3719/Ships Passing in the Night

Ships Passing in the Night
Date of Scene:	23 January 2018
Location:	Unknown
Synopsis:	Summary needed
Cast of Characters:	Nuala Duvall, Shadowlite

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Nuala Duvall has posed:
    LexCorp. The research facility does not have nearly the same level of fancy branding that some other buildings have. There isn't much that happens here that should be in the public eye. Weapons technology seems to be the focus of this particular lab. There aren't any finished weapons here, Electronic components are designed here to be used in everything from advanced firearms to automated weapons.
    Nuala doesn't care about any of that. It's not her problem. She drops out of the Sea Song. She only arrived yesterday on Earth, and she already has a suspiscious event to investigate. There was a possible parasitic landing about a mile from here, and the sensors tracked the signature to this building. She walks up to the outside gate, and brings up her interface on the slim suit. She speaks in a strange language into the communicator, and the cameras shut off, as do the lights on the south side of the complex.

Shadowlite has posed:
Unfortunately, the south side of the complex was the only part of the building that Shadowlite could get a good look at from the outside, so when he jumps into one of the side rooms via portal, he comes out into pitch black.

Fortunately, Shadowlite can see in pitch black, so he's perfectly content... even if he does note the lack of power.

Wearing his trenchcoat and black Darkforce suit, the mutant mercenary takes a look around, one of his Sneeper plasma pistols pulled from their holsters as he looks for any trouble. "The fuck?" Shadowlite quietly muses to himself in confusion, before he relaxes his arm. His voice scrambler is in full effect, as is his set of AR goggles. He scans for thermal and electronic signatures, hoping to catch a device or person responsible in his room.

"Huh."

Nuala Duvall has posed:
    Nuala is unaware of Shadowlite's arrival, and outside she grips the fence with her slim suit clad fingers. The armor is light, and she easily scales the fence, disregarding the cyclone as she pulls her way through it. She lands solidly on the other side, and heads to the door. Lockdown would have normally locked the doors down tight, but this is not the case presently. She opens the door with ease, stepping into the dark, and into the room where Shadowlite lurks. Her suit of course gives off plenty in the way of electronic signatures. The auburn-haired woman has that hair pulled into a bun behind her head, tight and restrained. A slight glow comes from a few points on the suit, giving off a purple hue, not so light that a normal person would see anything other than the minor light points. It looks like some sort of metal, form fitting but not skin tight. Somehow, though, she seems fully unrestricted in her movements. Of course, it's dark, and she has nothing but her own two eyes, so she can't see much. She holds up her wrist, examining a small display on it, muttering something in a strange language.

Shadowlite has posed:
Shadowlite is already ducking behind a desk when the door is opened, and he switches off vision modes as he peeks over and examines the newcomer. Hearing the whole alien language, Shadowlite blinks behind his goggles. He's stealthy enough to remain out of sight for now though, and keeps an eye on Nuala, since he doesn't seem to be noticed, for now.

Nuala Duvall has posed:
    Nuala tilts her head to one side, and her eyes go wide as she reads the display. "Sneeper?" she says in confusion. She ducks down and hides as well, clearly having not spotted Shadowlite. She monitors the reading, and glances in the direction of the desk. She examines the reading again, double checking, and whispers inaudibly into her communicator. The lights suddenly come back up, a florescent tube in the corner flickering for a moment before joining the rest of the office. Nuala stays hidden, facing in the direction of the signal, but she can't see Shadowlite.

Shadowlite has posed:
Then, Shadowlite brings his free hand up... and a black mist emits from it as he focuses.

Suddenly, the entire room is plunged into total darkness.

Nuala Duvall has posed:
    Nuala starts to stand, and just as she does, she sees the wave of the black mist wash through the room. A strange exclamation comes from her mouth. "Sneeper, you are in violation of the non-interference pact regarding Earth," she says, this time in English. Her accent is filled with odd emphasis, an unidentifiable origin. She brings her right fist up, pointing it forward, trying to scan futily through the room. She does not betray her blindness by her motion, training the weapon on the last known location of the signal. Her left hand reaches down, pulling free what seems to be a tonfa.

Shadowlite has posed:
There's a five second delay before a loud, great laugh echoes through the room... from over to the right.

"It'd probably help if I had a clue what a 'Sneeper' was." Shadowlite gives in response, his english perfect under the voice scrambler.

Nuala Duvall has posed:
    The stance shifts, the weapon training in the direction of the sound. "I am not here to return you," she says. "I will report you. You have time to leave Earth and avoid consequence. Why have you come to this facility?" She apparently doesn't buy the story that the mystery character doesn't know what a Sneeper is, and thus ignores the comment.

Shadowlite has posed:
"I don't answer to you, or whoever you report to." Then, Shadowlite concentrates, and his Darkforce armor forms over his body, an oily, swirling substance that covers his body completely, leaving his guns and trenchcoat free, before he walks quietly around the corner of the office block "And just for that, you can drop your gear, too. Or, I can take it from you, your choice."

Nuala Duvall has posed:
    Nuala looks confused, her blue eyes studying the darkness and following the sound when the figure speaks, but she looks rather disinclined to comply, a hard and determined expression remaining fixed. She does not appear afraid, but alert, like a soldier responding to instinct and training. She closes her eyes, since they are of no use to her right now anyway, and listens, trying to track the movements of the figure.
    "I'm not here for you," she says, "and I will not relinquish my utilities." Truthfully, other than the tonfa, she couldn't relinquish anything without taking off the whole suit. Her fist is tightly gripping the tonfa, and is at a ready position. She makes another short comment in that strange language again, but not as if she is talking to herself.

Shadowlite has posed:
"I don't care if you're here for me or not." Then, he switches positions... before he stands up, pointing his Sneeper pistol at Nuala.

Then, the darkness of the room drops, and Nuala can finally see the oily, swirling armored figure; the decidedly /humanoid' looking figure, holding a Sneeper plasma pistol. "It's cute you think you have a choice."

Nuala Duvall has posed:
    As the darkness drops, Nuala snaps her eyes open again, shifting so that the wrist blaster faces off with the sneeper pistol. "Not Sneeper," she confirms aloud. "But with Sneeper technology." As if she seems to have remembered your comment directed toward her, she adds. "Do not say to me cute. Cute is for..." she seems to be searching for something that would apply, "...otters, and... baby otters." Slick comeback. It's clear that she is not in her first language. "I am working, do not interrupt."

Shadowlite has posed:
"Huh." Shadowlite intones, glancing to the pistol under his hood, then looks back to Nuala, "So they're called Sneepers? Learn something new everyday." He remains where he is, that pistol pointed at her.

A standoff, for now.

"Your buddies tried to throw giant rocks at our planet a few weeks ago. Didn't work out too well for them, and I took some goodie on the way out of their ship." Shadowlite gives in explanation. "You look like you're not from around here either."

Nuala Duvall has posed:
    "I am American," she answers. "I am a business lady." A business lady with some sort of advanced power armor, apparently. Jeez, this is a bad cover already. "I help keep uninvited guests out." Nuala doesn't seem interested in lowering her guard. "Are you human?" She can't tell for sure under the suit. To all appearances, she seems to be.

Shadowlite has posed:
"If you're a business lady, I'm a fine and upstanding citizen." Shadowlite sarcastically quips. "I'm here for a prototype. What's your excuse?"

Nuala Duvall has posed:
    "I do not use excuses, I cannot tell you why I am here." Nuala answers. "I am glad you are a 'fine upstanding citizen'." She says, innuendoing that she is fine to stick with that story for a return of the same. "It is not safe to be here right now." She slowly returns her tonfa to its position on her thigh, but keeps the wrist blaster trained.

Shadowlite has posed:
"Oh boy, you've got a lot to learn about earth humor." Shadowlite chuckles, then, before he shrugs. "I can handle 'not safe' just fine... so, you can tell me, or we can sit here until you drop of exhaustion. Your choice."

Nuala Duvall has posed:
    Nuala reaches up with her left hand, keeping her wrist trained on Shadowlite, and seems to relax slightly, starting to pull the band off that crosses her forehead, and then moves place it onto a mount that wraps over her shoulder, looks like she is putting it away. "I thought you believed I did not have a choice," she says with only the smallest of hint that she is amused by her own statement.

Shadowlite has posed:
"Oh, I'll be getting your gear either way. I'm just patient enough to wait." Shadowlite informs her.

Nuala Duvall has posed:
    "I am not," Nuala answers dryly. She maintains the pose for several seconds, but her eyes look as if her focus is not on Shadowlite, despite looking directly at him. Her head turns, and she turns her gaze toward the door on the other side of the room. "I need to go."

Shadowlite has posed:
Then, one hand lifts, and Nuala can see a sheet of Darkforce form behind him as a misty black emits from his free hand. "Tell you what. I'm on a bit of a timetable myself, and you're obviously the one who took down security. YOu help me with my objective, I help you with yours." Shadowlite offers.

Nuala Duvall has posed:
    Nuala glances back, uncertain what to make of the darkforce. "You may not want to offer that," she says. There is a shout which accents her statement, and she lowers her weapon. She takes off running toward the door. She hurdles a desk, and as she does the door bursts open, a terrified looking janitor tumbling into the room, armed with a mop. He seems far too alarmed to care about the intruders or the way they are dressed. He is spinning around to face the door, which starts to shut.
    "Where is it?" Nuala asks the janitor, who seems only now to realize her presence.
    "Who the hell are you?" the older man asks, clutching the mop tighter.
    "It is not important," she answers him, moving to the door.

Shadowlite has posed:
"Secretive girlie, aren't you." Shadowlite notes, before she takes off running, Shadowlite starting to take shots at her with that plasma pistol. He's a decent shot, but likely hits the wall as he tries to disable. "You're going to make me work for it, aren't you." Shadowlite growls, before that free hand flies up and another Darkforce sheet gets in Nualas' way. "We're not finished."

Nuala Duvall has posed:
    Nuala ducks at the same moment the trigger is pulled, as if she somehow knew it was happening, rather than responding to it. She spins back toward Shadowlite with surprise. "This is not the time," she answers, her tone frustrated and awkward around the statement. She raises her hand, the blast from her wrist further lighting up the room as her own plasma bolt streaks through the air, just past Shadowlite's shoulder, then spins to fire another bolt into the sheet of darkness. She doesn't know whether it will help, but this is one sure way to find out. On the other side of the door, something seeps through, like a carpet of brown that scales the wall, not quite the size of the door.
    The poor janitor shrieks, taking cover under one of the desks.

Shadowlite has posed:
The Darkforce wall is reinforced titanium in properties, and it shows as the wall melts just a bit... but keeps standing. For his part, Shadowlite dodges to the side in a jump when Nuala starts to fire back, then, he puts the pistol away, and summons a Darkforce aperture to his right hand... and aims it in that direction.

Then, he sees the carpet. "The fuck?"

Nuala Duvall has posed:
    Nuala's right cheekbone hikes, and she bites her lower lip and fires several rounds into the darkforce wall to make way with her left wrist blaster, and her right fires in the direction of Shadowlite inaccurately, attempting to force him to cover more than to hit him. She can't see the carpet yet, blasting away furiously at the Darkforce wall.

Shadowlite has posed:
Shadowlite doesn't even bother to be accurate himself, the aperture at his fist is brought up, and Darkforce pellets start to be fires in Nualas' general direction. "I thought you didn't have time for me?" Shadowlite quips as the skirmish continues, "You wanna do what we came here to do, or do you want to dodge fire all day?"

Nuala Duvall has posed:
    Nuala doesn't look back at Shadowlite as the pellets strike around her, a few glancing off the armor, which seems to be mostly unaffected. She bursts through the hole she has blasted in the sheet, and spots the carpet on the other side. "I am trying to!" She exclaims, turning her back to face the carpet, and she looks up at it. The strange carpet leaps from the wall at her, and she tucks, rolling to the side away from it. It keeps moving forward, and lunges forward, flapping open with a small tubelike protrudence aiming for Shadowlite.

Shadowlite has posed:
As the creature tries to aim for him, Shadowlite tosses up yet another Darkforce wall to get in the way, then hops up as his black disk forms below him... turning the mercenary mutant into a flyer, his trenchcoat trailing behind him.

Once to the side of the Darkforce wall, his hand reaches out and fires titanium based pellets at it, automatic rifle style.

Nuala Duvall has posed:
     There is a gutteral growl from the strange beast as the wall blocks it, and blood sprays from it as it is peppered with shots. It cringes and retreats, while Nuala closes in behind it.
    Extreme prejudice. That would be a good descriptive term for how she responds to it. Both fists come up, and plasma rounds burst rapidly from the blasters. The distracted creature shrieks, and starts to turn to run, seemingly only mildly hindered by pieces of it being blasted away by the Darkforce pellets and the plasma rounds. Nuala jumps forward, a foot landing on a piece of the creature as she continues to fire, , this time where the tubelike protrusion meets the rest of it. The hole that it blasts silences the strange monster. Nuala doesn't waste time to be satisfied with the victory, but immediately jumps off the creature and rolls back with a solid degree of agility, ending in a crouch with one wrist blaster aimed back at Shadowlite.

Shadowlite has posed:
Antipating Nuala turning back on him, the wrist blaster only has a second to try to aim for Shadowlite, before Nuala hears the 'clink clink rooooollll' on the ground.

Yep, that's a grenade.

Shadowlite himself dives behind one of the desks, holstering his plasma pistols and pulling his shotgun from his back on the floor.

The grenade? It's sleep gas. He does want Nualas gear, after all.

Nuala Duvall has posed:
    Nuala doesn't look for the grenade. Upon hearing the familiar drop sound, she launches backward and grabs the door, pulling it open just as the grenade goes off. She tucks herself through and slams the door shut. She makes a comment in the strange alien language, as if she is arguing with someone, and peers up briefly through small window in the door.
    "No! I don't want to die!" the janitor exclaims, having seen the grenade. Fortunately for him, as the gas bursts out, he finds himself less stressed, coughs, and then collapses to the ground.

Shadowlite has posed:
"Goddamned aliens."

Shadowlite then peeks over the desk, noting Nuala being absent, before he notes the janitor, and grumbles.

Goddamned aliens.

Then, he activates the X-ray sensor on his AR goggles, and checks the door... aiming the shotgun at it as he sees where Nuala is.

Nuala Duvall has posed:
    From the small window in the door, Nuala raises her wrist blaster, and the bolt pierces through the window, striking a hole in desk just to the side of Shadowlite. She surely cannot see him, but somehow, she has a fairly good idea of where he is. "You cannot have my gear!" she shouts in her strange accent.

Shadowlite has posed:
Then, Nualas room goes dark... and Shadowlite brings a hand down to the floor and focuses. using his X-ray view into the room, a 'stream' of Darkforce starts to fill the room where Nuala is... both plugging the window, and going for Nualas' feet, trying to anchor her to flow upward to wrap around her form and disable movement.

Nuala Duvall has posed:
    Nuala sets her teeth, and grips the broken window with the armored glove of her suit. She releases a several more plasma bolts, and despite her blindness, the blasts seem to be quite accurate. Somehow, she is still tracking Shadowlite's location without her sight. Her other hand reaches and grabs the talont from her leg holster. It ignites in a blaze, and she starts swinging the energy blade at the darkforce, trying to cut it away.

Shadowlite has posed:
When it becomes clear there's a melee weapon hacking away, Shadowlite starts to focus intently on trapping the alien in a shell of Darkforce. It becomes a battle of concentration versus speed hacking; literally.

Nuala Duvall has posed:
    Nuala hoped that dodging incoming rounds will stop him from being able to continue, but it hasn't. She needs to end the fight. She's already killed the parasite she came for, she's done here. She takes a few blows on the dark force shell that is forming, and then distracts for one moment, glancing at a security keypad. hot plasma flings from her wrist, blasting the security pad and setting off the alarm. before whacking away more at the darkforce shell, trying to keep it off now that it has reached her waist. "The security will be here soon! You will lose your chance to steal!"

Shadowlite has posed:
"Security here is a joke. I can handle them." Shadowlite shoots back.

That he can't handle... is keeping up this level of Darkforce use. But then, he didn't anticipate a fucking /energy blade/.

So close, and yet so far. Shadowlite grunts as he stops pulling more Darkforce through the barrier... but leaves what is there, alone.

Can't risk the plasma wielding alien coming back after him.

The lab storage area he was looking for is easily found, and the prototype device he was paid for is grabbed and placed in his backpack. Nothing more to do here, he opens a portal, the black lightning arcing around the room, before he steps inside.

The instant he does, the Darkforce keeping Nuala in place just... fades away. The force keeping it in this reality far away now.

Nuala Duvall has posed:
    Nuala keeps hacking the pieces of the dark force shell away until it evaporates. She bursts into the room again, glancing around, wrist blaster ready in one hand, the energy talont in the other. She doesn't sense him anymore, and then relaxes. She coughs catching a whiff of the sleeping gas, and backs away from it before speaking in Xandarian to her unseen companion. "<Ugh, humans. I cannot believe I am part of this race!>" She sighs. "<Yes, I know I have to clean it up.>"