TSW 35: Aftermath (Robin/Schofield Talk)

[15:12]	IcePickLobotomy	RobinE: The the base as busy as it is it's not too hard to slip past the other personal and make your way onto the surface. The air has a uncharacteristic chill to it, the stars glitter and gleam above and pillars of inky smoke trail upwards from fires across the city. It's pitch dark, the only lights being those from emergency vehicles and the flood-lights that have been hastily erected at...
[15:12]	IcePickLobotomy	...the entrance to the base. Crowds of people mill about while red cross tents are being erected. Many are injured. Off in the distance you can see the warped and twisted forms of the three towers that have been made into a tripod by the Intruder. The air carries with it the familiar cent of ash and smoke, the pungent tang of the ocean overwhelmed.
[15:14]	RobinE	winces a bit at all the destruction, but she tries to keep her mind on her task.
[15:14]	RobinE	continues towards the makeshift tripod.
[15:15]	IcePickLobotomy	You're far from the only person to be out wandering the streets at this hour, but most seem to be headed away from the towers rather than too them. You're forced into a side road due to some rubble. On the steeps of a apartment block you see a man in a turben, his head in hands as he weeps. At his feet is a body wrapped in a sheet. It's not a large one either.
[15:17]	RobinE	shivers at the thought of the body inside and tries not to keep looking. She Rubs her head wishing she didn't have a headache.
[15:24]	RobinE	decides to keep moving before someone comes looking for her.
[15:25]	IcePickLobotomy	It does nothing for the thick fuzzy pain in your head that throbs with each step. You pass more scenes of the last, paramedics working franticly to pry people out of a multicar car pile up while flames threaten them and the people trapped within. Groups of families and neighbors huddle together, some praying and weeping while others simple stand in shock. But many are helping others get to...
[15:25]	IcePickLobotomy	...safety or are treating injuries. Finally you arrive at the entrance of Tower 2, a large stream of people, many injured, are slowly making their way out of the front entrance while emergency vehicles flash nearby. A police officer atop a car is ordering people to remain calm and evacuate the area repeatedly. He switches languages every time, from English to Russian to Arabic to Farsi and...
[15:25]	IcePickLobotomy	...then back again.
[15:27]	RobinE	looks around to double check how many police are nearby.
[15:28]	IcePickLobotomy	Quite a few, several dozen at least, plus EMT's and a large group of off duty soldiers and sailors as well. You'd be hard pressed to sneak in the front entrance.
[15:29]	RobinE	figures the other towers are just as staffed, so she begins to wander around tower two looking for another way in.
[15:30]	IcePickLobotomy	There's a hanfdul of side entrances, plus the garage and you know there's a cargo access as well, though not exactly where.
[15:31]	RobinE	heads for the garage first, to see how that held up.
[15:33]	IcePickLobotomy	The garage isn't too hard to find. And it's not empty. There's some emergency lights here, and a group of workers. It's being filled with stacks of black bags. It takes you a moment to realize it's body bags, this is where they're taking the dead. The workers have stopped for the moment to take a smoke break. They make a point to face away from garage and are talking softly to one another.
[15:34]	RobinE	decides this might be a good opportunity to sneak in.
[15:36]	IcePickLobotomy	It's not hard sneaking through, but you have to step over and past several bodies. Thankfully they are enclosed in their bags.
[15:38]	RobinE	holds her breath as she passes the bodies anyway, hoping to not make any noises.
[15:39]	IcePickLobotomy	It's. . . very dark inside the stairwell. The light given off from the emergency chemical light strips is just enough to give you a idea of where to place you feet, but little more.
[15:43]	RobinE	carefully moves up the stairs, but is still a bit distracted by her headache.
[15:45]	IcePickLobotomy	You climb and climb and climb, slowly getting the sensation that you're tilting. It's probably been almost a hour when you stop.A length of the stair well some 5 feet across is gone, cold air gusting through it as the city sprawls out from under the hole in the floor. There looks to be a small ledge on one side, and on the other there is teh guard-rail but no where to place your feet.
[15:47]	RobinE	decides to test both the rail and the ledge for stability before continuing.
[15:48]	IcePickLobotomy	They both seem secure.
[15:49]	RobinE	decides sure feet are better than sure hands, she tries to go along the ledge.
[15:54]	IcePickLobotomy	You make it about half way across when the ledge gives way beneath you. You fall, only to slam into something beneath you. A piece of scaffolding leading to a empty floor was just beneath you, and you manage to land half-way in it. The safety rails knocks the wind out of you and you're certain that's going to leave a bruise, but you're not falling to your death.
[15:55]	RobinE	gasps for air, startled and mentally recovering from fear.
[15:56]	RobinE	tries to stand up on the scaffolding.
[15:56]	IcePickLobotomy	The wind wips and tears, it's cold and dark. [ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9AAlHLFp5Y ] The city sprawls out beneath you, a half dozen fires rage with a hellish red glow. Here and there are patches of flashing lights and smaller fires.
[15:59]	RobinE	looks around at the city and is hit with a wash of shame. Then she tries to refocus on trying to find a way up.
[16:00]	IcePickLobotomy	This floor is empty, filled with construction equipment. It's also pitch dark, not even the emergency light are on here.
[16:02]	RobinE	feels around for any cloth or wood bits.
[16:04]	IcePickLobotomy	Your hand flops around in the dark before it lands on something. A sharp stinging pain meets you as you snatch you hand back, blood starting to drip down from a cut on your palm.
[16:08]	RobinE	curses under her breath, she crouches for a moment to put pressure on her hand. After a few seconds she lets out an audible and disappointed "oh" and reaches into her pocket for her lighter and flips it on.
[16:09]	IcePickLobotomy	Stacks of wood with tools lay in the dark, feebly shown via the light of you fire. You're pretty sure you can find your way to the main stairwell and hopefully bypass the gap in the emergency stairwell
[16:10]	RobinE	walks over to the tools and looks for a more efficient light source.
[16:11]	IcePickLobotomy	There's a few headlamps and a large heavy duty flashlight.
[16:12]	RobinE	tries the headlamps and holds on to the first one that works.
[16:13]	RobinE	after getting a working headlamp she continues up.
[16:15]	IcePickLobotomy	The main stairwell is larger but light just as the other was. Thankfully you don't run into any more holes and manage to make your way to your floor of the tower.
[16:16]	RobinE	makes her way to the pilots housing.
[16:17]	IcePickLobotomy	The tilt here is about 20 degrees to the side. Inside most of the things have slid around somewhat. The TV lays broken near the record player. The books from the shelves coat the floor and the smell from the kitchen tells you all you need to know about its state.
[16:23]	IcePickLobotomy	RobinE: you heard someone in Arina's room, but they gone quiet as you entered the apartment.
[16:24]	RobinE	stops dead. She then looks around for a blunt instrument.
[16:25]	IcePickLobotomy	There's a umbrella on the ground
[16:26]	RobinE	goes for the umbrella, and then tries to make her way to Arina's room.
[16:26]	IcePickLobotomy	The door is open a crack
[16:36]	RobinE	kicks the door open, umbrella poised to parry.
[16:37]	IcePickLobotomy	It takes a moment to realize you're on the wrong side of a handgun. With Schofield on the right side and his own flashlight held in his free hand. He lowers the weapon "Robin, didn't expect you here."
[16:38]	RobinE	stares silently at him.
[16:39]	IcePickLobotomy	"I suppose the term "off limits" Means as much to you as it does me."
[16:41]	RobinE	"What can /they/ do to me?"
[16:42]	IcePickLobotomy	"Well that really depends on which "they" you're talking about now."
[16:43]	RobinE	"Doesn't matter," Robin lowers the umbrella and leaves to go to her room.
[16:45]	IcePickLobotomy	"It matters a lot really."
[16:46]	RobinE	"Not to me," she says as she starts to pick the lock on her footlocker.
[16:47]	IcePickLobotomy	"It should." He leans against the hallway wall near your door "Do you realize what's going to happen now that the last Intruder is gone?"
[16:49]	RobinE	"there's always something to fight isn't there?" she asks rhetorically.
[16:50]	RobinE	picks the lock and opens the footlocker. She takes out her notebook and another burnt item.
[16:50]	IcePickLobotomy	"But not always the same sort of fight. You know about that conspiracy in SciDiv you've all managed to stumble across right?"
[16:52]	RobinE	"I know /of/ one. Thats why I stole this," she flashes the METI ID card she has.
[16:53]	IcePickLobotomy	'"There's more than that. They have the Eva units coming on line in a matter of months. What does that mean for you Robin?"
[16:55]	RobinE	sighs, "months?" she stands up, "nothing."
[16:55]	IcePickLobotomy	"Everything Robin. It should mean everything. You and the other pilots have gone from a asset to a liability to them now."
[16:57]	RobinE	starts laughing. A little at first but then it sounds a bit maniacal, "I'm already a liability!"
[16:58]	IcePickLobotomy	"That may be true but the worst we'd do is pull you off the combat roster. The Eriditas? They will kill you and the rest of us if given even half the chance."
[16:59]	RobinE	heads for the door, "I'm not the one you go to for help. Go find Arina, since you seem so fond of her."
[17:00]	IcePickLobotomy	"Arina is not someone who's skillset is useful for my line of work."
[17:01]	RobinE	"Doing everything right isn't in your line of work?" she says mockingly.
[17:03]	IcePickLobotomy	"I wouldn't trust her to do my kind of work."
[17:04]	RobinE	"Well you can't trust me, /I/ can't even trust me."
[17:05]	IcePickLobotomy	"True, but I don't really trust anyone in the first place, so I'm not losing anything am I?"
[17:06]	RobinE	looks at her notebook.
[17:09]	IcePickLobotomy	"I think that part of your problem is that you have a . . particular set of skills, one that hasn't meshed with the ones of your friends. That you haven't had a chance to really put your abilities into use."
[17:10]	RobinE	"It might also be that... I'm not /that/ helpful.
[17:10]	RobinE	"
[17:11]	IcePickLobotomy	"You managed to sneak your way up here. That tells me outright that you're not completely useless. And that you're not afraid to let something as petty as law from stopping you."
[17:12]	RobinE	"But you don't know /why/ I came up here."
[17:12]	IcePickLobotomy	"I know that you did ignore the soldiers and policemen's order in order to come up here."
[17:14]	RobinE	"right, but I didn't do it because I could."
[17:14]	IcePickLobotomy	"So why did you then?"
[17:15]	IcePickLobotomy	You hear the click of a lighter from outside the door and the scent of cigarette smoke wafting in.
[17:16]	RobinE	"I, well..." she holds up the notebook, "I need to write a message. I owe someone /that/ at least."
[17:18]	IcePickLobotomy	"Planning on taking off?"
[17:18]	RobinE	"yeah"
[17:18]	IcePickLobotomy	"I don't suppose I could convince you to at least see this through could I?"
[17:19]	RobinE	"I told you, I'm /already/ a liability. I'm only going to make things worse."
[17:21]	IcePickLobotomy	"I know what you told me." He takes a long drag "And I think you're wrong. Or at least that you've not had a chance to find something you're actually useful for."
[17:22]	RobinE	"Why now? Did Walker put you up to this?"
[17:23]	IcePickLobotomy	"No no, in fact Walker wouldn't approve of my trying to recruit you I think.""
[17:23]	RobinE	"Oh..."
[17:23]	IcePickLobotomy	"She always was a tad too soft-hearted for my line of work."
[17:24]	RobinE	"Well, if Walker wouldn't want me to, I probably shouldn't."
[17:25]	IcePickLobotomy	"What Walker wants for you, and the situation you find yourself in are heavly divorced Robin. You want to go away, and I can understand that, but I'm offering you the chance to be useful before you do."
[17:26]	IcePickLobotomy	"Maybe you'll even decide to stick around, but. . well that's up to you really."
[17:28]	RobinE	"I don't know I just..." she looks up at him tears in her eyes, "I just don't want to fail everyone anymore."
[17:28]	IcePickLobotomy	"That's the wonderful thing about our line of work Robin. We work out of sight, so when we fail only those who already know what we were doing realize our mistakes."
[17:29]	RobinE	"But couldn't we cause people more trouble?"
[17:30]	IcePickLobotomy	"Yes but they won't know." He smiles "And that's what we aim to do, we want to cause trouble for certain people afterall."
[17:33]	RobinE	looks to be heavily debating.
[17:34]	IcePickLobotomy	"I don't need a answer now."
[17:34]	RobinE	"We wouldn't tell anyone?"
[17:35]	IcePickLobotomy	"That's a requirement of our work. It's known that I am doing my part and that I do work with some people but for the most part I keep what I am doing to myself."
[17:35]	IcePickLobotomy	"Need to know afterall."
[17:36]	RobinE	"And...and you really think I could help?"
[17:36]	IcePickLobotomy	"If I honestly though you were useless I wouldn't have wasted my time."
[17:38]	RobinE	puts on a face of resignation, "I hate this place," she lets out a sigh, "alright, but if more harm than good comes from this..."
[17:38]	IcePickLobotomy	"I won't stop you if you decide to walk away.
[17:39]	RobinE	walks back into her room and reaches behind a her old bed. Revealing a small stash of whiskey. She takes a bottle and begins to drink.
[17:40]	RobinE	walks for the door, "I should get back."
[17:41]	IcePickLobotomy	"You probably should. I need to secure any other. . . sensitive documents. I'll see you later then."
[17:41]	RobinE	"Oh yeah," she spins around, "what are you doing in Arina's room?"
[17:43]	IcePickLobotomy	"Panty raid." he dead pans before waving a brown envelope folder. "I was checking everyone's rooms for documents you shouldn't have so that clean up crews wouldn't run into them."
[17:44]	RobinE	"sure... weirdo." she too deadpans, spins back around, and walks out, "don't worry, I wont tell Arina you were peeking."
[17:45]	IcePickLobotomy	He snorts "I'd appreciate it."
[17:46]	RobinE	walks out of the housing, downs the little rest of the whiskey, and begins her hunt for a way down.