IC: Initial Shadow Offering Options

[Musashi Forever]

Autograph? What the hell?! Nadia is pretty curious about what is going on, but chooses to find out later as she walks to the car and opens the door for Hobbes.

"Let's get you buttoned-up Mr. Hobbes. Safer that way."

[Glyph]

Caitlin is a bit surprised, to say the least, when George hands her a piece of paper and a pen. But with a mental shrug, she writes "Always keep believing, Charlie", then, since she has no idea who she's supposed to be impersonating, signs it with an illegible scrawl. She then hands it back to George, with her face schooled into a pleasant but nonchalant look, as if she is used to meeting "fans" all of the time.

[Mister Juan]

George, taking the pen and notpad back, simply shrugged his shoulders at Caitlin. With the brightest of smiles, he headed back to the security guard, giving him his belongings.

"Thank you again officer."

On that, the Ork got back onto his Scorpion who was waiting behind the limo. The car was large and seemed a bit clumsy; George felt safer on his bike. He was the one in control, and he could keep an eye on the ouside world. On the other hand, he had no idea where exactly they were heading, and he'd have to stay sharp as not to loose the Nightsky.

He had millions of questions for his teammates, and employer... but they could all wait until the man was somewhere safe.

[Musashi Forever]

Regretting not buying a coffee. Nadia looks around the limo's interior for a well-stocked mini-bar. If one is accesible she will grab a soda, it's too early for the good stuff.

[Sicarius]

Nadia is pleased to see that there is indeed a fully stocked bar, including a variety of alcoholic beverages, but then disappointed to see very few mixers, the only one which seems suitable for Nadia's purpose is a can of some kind of caffine beverage, with words written on it in what appears to be Thai. The only English which appears, is in a speech bubble of a cartoon character which looks disturbingly sperm-like, only with a huge smile. He (assuming it's a He) says in bold letters, "Tastes like FUN!"

Taking a sip, Nadia discovers it, in point of fact, definetely does NOT taste like fun.

Hobbes watches the expression on Nadia's face as the obscured soda-pop touches her lips, and begins laughing in a social awkward sort of way.

Caitlin Only

[ Spoiler ]

You are sitting with your back towards the driver, facing Hobbes, and by extension the rear of the vehicle, which is why you are able to notice a biker in black and red biking leather, atop an equally black and red Rapier, perhaps two or three cars behind George and his Harley. The biker appears to be attempting to remain unnoticed.

George Only

[ Spoiler ]

You are following the Nightsky, keeping your eyes peeled for trouble. You can't see inside the vehicle, its window tint much too dark for that. In a brief moment of distraction, you glance upwards to notice what at first looks like a kite. A giant, metallic Kite with Vector thrust... Once your able to identify it as a drone, a closer inspection indicates to you that it does not apper to be armed, but its also not featuring any Lone Star, or other corp iconography, if the kind you usually see on drones which are where they are supposed to be. As the Limo takes turns, and moves through traffic towards what you assume is your destination, the drone above makes similar turns...

[Musashi Forever]

Nadia pitches the decidedly unfun can and decides that it is indeed late enough in the day for the good stuff.

"You gotta warn me about stuff like that," she says to Hobbes as she pours a small amount of rum into a glass. "So, what hotel are we going to?"

[Glyph]

Caitlin, who seems to be distractedly looking out the back window, frowns slightly.

“Hold on, we seem to have picked up a tail,” she grins wryly “...unless it’s another one of my ‘fans’ following us. I’ll give George first crack at getting rid of him - damn, I wish we had commlinks. If that doesn’t work out, we can turn onto a less busy street, where I can zap him without creating a traffic accident.”

[Musashi Forever]

Nadia tries following Caitlin's eyes out the window, but cannot spot their follower.

"Too bad I can't yell at him from here." she says. Her frown immediately changes to a slightly evil grin. "I could tell him to crash."

[Glyph]

Caitlin, still tracking their pursuer, answers Nadia.

"As long as it's just him crashing, it'll be all right. Now, if he pulls away from the other cars at any time... damn, hard to track him, he's staying back a ways. But if I can't isolate him soon, and if George doesn't draw him out, then I think we need to do what I said earlier. Turn to a less crowded street, so I can zap him. I don't know if we want to risk nabbing him afterwards. That would be kind of high profile, and I doubt he would be able to tell us anything useful, at any rate. He's just a hired gun."

[Musashi Forever]

"Maybe the driver knows something about losing tails. If the hotel provides this type of service maybe he's been in this position before. Do you think we should ask him?"

[Sicarius]

As you drive, you come upon a stoplight, which the driver, dutifully stops for.

For a moment the Limo... George behind it, the drone above it, and the biker behind everybody are all at a stand still. It doesn't appear that the biker is aware that they've been spotted. Caitlin figures if there was an opportunity, this might be it.

The road you are on is two lanes north, and two lanes south, and fairly congested. Your left and right are surrounded by tall glass buildings which seem to go off into infinity in a phallic gesture of corporate dominance no doubt.


"Is there a problem? I certainly hope not. We aren't far from the Hilton now." Hobbes pips up, having been quiet until now.

[Mister Juan]

When he had first spotted the drone, George was almost sure it was a Lonestar Strato drone. After all, they were a pretty common sight in the streets of Seattle. But something about the "behavior" of the drone had alerted him: it was running in a shadowing pattern, immitating the Nightsky moves to perfection. That was no regular drone. It was difficult to say from the distance, and the fact that he was trying to drive, but the drone didn't appear to be armed. Odds were, if it was here for Hobbes, it was simply a surveillance one.

Which meant that everything that had happened so far, George had to assume had been recorded, or at least heard, by whomever was after Hobbes.

Just what do you have that others want so bad?

Unless something drastic happened, George didn't believe there would be any way to loose the drone: it was far more agile than a bike and a limo in afternoon trafic...

Unless I can take it out...

It was a pretty long shot, especially with a Savalette Guardian, but it was still doable.

No. Too risky. Could cause panic.

Once at the hotel, they'd have to organise the operation, and relocate as soon as possible. "They" would know that Hobbes was holding out at the Hilton. They weren't even at the "safehouse" point yet, and it was blown.

[Glyph]

Caitlin smiles grimly. "Well, we may not wind up staying at the Hilton very long. We've already picked up at least one tail. Let's see if I can at least take care of that right now." She seems to gaze intently at the biker, as she focuses her will into a magical attack on their pursuer.

[Sicarius]

Caitlin's concentrates, only to be rewarded with the satisfaction of seeing the red and black garbed biker slump off their bike and land on the ground. As they do, the light turns green, and the Limo begins to roll forward. The vehicles behind their tail stop, with at several motorists going to the biker's aid.


George is alerted to a thumping sound, and sees a biker in red and black fall off his mount. Which wouldn't be that concerning, except he notices the drone take an apparent interest in the happenings behind him as it reverses course, and hovers may 40 yards above the scene, examining the biker and those gathering to assist him. The Light turn greens, and the limo begins to roll forward. As George looks back as they travel several blocks he sees the drone remain in a hovering position examining the crash. Nadia and Caitlin see a drone looking out over Caitlin's handiwork for the first time..

The Limo takes a left, and than a right, and than a left again, before rolling up at the front door of the Seattle Hilton... A door man in a red uniform with gold piping and what must be some kind of 'ware that keeps his posture as straight as a ramrod. He opens the rear door, and Hobbes pounces for the exit before being caught around the nape of the neck by Nadia.

As the three of you scope out the front entrance, you see three wide glass doors, each framed with large obvious MAD devices. bulky doormen doubling as security stand at each entrance, one per door. A U-shaped loading/unloading area is where your limo is currently parked, it is underneath an overhead covering.

Street side there is a wide sidewalk featuring a smattering of folks walking about, apparently uninterested in a limo, parked among a series of limos, waiting to unload its passengers.

The street is partially blocked from view by large planters filled with engineered trees for decoration, and probably doubling as road blocks for vehicle borne-explosives. One can't help but notice that the man-made plasti-trees provide good cover from the scopes of any waiting snipers. Whoever planned the Hilton here in Seattle was either very security aware, or had watched one to many News Trid shows about Seattle and its "terrorism" problem.

[Musashi Forever]

"Hang on a minute boss," Nadia says to Hobbes. "We got followed a little while ago, you may not want to just run out into the open."

Making sure that he stays put, she exits the limo first and looks around for George. Seeing the MAD scanners she thinks of the contents of her bag. I wonder how strict their policy on guns is? Pretty strict by the looks of it. My good old Manhunter might be a problem.

[Sicarius]

Nadia only

[ Spoiler ]

Nadia can tell that each of the doormen is armed with something bulky and projectile looking, possibly some kind of pistol or taser type item. She can also spot surveillance cameras surveying the unloading area in an intelligent manner, not a dumb panning, but the scanning of an experienced security rigger.

There is a head Doorman/Security type sitting behind a faux wood podium, with a panic button visible on top of it. He is also clearly armed with some kind of weapon beneath the folds of a probably fake wool uniform

[Musashi Forever]

"Just give us one moment please," Nadia says with a smile to the doorman who had opened the door to the limo.

She pokes her head back into the vehicle, "Hey boss, did you register for the room under your real name?"

[Sicarius]

"Of course I did," Hobbes says for the benefit of the nearby doorman, "I'm Sebastian Howard Bonaparte, and proud of it." He gives Nadia a wink.

"Now let's get this show on the road... I've got things to see and people to do.."

Apparently Hobbes is enjoying his newly adopted persona of Mr. Sebastian Howard Bonaparte.

[Mister Juan]

Turning off his bike's motor, George carried his heavy frame all the way to the limo. As he walked to the car, he couldn't help but notice all the security measure the hotel had.

Nice place.

Getting to Nadia's side, he took his shades off to polish them with one of his sleeves.

"Looks like a pretty tight place after all."

He tought about informing her of the drone that had followed them earlier, but decided agaisnt it. Hobbes looked jumpy enough like this... he'd wait for some privacy.

"I hope they have a checkout counter for ware... or else just getting ourselves in might be one frag of a hassle"

[Mister Juan]

Leaning forward on the open passanger door, George peered inside the Nightsky.

"Sir, I take it you didn't warn the hotel you had a security detail accompanying you?"

[Musashi Forever]

"I'll see if I can clear it up," Nadia says.

Turning away from the limo, she strolls to the security podium.

"We're Mr. Bonaparte's party," she informs the head doorman as politely as possible. "I am afraid I have made a mistake in my duties as part of his security team. What is the hotel's regular procedure for checking-in protected guests, their personelle, and their various pieces of 'equipment'?"

[Sicarius]

The Head doorman/Security Guard, looks over a pocket secretary, tapes in a few numbers, and than, when he sees that Bonaparte is in fact a registered guest, and in the Corporate Tier 3 Suite, He brightens.

"Ah yes ma'am. That won't be a problem. we'll simply need you to provide a list of any "materials" you are bringing into the hotel, along with a scan of your credsticks to insure the proper permits and licenses. Shouldnt' take but a few moments."

[Musashi Forever]

"Oh," Nadia fumbles for a moment. Then begins to wihisper in a conspiratiorial manner. "Well, we're sort of, unofficial, if you get my meaning. I can tell you that one of my companions may not take well to an overly thorough scan. Is there any way we can settle this without the background checks, but still meet the hotel's specifications?"

[Sicarius]

He whispers back...

"Rules are rules but..ah.. I suppose I could make an exception..." His fingers make the universal symbol for cash...

"A small fee, and i'll clear up any licensing issues. But any trouble anywhere in the hotel, and we're blaming you..."

"700 sounds about right."

[Musashi Forever]

"You sir, are a gentleman," Nadia says as she reaches for a credstick. "Normally I would tell you that four hundred should be enough, but the boss is footing the bills so here's your seven."

With that taken care of, Nadia turns and waves to George. "Let's go." she calls to him.