Nov 23 18:16:21 108 PA - Secret Planning, Finally!

From Chronicles

Nov 23 18:16:21 108 PA.

GABRIEL'S CAMP

It's nighttime, but only just. A very frustrated looking Bella with a number of bullet holes in her clothing and a larger wound over her heart is standing by a small pup tent. Jaxain is in the area, talking with her, and Gabriel, who had been in discussions with Bella only a moment before has just left to retrieve Sebastien. It doesn't take too long. Still, as this is the man's first visit, he offers, "Welcome. You know everyone. I'm afraid there might not be any furniture that you might like, but there is some fresh boar on the spit." With that, he starts to wander back to lean on one of the trees that supports his unusual hammock.

Jaxain waves a hand to wave to Sebastien as the other man enters the clearing, then turns back to Bella. "So what did it feel like when you tried to cross the holy water? Was it like a wall, or a mental barrier like a cross?"

Bella looks over when the boys come back. Grins their way. Then the grin mostly goes 'way at Jax. She shrugs. "Dunno. Ain't real clear 'n stuff." She eyes 'im harder. "Don' really stop ta 'member ev'rythin when yer starvin."

Sebastien is kitted in his riding leathers. A thick wool long coat and a scarf are his nod to the cold, though he's sweating along the game trail as he pokes along behind Gabriel. Strapped to one thigh is a ridiculous-looking holster, molle'd out and easily a foot long, with a big pistol grip poking through. Cradled in his arms is a crossbow. Well, it's probably a crossbow. There is enough rigging on it for a small oceanic vessel and a high-tech scope poking through it all. "Paranoid is not the proper expression," Sebastien points out. "I'm not so much a fan of deerburgers spontaneously grinding and cooking themselves as I sleep. Why not flares?" He does, however, play along in a careful walk through the woods. Oddly enough, he seems to give the devices a wide berth.

The older man smiles at Sebastien. "Who said that it wasn't just flares? Maybe 'boom' was just dramatic effect." Gabriel waggles his eyebrows and moves to sit near the campfire. "It would appear, lady and gentlemen, that we have an impromptu meeting. So let's move on, guys." He directs his gaze at Jaxain and Bella. "There's bad shit going on in the 'Dregs, and I think that I have more answers right now that anyone else. Poking my nose around and all." A hand is indicated to each, pointing out a spot that would make a nice place to rest and speak.

Jaxain smirks at Bella and nods, then turns his attention to the crazy old man who surrounds his bed with bombs. "Alright, you got my letter detailing all I found from my end of things, right?"

"Got more? Keep goin." Bella wants ta hear what Gabe's got. But Jax's got stuff too sounds like. So she perks brows at 'im. "What letter's that?" Seb getsa smirk. "Yeah. He's somethin. Shoots 'n stakes people't come ta say hi." Prolly why her shirt's all messed up.

Sebastien's wary to keep the bow away from wandering branches, and as he passes the nearest brush he experimentally wiggles the main draw string. It looks broken -- tugging about without resistance. Sebastien doesn't seem to mind. He walks towards a fallen mother tree and sits, easing against a sapling sprouting from it. His mouth is shut for the moment, eyes following Jaxain and Gabriel as they speak.

Gabriel waits for everyone to get placed where they like. Even if Jaxain and Bella may still be standing. "Okay. Ivory Lady's run by vampires. We all know that. Hope for Humanity is boycotting them, but not open conflict yet. We all know that. You guys saw a woman come up and slice off the head of an undead man who didn't realize that he was dead. That was Stacy, the woman I met who happens to be the leader of Hope for Humanity." He arches an eyebrow and points a finger at the others. "Bet you didn't know that. Or that Tim was her boyfriend? Probably not." This is why he made such a good agent in his past life, just starting to feed out information that no none else, as far as he knows, has yet been able to gather.

Jaxain smiles, "Well, judging from how they were talking, I had guessed that already." He gives Gabriel a wink. "Cumon, stop teasin', get to the good parts!"

Bella grins. 'N she's gotta agree with Jax. She nods. "Yeah. What else ya hear? 'N what kinda plannin ya got?"

Sebastien shrugs. "Vampires. Are they the run-of-the-mill bloodsuckers, or was I right? They are psi stalkers?" He inclines his chin and leans back, fingers playing with that bow string.

Gabriel looks to Jaxain with a bland expression. "I'm establishing the foundation. Without it, you wouldn't even know what the 'good parts' might be, Jaxain. As for how they were talking? All that I heard was something along the lines of, 'Sorry' - snap." Perhaps a little chiding, particularly as that parental instinct had kicked in through the use of the man's full name. Sebastien is answered quickly, "They're vampires, but definitely not run of the mill. Donna, who runs the place is by all accounts a master vampire. She has two dozen secondaries under her control, and they use the psi-cola to make zombies - not the undead kind - of people who then become slaves. She works with the Family, who among other things are involved in human trafficking. Bella can tell you more about how that works, although I'm pretty up on it now." He pauses to look at the others, the flames giving his face a rather eerie look of concern. "Things are quite bad, and they're developing quickly." He pulls out a folded piece of paper from inside his coat. "I took this off of Tim before they torched him." If anyone's expecting the old man to pull out reading glasses, they're in for a letdown.

Bella's heard mosta this already. So she's eyein the letter mostly. "Yeah. She sorta killed 'er boy. That was dead already. Sorta. So. What's't say?" She'd maybe grab it 'n read it herself. But she can't. Can smirk at Sebastien though. "Psi stalkers? Ya was really thinkin that?"

Sebastien raises his eyebrows. "Absolumment, oui. Psi-cola makes even the most dense plebe worth draining. When someone says vampire, it is best to not jump to conclusions." He tilts his head to the right, reaching for a bolt under his long coat. It's as thick as his thumb. Sebastien continues, "So in the day time they have only zombie sentries, but the vampires are likely elsewhere. At night you can catch them at work, but they are at full strength. Is KDPD unconcerned?"

Gabriel looks to Sebastien and says only, "The police? They're as useless as all police have ever been. It's a 'Dregs problem, and until it spills over into the city, they don't care." He shrugs, visibly disgusted. Then clears his throat and does his best to remove the Kentucky drawl from his speech and replace it with a female vampire's voice. He fails, and miserably. But at least the information is out there. "This is a letter from Donna to Stacy. It has no date." Eyes glance back and forth, then he reads it verbatim as best he can. "My gamble is that if you are reading this Tim is now fully dead. If so it shows there truly is no hope for humanity. This is because it was human hands that killed Tim, with no coercion at all. My hands gave him unnatural life, ordered to forget about my part in it after his release and resume his life. And now human hands have ended that as well. It is this predictable chain of events that shows why the Lady is prospering when you would have it fail. We prosper because we understand human nature. But you can't live with others who don't understand you, can't accept others seeing you for what you really are. But I do, and agree to disagree in all our future endeavors." The letter is then folded and put away. "There's more, but to get to a 'good part,' Jax, Stacy is now a prisoner. Thoughts? There's more."

"Damn." That's all Bella says at first. 'Less blinkin counts. Then there's smirkin. 'N smirkin goes to grinnin. "That sounds like a damn good part ta me." After a bit she adds more. "Not Stacy. The human stuff."

Sebastien shakes his head. "She's full of crap," he says softly. "Of course she knows humanity. She is human. Dead and so diseased she does not realize it. So she knows a stunt like that can have only one consequence. People will come to kill her. I think perhaps she wishes to entice us in this act before we can be organized and ready. Simply put, if she wishes to continue business as usual, she is forever vulnerable. She wants the conflict on her terms. We win by denying her that."

Gabriel looks at Bella. "What?" Then quickly to Sebastien, "Yes, she wants a knee-jerk reaction. Or so it might seem. You've been around the continent. Are you aware of any order of knights or helpers or something who wear white habits with gold trim? This is Stacy's uniform. A uniform that she's worn for ages. It would appear - through some helpful visions - that she has actually come to us from somewhere else, like Tolkeen or Lazlo. Now she's a prisoner, and perhaps a prisoner being forced into slavery herself." He turns his gaze into the fire, quiet for a short time. "There are rather open reports that the Lady has a new dancer who quite adequately fits her description and the time that she went missing. At any rate, her capture is going to anger people." The letter is folded and filed again. "The longer this continues, the more convoluted and dangerous it becomes. It's changing by the moment. Donna may be dead, but she's smart dead, and by continually changing the rules, she changes how we can fight." It looks as if he might have a suggestion, but he says nothing more for now, leaving it to others to discuss.

Bella shrugs. "What? She's gotta point. Ya shoot first. Maybe talk later. Sides." She waves a hand atta boys. "Betcha both killed more people 'n any a the vampires. But yer the good guys right?" Brow pops up. "So. Whatcha thinkin?" She looks at 'em both. "Think she's pickin'a fight?"

"Yes," Sebastien replies flatly, "but they were all very bad." He stares at Bella, his eyes narrowing, and then he inclines his head. "Of course, we could just wait until daylight and burn her playhouse down. Made it hard for her to do business. She needs to advertise, she needs a fresh stream of people. You could do it as a guerrilla action. If her horde of minions grows too large, I think that may be the only solution."

The old soldier momentarily waxes over with an expression that looks... much older. "Killing in defense of peace is far different than that kind of twisted killing for entertainment." It takes Gabriel quite a while of going over his own personal demons before he's back with everyone. "Two problems. The people involved with them, the victims? They have to be ignored now. The problems are Donna and the Family. They'll continue to feed on each other, so to speak, getting stronger and stronger. Cut off one, and it weakens the other." He holds out a hand that still holds years of history in its grasp. "Donna is the obvious target, but without knowing where she sleeps, where her brethren sleep and how the psi-zombies are kept, going after them might well be suicidal. The Family is simply too large and entrenched to fight; only turning opinion against them would work, and that would be extremely difficult. So?" A smile finally finds its way back to his face, and his eyes are once again bright. "Where does a bitch like that and her hangers-on sleep?"

"If she's smart. 'N we know she is." Bella smirks. "Nowhere 'round the Lady. Maybe all by herself." A shrug. "Maybe under the street inna bitty hole." She holds her fingers up pinched close. "Somethin like I'd be doin." 'N nobody's found her place yet.

Sebastien inclines his chin, and frowns. "Can you 'sleep' in a nonhuman form? For example, could you be a very small animal? Even if not, she could use such a form to go to a hole a hundred feet underground, be sleeping in a gas pipeline or in a sewer or who knows what. She's not alive. She can't drown or suffocate on dirt. I think finding her daytime resting place is worthless. We attack her at night, or we do damage to her business."

"No, damaging her business is pointless. She'll just show up later with a new plan somewhere else. If we can't find her during the day, then she needs to be killed at night." Gabriel's mouth quirks on a half-side as he looks at Bella. "I personally can't think of a reason to get her out into the open though, other than collapsing the building in on her. If I understand correctly, a whole bunch of splintering wooden beams and studs falling on the bitch would hurt like hell, right?" After allowing that to hang for a moment, he repeats his earlier question. "Seb, you know anything about that white and gold uniform? Are they a thing we should know?"

Bella shrugs s'more. "Maybe. Maybe just piss 'er off." Back to smirkin. "Nice ta know ya hate 'er so much yer gonna drop a buildin on 'er. 'N ev'rybody else."

Sebastien shakes his head. "I've no idea. You have to understand; I've lived in Missouri my whole life. The Coalition gave me a good education on the local demons, and I saw a lot at the Gate, but obscure human factions?" He shrugs. "Collapsing the building is much what I suggested, non? But I think it would not hurt enough. Vampires wear body armor these days! And if she does not, then certainly she will have a magical armor. I have fought them, Gabriel. Wild ones are not so bad, but the secondaries, the masters? You need a truck load of gear. Everything to take out the best armor, and then a whole 'nother set to get through their flesh. And, preferably, have some means of detecting them. Because in the drywall dust or smoke bombs, how do you see something without thermal imaging?"

Gabriel's gaze continues to be at the base of the fire, and when he speaks, it it slowly, and it is softly. "Bella, Sometimes the village has to be sacrificed for the sake of the kingdom. Yes, killing is black and white - you're alive or you're dead. But the reasons and necessities of taking lives are often very gray." He looks up to Sebastien. "I was only offering a suggestion. I know very little about hunting or even hurting vampires. Save that apparently I own a weapon that might knock a few of them down temporarily if I catch them off guard." His mouth twitches again in a tiny, tiny hint of amusement. "The problem is that we need more intelligence, and not to toot my own horn, but I appear to be one of the only people in Kingsdale qualified to do it - and Donna knows about me, so trying to find out more in the Lady would be suicide. I'll leave it to you and others to formulate the basis of a battle plan." He waggles a finger. "Mind you me, we have perhaps a week, or slightly longer before Donna changes things once more, and we have to start all over. So think quickly."

"I'm thinkin. I'm thinkin." Ain't no smoke but looks like Bella's thinkin. "What 'boutta humany people? They gonna do somethin? Maybe let 'em go in first 'r somethin?"

Sebastien looks aside at Gabriel, a level look in his eyes. "Monsieur, she's right. We would not attack when customers were present. But it's a business. The moments before the store opens and after the store closes are just as viable." He frowns, and snaps his fingers. "The club has not closed. Not for long, non? So the building is the same. Who owned it before? Is it an armored structure?"

Gabriel doesn't seem entertained by the morality of war, but neither does he speak on the subject. "I can look into the building itself, poking my nose in records is also something that I've done in the past. You'd think that there must be city documents somewhere. But, it's the 'Dregs. I don't know if they'd keep proper plans on record. Or details of ownership. Not that I can't try." He nods with an impassive chin. "What're you thinking, Seb? I already floated out the idea of driving in a bombed construction water truck, but Bella wasn't impressed."

Bella smirks. "Prolly get stripped ta nothin onna way. Even if ya don' slow down. So Stacy's people ain't gonna do nothin?" She looks at Gabe. "Thought ya were sayin they knew bout it 'n were pissed off?'

Sebastien replies simply, "Because a raincoat stops it. Don't talk to the city, find the last owner. Find ah, find whomever has been doing the maintenance. Something like this. That building must have changed hands a hundred times. Or just shoot at it one night. It's the dregs, non? Shit happens. Do it from a long way away. I was thinking wood and black powder. Cheap. Shaped charges through a wall, anyone not in armor is in bad shape. We follow up with conventional weapons. Whatever is left will be armored. Have a team on standby with anti-vampire weapons for when the armor drops."

The Kentuckian's eyes narrow slightly. "How is that any different than dropping the building on them? Innocent people die either way. Vampires may or may not get full of sticks that might even penetrate their heart, either way. Splitting hairs?" His head slides slightly sideways. "I was trying to find plans to the building because it might show if there is a basement that most people are unaware of, or a secret tunnel underneath the Berlin Wall, whatever. Details. I'll leave it to you guys to plug it with random holes. Just make sure that you cover it adequately, so that you don't just get that one lucky shot that sways you improperly in one direction or the other." He nods, but then smiles and looks to Bella. "Sorry, Bella. I want to talk to the Hope for Humanity people. I don't know what they're planning, but I don't want them to do anything. Donna's doing a good job of turning them into the bad guys. If they act, the entire movement could be delivered a blow from which it might not recover. I'll try to arrange a meet tomorrow." Gabriel's eyes then slide slowly between the two. "One master vampire, two dozen secondaries and an unknown number of psi-cola zombies. How many people do we need? Because this is going to have to be something that goes completely unnoticed until H-Hour."

Sebastien raises his hands. "Like I said. Just before business starts or just after business ends. Make it a payday Friday and more of them will be on shift looking to get tips. More the merrier for people. The more people we have, the easier the clean-up. I give us a one in three chance of success. Most likely we level the place, take some casualties, never see the woman after the opening salvo. Then two weeks later she visits us in the night."

"Better talk good to 'em then." Bell grins back at 'im. "'N so ya know. Gettin Donna maybe'll mess 'em all up. Maybe not. Depends. If she's all bossy 'n gotta tell 'em whatta do all time it'll mess 'em up. If they're smart too won't bother 'em so much."

"Stacy believed that eliminating Donna would cause the whole system to perhaps not fall apart, but weaken to the point that it could be contained and eliminated," Gabriel says in a decidedly strong tone. "But I know getting the boss is usually the problem. Sebastien, Hope for Humanity is quartered in the Knight's Hospital. Think you might have some pull there to come with me, ask questions, maybe do some poking around that they wouldn't let me do?"

Sebastien shrugs, and points at Gabriel. "I think you'll find, monsieur, that talk is cheap there. The hospital is a place for people to get well, nothing more. The children there are violent, they just kill each other. Hormones, broken homes, name your reason. To them I am the foolish old man." He smiles at that, and laughs softly. "I can show you around. If you know how to suture a laceration I can get you in on a shift. Call you an assistant."

Gabriel waves off Sebastien's offer. "Thank you, but I've already been there. Met with Stacy there. She's got a bunch of floors to herself, some classrooms, even organizing the kids. Just wondered if you knew of... I dunno, secret compartments or something." He smirks at his own silly idea. "I guess we should disperse and sleep on all this. Poor little Jax is ready to fall asleep already. Didn't expect sleep deprivation to set in that quickly! But, as Bella seems to be back to herself... I'll look into the records, and meeting with the folks. Seb, Bella, maybe you can take a whack at the structure, see what it's made of. Meet back in a day or two." He looks around. "Sound like a plan?"

Bella grins. Moves over ta lean on Seb. Even pats 'im some. "Sure. We can check 't out. See what breaks."

Sebastien gives Bella a guarded look, and shrugs. "One of these days I will need to invest in a rifle. Sure. It is dense enough that, well, they might not trace it back." He smirks, and peers at Bella. "You can even be inside. Tell me if the shots poked through." He smirks and taps his crossbow before easing up to head on out.

Gabriel stands and walks his guests - and one invader - to the 'door.' "Thanks for coming, guys. This shit's important. Just remember where to step, Seb." As he turns back to his home, he quickly adds, "Oh, and like I told Bella and Jax, I change the route every morning. You can call me paranoid if you want, but you still need to find some way to ring the doorbell first. I suggest getting me over the comm. You guys have a safe walk back to town. I've herd wolves out tonight." Wink.

Bella starts walkin out. Laughs. "Hope they don't keep ya up all night. They're noisy." Justa make her point there's a li'l more howlin.