If you are running a plot or GMing a scene that you would like to post here, please feel free to ask staff for the password. Appropriate uses of the xmm_plot LJ include:

- Information for ongoing plots.
- Large-scene logs centered around the faction and the job it does (rather than 'social' logs)
- Scenes that are significant to a plot
- Scenes that you GM or run
- Other things we did not think of!

Some posting guidelines:

- Use a descriptive subject
- Include the name of all characters who participated in the scene in the tags
- Use pre-existing descriptive tags when appropriate - ie 'briefing', 'combat'
- Tag entries with the mission code name

TO: All Agents
FROM: Carpenter
SUBJECT: Jeanne-Marie Beaubier

Ms. Beaubier has decided to resign from X-Factor. We wish her luck in her future endeavours.

Carpenter

Repair and construction have been completed in the Titan Enterprises building--including significant work to the roof. However, access to the roof is still restricted.

Repair is still in process to the Front Gate. A temporary structure has been erected until such a time that construction on the Front Gate is complete.

OOC NOTES:
- For the folks in LA: In order to plan for tonight, I really, really need to know what your teams will be doing at 5 pm in Los Angeles. This will help me determine whether the scene will be split, if so how many ways, where people will be, etc. PLEASE sort this out and let me know either personally or in a comment here by 7 pm EST today.

- For the folks at Home: If you are not going to be around to RP and would prefer to have your character be OFF BASE (and thus not presumed in the scene), please leave me a comment here. Otherwise, we'll shuffle your character's presence and where they are presumed according to what works best for the story (and our GMing sanity). Note that this is also the case if you don't feel up to doubling up on alts.

- For EVERYONE: it would be really helpful if you could drop a quick note here to let me know whether you plan to be here or no, so far as you can, and with which alts.

THANKS GUYS.

LA Updates, including some off-cammed stuff from Andrew's orders:

- Marianne doesn't have to do a /lot/ of shaking down - if she flashes a badge, the courier service who hand-delivered the note is happy to give a name - Jessica Yonus - and a description - a woman maybe in her early twenties, dark skin, hair that's likely dyed a reddish color. The only other thing they noticed is that her ears were pierced more than once, but she didn't wear any earrings, which the courier thought was kind of weird. Her manner was curt, grouchy, almost to the point of rude, and she didn't linger long. Most of their interaction was over the phone, and Jessica seemed very concerned about being sure that the courier knew where the letter was to be delivered. They only saw her when she came in to drop it off, and pay - in cash.

- Whoever wants to have claimed to have hit up that suspicious-looking area on the video tapes is going to have to do some digging to find the bit that fluttered from a pocket two days ago. But if they're willing to look in a few gutters, they'll find a dirty, stained napkin. The napkin includes a phone number jotted down in what looks like feminine handwriting, and the logo from a restaurant in Eagle Rock - La Costa.

- Stakeouts sadly produced nothing more than boredom.

- Sure as rain, twelve more stations are down today - 6 at the 5 pm hour last night, 6 at the 5 am hour this morning. Notably, though, both of these groups didn't just lose their servers and their phone systems - they lost all power, and their power continues to be down.

- A pair of cops stumbled on the perpetrators last night, but not knowing to watch for them or be on guard, didn't manage to catch them. They're talking about it, thought - two men, both dressed in black and ski masks, who appeared out of nowhere with a curl of black smoke. One of them stuck his hand through a wall, and then the power went out.

- A total of 8 stations are now back up with Brielle's instructions, and others are working on it ASAP. It's looking good for well over a dozen more today.

- That means that there are 34 stations currently down, and that could be cut as low as 15-20 today, depending on how fast they get their repairs done.

- The mayor's office has called Andrew to let him know that they are attempting to prepare the ransom just in case, and wanting to know his opinion on whether whoever is behind this is /capable/ of fulfilling their threat. He notes that they have not had any further communication or instructions, which feels a little odd getting this close to the Saturday deadline.

An update on LA things!
- As promised, 6 emergency centers - firestations, police stations, emergency rooms - are going down every 12 hours. That's in the 5 am hour and the 5 pm hour.
- Currently, a total of 30 emergency centers are having serious problems with receiving, tracking, or otherwise processing the calls that come into their centers. Emergency rooms are having other computer troubles, too, especially those that help them track patients and their records.


I'll be about to GM most of the day today. If you want to do a scene, please let me know a bit ahead of time so that I can do whatever research or planning needs to be done!

A few quick OOC notes:

• If you're going on the mission, addcom all=AllShookUp.
• All of staff is helping to GM this plot. Ariel is heading it up, but you can ask any staff member for some GMing love or bits of important info.
• Our goal is to have a number of small scenes focused around your jobs. If you're investigatey, tell us what or where you want to pursue. If you're emergency services-y, what you'd like to hit up to help. We'll toss some NPCs at you and get some stuff done! We also have a few ideas, especially for the latter, so hopefully we can get you some fun stuff.
• And as always, if you have questions, ask!

Tonight, the lost little Piper lambs all have the same dream. Everyone else? Their sleep is remarkably restful.

But Tom, Illyana, Nadia, and Walter slide deep into something that is so vivid that it seems impossible that they're actually /asleep/. The air around them is warm, thick with the scent of tropical plants and sweat and humidity. Beneath their feet, the ground is spongy and damp with a recent rain. The steady, sharp retort of gunfire rings in their ears, and the persistent trickle of sweat crawls down the backs of their necks, inch by inch.

As their dream selves stop to look around, twisting their heads this way and then that, they see that they're in the middle of a long firing range. The feel of an automatic weapon is heavily familiar in their hands, and every figure down the line holds one just like it. Some of the faces are familiar. Three of them are fellow agents, now, although in this dream they look younger, harder, focused on their work as they bend to sight their weapons. One of the faces is Gregor Novotny. His is the only face in the line which is turned toward you.

In fact, he's standing quite still, his weapon at his side as he looks at you with his dark, dark eyes. Baffled, you stare back. Down the line, the steady sound of gunfire continues.

Slowly, with steady deliberateness, Gregor smiles at you. The curve of his lips is not exactly pleasant. He turns his head to look down the length of the firing range. Without thought, almost without willing it, you turn your head so that your gaze can follows his.

In the distance a slim, petite Latina woman is striding your way, her face a study in cool fury. Although you don't know where it comes from or why, there's a sudden feeling of panic that tightens your chest and closes off your throat.

A voice says your name, and then there is a desperate, sharp, throbbing pain that seizes your thoughts and twists them, clawing barbed talons into your mind. Gasping aloud, you fall to your knees. Your hand clenches at your temple as if doing so might make it /stop/. Kneeling there with your forehead pressed against the damp ground, you swallow down rising bile. Around you, gunshots continue to sound. You have the sense that no one is looking at you. That they are /afraid/ to.

As the woman closes in, the pain in your head becomes unbearable, an echoing scream that drowns out any hope of thought or action. As her shadow falls over your crumpled form, you black out.

And you wake up.

The nightmares that plague everyone on base don't seem to let up for anything, even with the safe return of most of the Tacoma team. The dreams are like a rising claustrophobic pressure, often featuring complete isolation and terrible, endless darkness. Doors will not open, windows are frozen shut; the mine is closing in, the cell is getting smaller. Sleep seems less and less a restful concept with the certitude that, on closing your eyes, you will find yourself once more trapped.

It isn't that surprising that people would have trouble sleeping, what with so many agents missing and other uncertainties up in the air. Each hour of sleep is precious, and, increasingly, hard-won. Restless tossing becomes frantic nightmares of walls closing in on you, of ceilings dropping, and of doors and windows that refuse to open. For some, perhaps the dream takes the form of a mine; for others, celled isolation. The effects of the dreams linger in daylight, marked by unease in small, cramped spaces. Open skies are preferable.

The major points from the IC briefing held by Illyana for those signed up for the Limbo mission:

Passed on from management:
-Alicia Valentine, 20, a pyrokinetic, has been spotted at the scene of three major fires in public buildings in Tacoma, Washington, in the last few months. The most recent was at a strip mall, and during the evacuation an confusion an electronics and high-end jewelry store were robbed. The other two fires were also quite close to plum retail or banking targets, though no losses were reported.

-Agents are to investigate the possibility that Alicia is being used as part of an organized gang, using the fires as distractions for the robberies. A background check of her suggests there is a good possibility she is a dupe or being blackmailed, since she has no past criminal history, has a steady job, and shows no signs of vices that would siphon off her money and induce financial stress. Agents are thus ordered to question her somewhat gently until she provides a reason not to.

-Alicia has not been home for several days, but has been seen in the industrial area around the city's port. Led by Rasputin as team lead, agents are to discover in which of the warehouses in the area she is holing up, and to question her as to her involvement in the robberies and possible willful misuse of her powers.

-Given that the target has been assessed as low danger, this mission will be an opportunity for several of the new agents to get their feet wet.

Decided by Illyana:
-To give the new agents support, and also to give more flexibility in deployment all agents will be divided into two person teams, like so:

Remy Brielle
Will Jane
Harrison Nadia
Pete Illyana
JP Julian

Once the warehouse is found, the teams will each be assigned an exit to cover, so that the target can be surrounded.

OOC: The stranding scene is scheduled for Sunday, 7 ET!

OOC ETA: Yes, I know that Julian-player is no longer with us. The character is being ICly written out in the course of the plot.

* What the intruders got: information about the resources of the X-Men, such as specs on the Blackbird and et cetera. Information about Xavier's alumni and their current (or most recent) addresses, including the contact information of the Xavier's alumni working at Titan Enterprises. One or two of the files accessed allude to the existence of a secret mutant group based in California with contacts both with the X-Men and in government, but without specifics.

( 'It seems like our best place tae start.' (Kelsey, Andrew, Natalie, Sal, Jean, Storm [NPC]) )
X-Factor investigates a security breach.