overjoyed_logs | if we're building a bomb for underwater does that make it a bath bomb?

[Lingering too close to a Company hub, especially given the exodus from Westerley, is too risky a move, even for Takasugi's favorite project. Instead he loiters in the doorway of a nearby cafe, leaning into the curve of the wall. A silent smoke passes into idle chatter, his attention drawn drifting to the street.

As Rhys passes by, Takasugi excuses himself from a waning conversation, approaching to fall in step with the man.] Yo.

You look tired. [An 'observation' made regardless of the man's apparent fatigue.]

[ It's not usual for Rhys to be approached out of the blue like that so he's understandably a little surprised as he looks up from his PDD with a blink, but that look mellows very quickly to recognition. He musters up a smile that's more genuine than half the ones he wears at work because he does actually like Tani--the guy did save him after all. ]

Oh...hey. Yeah, heh. It's been a pretty rough work week. [ What with all his plans and organizing to get Atlas off the ground--literally and figuratively. He's actually had to extract Atlas from his mansion of Qresh to install him in something more mobile to manage things. ]

[Rhys is no fighter - a pampered civilian is likely to be skittish in the face of mere drops of blood. As a Company man, his threshold could be elevated, but with a desk job that's unlikely. All assumptions indicated that Takasugi need only take one head wound to make their target panic.

But apparently someone had decided better safe than sorry.

When Rhys comes to Takasugi is propped up against the wall, head hanging and blood dripping from his nose and lips. It coats his teeth, mixes with spit he's letting pool in his mouth. Disheveled, his bandages betray a glimpse of the scar beneath. At the first sign of movement he tilts his head, rolling it against the rough stone, to look at his 'companion' and what has been laid out.

In front of Rhys is the equipment as assigned by Hyperion, and whatever resources for building their cells were able to gather. Aside from that, they're alone, the silence of the black hallway leading away from their cell no indication of their location.]

[ Rhys doesn't recall how it happened. There's meeting up with Tani and going to hang out for a bit (a great way to distract himself from the sheer amount of work he's got going on these days), moving into some of the territory about his pet project and then...not a lot.

But god does his head hurt waking up. It feels like he walked into a wall, only with just the back of his head near the base of his skull which is...oddly specific. His neck and back are sore from having been slumped against the floor in the same position for so long, but as he surfaces to conscious he groans and rolls onto his back, reaching up to pinch the bridge of his nose. ]

Wha....t, what happened...? Ow.

I'm in need of a technician.

Coercion by any means necessary, so long as they're capable of building something from a bundle of circuitry. [A little hint as to the project, though he anticipates her asking for more. And Takasugi will give it - information exchanged for information common between them.]

[Well, there's an interesting piece of information, and it's more useful to her than Taka might have realized, because she's been struggling with this minor issue as well. There are a lot of clever people at Eulogy, but none she trusts, not when she doesn't know Hyperion's goals. Killing them after the deed is done is an option, but a risky one.]

there's some of that going around

["You're not the only one"]

i can think of a couple. might get messy though

Are you keeping busy?

Lately, I'm finding myself occupied with other people's problems. [How to never initiate a conversation like a normal fucking human: Takasugi edition.]

[To involve someone so good-natured in a project like this, certain facts need to be omitted.

Bent.]

We've received word from Hyperion again. Though, this time, it appears to be a mandate, rather than an opportunity.

Unless you possess impressive technical skills you've kept hidden, we'll need to branch out. [Haha see what he did there - they're working with team 'branch'.

Even morally desolate bastards enjoy puns, okay.]

And what, pray tell, are they asking this time if I don't have a choice in the matter? It better be good.

[ Good natured? Yes. Violent? Oh, yes. ]

[ This isn't good.

Thiiiiiiis isn't good. Like obviously there's the being kidnapped thing. That by very definition isn't good. Then there's the fact that Tani's been dragged into alongside him and is now being used as leverage against him in order to make him comply with their demands and that's...honestly the part Rhys worries most about, just slightly after Tani's well-being.

The instructions are simple: build the contents of the two cases to withstand waters as deep as deep as 25psia. There are instructions for assembly and he's provided with the tools he needs to accomplish the task, but the problem stems from what Rhys begins to notice as he starts piecing the things together.

The schematics are disjointed on purpose and that part doesn't surprise him. Of course no one wants it to be easy to figure it all out. But when he starts looking at the two components he's supposed to build as well as the specifications it's not building a very promising picture. In fact, Rhys literally has a voice inside his head telling him "Looks like a frickin' bomb to me kiddo."

Which is why his productivity suddenly takes a drastic change in pace as Rhys swallows, looking up from his work to shoot an incredulous glance at the people watching over him. ]

...Oh my god, what the hell are you guys trying to build??

[ So he may or may not be building a bomb. I mean it looks like he's building a bomb considering the triggering mechanism and casing meant to hold something, but there's also the vague hope that maybe it's just some sort of dispersal device that's totally benign in nature and isn't at all dangerous.

He's not counting on that.

Which is why he's being extra-careful as he wires the devices together, trying to arrange and solder pieces together to the best of his ability while also including a few...personal touches. A tracker. Data mining process. Just something to help him keep an eye on this because he's not sure they're going to let him go until he proves it's at least marginally functional.

So Rhys tinkers, sighs in obvious annoyance and displeasure at his general situation, and sends sidelong glances at his captors.

While trying to message his confiscated earpiece through his cybernetic eye. ]

Angel! Angel are you there? Please tell me this message is sending, I have no idea what sort of signal this place gets but you need to contact me right away if you get this!

[It has taken them a little while to reach this place, Giovanni tracking scents through the tangle of Leithian forest, picking their way through outlying farms and then into the thick-gathering trees, pushing in close and unmoving as sentinels. There's some level of frustration in him at having to go at a speed the others can match, no bright burst of unnatural quickness, ensuring both Steph and the Handler can keep up, but it matters, doesn't it? For all three of them to get there-- or at least, for him and Steph to get there together. He can sense it in her, the urgency, just as that very same urgency pulses in him, something that goes beyond his usual sense of duty, pushes in between the stones of cold indifference he feels for most individuals, his loyalty usually something reserved for the more nebulous concepts of 'Company' and 'those above him', outside of a small few.

A small few that seems to have expanded, of late.

But contemplation of such things will have to wait for another time, and it's something not quite attended to besides, not quite conscious in him. All he knows is that his superior is missing, captured, possibly at risk of losing his life and as such the violence burns hot in him, waiting to be unleashed. And now, it seems, that time has come.

He's led them in close enough for the non-enhanced among them to easily discern the little clearing beyond the clutch of trees they currently crouch behind. The camp is sparse, subtle, something hard to pick out perhaps if one doesn't know what one is looking for, but there's the rustle of human activity here, small signs of life, and more than that, a familiar scent that Giovanni has been guiding them unfailingly towards. He glances back over his shoulder now, eyes skimming over his Handler to alight on Steph instead. He keeps his voice low, but there's something hard and hot beneath it, volatility rising up in him, impatient to begin.]

There are twelve of them, as far as I can discern. Ready?

[Show time.]

Edited 2017-04-24 11:13 (UTC)

[He hadn't been been made aware of any further captives during his briefing back at HQ, knew only that Rhys had been taken, instructed to retrieve the Kendry alone, preferably unharmed. But it seems there is another person being held here, and whilst he's under no obligation to go above and beyond what has been requested of him, to retrieve anyone other than his sometimes-boss (his almost-friend), Rhys has made it quite clear that he ought to free this man too, and they're already here, already prepared, so may as well release this person, whilst he's at it.

Besides, it seems as though Steph and Rhys might like a moment.

As such, Giovanni turns his attention to the adjacent cell, one pistol still in hand and with quick quiet movements he comes in close, presses the barrel of the gun against the locking mechanism. He's strong, it's true, but the bars of these cells have proven to be reinforced and there are limits to the abilities of even something like him. His eyes move up to meet with those of the man contained within, his own visage likely something unnerving to behold, face and hands streaked with blood, eyes still quick and hot with a buildup of violence. Luckily for him, that tight-wound volatility isn't something he intends to turn on Takasugi.]

Stand back, will you? I'll have you out in a moment.

if we're building a bomb for underwater does that make it a bath bomb?

❁ rhys

no subject

❁ rhys

no subject

❁ kara

no subject

❁ yoruichi

❁ alice

no subject

Bomb Assembly

General tinkering aka OTA

enter the cavalry - Giovanni and Steph, and later Rhys too

Takasugi