of poo poo I've dealt with. At the end of the day, if you do your job, there's a way to get around anything. And if you don't, if you let someone dangerous in ways that mundane authorities can't even comprehend get loose, just because you were worried about following the law? You're going to need a bigger flask than mine, friend."
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Jun 2, 2015 03:58
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Roy He listens patiently as Stone speech-ifies, then at the end takes a sip of coffee. Slowly, he shakes his head. "You're not wrong, gently caress if I can say otherwise. But: for some poo poo, it is good - useful - for people to believe you have authority to do poo poo that you really don't. And even better to actually have it." Roy leans back in his chair slightly. "On top of that, if we act with complete impunity, and as we are - that makes it infinitely harder to keep the secret, secret. That should be obvious." "So it stands to reason, then, for me," suggests the former detective, "that some of our work being under the cover of being law enforcement would make some sense and that the Warehouse probably has procedures and standard covers in place. Which means there's rules we can break and rules that if we break it becomes loving obvious we are something far loving weirder than we probably want most people to believe we are. And so it's important to know how, exactly, we're intended to be operating, and what authority over or in place of the actual law we can enforce by more than just pulling a fast one."
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Jun 2, 2015 04:18
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SOD HQ "Father, you might want a gun in the future, but for now you don't have to carry one." She sips at her coffee mug again. "Goals? The plan for your group is to conduct a simple, uncomplicated mission. Something that has minimal impact on the world, but is still useful to the Warehouse. This first mission will test you. If you succeed, then your probation might be over. If you fail, then you might not make it back here. You all were selected because we feel that you are capable enough to make it in our organization. This mission will determine if our judgements were correct. Assuming you avoid failing, then how well you succeed will determine whether you are finished with your probation. Now I know some of you are interested in what this mission entails. Mr. Weiss will tell you about the mission in full, but I can tell you that it is a short mission. It shouldn't take more then a day to complete. In the future, your missions will likely take you away from here. The Warehouse takes into account your various specialties and selects missions that are best suited for you." She pauses for a second and looks over at Father Frank. "I think you might even run into something of a religious nature. The Warehouse doesn't like holy artifacts with miraculous powers amongst mundanes. They can be a disruptive influence. Say for instance someone discovered the Christian Holy Grail. The chalice, that is. While most people assume its a Christian artifact, consider what would happen if its real origin was Celtic? That would cause a lot of strife, don't you think Father?" Mz. Kulagina listens to Stone speak about the perils and pitfalls of secret work. She claps quietly for him. "I see you grasp some of the essentials of the work, Jack. The only rules you should always abide by are the directives that you were given. As long as you follow those directives, then you don't have to worry about conventional authorities. In order to operate in the mundane world, you might have to pass yourselves off as government agents of one kind or another. You will be provided with any credentials you feel are necessary. FBI, CIA, Military intelligence; it doesn't matter what the organization is, we can provide credentials for it. If it turns out that they want to call your superior or provide further proof, then all it would take is a phone call and we can arrange proof. Usually its best to avoid entanglements with mundane authorities."
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Jun 2, 2015 04:59
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Toby "Cheers!" Toby says to Willy and downs his juice. Before getting up and getting tea. Listening to the others go back and forth as he bites and holds a laugh. Suddenly after all the discussion about the law and Toby starts laughing at everyone. "Seriously, you all bobbies decided to join up to do police work?" He said and gets up to get some tea. "drat not even loose leaf, oh well, packet will do fine for now. " Letting his tea seep, he looks across the table. "I know you all are into intrigue and espionage and working the drat case, but I got to admit, I think you forget we are the jobbers." He plays with a food a bit with a fork. "So, I'm pretty sure we will get away with whatever we can to do the job, if everyone discovers us, I don't think anyone will be coming back. Seems like Annie over here right track. Though, if I get a FBI badge can you make me a special agent. I wanted to be Special Agent Phillips." Toby seemed to shake his head and start to eat before he looked up again. "Either way, I hope we can just play the role, cause that will be awesome. I want the Ray Bans." "Anything that doesn't get us, killed or caught, I consider a good thing." Toby finished and returned to eating.
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Jun 2, 2015 05:59
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William At the mention of firearms, he shifts in his seat, feeling the holstered gun press against him under his jacket. It's good to know he can keep it, what with all the hoopla of having to procure it between getting off the plane and arriving at the meeting spot earlier. As he was once told: 'when visiting the states, buy a gun. Chances are you'll be needing it during your stay.' But it would seem that it won't be as needed as he thought, for his team members hardly gave him reason to use it and their employer is more than happy to be handing out firearms when needed. On the upside, at least he has one of his very own. The talk of laws around him brings a wry smile, but it is good to hear their supervisor confirm as much as he had suspected. He cannot remember how many times the local authorities had interrupted an important job he was on. The last thing one wants when hunting killers of men is to be threatened with jail time by those very same men because you just so happen to be bending or breaking a few minor rules. The ability to forgo the laws of man when absolutely needed and follow only those of the Warehouse, now that will certainly speed up any task sent their way. "That is good to know we are not bound so strictly by the mundane's laws," he says, finishing his breakfast. "Although, as much fun as it would be to flash a badge around again, perhaps I can leave the acting as government officials to you other chaps when the need arises. I'm sure your accents will make such a performance more convincing than if I were to do it. That is unless we happen to make it over to my side of the pond."
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Jun 2, 2015 09:50
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Father Frank "Religious artifacts is why I'm here," Frank replies, getting a little excited at the mention of the Holy Grail, "I wonder if you mention the chalice because you've got it here somewhere," he shifts in his chair, looking around as if expecting to spot the thing, "But I wouldn't be surprised if you couldn't give me a straight answer. At this point anyway. I'm eager to get to work. Sooner we get started, the sooner we're off probation, the sooner my clearance goes up, and the sooner I get to look at the good stuff!"
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Jun 2, 2015 12:39
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Toby "Father, so let's say we get the holy grail from Ireland would that like shake your faith or some stuff?" Toby said somewhat interested never being one to believe in anything than what he can do.
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Jun 2, 2015 21:26
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Father Frank "Son, my name is Francis O'Donovan," Frank smiles, "As far as I ever heard from my parents, Father McReary or anybody else in West Midtown: the Holy Grail, Mary, Joseph and the Lord Jesus Christ Himself are all from Ireland."
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Jun 3, 2015 13:18
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Burke At the mention of The Holy Grail, Burke mumbles, "And I thought what I did to get hired was crazy."
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Jun 3, 2015 19:47
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Toby "Irish got it. Better name than Father anyhow." He said with a smile drinking his tea and eating. Picking through the eggs and sausage on his plate, he looks over to Geek and shakes his head, "drat, we got us a green man. You never seen nothing weird in your life Geek?" Toby smiled and shook his head. He could believe a lot of stuff with all he had seen, but he couldn't imagine just buying what everyone was putting down. "I ain't seen everything by far, but I might like to look at some religious artifacts too. Just for the taste right?"
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Jun 3, 2015 20:16
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Burke "Well...", Geoffrey shot a glance at Mz. Kulagina before continuing, "I figured out a process for turning lead into gold. Does that count as weird?"
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Jun 3, 2015 20:44
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Roy "Around here," counters Roy, eying Dr. Burke for a moment, "does anything really, truly count as all that fuckin' weird?"
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Jun 3, 2015 20:47
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Toby "Haha, and you are here?" Toby shook his head, "You must have played that poo poo all sorts of wrong man. I would think you would have bought a lead mill or something and just got paid. Nah, man, not half of the poo poo I saw as a kid would consider that weird." Toby shook his head and ate some more.
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Jun 3, 2015 20:47
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Burke Burke chuckles, "Ha, tell me about it. This is what I get for trying to publish." Geoffrey took a swig of orange juice, "I think this will end up being more worthwhile. I'm quite excited at the prospect of studying things that should not work."
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Jun 3, 2015 21:24
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SOD HQ "The chalice here?" Mz. Kulagina asks. "Not here. We don't keep many items of interest here. Too dangerous. The chalice or possibly chalices are kept at a very secure facility. The destabilizing effect of the chalice requires it to have more security than most objects." She then looks over at Doctor Burke. "Unusual, no. Destabilizing yes. Turning lead to gold could throw the world's gold market into chaos. Devalue gold and cause a lot of trouble. Its best to keep ideas like that safely hidden."
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Jun 3, 2015 21:45
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Nathan Reyes Nathan shakes his head at the flow of conversation, chuckling. "drat man, I'm beginning to wonder what I got myself into here. bunch of Men in Black types who have the holy grail stashed away somewhere. Can't be worse than the last company I worked for. They were really a bunch of whackjobs." His eyes light up suddenly, and he turns to Mz. Kulagina. "Hey, I don't suppose you have the Arc of the Covenant stored somewhere? Was Indiana Jones a documentary about this outfit or something?"
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Jun 3, 2015 23:34
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Stone "Besides, Lead to Gold is like Coal to Diamonds," Jack explains. "You need too many people in on it to maintain OpSec, and the forces in the market will destroy you once they catch wind of what you're doing. Much safer to stick with projects in less cutthroat markets." He coughs, and adds, "Not that I would know anything about that," before grinning.
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Jun 3, 2015 23:39
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Nathan Reyes Nathan grins at Jack. "You run into trouble with, what's their name, that big evil diamond company? I dunno, if you set it up as kind of an industrial thing, it could work. Like how you have people making diamonds for science kind of poo poo, but most diamond rings are mined. Maybe buddy up with a company that makes audio cables or something."
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Jun 3, 2015 23:46
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Toby "You could always just like make lead into gold, and then sell off jewelry, do it slow enough, you might go unnoticed." He said looking over his plate and considering more food, "You go to the fences and diamond dealers, you can find a market, it is when people get greedy? That is when they get dumb."
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Jun 3, 2015 23:56
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Roy "DeBeers." He looks over at Nathan. "Call it a cartel, 'cuz that's what it is. poo poo. There's tons of the stuff and they just sit on it." To Toby, he adds, "That seems kinda small-time, but there's that whole fuckin' certification process for diamonds, too. So it would have to be fences. You know, theoretically." There had been a couple cases, once upon a time, where understanding that poo poo actually did matter... Sipping his coffee for a moment, he looks back up at Stone. "So how hard did they come after you?"
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Jun 4, 2015 00:05
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Stone Stone says, "Oh, believe me, 'they' didn't come near hard enough. But the mere fact that they came at all was enough to shitcan the whole show. When you're supposed to be a secretive organization, a multibillion dollar corporation sending thugs at one of your ops is not a good thing." "Thankfully," he added, "We hadn't ramped production up yet to the point where we couldn't bury the entire thing. A few discreet calls and plants, the artifact gets "discovered" by two agents of our current organization, and it was out of our hands." "We barely broke even on that, though. Trust me, monetizing forbidden knowledge is a lot trickier than you'd think."
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Jun 4, 2015 00:30
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Burke Doctor Burke laughed. "Toby here has the right idea, I don't want to mess around with the gold suppliers! Know any trustworthy goldsmiths?", he said jokingly. He was now grateful he had decided to publish instead of just selling the gold. Warehouse 23 might not have been so nice if they had to catch him, and he would definitely get caught.
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Jun 4, 2015 00:33
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William He laughs and smiles along with the conversation around him, sipping his tea all the while. With the sudden mention of creating gold, he must admit that his interest in the good Doctor Burke has increased a great deal. My my, would this man have not been very useful indeed during his many years... "It would seem then that you have been hired to rid us all of our money troubles, Doctor," he says jokingly. "I can only hope that one day you might share this wonderful talent of alchemy with us all. If only the noteworthy talents of my own were capable of being shared in turn." If that were only possible then, perhaps, it might make for a worthy trade. And yet, an endless supply of gold would simply take the joy away from the seeking of it. "I'll be interested to see what else you might be capable of, good Doctor. But I am sure we all have our share of pleasant surprises."
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Jun 4, 2015 08:28
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Toby "Now if you can turn our water into decent beer, than what you yanks call beer, we would be tops." Toby says while finishing what was on his plate and putting it to the side. "So this job that we are starting out with, that is what I wonder on." He said straightening up in his chair and glancing over the others. "I won't even try to guess, if we could then we wouldn't be here I imagine."
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Jun 4, 2015 17:21
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SOD HQ "I can't speak specifically of the ark. I have heard of it being somewhere in Africa. That is, I heard about it in mundane media that it is located in Africa. Is it the real Ark? I have no idea. It might be. On the other hand, it could just be a fake. Or it might be the real ark, but not have any powers like it had in that Indiana Jones movie. My clearance isn't high enough to know much about it." She drinks from her cup again and then looks down at it as if it were empty. "Mr. Stone, monetizing forbidden knowledge just requires lots of practice. You have to plan out decades in advance and allow forbidden knowledge to become common place knowledge. Of course not all forbidden knowledge can be monetized and some should never be monetized. The Warehouse draws most of its income from introducing advanced concepts into the mundane world and reaping the wealth it produces." The door opens up and a tall blond haired man with blue eyes walks in carrying an attache case. He wears a black suit with a white shirt underneath, no tie. He smiles carelessly and walks up to the podium. He places the attache case next to the podium. "I hope Mz. Kulagina that you haven't spilled all our secrets to these guys yet. I'd like them to find out about a few things on their own." He smiles at the group and winks. "Welcome everyone. I'm Mr. Weiss. I'm the deputy chair of the department and the guy in charge of the General Purpose Special Operations teams. Nice to see that you all made it here healthy and whole. I assume you've been brought to speed in regards to the basics of working here, so I'm going to get right to matters." He clears his throat and continues, "As you are probably aware, you are probation status currently. In terms of clearance, you are White level. If you manage your first mission well, you will be moved up to Green level. In total there's five levels plus white. The higher your clearance, the greater access you have to Warehouse resources." He reaches down and opens up his attache case. "You are all going to get security cards. These cards act as keys in Warehouse facilities and as identification. Also as an additional benefit each card can function as a credit card with a five thousand dollar monthly spending limit. For those times when you need to buy something instead of requisitioning it from the Warehouse itself." Mr. Weiss takes a handful of white plastic cards out of the attache case and begins to move around the tables handing out the white cards. Inspection of the cards reveals that they have the feel of an ordinary credit card, except that they are completely white. The cards are completely blank.
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Jun 4, 2015 20:21
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Stone "What about lanyards?" Stone asks, "Will lanyards be handed out on a case-by-case basis?" 
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Jun 4, 2015 21:08
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Toby Opening his wallet he puts his new credit card in place, satisfied that it seemed to be exactly what they said it was. "Thank you, I don't need much at all anyway. If it is good enough for a beer or two, I'm good. Mr. Whisky, I have to wonder at the level of dedication toward your craft. The drat things are blank. What the hell would we need lanyards for?" Toby snickered and gave a nod to Mr. Whisky before turning his attention back to the man that was going to tell them a plan. One thing you could say about the operation is that it seemed to be slicked and well practiced, Toby reasoned.
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Jun 4, 2015 21:57
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Father Frank "I'll have to be careful with this," Frank says, taking the card, "I've got an oath of poverty to uphold."
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Jun 5, 2015 00:06
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Burke Geoffrey took his ID/credit card, turning it over. Five grand a month was pretty generous, but there were no numbers on the card. Huh. Burke raised his hand to ask a question, "I don't see any numbers on this card, what if I need to order something over the phone or internet with it?"
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Jun 5, 2015 02:14
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Nick Brophy "That's true, something the internet is good for."
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Jun 5, 2015 07:04
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William He nods politely to Mr. Weiss as the man enters. Unlike their supervisor, this one does not seem familiar so he reckons this to be their first encounter. Not surprising really, considering he is not familiar with those high in the Warehouse food chain. "A pleasure, Sir." He then takes the handed out white card and turns it over several times in his hand. Just how something as simple as this works as both key and cash card is beyond him. What a marvelous thing, this modern technology. "Thank you very much. Such a small thing, I'll be careful not to lose it somehow. But now that we have these, I wonder if we might know more about our first task, if you're able to reveal as much at this time? As you might guess, I am eager to know what I'll be up against so I can use this time to prepare."
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Jun 5, 2015 10:34
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Roy He eyes Weiss skeptically at first, trying to get a sense of what the man is going to be about - figuring that they'll probably have to deal with him a lot. And so Weiss's apparent possession of something like a sense of humor and an apparently more easy-going demeanor allows Roy to relax a little bit. Of course, he isn't really sure what he expected. If the group Roy was brought in with is an indication, the Warehouse probably has to deal with some pretty eclectic collections of people fairly often, even for all the mystery and bleak intimidation that comes with literal black helicopters and hidden bases. Roy eyes the card once it's handed over, flips it over and over a few times, tosses and catches it, taps in on the table a couple times. "So it's a company account, is that right, Mr. Weiss? Presumably attached to us internally, but lets us be untraceable otherwise? poo poo, that's something." Burke's question gets a piggyback from Roy. "Maybe they work with card readers, though? That could be a workaround for that kind of thing." He pauses for a moment, tilting his head, and looks over at the Father. He grins. "Does it count when it's not your money?" Roy waves it off as a joke quickly, thought. "I kid."
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Jun 5, 2015 23:12
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Nathan Reyes Nathan listens to Weiss's little speech, and then grabs one of the cards, turning it over in his hands. Waiting until everyone has finished speaking, he asks his own question of Weiss. "I assume you have some other security measures in place, but what if someone gets hold of one of these cards? Is there some kind of biometric access system as well as the access cards?"
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Jun 6, 2015 18:41
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SOD HQ Mr. Weiss ignores the comments about the lanyards. "I wouldn't worry about losing the cards. There are procedures in place to deal with such a possibility. Just try to hold onto the cards. It would make things a lot easier." After giving out the cards, Mr. Weiss then gets cell phones out of his attache case. "Since the lack of numbers on the cards would cause some issues, the cards are linked with these phones. If you need a card number, the phone will provide it. These phones provide the usual functions of a phone, but they are backed by Warehouse infrastructure. You'll find that they are are a bit more powerful then any phone you are currently carrying." He started to hand out the phones. "Your mission is in some ways a simple one. The Warehouse will send you to one of its holding facilities. The facility is a multilevel underground building with a building over the top of it. Your job there will be to retrieve ten items that are in storage there. This seems like a simple mission, but it isn't. The facility has been closed for a couple years and we're not sure of the status of the facility. The property is guarded, but the guards only make sure nothing gets into the facility. The guards never go into the underground storage section of the property. In addition to retrieving the ten items, you will also inspect the facility to make sure there are no issues with it."
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Jun 7, 2015 07:18
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Stone Snapping back to business, Stone asks, "The guards are there to make sure nothing gets in. Does that include us? Will this also be a test of our... other skills?"
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Jun 7, 2015 08:04
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Father Frank "Ten items is two more than we have people," Frank jumps in, eager to get to work, "How big are these items and how are we moving them?"
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Jun 7, 2015 09:00
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Doctor Burke Geoffrey listened intently to the description of their first mission. He noted that there were a couple of points that he found...worrying. They closed the facility and are not sure of its status, but didn't move their stuff out? "With all this talk of holy grails, can you tell us more about these items so we can be better prepared?", he asked.
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Jun 7, 2015 16:57
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Toby Leaning forward, he starts listens intently as he pockets the cellphone without looking at it much. Toby had a distinct distaste for cell phones, it was like broadcasting your location at all times. This one he imagined would be more useful the rest of the gadgets had seemed useful. "Going to put this on vibrate." He said as a bit of joke. The mission though seemed like a hard one, if they didn't know what they were going to into and had no way of scouting it out. This wasn't Toby's ideal situation and he planned to make it clear. "Do we know what obstacles I need to prepare for? I like to travel light, if I have to lug a heavy drill around I want to know now." The guards around the facility seemed like rent-a-cops, he was not concerned with them, he could easily avoid them, or at least find a way in without them knowing. The biggest issue was going to be what was on the inside when they got there.
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Jun 7, 2015 18:53
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