[Snowpocalypse] Site Visit (H 3.4, L 3.4, R 3.7)

Rich

To Hadden, Lemma and Rossi:

After carting off all the goods to Squirrel's or wherever you want to stash your own stuff, you're at Underlake now, following Lemma to this mysterious "site"

Lemma,

Any precautions here?

Hadden,

Other than Rossi, who have you brought?

Mischa

From Hadden:

I don't want to dis Brother Rat. But this project isn't his thing, and I won't ask him to stick his neck out on this one in case he wants an out. I figure Squirrel has other work for him, but he's welcome to tag along.

CTO, I want along. In case we run into Capital-T Trouble. Shit, wouldn't I like to have Molotov T. Gunlugger along if I cross Merrell's army.

I remember what Oakley said, way back when after Palmer's. I want him to directly see what got Merrell stirred up, help me see if I'm paranoid enough or going down the wrong path. Handplant's doing her own thing, so I won't go get her.

And you know? This time, across the ice, Silica's not in the truck. I almost expect to see her blue blue eyes in the mirror.

While this strikes me, "Lemma, seems like lately I'm doing a lot of passenger work in the minitruck. Got any improvement ideas besides blankets?"

Rich

To Hadden:

Nose-pick takes off. That means you've got CTO, Oakley and Rossi here.

Rich

To Lemma:

Is Marmot here?

Transcriptase

From Lemma:

My instinct has been to keep this as secret as possible, but I've come to realize that, to make real use of the reactor, I'm going to need help. Lots of it. I'd need to show Hadden anyway, because of his investigation, but he could also be exactly the contractor I need to start renovations down here.

I'm still a little twitchy about bringing his whole crew, but, well, I'm going to need help keeping it safe once it's not a secret anymore, too.

"Ideas for improvements for this thing aren't the problem, Hadden. Finding the time to do them all is the problem."

"But, I could come up with something. In fact, we might want to work out a deal, once you see where we're going."

I look at him, grave. "This is going to require some discretion. Can we rely on your crew, or should they maybe wait out front?"

Mischa

From Hadden:

"I'm down with in-kind to pimp my ride. Obviously, not pressing." She's easy on the eyes for her age. And those cheekbones. I don't let her catch me considering her, since I'm not sure she is.

I see she's nervous. "Lemma. The asshat keeps things hidden, that's why we have forty-two dead and I haven't even seen hidorhare of Molotov in almost a month. We gotta shine some light on this, right? Better we do it right than someone else stumble across it."

Lower, real close to her, eyes on eyes. "I trust Oakley and Rossi with my life. Handplant, too. Unimpeachable. CTO's on the clock, so yeah." Fuck, I miss Molotov real bad right now.

Maybe it does make more sense to leave someone up top as a spotter? CTO's got the best range.

Rich

To All:

You all head on towards the ice tomb for the forty-two. CTO sticks around there to keep watch.

After a long crawl under the tomb and down a long tunnel that winds north. This is where the explosions happened. Hadden, you note how this tunnel was made, it was chem-burned, not chipped. Squirrel's Rats didn't do this work. It was done quick and on the DL.

After a small forever, muscles aching, you come up to a huge opening. In the middle of this ice cave, you see this:


What do you do?

Adam

I stop as soon as I see the enormous metal coffin sticking out of the ice... "What the fuck is that?" I ask the group – kind of an open question, I guess.

Mischa

From Hadden:

I stand in wonder. "It's a boat." How the fuck big is the thing? Almost a whisper, I touch it. "An underwater boat."

Transcriptase

"Yes. It was a warship, operating hidden. It was underwater during the Freeze, sealed up tight. Everything in it in perfect condition, and Merrell got here first and stripped it out. That was his windfall, what he's using to back all his moves since then."

"It's not just guns and food, either-- he probably got his hand on tech we've never seen before. And that's how I think you're going to have to pin it on him: find his stash of stuff that could only have come from here, show it to the right witnesses."

I step in front of the group and gesture towards the hatch. Welcome to my parlor.

"And there's more. Want a tour?"

Mischa

From Hadden:

"Oh, yes please, Lemma.

They built this to go under water.

"That's a good point, Lemma. This stuff has to be somewhere." I can't take my hand off it. I thump it, solid. For some reason, I thought it would ring like a bell.

Transcriptase

I didn't bring lights for everyone, so I take point. Down the hatch, through the passages towards the reactor.

I wave at the hollowed-out spaces as we go. "Merrell took everything he could carry, but he missed the real treasure. A machine like this has a heart, a power source."

"I found it. And I fixed it." I run through the startup sequence and bring the reactor online.

Rich

To All:

Lemma leads you to a large room, obviously the engines. There's one huge metal cylinder installed in here, inert and silent.

It looks like this:


Lemma brings it online. It hums and whirs to life, and lights flicker on throughout the corridors.

Adam

This is fucked up... This whole place is rock solid, and has power? ... If not for the fact that people could bury you alive down here, you could live down here! "What are you going to do with this place?" I ask her, looking around the room curiously.

Mischa

From Hadden:

I see it right off. Merrell's thinking like a scavenger, not an engineer. I am one lucky duck that Lemma has the eyes and the foresight to see the potential.

This heart will change the face of Chi-Town. Like the Soulja Boys wanted to.

Crouched in the narrow crawlspace, looking at the whole future possible. "We have to secure it."

Transcriptase

"Well, I'd been thinking about moving my shop down here, for a start. But that doesn't really do justice to how much juice this can put out."

"There's enough juice for lots of people. That's what I want to do with it... I want to carve something out, make this somewhere safe."

I nod at Hadden. "Right. There was just a minor war over something a fraction this powerful. I can turn this into power, but I need your help turning power into safety.

Rich

To All:

Oakley speaks up, "Tink of all da folks who would wanna be livin down 'ere. 'Ow do you say one can come an' anoddah 'as to stay out?"

Transcriptase

Lemma:

I shrug. "It's hard, yeah, but for the rooms, it could work the same as Misty's or Roxy's. Collect rent, in barter or service."

"If the power makes as much difference as I think it can, people could live outside the sub in the tunnels, too, like the Underlakers. Then the inside of the sub would only be for people who aren't claustrophobic."

Mischa

From Hadden:

"How much juice? How many people are we talking about?" I'm thinking of Backside Misty, of Underlake. Am I thinking too small?

Unfortunately, the only gang I know with enough clout to hold this would be the Soulja Boys, and they got volcanoed.

Unless... Getting all the gangs to work together? The Skegs, the Sparekeys, the Lostkeys, the Amp heads, even the sk8rs.

Oakley's right. "Rent is fine, but this is a target. Light, heat, safety? I need real hitters to keep it together."

Adam

"You need more than hitters," I offer calmly, "this place is a coffin if Merrell decides he wants it gone... This place was bombed once, what's to stop him from burying it again? You think you can reinforce the ice against another blast?"

Mischa

From Hadden:

Don't I know it. "Imma stop him, but word is he's built an army from this find. Fucker don't bury this, you bring it to the light." Maybe I should just zilch him in his sleep. Or drop him off to Giordano's. That has appeal.

Sweet jeebus, this place, it's so real.

Quietly, "I need to see my mom."

Louder, "Lemma, is there anything else left we need to see?"

Transcriptase

"I... honestly don't know. More than Misty's. More than Underlake. Maybe the whole city.

"And you two just hit on my two main concerns. I can't do any good with this without taking it public. I can't take it public without people wanting to take it from me. "

"And the tunnels do need a lot of work, not just for safety against collapse but also so people can get here. That's doable, sure-- just think of Underlake-- but it's a big digging job. Weeks of work for a well-equipped crew."

I turn to Hadden.

"So. You know people. How can we swing this?"

And to the rest:

"So you can see where taking this public early hands it to the whichever motherfucker is the meanest. We have to be careful about this, yes?"

Adam

I nod, "not a whole lot of people in Chi-town who'd do much good with it anyway..."

Mischa

From Hadden:

Okay, maybe it's just me, but Rossi's kinda more... bleak with the getup. She may notice a quick flash look of concern, like don't think I don't know that you're avoiding talking with me about your sister and Jester and your life choices, sister.

I start counting off options. "Digging's the easy part- Squirrel and the Rats. I can do some of it, too. Just need labor and time."

"Security's less so. The Soulja Boys are too volitile, and I don't like how they treat themselves. This is too big for the sk8rs. Frontside Grip's dead. The Amp Heads are laying low, not that I blame them. The Pier look after their own."

"I think Underlake and the Sparekeys are the answer, but it's not a small thing to pull off. The site's remote enough that only Underlakers will catch wind of the work we're doing, so that works for us. Once I take out Merrell and some of his boys — obviously not all of them — then I can bring in the Sparekeys, including Molotov T. Gunlugger himself to do some reparations work, rebuild trust all round. With asshat out of the picture, people will listen to mom. And with this thing? She'll listen to me."

"Or we deal with Kemper."

Transcriptase

I shake my head.

"No. Your first plan sounds good. Kemper... You can work with the guy, but you'd better have a strong position first. I don't think asking him to guard our priceless treasure as a favor would work out."

Mischa

From Hadden:

I shake my head too, matching her, grinning. "Yeah, no."

I look to the others. "Oakley. Samaritan. Pick some holes in this plan?"

Rich

To All:

Oakley says, "What're we gonna offah Kempah to keep 'im from blowin 'is way down to take dis over? We roll on 'im, give 'im da goods and jus' work 'ere?"

Adam

I shake my head, "why outsource what you can do on your own? Help me find some guys who're good with guns, and I'll watch your boat."

Mischa

From Hadden:

I'm starting to like this plan, getting optimistic. "That's why I want to move on Merrell fucken NOW. His boys who will flip for me, plus the Sparekeys, plus the Samaritan, plus Molotov T. Gunlugger? That is a force to be reckoned with."

Adam

I walk over to Hadden and put a hand on his shoulder, then whisper into his ear, "Molotov might not work with me... I doubt it, anyway, given the incident on the Pier."

Mischa

From Hadden:

Fuckballs.

I look at Rossi, the Samaritan. She can see some sort of conflicted, raw emotion behind my eyes- I don't like it when my friends don't get along. Who would I choose? Molotov is ochen badass, but I haven't seen word from him in a month, and I feel so closer to Rossi in the last few weeks than in the last few months.

I trust Rossi. I'm honestly not so sure about this Samaritan fellow, the masked fucker who murdered Poke. Molotov is the one the Underlakers know, the one who blew up the tunnels, the one who claimed responsibility. He needs to be a part of this somehow, and the Sparekeys are muscle enough to help me take down Merrell's hitters. And yeah, I'm a sexist asshole because I'd rather her be home happily nailing Jester than bloody and murderous on my account. Have I already written Molotov off for dead and lost? Things change.

And a small voice in my head asks, but would Molotov work with Rossi?

I nod to her like, okay, this bears consideration.

Rich

To All:

Sounds like you've got a choice here. Build an army? Or rent one?

What do you do?

Mischa

From Hadden:

We build one. Thing like this, you want people with long-term interests.

Transcriptase

Lemma:

Yeah, I already voted. We build our own.

Rich

--END SCENE--