Week 49 debriefing: Aw crap, that was the plan all along

Team: Wei Xu, Sun Ren (replicant), Ace Nizky, S.A.M. (robot), Han Ji, Parvati C. Sharma, Shap Ng-Tsang

Mission target: An Ai-Jinn metal recycling centre being used as a base by Ban So Tzun

Mission objectives: Recover Ban's hostage (Jin Rhee) and kill Ban and his henchmen

Mission write-up: To do some initial reconnaissance, Shap crawled through some vents and used some scout powder to take a look at what was inside before sneaking up to a grating to take a closer look. He found an assemblage of conveyor belts, metal smashers and large vats of acid. Visible enemies were: Ban in the central control area, a modified droid atop part of the assemblage and a couple of henchmen on the floor. Perhaps more significantly, Jin, dressed in a diaphanous white dress over her armour, was dangling from the ceiling above the largest vat of acid.

Han then entered the facility to talk with Ban, while Ace set up some explosives on a sealed door to force entry. After a few moments of chatting between Han and Ban, Xu entered the building and combat began. Parvati began heading for Jin, Ace in his Oni began unloading large quantities of plasma at people, Xu and Ren took cover, S.A.M. bombarded Ban with missiles, destroying the glass between him and the fight, and Shap dropped on top of the robot, although it didn't seem to hinder it much.

The struggle continued, with the henchmen engaging Xu and Ren in close combat, the robot melting plasma into Ace's cyberframe, Shap heading for Jin, Han heading for Ban and Ban's last henchman ("Guns" McKellen) revealing himself by firing a laser cannon and briefly downing Parvati. All while Jin was being lowered towards the acid. Then Han reached Ban and found him to be a hologram standing among a couple of large explosives, from which he escaped with nothing worse than a downed shield. Due to a combination of Shap's highly skilful Spiderman action and Parvati's telekinesis, Jin was rescued from the acid vat, and Ace brought down the building that McKellen was standing on with plasma grenades. Unfortunately, Ban's henchmen proved to have restraining weapons and a teleport homer, meaning that they, Xu and Ren were teleported out to an unknown fate.

With the facility in a highly damaged state, the team was able to recover the head of the modified droid and take it for interrogation. It proved to be a sentient droid called Bounty Hunter that acted as a bounty hunter on its owner's (an EI bounty hunter based in Europe) license, who had reported it lost. From it, the team were able to find out that Ban had promised it a share of the bounty on Xu, and operated out of an articulated lorry. The CEO then called to say that at the next Seoul Interchange auction, Xu was being put up for sale, and that under no circumstances were they to interrupt the smooth running of the Interchange, seeing as Oracle operates out of there and needs it to survive as a corporation. The team returned in slightly depressed spirits.

Wei Xu's comments: "Oh, shi-"

Ban's Notes:
So predictable. It's like you forgot you were going into a trap. Really? Really? These are the agents who infuriate corporations and steal their most precious secrets? Please. I could do better... But I won't have to, as I'll be making so much money with my own little black market sale I could retire to a personal private continent on Varstaag. Thank you, Oracle, thank you so much.

I am sad to report the passing of agent Xu Wei. He was killed by Shinzo Aso after being sold in the Seoul Interchange. The killing was technically legal because Shinzo Aso possesses a Class 3 Termination license and Xu Wei had a history of unprosecuted crimes against the Shi Yukiro.

Let this be a reminder that Oracle is currently very unpopular with the other Corporations and that we are too small to stand toe to toe with them.

Everyone who knew Xu has my condolences.