Settle The Score | The Assassination of Fenix Down (Player Plot Open-Log)

[aelwyn_aberration]

Who: Aelwyn + Anyone Who Wants To Be Involved In This Assassination
When: April
Where: Around Gloucester, Springfield, the Circus, assorted other locations.
Summary: A murder is planned, executed, and staged. The details are yet to come.
Warnings: Discussions of murder, actual murder, blackmail, espionage, gaslighting, TBA.

[Several months ago, following the Circus' initial visit, Aelwyn was given permission to take down Fenix Down and his circus. Now, after more recent revelations about their unseen enemy, the plan has become a higher priority.

The plan is as follows. To ensure that this doesn't implicate ADI, a false cult will be created for this specific purpose. They'll keep the entity behind it vague, but one must be selected to ensure anyone paying enough attention would be able to identify it. They'll create conspiracy theories, fabricate old reports from decades ago to make it seem like this group is only recently being resurrected.

And then, with that done, they'll execute the plan itself. Staging the kidnapping and murder as if it was the act of that cult, and an extensive interrogation.

OOC Post here!]

Comments

[apocalypsehownpcs]

Ah, well, that's their job, isn't it? They don't have any real eye for up-and-comers." There's a sharpness that touches his gaze as he takes another look over Jeff. "Improved your act, though? You didn't bring someone with to demonstrate on, did you? Can't say I'm really a fan of the whole twisty thing being thrown my way. If not, we can head into town, get you a nice little meal. Maybe a snack for me, too, come back here and chow down. What do you say, Jeff?

"You got me interested."

[failedpromise]

(Internet backdoor creative solutions, huh? Cortana grins, cocking her head to the side.)

Depends? What's the project?

[thedoctorsmate]

"I mean..." Donna looks off to the side, lowering her voice. "How old is she? She just comes off like a know-it-all teenager. Got the whole high and mighty thing going on. It's just annoying." A small shrug. "Not the sort of personality I get on with, not from a kid who thinks she's got it all figured out."

That's been Donna's impression thus far, anyway.

"So, what'd you see on the tape? Have you still got it?"

[failedpromise]

Organics like coffee. At least, everyone she's encountered seems to, to the point of obsession.

She's brought a big steaming mug with her to offer Meredith. It's black-no idea what the woman takes her coffee with-but she's brought a few packets of cream and sweetener to provide some options.

"You know, I was thinking... it might be possible to stage some actual crimes to go with our falsified reports."

[henchgal]

Faking a cult, and making it seem like it's been around for a while. Backdating posts on conspiracy forums, making news articles, generally putting information out without it being clear it's all new stuff.

Honestly, I don't know how to go about that. Do you?

[henchgal]

"It might be. That'd be the purview of another department, probably, though. How would you get people to connect it to our cult?" She doctors the coffee with some sugar and cream, then lifts the mug in salute. "Thanks, by the way. Have you heard my yawning from across the office?"

cw: immolation, injury, body horror, transformation, Circus Circus warnings

[henchgal]

"Tim probably still has it, yeah. It was...pretty horrific stuff. Um. We watched a man burn to death and then come back to life as, um. Not human anymore. An Avatar of the Desolation."

Mere shakes her head to clear it like an etch-a-sketch.

[failedpromise]

It'd probably be best to get someone else to write the articles, but the rest of it should be simple enough.

(500 years in the past, cybersecurity is a joke. She wouldn't even need to outwit any AI.)

Gonna tell me the goal of this little endeavor?

[henchgal]

We're providing cover for a group that's going to do a field op--Aelwyn's in charge of the boots on the ground, my job is just to get the paperwork going. But our cult is going to keep ADI's name out of the matter.

[Look, it's not that she doesn't trust Cortana, it's just not her place to tell all the details.]

[musicdied]

ADI. I'm sure Down would have been happy for the cannon fodder.

[Which, in her estimation, is exactly what someone brand new to this world would be.]

[failedpromise]

(Well, clearly she won't be getting all the details. That's okay, she'll just have to find out on her own later.)

Alright. I'll help. (For now.)

[musicdied]

"I was thinking we could get an Uber."

She smiles, just a little crookedly. "There are some benefits to risking tetanus in haunted ruins. People are willing to buy the strangest things, as long as they're old."

[lesbeau]

[Beau snorts, a little grin creeping across her face. Alright, this guy knows how to have a good time. Most people with notable scars do, and this guy absolutely takes that cake, so.]

Got convinced to go to this weird circus in a small town once, and then an old guy died during the show. Me n' a couple others were caught sneaking around at the time so we had to clear our names by figuring out what the fuck happened. Turns out it was a demon frog that was like, eating the life of this little singing girl. We took his head.

[In retrospect, they probably didn't need to do that, but she's never lost sleep over it.]

'Ss how I met my team. My uh, my friends. Kinda small in comparison to some of the other things we took heads from later.

[aelwyn_aberration]

You'd think they wouldn't, right? After all, an agent of the ADI defecting to the circus should be disastrous for multiple reasons. But ADI's response to nearly everything so far is to sit on their hands and hope for the best, so somehow I doubt they'd do something about it even in that case.

I had to suggest this directly to Nia for them to even consider going after Down.

Given the amount of care and effort they've taken to protect or even oversee us I'm sure they would promptly do absolutely nothing.

[aelwyn_aberration]

[Aelwyn steps into the room, her hands folded behind her back. The pain is getting to her, admittedly. Seriously, what an annoying power. She rolls a natural 20 on her constitution saving throw to resist showing any reaction, however, so she's still composed for now.

Her eyes are cold as she looks down on him. There's a small chilly container next to her and a notebook in her other hand.]

Good. Then an exchange. For the record, I have no intention of torturing you or your little friends unless you give me adequate reason.

Faulkner, Yuan, Reid, and Eames, Inc. ADI. The Web. Tell me what you know, and we can work something out.

[musicdied]

It's true they're more reactive than proactive.

But I can't help thinking that there are more of us who are missing than are still here. It wouldn't be hard to tuck a few bodies into that number.

[And she knows full well that some of the missing had no interest in following ADI's rules regarding use of magic.

Or maybe it's just comforting to think that there might actually be an answer to the missing, however appalling that answer might be.]

[aelwyn_aberration]

I've never discounted the idea that ADI buried all of them, frankly.

But honestly if it was all them, I can't help but think that they'd come up with a better story than "whoops we lost 'em all!!!"

But yes, among the numbers are probably a few that ADI did away with.

[musicdied]

That definitely isn't a story you come up with on purpose when there are options that don't breed half as many questions.

And anyone who would come up with that as their cover story would definitely fuck up enough to get caught at least once with that many bodies.

[apocalypsehownpcs]

[As soon as she's in his sights, the pain starts to increase, as well as the apparent temperature around her. It's not burning, yet, but like a very warm and muggy day.]

Uh huh. Funny thing about 'adequate.' Everybody's got different definitions. Personally, I've got no probably torturing you while you've got me here, my girl.

But I'm guessing... law firm on the first one? Sounds like a law firm. ADI's your lot from what I know, and spiders? Always gave me the willies, personally.

[whisperedone]

[That's certainly a story. He chuckles and nods sagely.]

Now that's another day in a week. How I met my team was far less exciting, it involved a place called the Dead Reeds, part of the K'twal swamp...far less fun than an evil carnival. Smells just as strongly, though.

[Her story does beg a question, however, and he tries to cast about in his own thoughts as to why she and her group might go around cutting off heads. It didn't...sound like it was for fun, then again, maybe he was just missing the appeal.]

Were you taking their heads as proof they were dead...? Or...to interrogate later?

cw: mild ableist language/insinuations

[thedoctorsmate]

She can't help blanching. "Oh, my god... what the hell? Is that- Is that how they all do it? Something horrible like that?" The thought of people doing that to themselves is horrifying. Which is, she supposes, the point. But still.

"Who would ever want to do that to themselves? You've got to be mental."

[failedpromise]

"Maybe." Mostly she just knows that coffee is popular and tends to improve the mood of anyone who drinks it.

"I think anything that makes it clear that there's a dark association would likely rouse sufficient suspicion." They are supposed to be a darkness cult, yeah?

cw for discussion of heavy psychological torture

[aelwyn_aberration]

[She shakes her head. She suspects that more heavy handed methods will be necessary.]

You're not being a very gracious guest, little man. After all the effort we went to invite you? I'm hurt.

This? This isn't torture. Torture is being stuck, unable to move, with nothing but your traitorous thoughts to keep you company. Torture is feeling your sanity drip out of your ears as you succumb, again and again. Torture is hoping desperately that someone will come and put a bullet in your head, because you know that nobody is ever going to help you, because there is nobody left to give a damn about you. Torture is when they shake their head and sigh as you beg for them to end it, because they know what's best for you, and complaining isn't it.

I arrived in this world affiliated with your pathetic little fire god, but I know that much.

[She opens up the cooler, taking out a bottle of liquid nitrogen and examining it. She also draws out a container of sawdust.]

I want a written statement, ideally... A full, comprehensive written statement and then we'll leave your little clown show alone. Otherwise, well... I suppose we'll just have to massacre your entire posse. Penny and Roderick would be difficult but, well.

[She shakes the container of sawdust with a smirk.]

Not impossible by a wide margin.

[bloodalwaystells]

Working at a distance is just fine with Jaeger: while he's not hopeless in close combat, closing with Penny seems like a genuinely bad idea when there's someone else better suited to it. He isn't hopeful that they can take her down before it comes down to melee, but, well, they're going to do their best.

His headset is properly secured, his eyes scanning the chaos for their target and to make best use of the space available to them. Flickers of light from cell phones and the distant shine of the first aid station aren't enough to really illuminate the scene, but on the other hand...maybe he can draw her out.

And get some of the innocent bystanders out of the way. He's thinking in terms of tactics, of life or death decisions, and right now, he needs his power. If it comes with a price, well, a little fear is preferable to unnecessary deaths.

Winter is the one with the superior vision. When he narrows down an area of attack? Jaeger will be ready.

cw: discussion of massacres

[apocalypsehownpcs]

The entire circus? [For a moment, he sounds surprised.] Oh, girly. Take a video, kid. You looking to go the full way, set up your own ritual? Gotta say, I employ a lot of humans, but you'd have been better bombing the place while we were in full swing. Way more sacrifices. Rookie mistake. That's why you got a guy like me. If you're looking to actually go pro... I could make arrangements, consider this your audition.

[He seems to be completely unflustered by her smile or the containers.] What do you mean 'arrived' in this world, though? No one gets born to Dancing Flame. Nice thought.