I1: Once Upon A Time In Madripoor

by **John Hino** » Fri Feb 27, 2015 9:36 pm

John, in his best businessman attire, stepped out of his private jet onto the floor of the rented hangar. The cover story? John was there representing his father in a potential investment. The mission? Investigate Henry Hereford's highrise project.

(The team? Why X-Men of course.)

by **Narrator** » Mon Mar 02, 2015 1:56 pm

"Mister Hino! Welcome to Madripoor." The man approaching him with an outstretched hand looks like a businessman, but his body language and the two armed and uniformed guards standing back some hint at the fact that he likely belongs to the border police. He's simply the polite face they put forward for people landing in their private planes. "Will you be needing any assistance with your luggage?"

by **John Hino** » Mon Mar 02, 2015 3:08 pm

John accepted the the handshake

"Thank you, but I believe I have everything all well in hand. My driver should be along any moment now and I'm certainly strong enough to help unload my own things."

by **Narrator** » Mon Mar 02, 2015 3:31 pm

"Naturally. We're just here to make sure protocol is observed. It would be a shame if we had to delay your business here with unnecessary searches." he says, clearly fishing for a bribe.

by **John Hino** » Mon Mar 02, 2015 3:45 pm

"It would indeed," he nodded conversationally. As Madripoorian customs seemed to dictate, John discreetly slipped the man some cash. It made him feel dirty.

Just think of it as a gratuity.

by **Narrator** » Mon Mar 02, 2015 4:13 pm

The man smiles politely. "This way then." he says and he motions for the other two officers to escort John and his luggage out of the hangar. A car is already waiting for him, the driver asking him where he'd like to go once his things are in the trunk.

by **John Hino** » Mon Mar 02, 2015 4:59 pm

John told his driver to take him to the upscale hotel he'd found close to Hereford's highrise. He intended to make a show of his business activity, and even a little sightseeing of the variety to cater to the expectations set for wealthy travelers, to cement his cover task before using the evening to sneak into the construction site. However he was using his travels about Hightown to scout Hereford's minor repair projects as well.

by **Narrator** » Mon Mar 02, 2015 5:47 pm

Driving past some of the construction doesn't reveal too much, though it does let John get a better idea of the lay of the land and lets him notice that they are being followed by a silver Mercedes. When they pull up to the hotel his pursuers seem to back off, the car driving off. People at the hotel are already waiting for John. Interestingly enough, so is a message for him. It seems a Mr. Cheong of Yongming Electronics has invited him to dinner for the next day, presumably to discuss business.

by **John Hino** » Mon Mar 02, 2015 7:59 pm

John took note of his tail... well, the other one... and was glad his daytime activities had little, if anything, to reveal. Once he was alone in his suite, he closed the curtains and put a large suitcase on the bed. He opened a secret compartment, took out a small scanner, and began checking for bugs and other hidden devices.

by **Narrator** » Mon Mar 02, 2015 8:23 pm

There don't seem to be any bugs or other things hidden in the hotel room.

by **John Hino** » Mon Mar 02, 2015 8:34 pm

With that done, he decided to look up this Mr. Cheong before proceeding with his schedule.

by **Narrator** » Mon Mar 02, 2015 9:43 pm

He owns a company manufacturing parts for consumer electronics and is doing alright, though for Hightown standards he's barely scraping by. It seems like he somehow heard about John's travel plans and saw it as an opportunity. There's nothing that really hints at him being involved in any shady dealings though chances are he's paying protection money to somebody who is.

by **John Hino** » Mon Mar 02, 2015 9:59 pm

"Probably a red herring," he told himself. Then he prepared to continue his day. Assuming nothing unexpected happened, he would return to gather his equipment and head to the highrise after the day's construction ended.

by **Narrator** » Tue Mar 03, 2015 10:41 am

John arrives just in time to watch the last of the construction crew leave and lock the gate of the construction fence. It looks like there is actually some security watching the perimeter. At least one guard at the main gate and two patrols going along the fence. The rest of the tower skeleton of steel girders sits eerily empty and quiet against the bright lights of the rest of Madripoor's skyline.

by **John Hino** » Tue Mar 03, 2015 11:11 am

John, armored and wearing an unmarked black ensemble to better blend into the night, waited until between patrols and brought up a grapple gun.

"I love being rich," he said with an 'I've always wanted to do this' grin before firing it at the girders and using it to quickly scale the fence.

by **Narrator** » Tue Mar 03, 2015 11:33 am

John feels watched for a moment but as he's whisked up and over the fence the feeling disappears. Just paranoia about breaking an entering. The street is empty and no guards are near this part of the fence right now.

by **John Hino** » Tue Mar 03, 2015 11:43 am

He recovered the hook and reloaded the launcher for later. Then he began snooping, using another device to search for signs of active electronic devices.

by **Narrator** » Tue Mar 03, 2015 12:08 pm

A quick sweep of the area doesn't reveal what John is looking for. Either the device hasn't been installed yet or it's turned off. He does however come across the foreman's office. It doesn't seem to have any windows and instead of a lock it has a keypad, which had shown up on John's scanner.

by **John Hino** » Tue Mar 03, 2015 12:13 pm

So he used his hacking tool to bypass the lock on the totally not suspicious windowless office.

by **Narrator** » Tue Mar 03, 2015 12:26 pm

It appears to actually be an office, complete with a couple filing cabinets and blueprints spread out on a desk. None of them seem to indicate where they plan on installing the device, but they show a surprising amount of underground construction that has been done. Most notably is probably the fact that while the highrise itself doesn't directly border Lowtown, the underground construction seems to extent in that direction.

by **John Hino** » Tue Mar 03, 2015 2:53 pm

John took pictures of the blueprints before heading to the underground section.

by **Narrator** » Tue Mar 03, 2015 3:02 pm

The basement area is locked, but that hardly stops John. It is extremely dark down there though and seemingly empty and unused. At least this particular part.

by **John Hino** » Tue Mar 03, 2015 3:16 pm

He began scanning again as he kept his eyes peeled for data cables and the like, grateful for his excellent innate night-vision.

by **Narrator** » Tue Mar 03, 2015 3:52 pm

There's nothing on his scanner that wouldn't just be the cables running underneath Madripoor. Occasionally he might get the feeling that he's being followed, but when he turns around the hallway is dark and empty. There are some unfinished rooms down here but after a while it's just a corridor. One that eventually ends in a large security door that's wide enough for a vehicle to pass through.

by **John Hino** » Tue Mar 03, 2015 4:14 pm

He told himself he was just being jumpy. Even with being able to see in the dark the place was creepy.

"If I were door controls, where would I be..." he mused as he examined around the doors.

by **Narrator** » Tue Mar 03, 2015 10:51 pm

There's a keypad in the wall next to the door, but it appears to be without any electricity. There is a manual release for the door on this side, though most people would have trouble moving the massive thing.

by **John Hino** » Wed Mar 04, 2015 10:44 am

Lucky for John he was a hulking lizardman. He gripped the manual release wheel and tried turning it.

Don't be full of giant spiders. Don't be full of giant spiders. Don't be full of giant spiders.

by **Narrator** » Wed Mar 04, 2015 11:33 am

On the other side is a huge dark room. Stacks of shipping containers cast long shadows while fluorescent light shines through the open door at the other end of the warehouse. The smell of the ocean wafts in from the big open door. It seems he has come out at the harbor in Lowtown. In the distance he can hear the faint sound of engines and voices.

by **John Hino** » Wed Mar 04, 2015 11:48 am

"Curiouser and curiouser," he muttered to himself as he headed inside. He stuck to the shadows as he poked around, hoping to locate an office with a shipping manifest.

by **Narrator** » Wed Mar 04, 2015 11:59 am

John doesn't find an office, but as he's sneaking through the warehouse the engine sounds get closer until a military-looking truck rolls through the front gate. Two armed guards are walking next to it as the driver pulls up next to one of the shipping containers.

by **John Hino** » Wed Mar 04, 2015 12:27 pm

John crept closer to listen. If they were moving what he thought they were moving, he couldn't let that happen.

by **Narrator** » Wed Mar 04, 2015 12:45 pm

The two guards open up the shipping container and two workers hop out of the back of the truck and begin unloading crates and packages. It's hard to tell for sure but they almost look like rations and water bottles and a couple of worn-out blankets

"That the only one to prep this week?" one of the guards asks while glancing around at some of the other shipping containers.

"Yeah. Things have been slow because everyone's spooked about the dumb rumor about that Shadow thing. It's just someone with a chip on their shoulder."

"Well, the boss-lady seemed to take it serious enough." the first guard says, nodding at what appears to be four long fluorescent tube lights that one of the workers is carrying into the container.

by **John Hino** » Wed Mar 04, 2015 3:03 pm

John cursed himself for not bringing his little flying camera and moved to try and see inside the container.

by **Narrator** » Wed Mar 04, 2015 3:12 pm

John circles around the group to catch a glimpse into the container. There's nothing inside except what has been carried in. The two workers are currently attaching the light tubes to the vertical edges on the inside. Apparently they want to make sure that the inside is lit very well. They finish and go back to the truck to grab a couple thin mattresses to throw into the container. As he watches them the tarp covering the back of the truck is lifted up by a hand wearing a dark glove. A moment later a loud thwunk impacts in the wall next to John's head, followed by what sounds like Chinese cursing and a woman's voice barking a command at the guards. "We're not alone!"

by **John Hino** » Wed Mar 04, 2015 3:57 pm

"So much for going unseen," he said to himself, taking a quick look at the impact site before moving.

by **Narrator** » Wed Mar 04, 2015 4:13 pm

Embedded in the concrete wall is what looks like a metal pin. As he's watching it pulls itself free and zips back the way it came to the woman climbing out of the back of the truck. She's wearing a black domino mask and a cloak over a leather combat suit of some sort. She's holding another small metal pin between her fingers and it goes flying off in John's direction faster than the eye can follow. It ends up punching a tiny hole right through the wall, barely missing John thanks to him already being on the move.

by **John Hino** » Wed Mar 04, 2015 4:31 pm

He decided to use containers as cover and circle closer. While he thought his armor could probably protect him, he didn't feel like testing the theory if he could avoid it.

by **Narrator** » Wed Mar 04, 2015 4:45 pm

As he sneaks through the maze of containers he rounds a corner and comes face to face with one of the guards, who seem to have had a similar idea. Except he didn't anticipate running into a giant lizard and thus he's too surprised to do anything except clutching his machine gun.

by **John Hino** » Wed Mar 04, 2015 7:59 pm

John grabbed the barrel and crushed it closed.

"Boo," he said with a grin.

by **Narrator** » Wed Mar 04, 2015 8:13 pm

The guard let's go of his weapon and staggers back with a high-pitched shriek. A second later three metal pins hammer through the containers in rapid succession in a spread. One of them catches the guard in the thigh by accident and the man crumbles to the floor, clutching his leg.

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