Sept 28: Stakeout! (And Maybe Spiders)

by **John Hino** » Mon Apr 20, 2015 7:58 pm

In a disguised X-Van, John sat out of street view watching a multi-screen video feed of the CCTV cameras around Dalston Kingsland Station. He was also eating a burger because stakeout.

(open for X-Men)

by **Narrator** » Mon Apr 20, 2015 8:48 pm

There are hundreds of people passing by on the screens, going to and fro in the tube station and the adjacent underground walkway. None of them look anything like Yui's entourage and it's mind-numbingly boring to watch business-people and tourists move around. The masses never quite thin out completely either, begging the question of where exactly they intend to move brainwashed slave-labor through without being noticed. Especially since John is watching all the areas they are likely to avoid due to the security cameras.

by **Will Stanton** » Tue Apr 21, 2015 6:39 pm

Will came back with yet another bag of hamburgers.

"Ahh, stake out. What'd I miss?"

by **John Hino** » Tue Apr 21, 2015 6:55 pm

"Beside a couple engaging in sloppy public tongue sports, absolutely nothing," he answered, switching a screen back to a few robo-roach cameras watching service doors.

by **Will Stanton** » Tue Apr 21, 2015 9:12 pm

Will looked at the cameras for a while.

"OK, so you have all the main cameras covered, and the service door. What DON'T you have covered?" he said, thinking.

by **John Hino** » Wed Apr 22, 2015 9:28 am

"The right thing, apparently," he said with frustration.

by **Melissa Castro** » Wed Apr 22, 2015 9:37 am

"So far nothing on my end either," Melissa projected to them from where she was sitting on a bench in ratty clothes with a bottle in a brown paper bag. "You owe me a manicure for this, John." She stood up and stumbled along, moving to another bench for a different view. Her mind floated around, trying to get a sense of anything out of place without, you know, actually invading anyone's thoughts.

by **John Hino** » Wed Apr 22, 2015 1:58 pm

"You should see how much they charge for claws."

by **Will Stanton** » Wed Apr 22, 2015 2:12 pm

"I don't suppose they could be going through the crawlworks or something, where the wiring and cables are?"

by **John Hino** » Wed Apr 22, 2015 2:19 pm

"It doesn't seem likely, but maybe a look is in order."

by **Will Stanton** » Wed Apr 22, 2015 2:32 pm

"Well, they're not going to take them through the central terminal, right? Unless they're hidden somewhere."

by **John Hino** » Wed Apr 22, 2015 3:17 pm

"I wouldn't even fit in a place like that so honestly it didn't cross my mind."

by **Will Stanton** » Wed Apr 22, 2015 3:57 pm

"Not all of us are as large as you, John. These girls--they're fairly small, right?"

by **John Hino** » Wed Apr 22, 2015 4:00 pm

"Right. Good idea to check it out... but take a mini-cam with you okay?"

by **Will Stanton** » Wed Apr 22, 2015 4:03 pm

"Sure, but maybe we're making this too complicated. I mean, let's think for a minute. If you had to carry your massive club through customs or something, how would you hide it?"

by **John Hino** » Wed Apr 22, 2015 6:53 pm

"Hidden in a compartment in something inconspicuous."

by **Will Stanton** » Wed Apr 22, 2015 9:54 pm

"Hidden, right...has anyone, I dunno, been carrying huge duffle bags or something like that? Something a bit out of the ordinary for the subway?"

by **Narrator** » Wed Apr 22, 2015 10:07 pm

None of them had spotted anybody carrying anything larger than a big traveler's backpack. Then again, they are looking for people transporting potentially willing victims.

by **Melissa Castro** » Thu Apr 23, 2015 8:05 am

Melissa started looking for oddities in people's behavior. Emotional radiation that seemed out of place or maybe couples that weren't as close as they looked.

by **John Hino** » Thu Apr 23, 2015 10:02 am

"Hiding in plain..."

"Look for anyone your powers have trouble getting a bead on. Kumo might not be the only demon."

by **Will Stanton** » Thu Apr 23, 2015 1:36 pm

"So, a demon is just walking through the station? You're sure they're coming this way?" Will asked, likely for the 47th time.

by **Narrator** » Thu Apr 23, 2015 1:46 pm

That's when the speaker-system of the station crackles to life.

"Attention all passengers on the Blue Line. The train has encountered technical difficulties and will need to shut down once it reaches the station. All passengers will be required to leave the train at this time. I repeat..."

by **John Hino** » Thu Apr 23, 2015 2:12 pm

"They rode the train!"John groaned. He started typing furiously on the van's terminal, ~~hacking into~~ borrowing access to the transportation grid to find where the incident occurred.

by **Narrator** » Thu Apr 23, 2015 2:17 pm

Somewhere between station and the previous one there apparently had been some malfunction. The train briefly stopped somewhere in the tunnels before being moved to the station for safety reasons.

by **John Hino** » Thu Apr 23, 2015 2:28 pm

He disconnected as he looked to Will. "Let's move."

by **Will Stanton** » Thu Apr 23, 2015 2:37 pm

"Finally!" Will said, bolting out of the car and headed for the station at full jog.

by **Melissa Castro** » Thu Apr 23, 2015 2:39 pm

Melissa pitched her prop bottle in a bin and moved to where she could connect up with John and Will. She kept a mental eye on the crowd to see if anyone reacted aggressively to their arrival.

by **Narrator** » Thu Apr 23, 2015 2:51 pm

The crowd is kind of weary as a whole. And that's when the train comes to a stop inside the station. The doors slide open and you can barely even make out the "Mind the gap" of the conductor over the general noise of the annoyed crowd. "...nothing even wrong... looks fine to me...bloody hell...just move...watch it..." Will and John's arrival on the scene seems to not make much difference, though a couple people on the fringes of the crowd eye John warily.

by **John Hino** » Thu Apr 23, 2015 3:19 pm

"Perhaps one of you should ask about what exactly happened," he said, noticing the stares.

by **Will Stanton** » Thu Apr 23, 2015 3:44 pm

Will looked for the first important-looking person he could fine. "What's with the delay? Some of us have places to be."

by **Narrator** » Thu Apr 23, 2015 3:57 pm

"We don't know yet." the ticket-control-person politely tries to brush him off. Some passerby helpfully supplies a bit more detail.

"The lights went out and everything jerked to a stop. Banged me head on one of them bloody bars for holding on to. Took them forever to bring the emergency lights on and then we crawled into the station at a feet a minute. This is bollocks. First they shut down St. Pauls station for a month, now this! What do i pay my weekly tube fare for, eh?"

by **Will Stanton** » Thu Apr 23, 2015 7:23 pm

"It stopped mid-tunnel? About how far back?" Will said, shooting a look at John.

by **Narrator** » Thu Apr 23, 2015 7:38 pm

"I dunno. Was pretty dark and the tunnel all looks the same. Hey, when is the train gonna start going again?" the man answers Will bruskly before bugging the train conductor.

by **John Hino** » Thu Apr 23, 2015 7:54 pm

John nodded and started walking.

"Melissa, can you cause a telepathic distraction or something to mask our entry?"

by **Melissa Castro** » Thu Apr 23, 2015 7:58 pm

"I'll do my best." She said, moving close to them and radiating a 'we're not important, we should be ignored' kind of sense.

by **Narrator** » Thu Apr 23, 2015 8:22 pm

It's an uphill battle to maintain because John (and by association Will and Melissa) begin to draw more and more attention just from his appearance and the fact that they showed up just when something happened to the train. There's a lot of worry and curiosity floating around about whether something that went wrong requires the attention of the X-Men from the people who recognized the giant lizard and the green-haired guy. Others are more eyeing them with suspicion. There's at least five cellphone cameras aimed at them.

by **Melissa Castro** » Thu Apr 23, 2015 8:25 pm

"Shit. Let's just go." Melissa tried to turn up the power a bit, adjusting the hood on her ratty hoody self consciously, but there wasn't really much she could do about the phone cameras.

by **John Hino** » Thu Apr 23, 2015 9:00 pm

"Damnit! Now they'll move the site," he thought as he jumped down by the tracks.

by **Will Stanton** » Thu Apr 23, 2015 9:08 pm

Will just gave an apologetic smile and wave, and started sliding his way through the crowd towards the tracks.

by **Melissa Castro** » Fri Apr 24, 2015 9:46 am

Melissa headed a slightly different direction, trying to divorce herself from the more obvious X-Men as she still made her way in the general direction of the tracks.

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