A Scripta

Characters: Konsp1r4cy Th30ry (KT), Symlin (Sym), Whiteberry (Berry)

KT touched the hilts of his knives, as if looking for reassurance. Sym sat leisurely in the train’s seat, her feet stretched out before her. The train slowed as it approached the station in Kings Row. KT warily watched the doors open, and then turned suddenly with a blade in his hand, facing Berry.

“Nice to see you too,” Berry said, and backed away from the blade as the doors hissed shut. He took a seat across the aisle from Sym, out of KT's arm’s reach, but not out of the range of his guns if he chose to use them. “So, what’s up?”

“We have an assignment from Impetus,” Symlin said.

“Pretty high up,” Berry retorted, pulling out one of his phones. “Who’s this ‘Volt’ guy?”

“Outcast. He has something we’ve been looking for.”

“A PLOT device?"

KT said, slightly worried, "Do you have any idea what that even means?”

Sym sighed. “It’s language theory, KT.”

“Oh.” He went back to looking out the window.

“So sayeth Google,” said Berry, settling back in his seat. “Steel Canyon?”

Sym nodded, and Berry turned to his phone. Sym was lost in the web, and KT contemplated how long it would take someone to pull up the seats to use them as a weapon. The train deposited them at Steel Canyon, and the three took different directions to get to the door of their assignment. It was an abandoned office, one of many in the Canyon.

Berry scanned the foyer, and declared it clear, so the group entered. KT had his gun already drawn, and jumped into the room ready to spray it with lead. Berry kept looking through the cameras in the office, flipping through them and assessing the situation. "Six of them in the room beyond...eight in the corridor..." Sym searched for computers, but didn't see that they were using them. They also weren't using any kind of technological device, as most of their powers were innate and mutations. All she could do was shock them. KT opened up on them happily.

They quickly retrieved the PLOT device - a black box - and Sym announced, "Impetus wants us. He'll meet us in Atlas Park."

Berry said, "I swear I didn't see the porn from his phone..."

Sym gave Berry a glare, and KT laughed. The three went to Atlas Park, and followed Sym into a theater. She walked by the unmanned ticket counter, beyond the foyer and into the theater itself. She took a seat in the back and the two men flanked her. The lights didn't dim, and they were the only ones in the theater.

"Well, this is pretty inconspicuous," KT muttered.

Someone came into the theater, a man dressed in a plain dark suit wearing sunglasses. He looked unpresuming, delicate even. However, he had the strength to throw a car across Prometheus Lake, had better sight and hearing than a cat, and the telepathic ability to tear apart people's minds. Most of it was augmentation, some of it was magic, some was devices.

"Good to see you all," he said. "Next time, we'll meet in a sewer, if that will please you, KT?"

KT looked away, muttering again. The man stood before them, and held out his hand. A life-sized hologram stood before them, a blond man in a black trench coat. "You've met Grimaulkin, Symlin?"

"Berry and I contacted him," she said. "He said he would contact us."

The hologram disappeared. "And we cannot push him. Maybe we should contact him again, to remind him of our existence?"

Berry nodded. "Done."

"Symlin, you will be our primary contact with him. Meet with him and work with him - he is a mage and although he may not trust us, he's curious above all."

"Yes, Impetus," Sym said.

"In the meantime, are there any questions?"

"Is this man our primary target?" asked KT.

"At some point, I should like to establish a partnership with the Safe Havens group, but other technomancers have already infiltrated it. Even now, they are working to fill their ranks among those in that group."

"More cyborgs," KT muttered darkly.

Impetus raised an eyebrow. "They are technomancers of a different sort, KT, that is all."

"Yeah," said Berry, "like you should talk, Scissorhands."

KT glared at Berry and flushed red at the same time. Although Mechanae had saved his hands and given him new metal ones with more strength than a human's, he was very self-conscious about it and constantly wore gloves to cover them.

Impetus continued, "Unfortunately, they are secretive and tradition-bound, yet are a dying race because of it. We have nothing against them, they only wish to survive. The Safe Havens may have made their decision about all technomancers because of their actions - Grimaulkin certainly has, since he doesn't trust us, even though we are not like them." He started to the door. "We should not approach them until after the dust settles."

Symlin asked, "What do you mean?"

"ORACLE saw something, though they won't tell me what." He turned back to them. "You have your orders."

"Yes, sir," they all said, and got up from the chairs. Impetus stepped through the door outside and disappeared from their sight.