*** CLEAR YOUR MIND *** BUSINESS DISTRICT - RANDOM ROOFTOP - Downtown was primarily known among the Crows for its ability to be both incredibly loud and mentally stimulating simultaneously. It also had so many people, flying about, walking about, rushing, rushing, rushing. That made it perfect for a gang meeting, especially if you could get on one of the higher roofs. BPD didn't look around much up top, not without tracking someone there. Remus refocused on Claude, the tall man smoking near the roof's edge. He'd never really found out too much about Claude, really, aside from the fact that her was well liked, and really, really fast. He was also getting fairly up there in the years, but the olive-skinned man was as good a runner as any Remus had met. The man took another drag from his cigarette--or was it a cigar? No, Jonas had smoked cigars. That was definitely an e-cigarette. "Okay, listen up, Crows," he growled, tossing the cig off the roof. "We're running low on supplies. Andrea and her team can only do so much with limited supplies." Remus nodded. Andrea, their cook. Damn good one. But they needed supplies regardless. "What can we do, chief?" Technically, it was supposed to be Claude and nothing else, but Remus didn't much care what their leader thought. But the man had kept them alive this far, so he deserved some respect. Claude spat after the e-cig. "Well, we're in the business district. There's only six of us, but it's probably better that way." He finally turned around, revealing that oddly normal face. With such a list of legendary exploits, a lot of people expected some grizzled, scarred veteran. Not the actual Claude. "Anyone have ideas? I know we've scouted this place before, but we probably only have one shot at this before BPD comes in an puts the place on lockdown."
Alyn brushed her bangs out from in front of her visor. She then glanced around at various images produced by the overlay incorporated into the device on her face. Ever since she received it, she had kept pinpoint records on all public knowledge in Beacon. She also knew of some things that the crowd down below wasn't aware of, such as the fact that the Chief of Police two blocks south of here was on sick leave today. Claude caught her motion and nodded, encouraging her to speak. "The Chief of- the Chief of police at the station south of here is out on sick leave because of some - something that he caught in the Lower District. Probably influenza, but the doctors are insisting on a full examination. HIs wife is- his wife is being paranoid and thinks that - thinks that they're going to poison him. So they're having a full - having a full background..." She trailed off at a small motion of the hand from Claude. It was one of the signals they had devised over time for when she was starting to give too much information, a habit of hers and one that she feels self conscious about after the fact. She let her hair fall back to partially cover the visor. She was glad nobody cared that she had done it again. Then again, she had trouble telling what anybody was thinking, due to her mild autism. That was the second reason she wore the visor: she never had to worry about making eye contact.
Lucia looked at the city, at the cars and people moving like a colony of ants over the streets and into the buildings or otherwise out of sight. The comparison to ants is overdone, she thought to herself, but what else can you compare a group of busy tiny people to? Bees? Too convoluted. Lucia liked the comparison to ants just fine. She sat with her feet dangling over the buildings edge, hugging a flask filled with hot coffee. She looked over to the others. Claude was smoking something. Lucia had considered taking up smoking when she joined because it looks so authentic, but her lungs couldn't take it. Starting too old and little peer pressure, the bad habit had no chance. Their glorious leader spoke up. They needed food. Lucia readied herself to start understanding his plan, but he didn't have any. Lucia directly felt very happy, as it meant that she could come up with a devious masterplan to land the gang food and land Lucia attention. She took a sip of coffee and her brain starting working at full capacity, quickly considering multiple plans and ideas, storing some for later and discarding most for being too impractical. While she was still thinking, Alyn spoke up. For a moment, Lucia felt her moment in the spotlight fade away but Alyn just said something about a sick police chief and was cut short after stumbling. Lucia felt a little sorry for the girl, but her brain was still busy with coming up with a plan. Lucia uttered a "Eureka" under her breath as she had it. She stood up from the ledge to face the group, ready to tell them what her mind had come up with this time. She cleared her breath with maximum volume, as if standing up didn't raise enough attention. When she was sure she had attention, Lucia spoke: "Okay, here's my plan. At this time, there's always a lot of receptions and somewhat open parties going on in the hotels and restaurants. These places have a lot of food in their warehouses, intended for the bellies of rich costumers to attract them to their venue. If one or two of us could disguise themselves as employees or guests, those could get the key, keycard or code for the warehouse." In Lucia's head, there was a 3 dimensional map of a hotel where the location of everyone was specified with cool codenames and such. "After they obtained the way in, they can signal the rest who can swoop in and take the food, back onto the rooftops before anyone notices and back to Andrea. We'll also need a few people standing watch and the rest of the people should prepare to move the food. Questions?"
Sam was laying on top of his board as he watched the starless sky, rocking himself back and forth. It was something he regularly did when he had something on his mind. He sat up and stopped the swaying as the conversation began. He kept his head down, stroking his chin hairs as he listened, and visualizing the plan as everyone took their respective turns speaking. If the group was getting supplies through the act of stealth, he was all for disguising himself as an employee. It wasn't the first time he had altered his appearance since he had run away, and he quite enjoyed taking on a character. He rose his hand, as if trying to ask for permission to speak. "I'm up for disguising myself, if that's alright." He was already going over a personality in his head. He was thinking he might give this one a speech impediment.
Andrew spat his cigarette out and ground it under his shoe, checking the packet only to find out that he was fresh out. Cursing under his breath he took the moment to take in the business district. He had fond memories of this area, back when he was still free running, plenty of fat wallets to steal. He knew he wasn't gonna enjoy this run, food runs always made him hungry, and when he got back he planned to do his training regimen. Alyn was blabbering on, that was something he noticed about the girl, she ran her mouth like crazy. She was damn clever though, and he could appreciate a smart person, they made things easier on him. Then Lucia spoke, something about dressing up. Running his hand through his scraggly beard, wondering if he should trim it. "I don't think I'd be much good in a fancy outfit, I'd stand out like a sore thumb. But, once it comes time to getting in and taking the stuff out, I'm all up for it," he said in his usual pissed off tone, he didn't like owing the Crows. "Just give me a signal to look out for. I do have a bit of info that might help though, I remember from previous runs that there's this one restaurant that has really terrible security, apparently the owner is a stingy bastard. It's probably hackable with anything that has wi-fi, and they tend to stock a lot." He spat over the side of the building.
Claude pulled out another e-cig. Remus recognized it as his good one, the one that didn't get thrown off buildings. That cig represented the man who smoked it. "Could work. It sounds interesting." He glanced at Alyn. "You said the chief of that region is out sick? Who would be in charge then?" Remus knew this from his time on the force. "Probably the Chief's secretary or his second in command. It's kind of a weird structure. We can't really be sure, but it's going to be someone who doesn't have the same amount of authority. And if the chief doesn't want to be on leave, he's going to be trying to influence things from wherever he is. We have a small window of opportunity, I think. BPD will be a bit disorganized until the chief is back in charge." Claude nodded again. "I like it. I also likes Lucia's plan, except for the fact that there are six of us, total. Five of us are fit for physical duty." It was no secret that Alyn wasn't one for movement. "That means we'd need a waiter to sneak in to this restaurant--" their leader gestured to Andrew, "--a person to keep watch, and then the rest of us will have to grab what we can while we have the time." A gradually growing whirring noise interrupted the speech. Remus glanced over his shoulder, and the speck in the distance was growing rapidly. "BPD patrol. We have to move." He glanced around, his eyes lighting up at the next roof over. "There," he pointed at a roof access hatch. "We jump that gap, and then we can get down into the building." "Good." Claude clapped Remus on the shoulder. "Except not all of us can make that gap." The older man looked up at everyone else. "Not without thinking it through, that is. All right, Crows. How can we get off this roof?" They had about thirty seconds to figure it out. "Get across that roof, or we're sunk before we start."
Alyn shifted her weight, feeling awkward. She was well aware that "not all of us" had been referring almost exclusively to herself - the girl who didn't have years of experience nor some tool to help compensate for the difference. When they actually began the theft, she would almost certainly be selected to take watch. While it was true she was given that duty partially on account of her status as possible liability, Claude also usually placed her there due to her superb ability to track movement patterns and remember who should be where and when. Alyn may not be the best at creating plans nor communicating them, but she sure as hell could keep everyone organized and informed. Unfortunately, Alyn had never really picked up on how heavily that weighed into Claude's decisions, and thus was prone to thinking of lookout duty as a somewhat shameful exercise, even if she was contributing. That was when Alyn noticed a window around five feet below the rooftop of their destination. Closed, but just about within her jumping distance, barring no interference. "Umm... I could get to that - that window, if someone else opens it. But it may be behind a locked door, or someone may be watching, or..." She trailed off, catching herself before the sentence devolved further, wasting valuable time.
Lucia was extremely glad that everyone accepted her plan and she suppressed the need to do a little victory dance. Got to keep cool. "Alright! I'll be in the food extract team, then." She looked around to measure what the rest was thinking, but they had to move. Alyn would have trouble, but she came up with her own solution. Lucia flashed her a wide smile to show that it she thought it was a good plan. Lucia then looked at the gap and took a sip of coffee. She stretched for a few seconds, then assuming starting position. With powerful steps she gained speed as fast as possible and then jumped at what she assumed would be the best moment, although she realized that her last step could have been a little further. For a moment, she was free. In that moment, she didn't feel fear but realized why she chose this over a 9 to 5 job. She saw the cars under her as if she was a bird, free to fly where she wanted. She dismissed the happy thoughts and reached forwards with her hands. She saw the landing place and combined with her speed she knew she was not going to land on the roof. Lucia hit the top of the building with her waist and quickly put her hands on the roof. She was slipping away and used her feet to stabilize and get herself some time to get a solid place to put her hands on. She grabbed on to a nearby vent outlet and hung still. After half a second of relief, she pulled herself up. She sighed of relief and looked back to see if the rest was coming along as well. Then she started running over to the access hatch to go down and see if she could do something for Alyn.
Sam assessed that if he could pick up enough speed, he'd be able to jump the gap. He stood up, board under his arm, and ran to the opposite side of the building. As he threw his board down he hopped on and started accelerating. It wasn't long before he got to the edge and jumped. It was quite the exhilarating experience, looking down at the rest of the world as he propelled forward. As if to ruin the fun he was having, he landed directly on top of the wall, wobbling a bit before he fell forward. He watched as his fellow Crows stood on the opposite side of the deadly fall and tossed his wheelless board. "If anyone knows how to skate I'd suggest jumping the gap while Lucia gets the window open."
