Vampire: The Requiem - Government District

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Vampire: The Requiem - Government District

Post by Loredoctor »

Please post in here for Stories relating to the Government District.
Last edited by Loredoctor on Sun Aug 30, 2009 10:52 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Jonathan Belmont
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Post by Jonathan Belmont »

Jonathan unzipped his jacket as he walked along the east bank of the Ghostsilt river. Being dead meant he no longer sweat, but it was still nice to remember the feeling of a warm breeze. Besides, he doubted that there would be many things tonight that he would be able to look back and call nice.

It had been six days since the incident at the Opera House last night when he'd received the email. It had been brief - little more than a single sentence. "I will see you at 21 Riverside Terrace tomorrow at 10.00 pm." Signed by his new mentor within the Movement.

Roland Powell.

Jonathan hadn't thought much of Roland at their first meeting. He came across as passionate, yet coldly so, as if his passion had been poisoned by his ambition. He was obviously more decisive than Pyotr, which could be seen as a good thing. As long as he was the one actually making the decisions. If he wasn't, then the Movement was already knee-deep in shit.

The Idealist had spoken though, so Jonathan was stuck with the Ventrue. At least this would give him a chance to find out a little more about Powell's connections to Henri Rôdeur and some of the other more dangerous elements of the City's unaligned populace. For all he knew, that was the point of this whole affair.

Arriving at his destination, he noticed that Riverview Asylum was directly across the water.

An interesting choice of view, Powell. I wonder what that says about you?

Eager to find out the answer, Jonathan stepped up to the door and rang the bell.
Last edited by Jonathan Belmont on Fri Sep 11, 2009 7:28 am, edited 1 time in total.
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No one answered for a minute or two, yet Jonathan could hear music playing from within. Eventually, he heard someone approaching - footsteps against stone. The door opened, flooding the steps and Jonathan with red light, and he was confronted by a brute of a man - a cross between a biker and an anarchist, with twice the attitude. Tattoos covered his face, including a symbol of the Carthian Movement. A gun was holstered at his side, with a grip made of snake leather. The brute eyed Jonathan up and down sternly. His eyes were piercing green. Then his face erupted in a welcoming smile, revealing perfect white teeth sans fangs.

"Hey, it's the kid," he winked and then turned his head to one side, calling down the red-lit corridor. "That one who ran to Nwoso; either he has bigger fucking balls than I do, or is more of an idiot that all of us combined. Welcome comrade, welcome."

He slapped Jonathan hard on one shoulder and stepped back and to the side to allow passage.
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Post by Jonathan Belmont »

Comrade. Not friend. Interesting.

Chuckling at the tattooed man's greeting, Jonathan stepped over the threshold. "Big balls? Maybe. More of an idiot is more likely though."

With a laugh, the brute clapped him on the shoulder again and gestured towards a narrow staircase behind him. "Come on. We're up here."

At the top of the stairs they emerged into a large den, dimly lit with red light. Two dark leather couches framed the room and provided seating for most of its occupants.

To Jonathan's left a small Asian woman wearing a simple military-green wrap dress, her hair tied up in an elegant bun, reclined gracefully next to a black man in a long brown trench coat with a clean-shaven head and a goatee who leaned on the arm of the couch.

To his right a thin middle-aged Latino with messy hair and reading glasses sat uneasily, looking slightly out of place in a button-down shirt and khakis. Next to him was a tall, pale woman who looked slightly European, French perhaps, whose black hair cut short in a way that contradicted her curves.

Yet all this information was secondary to the fact that everyone in the room was focused on one man. He stood at a window opposite the staircase looking out into the street, and even though he had his back to the room his presence dominated it completely. Jonathan wondered whether he should be impressed, or if just about anyone could win over this particular crowd.

"Mr Belmont, I see you've finally arrived", Roland Powell said, turning to face him. "Now we can start."
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The walls were covered in propaganda posters belonging to various socialist regimes throughout modern history. Each had the Carthian Movement sign stamped on them, and some had been signed by various individuals. A large poster of Fidel Castro had been signed by the man, but it is likely that no one in the room appreciated the irony.

Image

Roland gestured to one of the couches, the one to Jonathan's right. "Please, sit down mister Belmont," he said with a thin smile. "Ladies and gentlemen, please make the acquaintance of our newest Carthian recruit."

He indicated the Asian woman with a cutting gesture. "This is Sung Hu Lee, my ever constant companion, confident and dearest friend. She also is the Carthian Movement's finest writer. Sitting next to her is Gareth MacDonough, 'the infamous bomber of Belfast', or as we like to refer to him as, 'the Poet who Writes with Flame and Anarchy.'"

Everyone in the room laughed, and Roland appeared to enjoy the respect they were showing him. He nodded to his left, which was Jonathan's -right. "The quiet one - and he will kill me for calling attention to himself, is Leto Esquez. Leto, you may or may not have heard, is the artist of the Movement here, in this city." He indicated the posters. "He also collected these, and even managed to obtain signatures. "Finally, we have Annette O'Borgeon. The famous sceptic and philosopher, fleeing France from the persecution of the Invictus."

Roland walked towards Jonathan with a grin on his lean face, placing both hands on his shoulders. "And you, mister Belmont are a very curious vampire. Newly inducted, so that is to be expected. But listen, my companions. This youth . . . this neonate, is the childer of none other than Mina. The same woman who left the Invictus here when the Mikhailov's were overthrown."

He stepped back and indicated the couch.
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Post by Jonathan Belmont »

Kindred of substance then, Roland. You have my respect for earning theirs.

Nodding to Powell's companions, Jonathan moved to sit where Roland had indicated, between Ezquez and O'Borgeon. Ezquez immediately stood and moved to lean against the side of the couch to leave the other two with more room. Jonathan paused for a moment until O'Borgeon confirmed with a quick shake of her head that everything was ok, and then took his seat.

"I must confess", he said to the room in general, though his gaze focused on Powell, "that I know very little of what happened in the City during that time. Does the fact that Mina is my sire reflect negatively on me?"
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Roland walked to the window again, and Jonathan sensed that had there been a globe of the Earth near it, he would have placed his hand upon it. He was enjoying the attention. "The answer to your question would be that the Invictus would hate you by default. Mina's defection, as well as Lydia Hibberd's is something of a black mark upon the history of the so-called First Estate.

"She thought the ship was sinking and fled. The only covenants to gain in strength that fateful night were the Movement and the Circle of the Crone. A weakened Invictus emerged, and here we stand."

Sung Hu Lee coughed politely. "And the Sanctified and the Dragons remain as weak as ever."
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Post by Jonathan Belmont »

Jonathan nodded. "I guessed that the Invictus might not be my biggest fans. When the Court was attacked last week by something shadowy, and when it seemed to specifically target me, I thought it might be Nwoso's doing. That's why I practically jumped into his lap."

"And within the Movement itself? Is she trusted? As her childer, am I trusted?"
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Post by Loredoctor »

Sung Lee answered politely. "She is trusted because of what she did. You, I am afraid, are not. You have yet to prove yourself to us, to Roland."

Roland smiled regretfully. "Which brings us to why you are here, neonate."
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Post by Jonathan Belmont »

Jonathan wasn't surprised by this turn of events. In some ways he was relieved - in kindred society, any group who gave trust for nothing wasn't worth belonging to.

Facing Roland, he asked, "what do I need to do to start proving myself?"
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"Your actions a week ago have painted you in a less than favourable light," Roland said in a mocking tone. "That said, no one who was there missed you attempting to kill that . . . thing. Yet, politics will always gather more attention that heroics.

"So you must do something to benefit the Movement and how we perceive you. Therefore, you have two choices on what to do in the coming nights. You may only choose one of these, but whichever you select you must complete without endangering the covenant or breaking the Traditions."

Roland walked over to a desk and pulled out a map of the city from a drawer. He handed it to Jonathan. "You see here a red cross," he continued, "marking the north docks. This involves the first option. We want you to destroy a container belonging to the city police. The city police are in the employ of the Circle and the Invictus, so we believe. Destroy the container and report to me of its destruction. However, do not make it look as though it was caused by us. In fact, do not even hint that a vampire was involved.

"Your second option involves facilitating a cyber attack on one of the companies - Identity Corp. We want its servers down for precisely one minute while one of the Movement's hackers uploads a worm into the system. This task is safer, although potentially more dangerous.

"What will it be?"
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Post by Jonathan Belmont »

Blow up the shipping container or hack the Corporate. On the surface it looks like such a simple choice - just follow your strengths, brains or brawn. But nothing's that simple. The cops own the container, and they're working for the Circle and the Invictus, however that works. And who knows who Identity Corp. works for.

And everything's a test. I don't just need to succeed. I need to succeed at the right thing.


"I choose to facilitate the attack on Identity Corp." he told Powell seriously. "Are you going to tell me which Covenant has a stake in them?"
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Post by Loredoctor »

Gareth MacDonough cleared his threat the moment Roland opened his mouth. "If you will let me speak, Roland; I think I can answer Belmont's question."

A brief look of irritation appeared on Roland's face, but it vanished the second it appeared. He nodded and raised a hand to Jonathan. "Very well, although I imagine that we both know as much as each other, Gareth."

Gareth looked at Jonathan with a straight face, eyes flashing with cunning in the red light of the room. "The thing is, as far as the Movement knows, no vampire faction or covenant is in control of Identity Corp. They've been in the city for nearly ten years, so in all that time we would have found out who is pulling its strings. The board of directors, its CEO, and even the cleaners are all free of our - vampire - influence. Or perhaps, if a Kindred is in control, he or she or they are managing it in complete secrecy.

"What we do know, which is very little, is that most of the board have their fingers in many pies - various technological firms and research divisions in universities. They also all went to the same college."

Roland placed a hand on Gareth's shoulder to stop him. "A classic ventrue or Invictus company," he said with a false smile. "I would discount the Circle as they oppose technocrats. Find out who is behind Identity Corp, and bring their servers down, Jonathan.

"We're giving you a month. If you fail, then you can assume we will remove you from the Carthian Movement."
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Post by Jonathan Belmont »

And if I succeed, do I get to join your little clique?

His face still serious, betraying no sign of what he was thinking, Jonathan nodded. "I expected as much. No Covenant wants to be burdened with dead weight after all."

Focusing on Gareth, he continued. "You say we know very little about Identity Corp. and its director. Where can I get my hands on what we do know? Names, employment histories, charitable works, that sort of thing. It'll be as good a place as any to start."
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Leto Vasquez let out a loud sigh of frustration or anger and stepped towards Jonathan. "Stop playing with the kid, Powell," he said. "Just because you have a problem with his sire does not give you the right to act this way."

Leto looked at Jonathan squarely as he continued. "Identity Corporation is currently developing technology that will allow all major forms of transportation to track users. I mean trains, roads and airports. They have extremely high level prorgrams to recognise people, and are developing cameras with enough resolution to scan someone from a great distance.

"The upper members of the company all went to Howell College. Check the research divisions, as well as the alumni lists."
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Post by Jonathan Belmont »

Jonathan gave Vasquez a brief smile of gratitude. "Then it looks like Howell College is my first stop."

"I guess that just leaves the hacker you mentioned", he continued, turning to Powell. "How do I get in contact with them?"
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Post by Loredoctor »

Roland looked at Leto for a long moment, and the room was filled with tensions. He then smiled. "You should speak with Tessa Kroger. She can be found in the industrial district. We have a base of operations there. I should warn you, though; it's run by a vicious Nosferatu - Old Albert - who demands a high price from anyone, even covenant members, to use his people.

"Do the Movement proud, Belmont."
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Post by Jonathan Belmont »

"I fully intend to", Jonathan replied, rising to his feet. "Otherwise I would never have sought to join you."

"Two quick questions before I go. Where in the industrial district can I find Old Albert, and how does he like to be paid?"
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Try the abandoned factory on Harlequin Street. Knock three times, like this," Roland raps his knuckles against the wall in a pattern. "Make sure you are unarmed, as Albert is very paranoid. That attitude has helped him survive for so long, although it annoys the rest of the Movement. Now, he'll either ask to drink from you or just ask for money. It depends on how he perceives the request - how much of a drain on his resources, that sort of thing."
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Post by Jonathan Belmont »

Drink from me? Ah shit! Just how much do these people know about us Mina?

"If everything goes as planned I won't need much of Ms Kroger's time, so it shouldn't be overly taxing for him. Rather than guessing what he might say however, I guess I should go pay him a visit while the night is still young."
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