saveourearth | Orchard of Mines [Log]

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Orchard of Mines [Log]

Date: July 16th, Night of July 19th
Characters: Sam, Benjiro, Walter, Sadie, and ?

Two weeks following the meeting with Mr. Helpful, plans are in place to scout the Moss Army Forts.

During the daylight hours midweek, Sam had made arrangements to take off out into the bay to do a flyover of the second fort from the left as identified as the location in which Mr. Evil is thought to have taken residence. Accompanied through a communications headset by both Walter and Benjiro from the shore at different positions, the three could talk freely on the unused frequencies (switching automatically at linked intervals) across the range of the bay with a noise cancellation feature added to keep the line uncluttered by the sounds of the plane. Everything Sam reports will add detail and could alter the plans for Benjiro to approach later.

The gap of a few days allows for Benjiro to find the ideal conditions; a rainy night. Under the cover of the dark with storm clouds blocking the moon and stars, the blanket of falling drops reducing visibility of the eye, cameras, and radar alike, and the sound of the drops on the water layering a cloud of white noise over the quiet engine of his stealth boat, his approach should go unnoticed. Geared up with dark clothing, gloves with grip pads, and a water proof backpack to carry his new camera drone along, Benjiro leaves the beach in his black craft with Walter once more on standby accompanied by Sadie and Sam. The risk of the headset is minimal, but radio silence is kept in favor of awaiting for his arrival in a neighboring fort that does not show signs of attention or new additions.

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Walter no longer needed to write things down for them to be secure and off-Network, but he still preferred to have such measures with him anyway.

That, and the notebook had the added benefit of making him seem utterly mundane, like he was 'just' doing some drawing on the beach.

"Here," he said, softly yet clearly, with as little mouth movement as necessary.

"You two?"

It's probably a good thing Sam can't see them, otherwise he might roll his eyes at the excessive sneakiness. "Approaching the coastline now," he reports in instead, fairly calm about the whole thing, at least at the moment. Reminds him a little of being back in the air force, only with a much less well-protected plane and no guns. He kind of misses the guns, right about now.

Positioned at a different angle to view the forts while Walter is down on the beach, Benjiro stands at the top of a cliff more North to observe with his motorcycle parked nearby. He has his phone in hand ready to start the camera function should he observe any activity at the fort while Sam is flying over the bay. Where he stands, he doesn’t have to be mindful of anyone else nearby, so he talks freely once Walter starts the check in between them, “Ready.”

Turning to look inland, he spots Sam’s plane on approach and watches in silence until Sam is out over the water. Chiming in over the coms again, he asks, “We’re not expecting much, but if you see any differences from up there in the structure, please describe it in as much detail as you can.”

Engine set to the lowest power setting he can use to glide over the surface of the water without being set adrift by the current to reduce the boat’s wake, Benjiro steers the craft towards the fort positioned furthest from the location where the unknown resides. In the darkness with no lights on the front of his boat, he is following a mental map and the low-light gauges in the dashboard. Silent with his communication headset turned off, he scans the water with his eyes through a pair of regular goggles to watch for obstacles ahead as he slowly nears the target fort.

Once he can see the shadow of the fort through the rain, he further drops the output of the engine and steers based on the visual target to head for a support beam beneath.

The only sounds out here is the far away music from the pier sometimes being blown across the water, the waves lapping against boat and forts, and far away against the fins of sharks circling Mr Evil's base.

At this time of night, even the cry of the seagulls is missing.

The fort Benjiro is aiming for is a good distance away from Mr Evil's fort, enough so that he's well away from the fairly narrow circles the sharks seem to swim around the structure. ...At least going by where their fins are visible.

The eerie quiet within the falling rain is concurrently reassuring and unsettling, in that it lends no warning of action yet promises it could come in the next moment.

Wary as he feels of those circling shark fins, he keeps his attention split carefully for monitoring their positions, the occupied fort itself, and where he is headed. Gliding on the water to come around the furthest fort among the group, he pulls up alongside the crossbeam support directly below a second, smaller strut that leads further above to a platform. Once close enough, he cuts the engine and steps one foot across the gap over the water. Carefully Benjiro maneuvers to loop a pair of ropes around the crossbeam to pull the boat flush against the metal with a length of cloth between to prevent rubbing or grating.

It takes only a minute to secure the boat, and from there, Benjiro has an easy climb upwards underneath the fort to the platform directly beneath. Goggles removed, he opens his bag to retrieve a small flashlight. He angles the light upwards to turn the beam on for a mere couple seconds to check the entry way, then clicks it back off. Climbing the short ladder, he enters the rusty fort, and turns on the flashlight to look at the surrounding empty structure.

With nothing else present in the forgotten space, he lowers his bag to the floor and pulls out his headset. Benjiro dons the communication link to those on shore and switches it on. He listens for the signal then speaks to Walter and Sadie, voice hushed, “Checking in. I made it into the fort.”

Edited 2019-07-24 21:29 (UTC)

They've certainly got enough positions to triangulate a signal, if they have to.

"We'll be recording anything observable down here as well, of course. Run a comparison if needed."

They might not, but Walter's not willing to bet on such a thing.

"I've got a camera up here, anyway," Sam comments. "I can take pictures from above so you have the layout. Do I get to come along for your boat trip, too?" He sounds as dry as one really can when speaking above a plane engine.

Pictures lack scale and depth, yet the images can guide audible descriptions and eliminate a lot of questions for detail. The teenager pauses briefly before he responds with a light tone, “I suppose you could, but you might have to fight Sadie for the com.”

Walter's hushed reply is first, as might have been expected.

"Good to hear from you."

A pause, in case Sadie wants to start asking Ben questions.

Walter doesn't have anything to add to that, but the banter is welcome.

"I'm glad to be staying out of that potential squabble."

Still, Walter feels they should focus back on the forts.

Sadie had spent the majority of the time pacing, eyes glued onto where Ben was planning on landing but the moment Ben's voice comes over the comm she freezes, ears swiveling towards Walter.

"Are you alright?!"

"Do any of you kids know your way around a gun?" Because if not, then he's definitely coming along. "Out over the water, now, approaching the fortress thing."

"No."

If there's any begrudging tone in Walter's voice, he's doing his best to bury it.

He keeps his gaze level, meanwhile, scrutinizing the forts from a distance.

The immediate answer from Walter brings a sense of support, and the question that follows from Sadie the instant after draws out a smile as he replies, “Same to you, and yes, I’m just wet. There has been no visible change in activity out here, and the climb in was easy. Getting set up now.”

Taking the controller with video monitor out first, Benjiro unpacks the drone he made for this particular job and goes through the steps of final assembly. It should manage in the rain without shorting thanks to some precautions, but he will have to mind the wind. The spring-supported legs will allow him to land it somewhere safely if it comes to it, but he would rather stick to basics with a methodical and efficient survey without lingering any longer than necessary.

“Are you all staying dry?”

Edited 2019-07-26 15:48 (UTC)

Uncomfortable at the mere thought, Benjiro answers honestly, “Not at all.” The matter of Sam joining them in the middle of the night in the rain for the venture out on the boat could be discussed later.

The teen quiets as Sam nears the fort.

Sam sighs. He doesn't like guns, but he does have one, registered and everything, locked up at home. This seems like a mission where it might be necessary. Looks like he's coming.

He angles the plane, and the noise on the network increases a little with increased engine power. "All right, I see it. Dropping altitude on approach."

The climb isn't as easy for Sam, who did in fact insist on coming along, rain or no rain. It's possible Mr. Evil is keeping the nearby islands watched, and he can't let the kid go in with no backup. So he has that hated gun holstered at his side and a good coat and better boots, and he's struggling up the path in the rain, taking it slow and keeping both nose and ears open for trouble while his eyes are focused very firmly on the ground so he doesn't misstep.

The last thing he needs now is to fall and break something. He's too damn old for this, but who else can keep Benjiro safe if shit goes down out here?

Pieces of the drone locked together securely in seconds, he realizes that he should have heard Sam joining him by now. There is something to be said for patience and allowing others to go at their own speed as a matter of dignity, but out here, it is better if they do not remain separated. Setting the flashlight on the floor to illuminate across the entry doorway in the floor, Benjiro peers down to see where Sam has made it from the secured boat. He whispers to Walter and Sadie with a relaxed tone, “Hold on,” and sets the device aside. Quietly, he climbs back down.

Benjiro lowers himself carefully to stand next to Sam, and he half turns to point at his own back without a word. At roughly 190 cm in height now, the teenager feels confident he can climb them both up to the platform. From there, Sam can use the short ladder.

It takes Sam a minute to figure out what Benjiro's offering, for a moment just staring blankly at someone pointing to their back. Then he realizes, and he scowls, though thankfully it's hard to see in the rain. It's embarrassing. And stupid. But it would probably be even more stupid to struggle along out here in the rain, where they could be spotted. Ugh.

"Fine," he mutters under his breath, and he puts his hands on Benjiro's shoulders. Gonna have to help, though, kiddo. He doesn't have the spring in his step to actually jump up onto anyone's back. Not in these boots and this coat.

Alternative options of assisting Sam with the climb without carrying him raise the risk of slipping or injury. He may not see the scowl well in the dark, but the reluctant consent is clear. Benjiro stays silent as Sam puts his hands on his shoulders, and when Sam makes no further move, he crouches down and reaches to hook his arms behind Sam’s knees. A lean forward puts Sam firmly in contact with his back before Benjiro sweeps up his legs and he rises to stand with the man on his back. One arm is kept under a knee, and that same hand reaches across to hold the opposite knee, which frees an arm for Benjiro.

A jump upwards and single arm push up bring them onto the smaller crossbeam, and repetition takes them a step further to the platform. Once standing there, Benjiro half bends to release Sam’s legs and let him side off to the solid grate. Out of the rain, it should be only a ladder climb to get inside.

Once he's up there, Sam does what he can to make it easier for Benjiro, holding tight with his arms around the boy's shoulders and trying to keep his feet out of the way. Even if this is extremely weird.

And apparently familiar to the dragon-guy, because his grip does slip a little after that first jump, because there's an echo momentarily making him dizzy like it always does. The slip is only for a moment, though, and then it's surprisingly strong as he hastily gets his arms back in place, because with that memory came the strength of a very old, very large... well, dragon. Not that Sam realizes it yet.

Preparing for that second jump and push upward, Benjiro pauses when he feels the sudden slip of grasp at his shoulders. His arm tightens slightly at Sam’s legs to keep him at least seated as he regains his grip, but when he does, the pressure is far more intense. Shock of that difference nearly stalls him as the impression against his more durable frame make him question if this would cause injury to anyone else, but he shakes his head to focus.

Once Sam is off his back and standing on the platform at the ladder, Benjiro rubs at the front of his chest where Sam’s arms had pressed. He says nothing, waiting for Sam to climb inside the actual fort. He glances towards the occupied fort to look for signs of activity, then swiftly follows.

Picking up his comm device, Benjiro mutes it momentarily to address Sam in a whisper, “Are you okay? You pulled so hard...”

Edited 2019-08-03 16:42 (UTC)

Sam drops to sit on the ground next to the ladder once they're inside, catching his breath. "Sorry," he whispers back, voice hoarse. "Got a vision thing halfway through. Those always make me dizzy." He doesn't yet realize he could have actually hurt the guy. It wasn't, thankfully, enough to hurt himself.

“You’re fine, just take a moment and breathe,” Benjiro says to reassure him the Echo was not going to hamper their progress. Crouched near Sam, he reaches over to his bag and fishes out the other headset to hand over to the man so he can also talk with Walter and Sadie on shore. He releases the mute from his own as he dons it to check in again, “Sorry for the wait. I needed to make an adjustment. The drone is ready to go, so I’ll see about the way to the roof.” The plan had been discussed prior; he would launch the drone from below the fort. However, opening the path to the roof would allow for a secondary escape point if anything got too intense.

Benjiro takes one more item from his bag before he stands. The flashlight will stay with Sam, so he snaps the cheap glow stick and shakes it to cast a blue glow. Hopefully, this will not show through the windows as a flashlight would and serve to give him enough visibility to navigate. He walks from the entry into the fort and off into the hallway.

"You're both okay, then?"

Look, it doesn't hurt for him to ask...!

Ben's trick is pretty successful as even Sadie, with her enhanced eyesight, can't see any hint of the glow stick.

She sighs in relief as Ben's voice comes through the headset again, "Glad it's going okay so far, you're still hidden to my eyes and nothing else seems to have changed so you should be alright to continue. Are you alright, Sam?"

Edited 2019-08-11 20:28 (UTC)

Sam settles the headset in place. "Fine. Just had a little trouble getting up this far, so Ben helped out." He picks himself up, at last, and starts looking around for means to climb higher. On his fly-over the other day, he'd seen walkways up there, so there has to be a way up.

Inside, the fort is derelict but safe enough to walk around for the most part, and what staircases and inbuilt ladders there were still exist. In some spots, the floor has caved slightly and should probably not be stepped on. Most of the interior is decades old, except for some garbage probably left behind by trespassing adventurers in more recent years.

When looking over at Mr Evil's base from here, it appears just like all the other towers of the fort... except for that, when looking at it from just the right angle, a gleam of green or blue light can be glanced.

Since Sam has relayed the real cause of the brief silence over the coms, Benjiro comments openly on the channel, “As strong as you are, I’m surprised you did. And I’m doing alright.”

His attention remains split between pathfinding and minding the floor, aware derelict structures can weaken and drop out between supports. Navigation based on the limited size of the fort itself and the outer shape allows Benjiro to find his way to the first staircase quickly. Ascending to the next level, he pauses as he spots some of the garbage left behind. It’s odd to see a modern food package in the historical fort, and a sharp reminder he does not belong out here. As focused as he had been on their reasons for being in the bay, he had not thought about the fact he is technically trespassing. With that recognition, an Echo hits.

Benjiro halts, leaning against the wall briefly as the dizziness pulls harder in the darkness, and a memory settles into place. Images of the futuristic New York City are freshly seared into his mind, recalling an effort to cross the city at night and avoid security measures far beyond simple cameras and motion detectors. He guided them, snapping occasionally at any carelessness.

A deep breath and slow exhale, then he proceeds onward towards the top floor, “...guess it was my turn for an Echo. Just a memory.” Nothing important enough to delay them further when every extra moment here could increase the risk of being caught. If Sam had been following Benjiro by the sound of his footsteps, he no longer has that audible means to trace him. Benjiro might as well be standing still.

"How did this become the night for Echoes?"

He's only saying it aloud - and more to Sadie than the two on the fort - because it's becoming a serious concern; Mr. Evil hasn't even shown himself tonight.

Thankfully, Stone still has scent to go by. He comes up behind Bejiro to put a hand lightly on his shoulder, though his first attempt misses, as scent is slightly less accurate than sound. "Huh. Thought you were closer," he comments under his breath, then manages the shoulder-pat the second time. It might feel a little heavier than he anticipates, sorry, Benjiro. "I think there's a staircase off to our right," he adds.

“Coincidence I think...” he answers over the coms, not quite realizing it wasn’t directed to them as well.

The delay had allowed Sam to catch up, and the shoulder pat perturbs his balance enough to get a sidestep out of Benjiro. Surprised once more by the strength of it, he realizes the Echo Sam suffered may have more to it. Directed to the last staircase, Benjiro nods, “Right. I’ll check the door.”

Ascending the steps to the rooftop in the center of the structure, he carefully manages the mechanism on the door and gingerly tests the door. It gives enough to spread a gap of an inch from the frame, and the teen lowers it back down into place quietly. No need to risk noisy hinges until they need to use this route. With the exit path confirmed available, he makes his way back to the center entrance chamber with Sam into the illumination of the flashlight.

Benjiro turns to face Sam as he holds his hands out with palms up and elbows bent to 90 degrees. He has a serious expression, one of concern, and asks, “We need to check something... Please push down gradually on my hands, until you can’t push harder or until I ask you to stop.”

Sam frowns at him, but does as instructed, palms flat on Benjiro's palms. He pushes pretty damn hard right from the get-go, even if he's not meaning to, probably bumping Benjiro's hands down immediately if he's not ready for it.

There is a brief drop in Benjiro’s hands at the initial press downward, however, he recovers quickly thanks to his own strength and expectations. Considering how much weight he can support, he aims for a lower goal of something above Sam’s bodyweight, which he can estimate now after having carried him on his back. Once Sam is noticeably above his own bodyweight in pressure without the visible struggle of using all his effort, the teenager speaks up, “You can stop.”

Hands lowering after, he directly looks Sam in the eye with absolute confidence, “Your strength has been amplified somehow. You started stronger than I anticipated and you managed to push down with more than your bodyweight at the end.”

Sam opens his mouth, shuts it, then after a beat scowls in the dim light. "Are you shitting me," he says more than asks, and glares down at his own hands. "That's... going to be a pain. I didn't even notice the difference." What if he hurts someone. Hell.

The teenager gives him an empathetic look, having been dealing with building strength for a while himself, “Yes, it will be a hassle, but I’ve managed so far. We can discuss ways to retrain your neuromuscular recruitment after we leave the fort. For now, be gentle as much as you can.”

Now that Sam is aware, hopefully they can get through this without incident.

Moving to kneel down with his drone at the doorway, he speaks to everyone on the com channel, “Okay. Ready to send out the drone. Everything still quiet from your view?”

"No unexpected visitors heading your way," Walter reports.

Well, no one more unexpected than they themselves had hopefully been.

The drone will encounter no issues on a careful fly-over. Getting closer, it will discover that there seems to be a room at the centre of the old building that resides far above the sea surface that shines blue-green light out onto the area.

And when the drone has just the right close-by angle, it will see a spot of light on the water surface below. It's not foggy enough to really see where it is coming from.

One final check is given over the drone as Walter responds to give him a clear. Switching the power on, he lowers the antennae cable from the controller downward and the drone itself through the opening of the doorway and withdraws his hand to leave it hovering before taking up the controls fully in both hands. His eyes turn from the drone to the onboard camera, and guides it down lower and along under the bridge between the forts for cover as much as possible. When the drone is guided through gaps, he hurries it through the rain with careful angles to fight the force of the rain and wind to keep a straight path. The weather seal is holding, and the drone reaches the far left fort safely.

The radio signal is stable for the distance thanks to the power boost, and Benjiro describes what he sees over the coms, “There is a light on inside the fort. Appears to be central and blue or green in color… And a light down on the water surface.”

Guiding the drone around the structure slowly, he looks for changes in the architecture along the outer walls and up over the roof.

"Noted," Walter acknowledges. They can't make any assumptions about what the source of the light is, of course, but-

"Does it look like the light on the water surface is a reflection, or a refraction of something underwater?"

The architecture along the outer walls and the roofs seems to not have changed at first glance. Upon closer inspection, there is a trap door at the centre of the roof, though.

“Not sure. I have the drone near the roof at the moment, but I will check that next,” he responds to Walter before returning his focus to flying the drone. As the drone passes over the roof, he slows it to circle back when he sees something out of place. Spotting the trap door on the second pass, he zooms in the camera for more detail.

Once finished scanning the roof, Benjiro will guide the drone downwards and under the fort itself out of the rain to look for the source of the light.

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Orchard of Mines [Log]

July 16th, daytime

July 19th, night

Re: July 16th, daytime

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Assuming Walter can't spot the light Ben's using.

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Assuming the drone flies above the sea fort for now

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