5583/Fortune and Glory: Pandemonium

Fortune and Glory: Pandemonium
Date of Scene:	14 March 2021
Location:	Upper State New York (Plus other places)
Synopsis:	The treasure hunters start hunting the treasure hunt makers.
Cast of Characters:	Jovian Anderson, Lara Croft, Cinque Evers, Bane
Tinyplot:	[[Log Tinyplot::Fortune and Glory]]

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Jovian Anderson has posed:
The world has certainly been an interesting place since an international treasure hunt appeared on the scene. People have been mugged, shot or even kidnapped to get clues to the next step in scene. And as it is, they have only gotten worse as fake trails, immitators and other organized crime organizations have gotten more involved. Still, the clues (the real ones) clearly pointed towards sunset on the 26th of March at a series of public parks created by the same artist that had created the brail. The sculptures were supposed to represent astrological symbols and signs and be attached to the times of the year. Several police and local SHIELD agents have taken up a perimiter at various places around the world with more than a dozen people with medals who figured out the clues and a more distant crowd in the distance.

Jovian is dressed as Bolo here, since that is the name that he has on the international 'board' that has him in a narrow lead over Bane and ?????? which is even weirder. Who is ???? and why has everyone else been identified with an alias or first name?

He looks at Lara as the sun slowly sets and he looks at his Medalion, still amazed so many people havent just melted it down for the considerable amount of gold in it. He sighs and shakes his head, "This is a circus....

Lara Croft has posed:
Lara wasn't sure to expect of this whole situation, the whole treasure hunt... it was an unexpected turn of events to come at her, but she was willing to give it some of her attention to make sure that it wasn't leading to some unforetold disaster...

Plus, she's with SHIELD, WAND, and is eager to be a presence of some measure of authority if things do go poorly in any event.

In the now, she's with Bolo but raising a hand up to her face, raising her designer aviator sunglasses up to rest them on top of her forehead. She glances over at him, then to the medallion which gets a soft smirk from the Briton woman.

"It just likely means its only ever been in the hands of people who didn't need the money." She comments back tothe man before she looks back before them.

Cinque Evers has posed:
As Oletha Ukufa zooms through traffic in and out of traffic on his motorcycle, he tries to block out his frustration at not being able to get a solid lead on the Nazca cartel. They seem to run their business better than Keyser Soze. "Feck, analysis proves that I am still unable the time needed to trace down a proper due too many uknown variables, so playing the game seems to be most prudent way to reach the same objective." Oletha Ukufa replays the braille piece in his head and the other various information as heads to Upstate New York.

Jovian Anderson has posed:
Jovian Anderson looks at the medalion, trying to figure out if there is some other clue he should be getting. By now people on the internet much smarter than he is have put a HELL of a lot more thought into this than he has, and frankly if he didnt have one of the foremost experts in the world on this he would feel utterly lost. He does think a moment rying to understand why his medallion has ridges and the others do....

At official sunset a shaft of light shows right onto a hill near the park, that a whole bunch of people with shovels are suddenly very interested in digging up and a whole lot of SHIELD agents and local police are interested in them not doing that when suddenly, a door in the hill that was exceptionally hidden and a panoplay of actors come out, similiar to the living statues in front of the bank, only these are dressed as native Peruvians and Spanish Conquistadors who do a large march out ina line and bow to each other and begin saying something in a language that he doesnt understand. Most of those dont either and a bunch of people hold up their phones trying to understand the dialog.

"REALLY?" Jovian would be about done if this hadn't some how all been started by him and he feels personally responsible for all the misery that is happening as a result.

Lara Croft has posed:
Lara's eyes are on the activity unfolding and when the Quecha begins to be chanted she walks ahead. "Come on." She says softly to Bolo, advancing on the site at a casual pace not really wanting to cause a scene by behaving irrationally.

Lara's hands go in to the pockets of her black leather jacket, and her eyes look around while she listens to the performers. She looks to Jovian / Bolo then. "They're speaking an old Peruvian dialect, Quecha. I'm only familiar with a few words from it, the essentials. I'm not sure what they're doing yet..." She states.

The digging doesn't hold much interest in Lara right now, as she walks at a slow pace her eyes are on the performers and her ears are trying to decipher what they're saying.

Bane has posed:
"Look at you literally fumbling for meaning the darkness." Bane says unexpectedly appearing behind Croft and Anderson. "They are reenacting Pizarro meeting the Inca, but even that is just surface level. using a pantomime to hide a code in plain sight. They didn't think anyone still knew the indiginous languages. It's cordinates." Bane then reads a series of numbers out loud. "I can't chart a map in my head, but It sounds like its close to here and certainly no where near south america, strange..."

Jovian Anderson has posed:
Jovian Anderson grunts, "It's....its almost a distraction." He shakes his head, "Why the hell would a dead guy a hundred years ago pay people to do all these weird little plays?" He holds up the medalion, "I think the ridges in this actually mean something, since the other medallions dont..."

He stops and looks up as Blackhawks swoop over the hills on the horizon. The local SHIELD agents working with the cops all suddenly look at their phones and look concerned. How do you go DARK in the middle of a crowd control operation as local law enforcement all listen to the radio and hear the secretary of defense speak over the radio, "All Agents of SHIELD are to be considered illegal in the United States and will be arrested on sight. Thank you ladies and gentlemen of the press a full package of these serious claims..." as the US military swoops in, ignoring the situation on the ground and going straight for the SHIELD agents. Moreover, they HAD to have been prepositioned for this. All over the world, in six other parks in other nations a similar scene starts. As the military moves in to arrest the SHIELD agents, some of whom finally move to flee, organized crime (not Bane's militia) swoop in to try and grap the actors and finally, in the park in New York, an actual riot breaks out among weird actors, treasure hunters, police, army, sheild agents and thugs hired to stop or kidnap treasure hunters.

"This is ....PANDEMONIUM" Jovin is furious, "There is clearly some other clue here, but I dont care. These Nazca Cartel bastards are behind them and need to be taken down." Jovin looks murderous.

Lara Croft has posed:
Lara jumps just a little at Bane's sudden arrival behind she and Bolo. She shoots a look back to the man with the rather impression-making voice, she exhales heavily. "What about any of this makes sense?" Lara says back to the man who sneaks a lot better than you might initially think!

Her eyes go back to Bolo then and the medallion, she's about to comment on it again when the helicopters thump their way in to the area and that call goes out. "What, the, hell." Lara says, her eyes scanning around the park as chaos starts to unfold around them.

She has her own SHIELD / WAND I.D. hanging from a black strap around her neck, but nobody has taken note of it yet. Lara starts to raise a hand up to tuck the badge in to the hoodie she's wearing under her jacket...

Sly... like cat!

Cinque Evers has posed:
Just as Oletha Ukufe is about to head towards the interstate, his enhanced intuition kicks in and he quickly flips a U-turn, nearly touching his knee to the street as brings his motorcycle around. There is one contact that he forgot to seek out that still falls into his pattern for investigating the Nazca that he did not speak too. The likelihood of this person knowing information about the Nazca is about 0.5 percent, but it is better than nothing.

It takes Oletha Ukufa about thirty minutes to make his way back to the Bronx. Outside the loading dock of International Super Market, where no one can see him park, Oletha waits for his contact. When a sixty-year-old man wearing a back support comes to upload a truck, Oletha steps out of the shadows to confront he states this more as proclamation, then a question, "Still doing honest work. I need information that deals with a Cartel that maybe your grand-daughter or son might have done business with." Oletha Ukufe slowly shifts his vision to the crates on the truck, then back to the old man, "Even with your honest work I heard you keep tabs of certain groups. Still searching for answers on what happenned to your family." The old man just grunts as he starts to unload the crates, "Just tell me the name, and get goin'."

Oletha Ukufe hunch paid off and Fernando Jara tells him that he heard that Nazca were recruiting mercenaries for a project and were operating out of Peruvian Restaurant in the Garden District. Oletha tips his hat to Fernado, "Thank you, you won't see me again, unless I got answers for you about your family."

Bane has posed:
"Things looking to be getting exciting now. A little bit of chaos to make things interesting. It seems like now I'll have more resources and back up while you lot have to deal with your downfall. " Bane says as the comotion rises around them. "chaos is a good thing though. among the chaos when the fire rises" Bane has yet to make a move in the situation waiting to see how the now beleaguered agents react and wish to move forward.

Jovian Anderson has posed:
Jovian Anderson says, "I think that this place has been here a hundred years, I think its not going away any time soon; and I have no immediate desire to be rich. And I'm certainly not seeking glory, but these people need to give me an explanation for this. I'm not playing their game, and I already investigated where these people operate out of in New York." He notices Lara's subtle motion with her badge and says, "I don't think we're going to find what we need here. Let's get to New York; a restaraunt called El Nombre...."

The restaurant in question has a dozen obviously armed (with concealed weapons) thugs out in front of it loitering about with the subtlety of a ballpeen hammer on a mosquito. They are alert but not stopping people going in and out of the restaraunt. They ARE looking at all of them closely, however.

Meanwhile, the riot is mainly brawling and melee. Several quipu, meant to be handed out to the individuals, get knocked out of the bag, a few torn to shreds. MOST of the shield agents manage to get the hell out of dodge in the pandemonium but a few are arrested by the military units. The police do NOT look happy about this, but the chagrinned soldiers have their orders and crowd control is not included in that. Many in the crowd look to get away.

It is, of course, at that moment, that precisely odd moment, that Lara and Bane would notice the ridges on Jovian's mediallion EXACTLY match the curious ring of astrological statues that form a ring around the park with one well away from the crowd of a Crab claws akimbo. The treasure hunt obviously openly taunts.

Lara Croft has posed:
Lara's got a lot of thoughts going on inside of her head now, obviously, she's watching members of the Agency she works for being rounded up like mass criminals. It's... unsettling?

Her badge was put away though and nobody seems to be the wiser. Lara reaches fo rher sunglasses and is nodding toward Bolo before glancing back at Bane.

"I truly hope you're not connected to whatever this is." She tells the intimidating man. "We should go--" Lara pauses then as she notes the statues and then look so the medallion once more. She reaches for it...

"This is a clue." Lara tells Jovian before motioning to the statues. "But I'm not sure we can do anything here right now, we'll have to come back possibly, once this has all died down."

If motioned further, Lara would retreat from this place, as it's all just a bit too chaotic now.

Cinque Evers has posed:
Oletha Ukufa tries to park his motorcycle in good sport for a quick getaway. Oletha Ukufa bites his lips as he counts the guards, then the number of innocent bystanders. "Probablity of collateral damage is completely unacceptable for the dangerous direct approach." Oletha palms a smoke bomb as he approaches the restaurant as he thinks to himself that they were hiring mercenaries, no one said that they were not hiring costume mercenaries. Oletha thinks the smoke bomb should make for a small distraction to get him inside if things get a bit hectic at the front without having to result to higher levels of forces.

Bane has posed:
"I'm flattered that you would assume that I had the influence to burn an entire agency. But I can assure you this is not my doing." Bane says with a tone that you can just tell he's smirking even if the masks makes his expressions unreadable. "But yes let us leave. It would seem you need to now move in the shadows. Join me for the shadows are my domain so to speak."

Bane calmly but deftly starts making his way out of the area and towards an undisclosed near by location where he has people waiting to transport him out. "come if you wish"

Jovian Anderson has posed:
Jovian Anderson can't help but chuckle at Bane's wry humor. He has read a federal profile on Bane, and while it is not Batman/SHIELD level detail, he knows that Bane is right. His organization is impressive, but not...this is next level stuff. Jovian quickly does some mental calculus and then spots the additional police and local national guard arriving to calm the scene and nods to Bane, "Yeah, we won't be getting out of here on Lara's jeep."

The ride through the air is 20 minutes, and traffic control is heavy with fighter jets and military aircraft trying (and failing) to find cloaked quinjets, but Bane's contact in air traffic control keeps them relatively unhindered as they fly to New York proper.

As Oletha approachs the restaurant, he is not inhibited on entering. The smoke bomb does indeed distract and these hired thugs all go as one with no coordination or training keeping them from diving their forces. On walking in, Oletha sees...a restaurant, with a lady who immediately asks, "May I get you a table?"

He does see a set of stairs in the back going up that could lead to a private office, however.

Lara Croft has posed:
Lara looks across the distance to her Jeep where it's parked. Her Jeep doesn't have any SHIELD I.D. on it but it does have SHIELD comm systems and those may or may not be getting tracked by the military for... whateve ris going on!

"Right." Lara says to Jovian, and to Bane, and moves to follow after the three of them. Her eyes go back to the statues around the park before she looks back to the medallion, but ultimately just passes it back to Jovian

They reach a helicopter and Lara's eyes scan over the vehicle. She's a trained helicopter pilot, and instantly recognizes the model and flight abilities of the vehicle, but she keeps all of that to herself.

As they board it, she lowers her sunglasses back over her eyes and finds a place to sit, strap herself in and find a spot with a view! With NYC approaching as they fly, Lara is looking at her phone to check in with her SHIELD contacts, but she sees an order telling her to go dark, so her phone is ultimately deactivated and stuffed in to her pants thigh pocket...

Cinque Evers has posed:
Gently brushes right pointer finger against the brim of his hat as he scans the place for additional guards, before responding back to the woman. "I would like a glass of Pisco, and I would like whoever is sitting in that office to come out and speak to me." Oletha Ukufu slowly taps his foot and says, "I will have a table once they come out and joined me. Tell them, I am going to be nice as long as it takes me to drink my Pisco,"

Bane has posed:
Bane commands the pilot in spanish <Take us to el norte. quietly>

"Don't mind the armed security things are hot at the moment so we can not be too careful" Bane say to his passengers "We're going to follow up on the cartel lead. I believe I may have some information and influence to assist in finding answers"

Jovian Anderson has posed:
Jovian Anderson nods, "There is a building near El Nombre we can likely set down on, a parking garage just across from the building. There is a lawyer there, the same one who met me on the Train when it was being robbed, I THINK the guy's name is Wessington but he isnt an actual cartel employee. These guys need to be made to stop this stupid hunt, and give me an explanation about how I fit into it.

Meanwhile, Oletha is seated, and the glass of Pisco is provided. She looks curious and whispers to a waiter who goes into the back. Ten minutes later, a man comes out wearing a ridiculously expensive suit and sits across from Cinque. He smiles charmingly, "Aren't you supposed to be seaking treasure Mr Ukufu?"

He reclines, quite relaxed and sipping wine.

Inside the restaurant, the sounds of a helicopter can be distantly heard.

Lara Croft has posed:
Lara's aviator-covred eyes look over to Bane when he speaks in Spanish to the pilot, as she understand what he says, but makes no real reaction to it. Instead she just looks then to Jovian as he speaks. She has nothing to add at this point.

The Agent does move to take that badge off though, pulling the strap up it hangs on up over her head and then rolling it up to put it inside of her jacket's inner pocket, the sight of a 1911 handgun on a holster up against the side of her ribs is briefly visible when she does this too.

Bane has posed:
The Helicopter hovers over the building Jovian points out. "I assume you both are ok to jump? the pilot needs to leave as soon as possible" Bane says as he jumps out and falls the dozen meters to the roof landing with a roll to minimize impact.

"follow my lead I have had dealings with them before"

Jovian Anderson has posed:
Jovian Anderson leaps out and lands on the roof, almost shifting to shadow but barely managing to do do otherwise. He rolls, not exactly the most trained person but he has been doing this long enough that he has picked up a few things. The thugs in front of the restaurant are pretty distracted by the smoke bomb but a few notice the helicopter and point. One comments on a radio.

Lara Croft has posed:
Lara tenses up as Bane mentions jumping, but the distance isn't that bad so she nods once and pulls her sunglasses off again. She tucks them in to her jacket inner pocket as well before she moves to stand, watching Bane vanish out of the chopper a second later. She then nods to Jovian to signal to him to take his turn ahead of her.

It's only a moment later that Croft takes several quick steps before thrusting herself out of the helicopter and through the air, descending rapidly, she lands, tucks her arm under herself and trolls her wight across the back of her shoulders, her legs tumbling over her head until she comes out of the roll on her backside on the roof.

She hufs out an exhale. "Well then." The British woman states, moving to get back on her feet. "Shall we see what the special is this evening?" She quips to the two men, whether they hear her or not.

Cinque Evers has posed:
Cinque Evers slides the glass of Piso from one hand to another as he makes sure his memory is able to take every detail about the man. Olethu Ukufu wants to make sure that he can recall all his mannerism, and even his smell if need be. "Have you ever heard of Francisco Fierro Palas? I believe people in Peru called, "Papa Fierro" Oletha lowers his right hand under the table, "I must apologizes that I know little of Peruvian culture. I know about Pisco, and I know about this painter. He has this painting called, "Carrying Aguardiente from Ica" Oletha offers the man a polite smile, "I remember it is because it a basically a picture of man on a donkey, leading a donkey, which is being lead by another donkey."

Oletha's smile quickly turns to a frown, "So to answer you question. No, I am not supposed to be searching for a treasure, because I am not feckin ass that like to be led by another ass. I am the guy that reminds the guy who is riding a donkey that he is charge of nothing but an ass, and perhaps he should not think that this is position of power."

Bane has posed:
Bane leads the pair into the restaurant. They cartel members there may be dumb local thugs but they know enough to recognize him so they let him pass with out protest but every thug's hands have moved to their weapons. The mere presence of bane and the 2 agents have dramatically increased the tension in the room.

<who is incharge here?> Bane asks in spanish. <I wish to speak to the boss here. Now> Bane says with a commanding tone not unaware of the room full of weapons at the ready but not caring to consider them a threat.

Jovian Anderson has posed:
The thugs ARE really dumb, and almost attack but...Bane is BANE and they do let them pass. As they enter, the woman immediately reports to the lawyer sitting at the booth with Oletha. He chuckles, "My oh my. The cartel did tell me to expect many coincindences working for them but this? The top THREE contenders for the prize all skipping the action at the Empire State Building to speak to little old me? I am the representative of those you seek explanation from and can offer some information, shall we speak upstairs?"

He smiles to Oletha and says, "I do like the imagery by the way, I dont think their intention was to lead you on a wild goose chase...well...probably

Lara Croft has posed:
SHIELD may or may not be crumbling outside of this very building, and Lara is now rushing in to it with a potential criminal leading the way. What precisely has her life so suddenly turned in to?

Oh right, a mysterious treasure hunt...

Lara sighs, and her own handgun is certainly kept in her mind, but she's trying to stay out of the direct line of suspicious sight to those within the restaurant. She enters with the others, but she does so with a bit of a look of confusion on her face...

Bane has posed:
Bane nods and follows "Gathering Information is the key to maximizing success. One should try to be prepared for all eventualities and that starts with knowing as much as possible to better surmize what those eventualities maybe"

"This has been be a bit of a snipe yes, hence why I'm here to shake loose more clues and intel through my various means of doing so" Bane says softly to Oletha as they enter their office.

Cinque Evers has posed:
"Did they tell you that one of them knows how to filet a person with a Bowie Knife?" Oletha Ukufa keeps his right hand underneath the table and moves his hand closer to his Bowie Knife as he sees the others enter the restaurant. His eyes briefly widen as he sees the other face and he begins to ponder what sort of bucket of crap has he got himself into." Oletha turns back to his tablemate, "Why should I care about this treasure, and I would to know why I was picked too?"

Jovian Anderson has posed:
The lawyer raises his hands, "If we can just go-"

Jovian steps forward and looms right in the man's face. He isn't Bane but he suddenly does look dark and shadowed, more intimidating than he normally does, echoes of another life showing in his eyes. "I dont think we're going to your office. WHAT is going on?"

The Lawyer tries to answer cryptically, "I mean, its a treasure hunt the clues you have read..."

Jovian goes upstairs to the office, walking up the stairs past the lawyer.

The lawyer tries to answer, wants to stand and follow but is clearly intimidated, "Well, its...a very large treasure? As for why you were picked, the cartel only said that it was due to your ancestors and something they did. Really, thats all I know.

Lara Croft has posed:
Lara keeps her hands inside of the pockets of her leather jacket with her eyes roaming over the interior of the establishment. She takes in the various entry points, exit routes and everything else that might seem like a tactical necessity for this location. She's... got a running mind in this moment, the stuff with SHIELD is weighing on her concentration, the message from her superior telling her to go dark and wait for instructions, etc, it's got the young archaeologist a bit off her gam ein the now.

She follows along though behind and to the side of the others, her stare going to whom they speak to.

Bane has posed:
"Do you know the difference between rules and laws? Most people don't and use the term interchangably. Gravity is a law, barring few notable exceptions one can't choose to simply ignore the laws of gravity. Rules on the hand are suggested guide lines we all silently agree to. example in futbol you don't touch the ball with your hands because you've agreed not to. If i decided to pick up the ball and throw it nothign is actually stopping me. You assume we've agreed to your rules. but What is actually going to stop me if i choose to extract useful information from you right here right now? Hm?" Bane says in a very even but tense tone of voice.

Cinque Evers has posed:
Oletha watches the lawyer for his reaction to Bane's statement. The implications of the lawyers statement causes Oletha Ukufa to analyze all the information that he has learned until now. Pigeons being sent to people that are connected by something their ancestors did that is link to a Cartel that deals in the occult. Did they contact us by magic? Do they know my identity? These questions and a plethora of others appear in his mind in less than a second as he listens to Bane's statement and stores the appearance of Bolo and Lara Croft in his memory.

Oletha Ukufa stands up from the table and slowly walks towards the office, speaking over his shoulder, "How does this treasure hunt benefit your employers? Are they pitching some weird reality superhero game show, or they just being charitable?"

Jovian Anderson has posed:
The lawyer starts babbling, "I dont know anything!?" He seems extremely upset. The comments from Bane and Cinque are such that he is quite convinced that he is threatened here but says, "Of course they know magic, they're the Nazca cartel, they even gave me magic to watch you all but its mostly useless." He babbles but doesnt seem unwilling to provide information.

Jovian returns with a series of files from upstairs, "I've made copies." He hands one to Bane and Cinque and Lara, "I know where to go to shut these people down for good and with what is in these files, we can likely get convictions too."