Nov 11 00:21:58 108 PA - Briefed by a Partially-Sane Employer
From Chronicles
Nov 11 00:21:58 108 PA.
THAUMATURGIC CIRCUITRY
At the arranged meeting time - almost two in the morning, when the fewest number of people are on the streets - Baptiste quickly opens the doors of Thaumaturgic Circuitry to allow people in, rushing them inside as if trying to hide them from Nazis. He's as scruffy as ever, wild-eyed as ever. "C'mon, c'mon, c'mon!"
Valeriya coalesces from the wall that her likeness had taken in the wait outside the shop. Stepping forward as he beckons her armor loses its similarity to the background as the background changes. She gives a slight nod to Bart, and Jax to follow.
Jaxain arrives with Bart, giving a wave and a smile to Valerie as she makes her startling exit from the wall. He doesn't say anything, just follows the other man for now.
Bartholemew follows Val, hurrying through the door finding a place to chill in the room, out of the way, until the Techno Wizard feels he's ready to get started. Winter has him in his EBA Armor covered over by an all weather poncho to keep protected from the weather, among other things. Bart is who he is, no too unusual for a merc to be wandering the city.
The interior is unimpressive. Just small appliances and common electronic parts. Baptiste is silent, motioning the trio deeper into his shop, behind the curtain - literally. The door clicks by itself, locking, as an electronic voice says, "Thank you for shopping." He stops, turns... waves at them... jumps and disappears into the back room without a word.
Valeriya continues to make her way behind the curtain with a relaxed gait now that they are inside and secure. Once past it she reaches up and pulls away her helmet to offer a more personal approach. No need to antagonize the client's paranoia after all.
Bartholemew follows further in, helm covered face shielding the immediate confusion as the man disappears, only the slight tilt of his head to the wizard's antics. Right behind Val he follows into the back room, and like Val, he removes the helmet as well and awaits the wizard to start.
Jaxain smiles at the strange antics of Baptiste, and is glad he is in the presence of friends as the man's paranoia is a bit much. He moves to follow the other two, and doesn't remove his helmet. Because he has no helmet to remove. Armor is itchy.
The man, sane or not, doesn't seem the least bit impressed by any show of force or power. Perhaps not surprising, based on what was whispered by others about his own strengths. He's still jumpy, scratching his torso here and there, seemingly at random. His chin is held upward at an odd angle. "So, the three of you? You're going to find it? For the agreed price if it gets back her intact?"
"Four actually. Yuu, had a prior engagement." Valeriya corrects with a nod to Baptiste. "That’s the plan, I've worked with everyone gathered and have no doubt we can get it her to you in one piece."
Bartholemew remains silent for the moment to listen first and ask question later, when all is said pertaining to the topic of the moment.
Jaxain cocks his head to the side, "Wait, what item are we looking for exactly, and where is it supposed to be?" He asks quietly, not specifying exactly who he is talking too. Just talking.
Baptiste looks angrily confused. Eyes dart back and forth between Jaxain and Valeriya. "You don't.. don't know each other? Don't know why you're here to get something?" He takes a hop backwards. "A powerful item. Big item. Powerful! Everybody wants it! I want it and I will *have* it!" He completes that in practically a shriek and thumping his fist against the nearest wall. Then his words start to run together. "If you are here because you want to get it I will tell you what I know about it and where to get it and why I want it but if you're not going to help me get it then you need to leave now or agree with everyone that you'll stay instead!" Again, he needs to calm himself down, scratching madly at the spot beneath his chin.
Valeriya sends an icy glare back a Jax, if looks could kill.. It's all gone though when she looks to Baptiste with a slight shake of her head. "Relax, Jax there is just eager to get to the specific details of the vessel of ultimate power you desire and will pay a lot for. And he's right, you haven’t told us exactly what or where it is. So shall we continue?"
Jaxain raises a hand to hide a smile, doing his best to cough and cover it up. He slumps his shoulders and hangs his head in an attempt to look apologetic and non-threatening to the mad-man. "Jax want to help."
The recluse is somewhat mollified by Valeriya's statement, and though he hesitates for a long time, he does eventually begin to pull out papers from beneath one of his surprisingly neat work benches. Perhaps his mind is off, but only in a special way. Everything back in this room is clearly powerful, and clearly built well and taken care of well. He hands out one copy of a map of the region. "It's up here somewhere." Then just falls silent again.
Valeriya is silent a moment as she examines the map. Making a few gestures to mentally note the marks before passing it on to Bart for a more detailed assessment. "Interesting. Right smack dab in the middle of everything. That explains why everyone wants it. So what is it?"
Bartholemew rolls his eyes to Jax, but that’s about it, simply waiting till the details are all doled out. When the map is handed out he takes his time to get a good look over it while Val continues to ask the questions.
Jaxain doesn't want to risk saying anything else, at this point. He does, however, focus his eyes on Bart for a moment. Other than that, he just keeps up the dumb act as best he can.
"What? It's, it's..." Baptist's cheeks inflate and he stretches his arms wide. "It's power! It's.. I don't know what it is, but it calls to me, it calls to *ALL* of us! I need it. Kingsdale wants it, everybody wants it, but only I deserve it..." His volume falls off, and he suddenly seems to become rather... sane? "It actually appeared sometime back in early September, now that we've backtracked its evidence. It's just been increasing in power ever since. I... I have a difficult time explaining it, it's.. just.. different in some way. Magic. But not. Techno-wizardy, but not really. Almost like..." His face becomes serene and thoughtful. "Like a perfect bomb that has been built by children. Except it's not a bomb. It seems to make energy! But despite how interesting it is, it wouldn't have been *this* interesting except that it's timing is... perfect..." He's lost in his own little world for a moment, then hands out a photograph without further explanation.
Valeriya nods encouragingly as the vague image is passed along. "Well this does help a lot actually. It's big, so it should be easy enough to find.. in a large grasslands area even.." She starts and then assesses what it is she said and locks a strong gaze on Baptiste. "What's the catch, if this is just there for the taking, why hasn't anyone taken it?"
Bartholemew looks up from the map to consider the photo a moment, offering the map to Jax so he can take a look. So far Val is asking all the right questions, so he remains quiet to listen.
Jaxain takes the map and studies it for a moment, nodding. Then he looks back at Bart, then at Val... Then at the madman. Waiting for his answer to Val's question.
"It can be hard to find. It seems to... phase... in and out at semi-random intervals. Even the flyover that I just gave you, the guy said that he got the picture, but his navigation was screwed up, so he couldn't even pinpoint hit own location until he was distant and could take a star-shot. Said that if he had better information about what it might be, he might be able to do better." Baptiste shrugs - the sane one. "The reason that no one's taken it yet is actually twofold, beyond the simple difficulty of finding it. Everyone wants it, everyone wants to make sure that no one else has it, but people are on edge about being the first ones to actually put their hand in the pot to grab it. For those of us smaller interests, you can see... it's large. Something is large. No one knows exactly what this 'power' is, beyond that it has something to do with that fuzzy object." He points to the photograph being passed around. "The reason that it's timing is interesting is that as I said, it's appearance is backtracked to early September. *Last* September, there was a huge blip of energy of some kind, from that same general-but-unknown location, but it only lasted for a few hours. Now it seems to have returned. It's incredibly powerful. We just don't know what it is." He shrugs. "Which I suppose is a third reason - some people are afraid to approach what they know nothing about."
Valeriya nods to Baptiste to signal her understanding then turns to Bart and Jax to recap. "So.. We have to find a 1,000 foot long thing in a 600 square mile area. This thing tends to disappear at random, but should be in a grassy area. Once we find it, we have to extract the power source from it and deliver it to Baptiste here. There is a good chance we will be being watched at various stages in all this and have to fend off opposing forces. In or out?"
Bartholemew gives just a grin at the list of reasons no one has grabbed it yet, seeming amused by the lack of courage from some of the big dawgs that are probably out there waiting to see if it's safe to touch. "In. Like you need to ask." responding in his quite overconfident tone.
Jaxain smiles at Bart and nods his head. "In. Of course."
Baptiste listens to the discussion, and awaits a final answer from whomever is speaking for the group.
Valeriya nods to each as they agree with her assessment and then smirks to Baptiste. "That’s the easy part. We'll do it." She confirms with a calm smile and offers her hand to shake on it.
"Very well," Baptiste says, very businesslike. Even travels to each person to shake a hand as if to seal the deal. "Upon successful delivery of a working item, I will transfer two-hundred and twenty-five thousand credits into any numbered account that you choose. Is there anything further that you'd like me to try to do, or... are you prepared professionals who don't require any assistance?"
Bartholemew smiles as Val seals the deal with the crazy wizard guy. Giving the man a shake to seal his end of the deal as well, "I got all I need to find this thing. Unless you got some fancy device that can pinpoint this thing when we get close? If not, we'll still find it."
Valeriya raises her brow at the offer and nods to Bart's suggestion. "Yeah something to help us find it would be the most help. It's putting out loads of power, could you make a meter that can detect that? Then we just go where the power is highest."
"No, if I did I wouldn't need to hire someone like yourselves to find, it, now would I?" He answers Bartholemew and Valeriya alike. "The guys at Lucky Bill's have gotten the closest to it, they might be able to help. But I'm afraid that its power? Is... powerful beyond my comprehension, and something like I've never felt. But... I need it."
Jaxain nods, still not adding anything to the discussion at the moment.
Bartholemew gives a shrug to the answer of his question, "No worries. Shouldn't be too hard to find, keeping it will be the tough part. If ya got nothing else, guess we'll head out and get you this thing."
Valeriya agrees with Bart and turns to be on her way, time's a wasting and there's a job to be done after all.
Baptiste, who is now beginning to regress back to only semi-sane, shakes his head. "No, no.. just general location, the timing, the strange form of power, the photograph, and the guys at Flying Bill, as far as I know." He continues to devolve, starting to scratch at himself again. Eventually he just fades into another room like a crazed hermit, and everyone is left to see themselves out.
