06/23/15 A Laundromat [Attn: Ben]

"You get it, but you don't get it.  See, I don't have any reinforcements anymore.  I'm outta whammies.  And I don't particularly wanna die...but there are worse things. Much, MUCH worse things."

Again, he meets your gaze, and his is haunted.  "I'm running outta time, and I'm running outta luck, and they're closing in on me.  You?  You'll just kill me.  And if I'm dead, they can't get me.

So, yeah.  Take a good look, kid."  He gestures to his emaciated, unkempt form.  "This could be you a year from now.  What's the old saying?  "Generals always fight the last war?"  I don't know if it's too late to stop what's gonna happen.  Even if you take me down, I'll take a lot of 'em with me when I go, but I'm just one guy.  If the Nation keeps fighting the last war...if they keep clinging to morals that can't apply anymore...then it'll be too late."

He stands and stretches.  "There's an abandoned diner at the end of the street.  You wanna do this, tell your compadres I'll be in the basement."

And with that, he walks towards the door.

The diner's there. "The Akropolis" was originally written above the door, but the "r" has fallen off, leaving "The Ak opolis." A forlorn, tattered sign in the window still proclaims "Fried-chicken Friday."

It doesn't look like any chicken has been fried here in quite a number of Fridays, though.

Steelheart approaches in Umbra. Anything odd on that side?

A place like this, Mitch is clearly looking for booby traps. He'd certainly have something set in place.

No booby traps, and nothing odd in the Umbra.

There is, however, the sound of a harmonica coming from somewhere below.

Mitch takes a deep breath. "Here we go." He enters, hunts up the basement stairs and heads down.

Steelheart follows Mitch in the Umbra, occasionally using Pulse of the Invisible to check the material world. He starts setting up his sniper rifle upon finding a good line of sight on Pit Stop.

Pit Stop is seated in the center of the basement, playing the harmonica. He's really not bad. He looks up and salutes gravely with the instrument.

"So. Do I get to go down swinging?"

Pack-Link: I'm personally inclined to oblige him with a fight, but I'm not gonna be stupid about it. This one has to be the Alpha's call.

"I do have an idea," Artie's been deep in thought since leaving Starbucks. "I could try to burn out the circuitry, and the residual taint. If he wants a second shot at the enemy, this could give him one. I don't particularly like the 'I do bad things because you won't' spiel, it's contrived and puts a band-aid on poor life choices." She looks Pit Stop over, "You seem decent, I'd hate to kill you."

Mitch clearly looks surprised at Artie's statement. "Shit. I didn't know that was something that could be done!" He looks a bit sideways at Pit Stop. "What do you say? I know the whole Litany about Combat the Wyrm wherever it dwells and breeds, but this is turning into a whole new kettle that we know nothing about." He growls. "And I'd hate to kill a brother over this."

Artie's line merits a ghost of a grin. "What's the line? "You seem decent. I hate to die."

The grin fades. "But I'm afraid I'm not. Decent, that is. Ain't even gonna pretend. If you knew what I'd done, you'd kill me in a second. Only reason I'm not telling you is you'd try to stop it. I don't do bad things because you won't. I do bad things because if I don't, worse things will happen. You gotta break eggs to make an omelet. I've broken a fuck of a lot of eggs, and most of them probably didn't deserve to be broken."

He sighs. "Look, kids: I could lie to you here. I could probably weasel out of this with my skin intact. I thought about doing just that. I've GOT the gifts to make a fast getaway. 'Course, you made me, you know who I am, you could track me down, and I'd be looking over my shoulder for one MORE enemy...and the truth is, I'm real tired of fighting a three-front war that I don't think can be won. So, here's what we're gonna do. I'm gonna confess my sins to you--all except the last one, 'cause like I said, I can't afford to let you stop that one from happening--and then you're gonna make your judgment based on that. Pretty sure I know what that judgment will be." He looks at Mitch gravely. "Sometimes a brother can be a monster, my man. Don't ever make the mistake of thinking otherwise."

Pack-link: "Let him talk. More intel on this will be valuable, and I'll make sure my shot is lined up.

"And once he's dead, we haul his spirit up with Death Dust and I force it to tell us this last job of his. Just because you're dead doesn't mean you get to escape your debts."

In the Umbra, Steelheart sets up his sniper rifle and prepares his Slug talens. When the time comes, his camp's gift will allow him to take the shot from the Umbra into the physical world with Pit Stop never knowing he was there.

"OK, dude." Mitch leans up against a wall. "I'm game to hear this out. Confess away."

The fallen Bone Gnawer launches into a...disturbing confession. He hasn't caused a caern to be violated, and he hasn't mated with another Garou. Beyond that, he's broken just about every tenet of the Litany. He's killed fellow Garou; he's thrown loyalties out the window; he's slaughtered innocents, human and kin. It doesn't even sound like he thinks he's helping--what he's doing seems to be strictly scorched-earth. Preventing the domination of the Weaver by bringing everything down.

The most disturbing thing about it is that he says it as matter-of-factly as if he were describing what he had for lunch yesterday.

"And the really damnable part of it all? I'm more or less at peace with it. I won't say "I can live with it," 'cause I suspect that's going to change REAL soon now...but none of it claws at my soul. None of it keeps me up at night. OTHER things keep me up at night. What I saw in the Cyber, THAT keeps me up at night. But the screams of the dead? The faces of those I've wronged?"

He shakes his head. "After a while, they all sort of blur together."

((OOC: If we want to get into the specifics of the wrongs he's done at a later time, we can definitely work something out, but I want to keep the scene flowing for right now. ))

Mitch begins quite calm, but as the recitation of misdeeds, sins and outright horror continues he becomes increasingly agitated. At the end of the fallen Gnawer's statement it's pretty clear he's actively restraining himself from violent action.

"Seriously!!?!!! ALL of that you think is justified?? GODDAMMIT!"

He begins pacing in an extremely agitated manner. "You're goddamn right we should kill you. I can't even fathom what would have to happen for me to lose it THAT badly, and I'm real good at blowing stuff up." He punches the wall. "AAAGGH!"

"You didn't see, man. You don't know. Anything, anything is justified to prevent what I saw. The people I killed? Better off dead than what happened to my buddies.

You don't know. But you will."

He stands.

"You clearly have some anger to work off. Guess it's about time."

Artemis sighs. "Yep. I bet we will. And then you can look down upon us from Gnawer heaven and nod sagely. Until then, I'll keep some faith about me. Sorry you couldn't do the same."

She steps back. "Mitch, this is your fight."

OOC: If it looks like Mitch is in serious trouble, she'll fire. Not until then.

OOC: Steelheart follows his alpha's lead. Occasionally watching for Umbral threats, but largely keeping his sights trained on the fight and only taking the shot if Mitch is in trouble.

OOC Note: Here's where we go to combat.

IC: Mitch, while mightily angry, is not an 1D10T. He'll be leading with Odious Aroma (1 Gnosis), followed by a shift to Crinos. Razor Claws and Cornered Rat's Ferocity follow (1 Rage Each). Then he attempts to close for combat.

OOC: fune With Me As Well. Makes MorE sense Than Chopping ItOut. MyPhoneHateA me.