Log Title: Crimson Tea
Crimson Guard 820
Characters: Barghest, Crimson Guard 820, Typhoid Location: Boston Date: January 1, 2019 TP: America Burning TP
Summary: Cobra forces attempt to take Boston, using every nasty trick they have
As logged by Crimson Guard 820
Log session starting at 16:46:42 on Tuesday, 1 January 2019.
Evening in Boston, the first after New Years Eves. Most businesses are opening for third shifts, the bars are populated by the tired and those looking for some hair of the dog. Along the harbor edges, waiting in hiding beneath tarped frameworks designed to look like the massive cloths are covering cargo containers, Viper forces wait - Alley, Heat, Techno, and other viper Corps await their direction.
On the shore, the BAT forces, placed under directive of Barghest in the absence of Overkill, watch from gaps in walls, and peep holes dotting various wall surfaces. Each sending periodic Ready notes to each cells command unit, which are bundled and sent to the former viper for his notation.
<< "Black Dog in position, I am reading elements prepped, and breach charges are primed for opening the door for Special Elements to make their first appearance. Engage when ready, BAT forces will join to split attention" >>
For once, Typhoid is out of her lab and in the field. The small scientist wears a white lab coat over tight black Kevlar/leather hybrid armor. Her face is protected by a black and chrome gas mask, and thick black boots add several centimeters to her height. The Cobra logo on her chest is overlaid with a biohazard symbol. Chained to her wrist is a large silver case.
Even though Typhoid is a high-ranking officer, she seems to be following Barghest's lead for the mission. Currently Typhoid is on the third-floor of a Cobra-controlled building, watching over the scene from above. Below the city, Z-Vipers await her word. This will be an excellent test for Typhoid's latest iteration of Compound Z.
Crimson Guard 820 waits alongside the Vipers hidden among the ships, doing a last check on her radio gear and weaponry. The siegie stretches as best she can in the cramped confines, keeping her body warmed up and ready to go in the chill weather. Peak physical condition or not, it's freezing out there. It'll be easier once everybody's moving. Her faceless mask looks over the Vipers closest, judging them and their readiness as they all wait for the signal.
GAME: Barghest PASSES a FIREPOWER roll of Very High difficulty.
"Well, bucko's... Gotta turn their heads inland sooner or later eh?" the man chuckles as a group of robotic heads swivel in his direction. "Aye, aye. Go at it lads..." he bites a toggle inside of his helmet HUD and blinks a holo-button marked 'Execute'.
Across north and central Boston, walls on warehouses are opened with breech charges in lieu of the wait, and potential failure of powered doors in this weather. BATs step out, MMG arm mounts in place, firing on any authority figure they see. Anyone in BDUs, off duty or on, police uniform, black and whites - if it has a badge or a uniform - it's gunned for.
Bhargest himself is spearheading one of the charges headed for Boston Central PD from the supply warehouse near Fenway, the former Viper moves at the head of a BAT pack, plasma blasters extended on his forearms, spitting cybertronian light point fire at any available target - meaning small canons for tiny bitty humans by comparison, vaporizing building and flesh alike.
Once Barghest is ready, Typhoid talks quietly into a microphone built into her gas mask. Rather than direct instructions in English, she speaks specific code words in Korean. Each code word is tied into a specific biological trigger programmed in the Z-Viper's heads, activating their basic instincts rather than trying to engage their logical minds. If her programming is successful, the Z-Vipers will explode from alleys and sewers throughout the city, targeting uniformed figures matching patterns burned into the Vipers' brains.
GAME: Typhoid PASSES an INTELLIGENCE roll of Very High difficulty.
Crimson Guard 820 hears the explosions and vaults out of hiding, "Go!" She leads the Vipers off her ship, pausing just long enough to direct them as they reach the streets. "Squads 3 and 4, north. Squads 5 and 6, south. 1 and 2- with me." She holds her rifle at the ready and leads the Vipers into the city proper, a highly visible sign of Cobra's presence.
GAME: Crimson Guard 820 FAILS a LEADERSHIP roll of Very High difficulty.
GAME: Crimson Guard 820 PASSES a LEADERSHIP roll of Very High difficulty.
GAME: Barghest FAILS a COURAGE roll of Above Average difficulty.
GAME: Barghest PASSES a COURAGE roll of Above Average difficulty.
The programmed troops, BATs and the bloodthirsty dead - is it surprising that they initiate their part of the operations without a hitch? Explosions burst sections of building floors, basement walls, and streets outward, creating ramps for the Z-Vipers to lurch out into the open, causing civilians to recoil in horror as television shows and movie plots are apparently a reality. The panic spreads like fire through a cloud of white flour and sets a stage for 820 when she gives the go-ahead.
Vipers break cover, and charge. The crackle of small arms and personal ordinance ripping across the harbor docks as Cobra's elite troops join the assault. The response from the city is immediate and expected. Riot forces are called in, High Threat Teams, SWAT, any National Guard, reserves, and otherwise that is available turning the eastern edge of the city into shooting alleys filled with BCPD, adhoc military response, and the Cobra invasion forces.
Barghest and his vanguard of personal BAT forces rush heedless into the fray, diving through the windows and doors of Boston Central - letting pistol and shotgun fire splack against armor, or be re-directed by combat shields as he pulls a quad of grenades from his bandoleer, swinging a cord to launch them into the heart of the lobby, the cords attached pulling their pins as he swings them forward...
It takes a bit for the city's forces to get organized against the unexpected attack. CG 820 takes advantage of the relatively clear firing lanes to pick off badges from a distance so the Vipers can move unimpeded through the streets. It won't last- sooner or later enough of the city's defenders will gather that it'll be a full on brawl instead of racing through civilians. But for now, she pauses often to take aim and shoot down police with well-aimed shots.
GAME: Crimson Guard 820 PASSES a DEXTERITY roll of High difficulty.
Typhoid continues to watch from above. So far the Z-Vipers are acting according to plan. While incapable of anything complex, they make excellent shock troops and excel at physiological damage. As Boston's Finest recover and start to rally, Typhoid's latest version of Compound Z gets put to the test. Can the Z-Vipers really absorb this much damage and keep going? Or will they collapse into ooze once faced with increasing physical trauma?
GAME: Typhoid PASSES a TECHNICAL roll of High difficulty.
GAME: Barghest PASSES an ENDURANCE roll of Above Average difficulty.
820's concerns are not out of sorts, especially as radio reports begin passing between the various police groups, and are in turned relayed to the slow growing number of US military forces suited up and joining the counter-attack. At the heads of the packs, the Z-Vipers are absorbing intense levels of live fire, as MP5 and even M-16 joins the standard Glock pistol and Winchester shotguns on the 'field' so to speak. Bodies so damaged that they would normally tumble apart are held together by thin tendrils that work to knit the bodies together, with only total destruction of the head, and thus the nerve centers, bringing them to the ground.
Cars are laid up like trenches and no-mans-lands are established, forcing the fights into the buildings as either side struggle to get the other hand, though the relentless push by Cobra seems to inexorably press best efforts, little trickles that become floods. The radio systems are a problem, and BAT forces move as directed by Barghest's tactics. Every squad car, SWAT van, and HTR APC that they can get is taken over, and a 'comms BAT' plugs in. <<"Black Dog to point commands - nearing central dispatch">> the commando has his shield out and presses into heavy fire, BATs falling around him, and parts of his armor smashed into by slugs that chip away at the strategic points angled into the fire. Holes appear in his shield. Enduring the attempts to hold him back is just a means of getting BATs into the radio dispatch and a brief tone in his helmet allows him time to give warning, <<"Tight-beam channels now...>> BATs begin emitting laser lines that bounce off of reflective surfaces, dozens of them, to allow Cobra to continue talking to one another, including the Z-Vipers - but all other radio signals begin filling with squawking static and shrieking data bursts at ear damaging levels.
Crimson Guard 820 watches as the city's defenses slowly firm up. Reports coordinated by radio fill the air, and she uses her own heads-up to track positions, seeking weaknesses to be exploited.
GAME: Crimson Guard 820 PASSES an INTELLIGENCE roll of Very High difficulty.
Typhoid switches off her communications array once Barghest starts his jamming efforts - it'll be up to the Z-Vipers' programming and local commanders now. As police forces gather below, Typhoid prepares to take a more active hand. She carefully opens her silver case, gently removing several small vials. Cranking open a window, Typhoid scans the crowd below. Cops, military, Z-Vipers - minimal numbers of live Cobra troops. Excellent. Loading a weapon specially-designed for just this purpose, Typhoid aims into the crowd, and fires.
GAME: Typhoid FAILS a DEXTERITY roll of High difficulty.
GAME: Typhoid PASSES a DEXTERITY roll of High difficulty.
As the virus is fired into the field by Typhoid, the canisters air-burst and the mist of new virus strains soak into clothing, skins, touch the eyes and mucus membranes of the unaware and the dead. There is a sudden halt of action in places as men and women see bodies twitching and the flesh of living and dead alike begins to take on the virulent blue-green from contact points. Some drag their gloved fingertips against their skin, at their eyes and faces, shrieking as they are pulled to the ground by suddenly animated hands grasping at legs and ankles. Others begin vomiting as their bodies spasm and betray them, falling to their hands and knees, their wails becoming guttural and then fading to silence as lungs cease drawing air, leaving not even a groaning sound, just the rapid clicks of snapping jaws as the numbers of the dead join the ranks of their fellows. Intermittent laser burst comms begin bouncing signals to 820's sector, << "Viper Command *KSHVRBSTSBT*-Gage Te*krbrbbt*-Ipers to deploy *hrblsbsst*-ser webs for comm boo*sshtsstss" >> Hopefully the message is understood as Alley Vipers do their work to lead their charge in the streets, paving the way for the others to do their work. Several heavy weapons vipers have set up near the CG, collapsible bulwark shields planted into the ground to provide her a nest and a command point, retracting them as needed to keep her 'field base' mobile as needed. One of the lads, seeing her sniping, provides her a recoiless rifle, should she like to use a little Anti-Armor for general purpose.
More Police HQs are invaded by BAT strike teams, the majority of the androids moving to provide fire support for the Z-Vipers, and even more linking up with the regular Vipers, sending 'ready' signals to be directed as she needs them.
Barghest himself has erupted through a window of Boston Central, several strike-bats left behind while others filter in to secure the position. A riot officer with an SMG and Shield bearing down on him. His own shattered scrap of a bulwark ruined, the swings it down to split the plexi-plastic protection of Boston's finest, extending his wrist blasters to cook the poor sod in his armor, remaining dead silent as he goes, only blinking odrders and chinning tabs to order the BATs directly under him.
Crimson Guard 820 accepts the upgraded rifle with gracious thanks. "Let's open a hole!" She puts the high-powered rounds to use, smashing through barriers and shields to the soft flesh underneath. With the numbers thinned a bit, the CG pushes forward with her mobile shield wall, unslinging a couple of satchel charges and slipping momentarily out of shelter to place them.
GAME: Crimson Guard 820 FAILS a COURAGE roll of Very High difficulty.
From her perch above the fray, Typhoid watches. Her smile grows unseen behind her gas mask. Initial results are positive... she activates the recording devices located in her helmet and stationed discretely in the streets below to gather data on the effects of her viral mix. Now for the wider test - how quickly it spreads through the crowds below.
If she's successful, the agent will powerful enough to kill, but not instantaneously - it must be tailored enough to spread before killing the host. If she kills everyone in the street below, it's a small success. If it spreads throughout the city, even better. A ten percent mortality rate from secondary exposure would be excellent. Also, this will be a useful field test to see if the vaccine given to the living Vipers is properly effective. If they die, too, well... that's also useful data.
GAME: Typhoid PASSES a FIREPOWER roll of Above Average difficulty.
GAME: Barghest FAILS an AGILITY roll of Above Average difficulty.
From what she sees, and records, those who hadn't already been injured by the Z-Vipers, and thus had direct contact with the infected, seem to be those who are blue-ing out and turning in the streets. Those who are only running in terror are those whom the creatures had not gotten within arms reach of. The likelihood of police or military members surviving long is not very, but the medical responders, trying to pick up the injured who are likely to be the better carrier vectors. The vaccinated viper bodies appear to be remaining dead, and the injured are not showing negative effects, for now.
At the sight of a Crimson Guard, the resistors swing into action, calling out and opening fire to try and get her under wraps. Her assigned bodyguards begin shield operations, several of which go down under heavy fire. Whatever she was looking to blow with charges kept safe with the wonders of saturation fire.
A sudden fusillade of rifle fire, hornets nest ordinance, and other fun things suddenly cause Barghest and his own numbers new problems. EMP systems given to the N-Guard by G.I. Joe based on the disruption signals used at Hampton Roads causing the BAT forces moving further in-city to falter and avoid entering certain perimeters.
Crimson Guard 820 grits her teeth in frustration, but it never shows under the blank mask of her uniform, just as the red doesn't show the blood leaking from her side and arm. One more push, she promises herself. Surely, she can keep going long enough to see this operation finished. "Cobra!" she shouts, rallying the Vipers nearby. The arm tucked in close hides the ache in her ribs as they push forward.
GAME: Crimson Guard 820 FAILS an ENDURANCE roll of High difficulty.
Satisfied with the results of her research, Typhoid prepares to pull out. With the radio disruption, it's time to take the risk of personal involvement. Flicking out her collapsible cane, Typhoid makes a slow walk to the lift, taking it down to the ground floor. After taking a moment to collect her courage, Typhoid steps out into the cold, clear night. With a gesture, she summons her Z-Vipers from the chaos, leading and directing them to overcome and control different points throughout the city.
GAME: Typhoid PASSES a LEADERSHIP roll of Above Average difficulty.
Something is not right about the assault. Some of those newly turned by Typhoid's experiment begin swelling and spraying fluids from major orafices. Their sudden surge in violence and virulence, putting attacker and defenders off guard as the newly turned continue on their proper warpath, but like a feral monster, as opposed to tightly controlled undead monsters. Those directly under Typhoid's command lead her to a transport chopper with attack craft support.
"Commander, we need to pull back, spotters are reporting armor being rolled in, Joe colors. They must've been hidden here so long not even the Baroness could have reccie'd them!" 44mm shells begin slamming into forward emplacements as if on cue, and the radio intereference is cut, << "Black Dog to commands, withdraw - US and Joe forces have disbursed BAT interference signals. We can't enter sections of the city and they're trying to ring us and remove over a third of our force at once. Withdraw order is issued." >> there's a noted bitterness in his voice as he sends a signal, causing Mole BATs to begin digging into the sewers so that they and other cobra forces can exfiltrate the area.
Typhoid get to the chopper as quickly as her long-ago crushed hips will allow her. Once safely airborne, she watches the chaos below, still taking mental notes about the effectiveness - and failures - of her latest iteration of Compound Z. While the taking of Boston wasn't a complete victory, she's gained a lot of data, and inflicting horrors upon the city they won't soon forget. From Typhoid's perspective, the mission was a success.
Crimson Guard 820 wouldn't tell anybody, but she's almost relieved when the order comes to withdraw. She relays the orders minimally, letting herself get caught up in the flow of Vipers escaping. Another time, another day. But no more today.
Log session ending at 20:14:04 on Tuesday, 1 January 2019.