Ghost in the Shell IC

[Skull]

Ian rehearsed the key points to Dyson's briefing while gearing up in his SCCIU combat suit. Like Dyson, he also believed that there was more to it than a hostage situation - even though there was no evidence to back that claim up just yet. It was a hunch that he had, more instinctual than anything, and he tried sorting out his suspicions to make some sense of it.

Why were the CIA agents the only ones taken hostage? What did Electric Dawn have against the American Empire opposed to the other members of government from different countries? This anarchist group couldn't have sabotaged a high profile think-tank party alone. And how did they find out about this meeting? A possible insider who gave them the heads up? With a secret gathering composed of important figureheads from around the world, there would need to be an advanced security detail in place to ensure safety. Though, considering what has happened, advanced may be an overstatement.

Thoughts fell onto operative Jemma Waters - his assigned partner for the mission which involved reestablishing control of Reichstag security. Ian never had a chance to speak with her personally, but she always seemed very spirited and bubbly. He wanted to go over the situation with Waters, but her fascination with the tachikoma tanks had won her attention over. Granted, they had time to discuss the details en route to Reichstag, but he couldn't help but question her focus on the task at hand. In truth, Ian just hoped that he could rely on her when the time came.

The black-matted material fit snugly around his athletic form. It was a bit uncomfortable, but after wearing the suit in several training sessions, he quickly got used to maneuvering around in it. It was the thermal optic camouflage device that he needed to get familiar with. After spending a lot of time fiddling around with it's functions, he holstered a black diamond sidearm to his hip and slung a Zastaba Assault Rifle over his shoulder before exiting the locker room. By the time he reached the rooftop, Jemma and Nat were already in the tilt-rotor.

"You guys again?" He grinned at both of them. "We should call you two the early birds."

He glanced off to the side and noticed two, blue and red tachikomas making cumbersome movements around the small cargo hold space. Ian smiled, looking back at Jemma. "I've never seen them in action before. How are they doing?"

[Eternalis]

Niall had left just like everyone else once the briefing was over with. He uploaded the infrastructure of not only the Riechstag, but the surrounding buildings. He wasn't looking at the Riechstag in particular, but looking at vantage points of the other buildings, silently picking out which ones that Lacus might choose as her sniping position. The reason Niall was chosen as support for the group was because of his ability to work out situations quickly and to adapt to them quickly. As he figured out one possibility of several for possible plans to get Lacus and himself to the rest of the group, it was calculated at the higher success rate.

After he retrieved and put on the thermo-camo combat suit, Niall retrieved a large case, one that someone without cybernetics wouldn't of been even able to lift off the ground. The case itself was nearly as long as he was tall and it was thick. They had given him a lot of equipment to work with, particularly his favored weapons during his training, as well as several gadgets that would make his job easier. Niall had stopped by his locker for a moment, before heading to the elevator, a several minute shy of their allotted time slot. As he opened the door of the locker, there was several pictures lined down the inside of various children of different ages. Each of them had Niall in them playing or holding them and there was a sweet smile across his lips or a big laugh. A small tug come across the corner of Niall's lips, a small semblance of a smile. He hadn't gotten to see any of them in a long while since they brought him in for training. When they got a little down time, he'd have to go do that.

He shut the locker and left for the elevator, propping the case up against his shoulder just so it would fit, as it shot upwards, until it opened on the rooftop to the tilt-rotor. He noticed that most of the group was already there with another elevator dinging the moment he arrived, most likely indicating another one of them, either Miles or Lacus. His head tilted a little as he closed in on the tilt-rotor and saw the two little Tachikomas. The voices nearly made him smile, but at the same time he had to remember they were just programmed and not real. He tossed the large case up on board and secured it with straps so it wouldn't go sliding around, before he pulled himself in and set down beside of it, so he would have full access to modify and grab what he needed from it while they were flying.

"Do they have names?" Niall asked indicating the Tachikomas, the first time he had even spoke aloud around the members the squad. His voice held a bit of deepness, but no gruff or gravel, instead it held a very smooth quality.

As he asked, he reached over and punched a code on the control panel of the case, something simplistic compared to just sending the code from an uplink from his mind and the case beeped and opened. Inside was the Penetrator or rather what he had nicknamed Suzie, a couple different style pistols that had different purposes. They were various other pieces inside the case itself. He pulled his favored pistol out and ran it through the motions, before he strapped on the holster over his shoulders, and slid it in place.

[Celestial]

(Sorry this is just to get Lacus to the chopper xD)

Lacus arrived at the rooftop level as she walked out into the sunny day. If she still had her real body, she was sure she would be feeling the pre-operation rush. The simulations that she ran in her cyber brain could not compare to that of the real thing. She sighed inwardly. Thus was the price for a body that could outperform that of human flesh.

She walked towards the tiltcopter as she noticed mostly everyone had assembled. She swallowed her pride as she stepped aboard. She nodded to all the passengers and noticed the Tachikomas. It had been some time since she'd seen something like them. If anything, she was having reservations sitting by them. Though she knew that they weren't the mech that had been the cause of her switching to a prosthetic body, she always saw the mech in them.

She found a seat farthest away from them as she secured herself. She held on tightly to her sniper case as she began to run the blue prints of the Reichstag in her head. She noted the surrounding buildings and began to analyze which one would give her the best angles. She also took into account the current temperature and wind direction and strength. All of these small things mattered when it came to her speciality. The slightest externality could mess everything up.

She smiled to herself as she found the perfect building. It would give her visual over almost the whole rooftop and would most likely negate most of the bad factors that she didn't want. To make things better, descending from the building was made simple by a series of fire exits that she could easily clear.

Glancing at Niall, who was to accompany her, she opened up a channel and began to send him her thoughts of her set up to their descension path to meet up with the rest of the team.

She looked at him. "What do you think? Doable?"

[Orion86]

Once everyone was ready and loaded into the tilt-rotor he gave a signal to the pilot to get everything ready for take off. The doors closed and the engines roared into life. With a mechanised grace the heli-plane raised itself off of the heli-pad and into the evening night. It took them several minutes to get to their cruising altitude and the rotors to turn into their cruising positions. Miles moved from his seat and stood around the bank of computers in what would become their mobile command room.

More and more information was coming in all the time and the more he had the less sense it made. As of yet they had made no more demands from what they had asked for in their original statement and no more contact had been made. There had been a press black out placed on the incident but that would only hold out for so long. They had confirmed that there had been around 20 assailants enter the building and that they were still holding all of the guest in the ballroom hostage. A number had managed to flee and make for the exits, they were all being kept in isolation by the German police. The group were heavily armed and had more than one full cyborg, it all seemed to be a little beyond the capabilities of your average anarchist group.

As he thought about plans of attacks a German SWAT unit had taken the initiative and was heading for the roof via a stair way. He summoned everyone over to observe, he had a bad feeling in his ghost that this was going to go wrong. Sure enough the team started to ascend the rear stairs until they were on the roof. All seemed safe and quiet; then suddenly there was a flash and all hell broke loose. The anarchists were using some form of camouflage and had been waiting for the SWAT unit. It would have been a massacre if one of the rounds had not hit one of the SWAT's smoke grenades. The resulting explosion and smoke cover allowed them to pull back down the stairs. Miles looked at the rest of his team,

"Ok this is a turn up for the books. We need to revise our assessment of their capabilities. This is no normal attack, there is a lager game afoot and we are not getting all the information, which quite frankly pisses me off..."

He calmed himself down quickly and looked at everyone again,

"...The main plan hasn't changed we still need to get the Agents and the hostages out of their. However, it is now all on us, all other agencies are holding fire until we get their,"

He turned too Hawke and Dobson,

"You two are going to take the think-tanks and find a sniping positon. Hawke you are going to need to find and take out those anarchists on the roof. Once they are down we can move in and you and Dobson will move to our position and enter the building through this lower service area..."

He pointed too it on the screen,

"Dobson, use your superior fire power to make a nice big hole in this area. There is confirmed activity from Anarchists. This should give the rest of us a window to strike from within the building..."

He turned to Waters and Teller,

"The buildings AI has been turned off and into Autistic mode so you are going to need to physically be in the control room. It is probably safe to assume that you will meet resistance..."

Finally he turned to Salondavich,

"Salondavich and I will find and secure the Agents. If we all manage to do our part then we can gain control of the building and the rest should be an easy mop up operation. Any questions?"

[0x Guinevere x0]

"You guys again!?" Jemma heard Ian say as he boarded the Tiltrotor. "We should call you two the early birds"
She noticed him look over towards the Tachikomas for a moment, before speaking up again. "I've never seen them in action before. How are they doing?"

"Hah, i think you meant 'bird' since i'm the only-" she'd stop herself after glancing to the opposite side of the Tiltrotor and noticing Natasha standing there.
"Well i guess you're right, early birds it is! I rather be late than early, I mean early than late! Perhaps i should stop talking now"
Jemmas voice would trail off a bit towards the end of her statement, and she'd actually remain quiet - that is until she remembered Ians second question.

"Oh, they seem to be operating perfectly. The way they perceive their environment and then devise whatever action they see as the best to match the situation is absolutely awesome, whether it be for something as simple as walking one step, or something more complex as forming properly structured sentences all while rolling!! AI at its best if you ask me!"
A blind man could of seen the excitement written on her face in that instance, courtesy of her voice.


"Do they have names?" she suddenly heard Niall ask, shortly after he boarded.
Jemma pouted her lips out and looked up towards the roof as she pondered his question for a few seconds "Well now that you mention it, no, they don't. Perhaps we can call them by their colors?"

She'd shrug her shoulders a little and then cross her legs Indian-style on the bench, before looking up towards Ian again.

"So, your resume is pretty neat. I dug around and pulled everyones files - nothing illegal, i think - and i noticed you worked in the SCU? Think you'll enjoy the transfer or no?"


Shortly after her question Lacus, and then Miles, boarded and they promptly took off from the roof.



When Miles asked the group to come over to their impromptu mobile command area Jemma was the first to pop to her feet, and quickly took her place beside him.
She'd observe the German SWATs decent to the roof, and cross her arms under her chest.


"Oh, that was my idea!" she thought to herself, but the small smirk on her face wouldn't last since after a brief moment of quietness, all hell broke loose.
"Camouflage! They didn't do an initial scan for Camouflage!!?" she yelled out towards the screen, before lowering her voice to a soft whisper - as if debating an idea with her own self. "I mean i know it takes a certain degree of enhanced vision to pinpoint even low level Thermo-Optic Camouflage, but you'd think they'd have such abilities. But perhaps not, i mean this IS the German SWAT after all.....or maybe they just didn't think they'd need it if they truly believed this to be the work of some lowly anarchist group."
Jemma bit her lip out of habit, not sensation, and then finally broke her eye contact with the screen as Miles spoke up again.

"Ok this is a turn up for the books. We need to revise our assessment of their capabilities. This is no normal attack, there is a lager game afoot and we are not getting all the information, which quite frankly pisses me off..." he said, and Jemma nodded her head in agreement. After learning everything she had about Electric Dawn the probability that they had such sophisticated camouflage technology, was low. This either wasn't their work - in the least, or they were involved with someone/something much more powerful, and she knew everyone else on the Tiltrotor would likely agree with Miles perception.





Jemma couldn't help but pout a little when it was pointed out she wouldn't be using the Tachikomas, however her pout was replaced with a devious smirk when she was given her duties. "Resistance eh? Well that makes it more interesting."
She'd pull her jacket off and sling it over her arm, to reveal not only her suit, but both of the glocks secured tightly to her thighs.

"-Any questions?" Miles asked, and she'd shake her head "No", before walking back towards the Tachikomas and throwing her jacket over her messenger bag.

"Jemma!" said the Blue one, before the Red tank spoke up too; "Jemma! What's our orders?" it would ask, and she'd shrug her shoulders lightly.
"You'll be finding a sniping position.....with Lacus and Niall. So show 'em what you're made off - kay?"
"Yes M'am!"
"You mean our-"
When the Red tank began to rattle off the varying metals and plastics its body was physically made up of, she couldn't help but snicker.
"Yes, all of that."





Though her physiology didn't allow for the usual sensation of human emotions, Jemmas mind still comprehended what they use to feel like. So by memory only she was a bit anxious, as she leaned directly beside the opening they'd be jumping out of shortly.

"I call front" she'd call out to Ian with a slight smile. "As in i'm in front of you when we enter. That is, unless you'd like me to lead from behind?"
Her words were meant in jest, and she figured that showed through in her tone and facial expression. In reality positioning wasn't important....all that mattered was that they were in sync with one another once inside.

"In seriousness, either way it goes, just don't lose contact with me in there, and i won't lose it with you.

[Eternalis]

As Niall set prepping his weapons, Lacus had entered the Tilt-rotor, and found her seat away from everyone. His eyes glanced up towards her for a brief moment, but he stored that particular detail away. While it was too early to tell, something made her want the distance, and Niall didn't have the details to come up with an adequate diagnosis on her psych.

Whenever the bubbly Jemma responded to his question, Niall simply shrugged towards her own question. If calling them by their colors were going to be their names, that was fine by him. He turned his attention back to his weapons and what was in the crate. The channel opening directed towards him brought his attention away from them for a moment, as he saw what Lacus was planning to make her point of position. It held a lot of advantages and for what she needed to do, it was the perfect position.

"That's the best option from all the surrounding structures," Niall responded as he looked to Lacus. He sent a visual of where he was going to end up positioning on another rooftop several buildings down from her own. "Just in case there is obstruction that wasn't there before, I'm going to drop there, so we can have an adequate count of sentries," Niall's facial expression didn't change an inch. He also sent her an upload of the best place for them to rejoin. "Doable would be an understatement," Niall gave a very slight hint of a smile, before it disappeared again.

That was when Miles had started to explain as holo of the structure popped up as they flew towards their destination. Miles pointed out where they needed to be and what Niall himself needed to hit. That would be pretty simple, but it also meant that they would come under a lot of fire because they would be drawing them to himself and Lacus. He was surprised that the Tachikomas were going to be with them, however, instead of with Jemma and Ian.

He didn't have any questions, though, and thus went back to prepping his weapons for the mission. There was a growing pit in his stomach, even if it wasn't truly real, that was making him think this Electric Dawn was not your typical criminals. This was too calculated, to constructed, even from the lack of details they were given. He looked over to Lacus briefly again as they headed for their destination.

[Rumiko]

Nat listened to the commander her ghost telling her that this could be a joint targeted attack, the enemy had already demonstrated the ability to take out an assault.
Perhaps this was even a trap to take her new unit out, they did seem to have more information than any terrorist group she'd ever heard of.
”Paranoia is good in small doses”
She says softly to herself as her CPU calculate angles of fire and sight in the halls and rooms.
Looking at Miles she says
”Sir is it possible to interrogate or extract by hacking the three CIA being held?”
She was growing more and more interested in the odd little points in this case.

[Skull]

Ian listened intently as Jemma answered his question about the Tachikomas. She seemed well-versed on the topic and her enthusiasm was infectious. "I'd have to agree with you. They seem to have more personality than most people I know." He laughed.

She then turned to Niall, who arrived just after Ian, and discussed what to name the Tachikomas as he prepped his weapons. They never exchanged words before, partly due to the fact that Niall commanded an intimidating presence, but mostly because the chance for them to talk never came up. Lacus was the next to join the group in the tilt-rotor, and Ian welcomed her promptly. She seemed a bit apprehensive around the tanks as she motioned over to the furthest seat away from them. Like Niall, the opportunity to get to know Lacus never presented itself. She was the group's designated sniper and rightfully so. Her accuracy, even without a satellite feed, was an art form of its own. Jemma turned back to Ian, cheery as usual.

"So, your resume is pretty neat. I dug around and pulled everyone's files - nothing illegal, i think - and i noticed you worked in the SCU? Think you'll enjoy the transfer or no?"

Ian wasn't surprised that she looked at his file. He was sure that everyone else in the group was doing the same for everybody and Ian was no exception. "Oh, I'm sure this will be paradise compared to my days with SCU. I mean the case work was exhilarating, but the bureaucratic bullshit I had to go through wasn't worth it. But yeah, I am enjoying this unit so far, but we'll see. Ask me that question again when the mission is over." He joked. Just as he was about to inquire on her story, Miles Dyson entered the tilt-rotor, completing the team roster. In moments they were off the roof and in the air, heading to their first assignment in Reichstag, Germany.

***

Ian nodded along as Dyson briefed the group in the mobile command room. The German police were quick on the draw, which in turn sprang a trap. Luckily, none of the officers were injured, but now the SWAT unit was pinned down on the lower level. At least their misfortune revealed what exactly the team will be dealing with.

"Camouflage, huh?" He said aloud, to no one in particular. "Well this just got interesting."

"I call front" Jemma called out to Ian with a slight smile. "As in i'm in front of you when we enter. That is, unless you'd like me to lead from behind?"

"By all means," Ian returned her smile with his own. "Ladies first."

"In seriousness, either way it goes, just don't lose contact with me in there, and i won't lose it with you."

"Don't worry, I'll be on you every step of the way. I mean, not physically on you...but like you said. I won't lose contact with you...ugh. I'll just stop talking now." Ian shook his head, his face turning red. Whatever lingering doubts he may have had about her as his partner evaporated. This group was the best-of-the-best after all, and he chided himself for misjudging her bubbly personality for weakness.

[Celestial]

Lacus spared a brief glance as she smiled at Niall. His position would indeed help spot the number of sentries that were positioned on the roof. She studied the map he had sent back to her and nodded. "Solid plan. I bet it'll work."

She began to study every inch of the map and cross reference it with what she had learned from the briefing. She was only minutes into finalizing her process when her attention shifted to where Miles had beckoned the team to join over. She went towards their portable command center and watched as a number SWAT began to infiltrate the building. She observed passively as SWAT commenced their operations and were quickly pulled back. The anarchist group was far more organized than what she had given them credit for.

She silently listened to her amended orders as she felt her stomach literally flip. She didn't want to voice or show it, but working with the tachikomas... it frightened her slightly. She took a deep breath as she took in the gravity of the situation.

She went back to her seat as she once again looked uncertainly at the tachikomas. She closed her eyes as they continued onto their destination. Calm down girl. They're with you this time. Deep breath; deep breath.

[Orion86]

It seemed to Miles that everyone in the group understood the plan and had moved to personal preparation. He looked over the holographics displayed on the table as Natasha asked her question. Miles pondered it for a second and brought up the standard spec cyber brains used by the CIA. He transfered the data onto the table,

"The CIA use a heavily modified reinforced cyber brain, not your off the shelf variety. It has some of the best barriers known to man but after what I have seen from Breaking Dawn today they are not to be underestimated..."

He looked through more of the specs and saw that some things had been blacked out from the list. This meant that the CIA had done something to the agents that they didn't want everyone else to know about,

"... I am guessing that these omissions are some fairly unusual modifications. Perhaps they have put a fail-safe into the systems to prevent hacking. We can only hope it isn't of an incendiary nature, which is something I wouldn't put past the American Empire."

Miles left the details up on the screen and began his own preparations for the infiltration. He was already wearing his camoflage but he prepared some other little tools that he thought might be useful. Breaking Down had proved that they were ready for an assault but he hoped that they weren't ready for one such as theirs. SCCIU was not restricted by the normal codes of policing and had the authority to use any levels of force, excessive or not.

The tilt rotor carried on into the night. The pilot was very good at what he did and managed to shave several minutes off the journeys predicted time. By 20:00 they were in Berlin and ready to start their mission. The tilt rotor stopped a mile or so away from the Riechstag and hovered. Miles turned to Dodson and Hawke,

"Alright this is your stop. Use the think tanks to find your positions and then once you are done get to your assault point. The think tanks each have a rocket and .50mil chain gun, use their firepower to help in your assault..."

He turned from them and went over to open the door for them,

"... Good luck and don't get yourselves killed!"

After they had left he turned to the others,

"We had better get to our own entry point..."