Hitting Bottom - Third Wave, Adam, Jonathan, Harriet and Caittie Options

[DireRadiant]

Sledge
Wednesday 8/13/70 16:03:29

Big Jimmy was a little bit worried, which was a relief of sorts. He'd been more worried till Monica had let him know this was actually normal. It didn't make much sense to him, pulling constant double shifts didn't let you have time for much fun. It was certainly wearing him down. It was tiring watching the tusker woman work. The double shifts weren't really about getting more maintenance done, which was a relief to Big Jimmy, at least he wasn't setting an insane level of fixes to live up to later. What was tiring was realizing Sledge was working with about 3 different ARO streams as she tinkered with the various mechanical pieces of equipment. It was like she was constantly in class, reading up on everything she possibly could, most of it totally unrelated to what she was actually taking apart and repairing. He'd wondered why she simply didn't do it from her bunk, until Monica pointed out that since they were constantly moving around the UG, the heavy data use and processing involved would not linked to a single source. It gave a whole new meaning to learning on the fly.

It wasn't bad to be around, just boring, except for those few days where she had him volunteer to be a first aid dummy. Luckily modern tools weren't as invasive as they used to be, otherwise he was sure he would have had some fun with probes and needles or something. Though he had learned that some of the modern sensor equipment was quite capable of cutting right through his extra dermal plating. Apparently one of his nodules was actually an infected capsule of some kind. Upon reflection it may have been better to go to the clinic then let Sledge slice it right off and spray healing glue on it.

He still couldn't answer the guys asking what happened without getting a razzing about letting a woman cut him up.

[BlackHat]

Adam
Thursday 5/15/70 17:35:00

Adam got the call around 5:30 that evening. Sally had set up the meeting, at his request, to take place at a local bar. He was going to meet one of the more influential guys from the frat, a man by the name of Alex Aigner at 6. Adam had taken some time during the afternoon to do a little research - he decided he was going to treat this meeting as practice. He figured, if Franco ever did call him on his new secret commlink, it wouldn't hurt to have a little more experience under his belt. He looked up everythign he could on Alex, as well as on the local chapter of the Phi Gamma Deltas. The Sigma Tau chapter (that was the local chapter) had a public matrix node that made gathering information on them a little bit easier.

He also did a little bit of digging on the Kappa Sigs, and tried to get some information on their members, rules, charters, etc. He figured there was a good chance that the Kappa Sigs would need as much convincing as the Phi Gamma Delts.

The matrix nodes were mildly amusing - information and photos on a mix of boys half of whom looked like they were ready to attend a board-meeting, the other half of whom looked like they just got back from a kegger. It was pretty clear who the upper classmen were, who would soon be looking to put their MBAs to work.

Adam
Thursday 5/15/70 18:02:00

Alex arrived within a couple of minutes of when he was supposed to. To Adam surprise, he was a little dressed up - just a button-down shirt and slacks, but he suspected Sally expressed to him the utter importance of this meeting going well. Adam was wearing nice clothes as well, but was dressed a lot more casually. Not suprising to Adam was the fact that he brought a couple of guys with him. Adam had pretty much expected this - and was pretty sure they were there in case a fight broke out. Of course, they were going to be bored while the adults talked, so they would probably start drinking - and certainly instigate a fight themselves, so they could defend their frat.

Having already thought of this, Adam had taken a few precautions. For one, not having the Kappa Sigs around would help. Without two large groups of frat-guys to escalate things, Adam was confident that he could keep everyone level-headed.

As Alex and Adam spoke, they did begin to make some headway. Alex seemed impressed that while not a member of the greek system, Adam seemed to have done his homework, and to understand the various factors in play. It was also clear that this seemed to make Alex a little bit uncomfortable since he didn't really know Adam at all - but he didn't seem to mind much.

Adam found that Alex was very amiable to calling a truce for the duration of the Spring Bash - both to avoid the Pan Hellenic Council "being up in everyone's shit", and to insure that the Bash doesn't get ruined by immature pranks, as the two frats try to get at one another. He wasn't, however, as convinced that the Kappa Sigs would uphold their end of the truce. Just when Adam had thought they were about to wrap things up, the other two guys blundered over to the table.

It was clear they had had enough drinks, and Adam signalled the bartender to cut them off, recieving a quick nod of the head in acknowledgement. They were babbling, both trying to talk at the same time, over the other guy's voice - but both Adam and Alex were able to understand that they didn't like what they had overheard. "Truce? Fuck that! Those guys started it!" While not too drunk, and not really dressed for fighting, the other two guys seemed to know just what to say to start getting Alex rilled up as well.

Adam had his work cut out for him, but managed to calm all of them down. It ended up helping that he was alone because, although they were drunk, and ready to fight - he reminded them that not only would fighting him three-on-one be cowardly, that it would get their frat in a lot of trouble. When the Pan Hellenic Council was called it, it would be informed that it was the Phi Gamma Delts that were unwilling to handle this peacibly, and that their fraternity would come down hard on their house.

Most of it was lost on them, but Alex seemed to agree - while ending every meeting with a brawl worked when both sides were frats, if they attacked the outside negotiator there wouldn't be any question of who was to blame. And his agreement seemed to have a profound effect on the other two guys.

After that, the rest of the negotiation went smoothly. The Phee-Gees certainly didn't want to seem unwilling to handle this thing peacefully - and agreed to a truce under a couple of conditions. These guys were a lot easier for Adam to read than Franco and his goons, and so it was much easier for him to control the conversation, and make everything sound so reasonable and acceptable. The condition which the Kapap Sigs seemed most interested in (and which seemed perfectly reasonable to Adam) was that should the Kappa Sigs not honor this truce, that it be made clear that they were the agressors, and that the Pan Hellenic Council take aciton against their house.

Adam informed them that he could not tell the Council what to do - but that he would make sure they knew that the Phi Gamma Delts agreed to a peaceful solution, and attempted to uphold a truce. After one more beer to seal the deal, the Phi Gamma Delts departed, in search of something more entertaining to do while drunk.

Adam
Thursday 5/15/70 20:28:00

Later that evening, Adam met up with the Kappa Sigs. He agreed to meet with a man named Chad Gebhardt - but was pretty sure Jeff would show up as well. Sure enough, Chad arrived with Jeff and some other guy in tow. They seemed pleased to hear that things went well with the Phee-Gees, as if that decided everything, but then Adam explained that he wanted them to agree to the terms of the truce as well. After a good amount of talking, Adam had little trouble making them see that it was only fair that they honor their end of the bargin as well. Jeff seemed a little upset that Adam seemed to be treating his frat as if it was the one that was at fault, but Adam smoothed it over by insisting that he had to treat both frats the same way - otherwise, if the Phee-Gees thought that he favored the Kappa Sigs, they would think they were tricked, and we would be back where we started. They also seemed to like the idea that, should the Phee-Gees not honor the truce, that when the Council was summoned, they would be informed of which fraternity was to blame. Adam was getting the distinct impression that both of them were hoping the other side would screw up, just so they could make sure that they took the brunt of the punishment. He wondered how far they might go to intice the other to break the truce - but that wasn't really his concearn. As long as they were willing to uphold their end out of fear of having hte Council brought down, not just on Seattle's greek society, but on them specifically, Adam was pretty sure they both had enough incentive not to let any more fights break out, and before long he had the Kappa Sigs buy in.

A couple more beers and they were ready to go. Adam was definatly feeling the drinks, by now - and didn't really want to risk taking his bike anywhere. Jeff, however, insisted - as the last part of the plan now involved both frats meeting up someplace neutral (Adam thought it was going to be at the Tri-Delt house, but wasn't sure now) and meet in peace together, over a keg. He insisted that Sally would want Adam there and, with a wide grin, said he was pretty sure a couple of other girls would like to see him again too.

"Alright." Adam was sold. He was already buzzing, he might as well hit up a frat party. "But I'm gonna take a cab."

"Nonsense," said Jeff, shaking his head, "We'll give you a lift."

Adam didn't want to say it, but he was pretty sure the Kappa Sigs had tossed back more beer than he had. He'd been doing it all evening, but when they arrived it was like they were trying to catch up. Of course, he knew how they would react if he implied that they might be too drive to drunk. Instead, he said "I think that if the Phee-Gees saw me roll up with you guys, it would hurt things. Don't worry, I'll walk. That'll give you guys time to set things up and get the party going before I roll in fashionably late."

Everyone seemed to think that was reasonable, and left Adam to settle his considerable tab with the money Jeff and Sally had scrapped together for this.

Adam
Thursday 5/15/70 22:00:00

A few hours later, Adam arrived at the Tri-Delt house. He was feeling a lot more sober now, and had had time to stop home and change his clothes. While at home, he had checked his new commlink again a few times, worried that he might have missed a call by accidentalyl muting it instead of setting it to vibrate, but he hadn't recieved any calls on it, and it seemed to be set exactly the way he intended it. He also took the time to sift through the considerable messages built up on his normal commlink over the last two days. He responded to some, discarded others, and saved a lot of them for dealing with later. John didn't seem to be at home, so Adam didn't have to go through the awkward conversation where he offered to take him to a frat party that he knew John didn't really want to go to in the first place. He had also taken the time to go bakc and pick up his bike, which was how he arrived. A lot of the people drinking outside watch him arrive in awe - his bike was pretty sweet, and he never got tired of that reaction when he drove up somewhere.

The party was already going at a pretty good pace by 10:00 when Adam showed up. It seemed that not just the Kappa Sigs and Phi Gamma Delts had come - as usual, the party was literally spilling out into the streets. Good. That was another of Adam's ideas. He figured, if it were just the two frats meeting (and some sorority girls), it was quite likely that all ideas of peace would be drowned out by beer and animosity, and that a fight would break out none-the-less. So he suggested to Sally that she invite some other greek-system people, diluting the guests who hate each other, and making a lot more witnesses should anyone not honor their agreement. This was where a large amount of the cred they had provided Adam with had gone, but if it worked, it will have been worth it - and from the looks of things, everyone was having a pretty good time.

He made his rounds, greeting the appropriate people, and, generally, making it known that he had arrived. He didn't really feel like drinking, since he had gotten plastered last night, and had way too mcuh beer earlier this evening. He didn't mind mingling, though - and met a lot of girls. Angelica and Lauren (the blonde from last night) were around, and were both happy to see Adam, as was Sally - though in an entirely different way. As the night went on, Angelica had offered to let him crash in her room again, but Adam explained that he had to get up early and work, but that he'd be around this weekend. Within 15 minutes of turning down her offer, he saw her slinking off somewhere with some other guy, and smiled to himself. At least she's over me.

Adam
Friday 5/16/70 04:01:00

Adam finally got home at some god-awful time of night, and collapsed in his bed. It had been a very stressful couple of days, and between clubbing last night, and partying at the Tri-Delt house this night, Adam was finally feeling unwound. Life, for him, was returning to normal - and pleasently so. The Kappa Sigs and the Phee-Gees had not spilled blood at the party - at least not by 3 am when Adam left.

As he layed in bed, trying to get to sleep, and couldn't help but think that something was amiss. It might have been what that hot Earthen girl had let slip earlier, that never got resolved, or the fact that he still hadn't heard about Shwen's reaction to her new life, or that he hadn't heard back yet from Franco, or just his mind swimming in synthahol, but he had a hard time getting to sleep that night.

[adamu]

Adam
Friday 5/16/70 09:00:00

Chirp chirp

Chirp chirp

Three quarters asleep, Adam stuck his head out of the covers to find the source of the insistent electronic beeping. John had already left for the classes Adam was sleeping through, and his half shut eyes rummaged through the contents of his nightstand searching whatever had awakened him. Natch! His commlink - contacts and earbuds out - it was ringing him the old fashioned way. He picked up the unit and glanced at the caller ID - Lewis Lear! Why would his father be calling at this hour?

He stuck an earbud in and spoke into the comm - "Hey Dad, what's up."

"Son, glad I caught you before classes." His voice had the forced cheeriness of someone procrastinating the ugly moment when they have to share their bad news. "There's something I need to talk to you about."

Worried, Adam tried to stay upbeat as well. "Okay, shoot."

"Well, son, I'll just come out with it. It, uh, looks like we're not going to be able to help you out financially anymore. I know you have scholarships and some investments and so forth. Hell, son, you've been pretty successful in some ways - sometimes I can't keep up with your good luck. So I hope this won't set your studies back too much. But we're having some trouble here, and we just aren't going to have enough cred to go around. I'm real sorry, son."

Something was wrong. For one thing, his father was obviously upset. But it was not about this money thing, or not exactly.

"What's up, Dad? There's something else, isn't there?"

"..............Well, yes, son, there is. For one thing, Evo let me go." Now Adam could hear pent up emotion straining at the walls of his father's self-control. "I worked my ass off for those bastards for twenty-five years, and then I show up and my desk is just not there, and no one will even speak to me. Yeah, those assholes talk about breaking from the old ways, but they're still a Jap-corp to the damned core!.....Sorry, son. As you can tell, I am very....angry. But what can I do - extraterritorial bastards don't follow any labor laws but their own."

"What?! But WHY, Dad?"

".......Well, that's the thing, son. You see, turns out the Evo docs were lying to us. Your mother is not getting better, she's getting worse. She's been getting sicker and sicker and they just keep giving her the same worthless patches. We finally tapped our savings and took her to a private clinic. Turns out she has some sort of rare Awakened disease I can't even start to pronounce. It's genetic. Seems that just like some people had dormant qualities that just sort of came alive as the world's mana levels rose, some germs do, too. I mean, obviously, right - but don't worry, she's not changing or anything, she's not going to become a ghoul or a sasquatch or anything. It's just that she'll get sicker and sicker until she's gone. Now, it turns out it's totally treatable, but it takes a very expensive combination of conventional and magical treatments. And it's a chronic condition - she won't be cured, just kept healthy. But if the treatments stop, well, she won't have much time. We weren't real worried. We had the clinic send the charts over to the Evo clinic we go to, and figured they'd be able to handle it. But when I showed up for work the next morning - well, I already told you about that. They won't say anything to my face, of course, but it seems my contributions just weren't worth taking care of a sick wife. Oh, Adam, she's so sick, so much in pain." Lewis Lear was openly crying now. "And I can't even afford the first round of treatments. She's dying in our living room in front of my eyes and I feel like such a failure, just holding her hand. Friends, church, the club - it was all Evo, and it's all gone. No one will speak to us. I got a job at a gas station, for the love of God, but it's all I can do to keep the water running and put soy on the table."

[DireRadiant]

Sledge
Thursday 8/14/70 17:43:59

Javier had stopped by the cages to get a few swings in to get his timing down for tonight's softball league game. There was a little hitch he'd developed, probably something to do with the little upswing to generate more lift. Things had gotten frustrating recently, the team had trouble getting runners on base, and he was probably trying to hard to drive them in. He had to get back into the groove, concentrate on just driving the ball, none of this hitting it out of the park on each swing business.

Normally he wouldn't paid much attention to most of the others hitters in the other cages. Of course you kept track of other people, just for safety so you didn't walk in front of some pitching machine or line drive, but the nets took care of most of that. What did catch his attention was the change in rhythm from the neighboring cage. It was consistent. Mostly people put the pitching machine on a certain setting, then kept that the entire time, but whomever was in that cage was changing the speed every 4 swings. And hitting each ball every time. Usually you got some gaps or changes in sound because of pop ups or foul offs. Javier actually stopped and went over to look through the net when the person next door switched from hardball to softball pitches.

Ten minutes later Javier had watched the ork woman work through a series of controlled hitting in a way that told him this was someone really good with a bat. She'd set the pitching machine to variable and gone to work. At first she had driven the pitches hard to whatever the machine had given. Low and outside pitches were driven low and away, hard inside pitches were pulled murderously into the netting. Then she started working at hitting low pitches up, and driving high pitches down, followed by hitting pitches inside out and pulling outside pitches. This was someone who knew how to work the field.

His reminder alarm popped up and started blinking, she was in the middle of a another set of pitches, driving the ball straight back at the pitching machine, but he couldn't leave just yet.

"Hey hey! You! You got a team? Tell me your not on a team yet please!"

Sledge flicked the machine off with a mental command and looked around at the shouting halfer jumping up and down in the neighboring cage. She shook her head at him.

"Great! Look, I'm Javier manager of the BB's, we play in the 'B' league Thursday nights, yeah that's right, tonight, and I really want you. For the team I mean. Is that your bag? Here, I'll take it and you come with me, I'll introduce to the team when we get there, I got a car up on the street, I can drive you there. I really appreciate you doing this. You can bat cleanup. DH, if you don't want to field. You have no idea how much we need you. Say, what was your name again?"

Sledge had started out following to just get her bag back, the halfer had been pretty quick though, and she'd been slowed down following him up some narrow ladders. He'd just stopped right now as she was climbing up the manhole cover. She answered, "I'm Mary Sue."

Javier grinned irrepressibly, "Welcome to the Bronx Bombers!"

... it -would- be the Bombers... Sledge couldn't help herself but to smile sickly.

[BlackHat]

Adam
Friday 5/16/70 09:01:24

If I'm so lucky, how come my mother is dying and my dad is pumping gas.

Adam was tired and groggy, but hearing his father so distressed quickly brought his attention to focus. "That's terrible. Don't worry dad. Things will work out." Inside, he was processing what was going on. His dad losing his job was bad, but not the end of the world. His mom getting sick was horrible, though. He understood why, financially, Evo did what they did, but it was that sort of cold treatment that made Adam change his mind about getting his buisness degree and working for one of those faceless megacorps. Now, his dad was never going to be able to get anotehr decent job - not because he wasn't a skilled guy, but because no corp would want to float the bill for curing his wife.

It wasn't fair.

"Like you said, I'm doing pretty well for myself. Maybe I could help out." He actually started to feel pretty bad - what little savings remained from his big splurge last year on this commlink he pretty much drained yesterdaying picking up an impressive new suit. I never though I would say this, but I hope Franco calls me soon.

"I sort of got a new job this week. Part time, while I'm going through school - but it pays well. You definatly don't have to worry about my bills anymore, dad. Just take care of mom, and I'll do my best to help out too."

His father's responce was just more crying. Adam knew how hard this must be for him. He and his father wern't on very good terms, but Adam had to admit that they had always taken care of him financially. He wasn't calling to ask for help, but Adam knew he needed it. Adam just wasn't sure he could provide it, just yet.

"The doctors said it was treatable, right? So we can't give up hope. As soon as she's better, you'll be able to get your job back - or find a job someplace else. Its not like they fired you out of malace or anything. You did good work." He didn't say as much, but he was thinking, They only took it away because she's sick. As soon as she's better they'll let you back in with no more uproar than when you left. And if not, some other corp will snatch you up.

"How much are the first round of treatments?"

"Jeeze. Alright, well, as soon as this new job starts up, I'll wire some money home."

He continued to talk for a bit, trying to calm his father down and reassure him while he gathered up his things for the day. Once the conversation was over, as he clicked off the commlink, he was reminded of a saying he heard in a movie or something, "There is limited luck in this world - you always get someone else's share."

Well, its about time I started giving some of it back.

He forced himself out of bed and into the bathroom. If he was going to have to take care of his family, he was going to need to start taking a few things a little more seriously, and that included his coursework. He'd already missed his first class, but that was pretty standard. He could get the slide from the matrix, and the notes from a cute nerdy elven girl in class whose number he had. He knew there wasn't anything too important going on in today's class, which was why he hadn't minded sleeping through it. But, after talking with his father, and being reminded that other people had paid for this class, he began to feel a little ungrateful for taking it so lightly.

Besides, if this thing with Franco didn't work out, he might have to go to something drastic like graduate and get a real job.

[DireRadiant]

Sledge
Thursday 8/14/70 20:32:10

"Go Bombers! Batter up, batter up! C'mon Mary Sue! Everyone, clap clap. Watch this! Oh sorry, didn't mean to spit there. Look at the pitcher, she doesn't know what to do, tight and inside, low and out, what are they going to do. Here's the windup, tight and low, a ball. Last time Mary Sue was up, they went low and wide. Don't put your foot where I spit. I have to spit, all managers spit. What, I missed it, tight and in you say? Okay! Mary Sue is tagging the next one watch! Here's the windup, the pitch. YES! RUN RUN RUN! Noooo tag the base you idiot, no not you Mary Sue! Slide slide slide! He dropped it! Where's the ball? Home HOME HOME HOME!!! RUN RUN!! What do you mean out you blind trog! She was safe, watch the trid you dumb... what, throwing me out again?! You do that every week. Guys, I told you to stay away from where I spit. Anyone got some more of that baccy gum?"

Javier kept talking the entire drive back to the UG. Sledge had been pretty quiet the whole time, most of the rest of the team had long ago given up on cutting into the chattering halfers continuous spiel. Most of the conversation had been in the field where by the fact the field was a over a hundred meters wide, you by default ended up some distance away from Javier's mouth. Of course everyone else was a ways off too, but at least you had a chance to exchange some brief words on positioning and shifts with the other players. She'd begged off attending the standard post game bash, claiming some work to do, which was a lie, she had nothing scheduled, she just wanted to avoid talking to other people too much.

After the first inning she'd turned off her wires. She hadn't even realized they were on till someone smacked the line drive at her. She'd started out at first base, almost a traditional thing for a new batter, easy to play, just stand on the bag and catch the balls they threw at you. The line drive threw her off. It wasn't bad till she had started reacting to it. Watching the pitch travel to the plate and the bat swing hadn't been much different then usual. When the ball came straight at her, that's when she really noticed. It was a standard play, right at her head. The problem wasn't handling the line drive, but it was the fact the ball took absolutely forever to get to her. So long she had actually dropped the glove to look for the ball again after her initial reaction of raising it in front of her face to protect herself. Normally you'd stick your glove up, then snap it shut when you felt the ball hit. Except this time the ball never hit,so she thought it had missed her. She'd had to do a double pump motion to catch it and fell down at the same time trying to dodge it. When she had lowered her glove the ball had been right there in her face. The scary part was she'd actually snatched the ball out of the air as she fell.

It wasn't fair to play while wired, so after her initial confusion, which the others thought had to deal with almost getting smacked in the face, they moved her out to right field, where she spent the rest of the game grabbing everything from the right field line to center. The center fielder just shifted in and towards left field after almost getting run over by Sledge on a fly ball to the gap.

After the game the other players had all patted her shoulder or shook her hand and several managed to ask her to come back the next week. They all seemed very happy, and disappointed she wasn't coming out for some beer afterwards with them. It seemed a little strange how everyone was happy after the game, they'd lost 13 to 9 hadn't they?

"Yeah, but last week we lost 24 to 1."

[adamu]

Adam
Wednesday 7/16/70 23:45:00

The guy's knuckles had something tattooed across them in Cyrillic. Adam knew enough Russian to know that, but he couldn't tell what it meant, probably something appropriate for knuckle-tattooing, he thought, as the fist crashed into his face again.
They were all speaking Russian, talking and laughing to each other. He couldn't follow it all, but he was just trying to pick out key words like 'kill' or 'let go.' He was starting to think his fate would be somewhere in between those extremes, but he didn't know the word for 'beat within an inch of his life' - but then that was already happening.
He could feel things moving around inside his face, but even as the hairy fist rushed at him once again, all he could concentrate on was shutting his eyes tight and trying to protect his contacts as best he could - those things were expensive, dammit.

Every time he got hit, he went black for a second, and each time he went black he remembered part of how he'd gotten here.

The news from his father explaining that his mother's life was essentially now in his hands - and that his hands needed money.

thwack

The first call from Franco. Go talk to these guys about splitting up this turf. From what he'd gotten paid, he could tell if he could get a gig like this at least once a week, he might be able to keep his mother alive.

thwack

Go talk to this mook about paying what he owes. Go tell those Japs they can keep the fucking pier, but get me something in return (crazy yaks had cut off a finger right in front of him - he'd thought Franco would be pissed - no cash value - but instead he'd given Adam a bonus - "Good job, kid, ya gotta play the 'honor' card with those Nips.").

thwack

Drinking tea with a funny Chinese guy with a long white beard.

thwack

Being invited to a Halloweener gang-bang after negotiating a cash-for-info alliance.

thwack

He'd done dozens of jobs for Franco now, and had little to show for it. Franco seemed to like that he knew nothing about Adam - some sort of aloofness appeal or something, the man was hard to read. Or maybe he knew everything about Adam and just didn't care, as long as things worked out? But then he'd know Adam had enjoyed a number of tutoring sessions with his niece Harper, who TA's his Modern Japanese History class.

Little to show for it indeed. Most of his attention on a girl he didn't really like. Never even laid eyes on Shwen again - Tyisha (a very very grateful Tyisha) had assured him she was fine - working her ass off as a hostess at a very upscale Italian restaurant downtown that Franco owned and laundered money through. Friends like Loree and Steph - he just didn't have time anymore. Jeff and Sally were always inviting him to Greek functions - they were so pleased with how he'd finessed everything - but he had to apply all his social skills just to avoid being social.
Once he sent enough money home to keep his mother alive, not much was left no matter how much he'd earned. He'd started keeping his ear to the ground to try to get MORE underworld work to supplement what he got from Balducci. Spent whatever was left from the medical bills on things he hoped would keep him alive if these negotiations ever went to shit. He dealt with so many crazy people - he couldn't believed they'd all honored the truce thing so far - until tonight....

A burly, unshaven guy with a hook nose shouldered the beat-down-man aside and threw a glass of vodka in Adam's face. Stung like a bitch. Then he grabbed Adam's face in a vise-like grip and Adam finally screamed for the first time as pieces of broken bones scraped together.

The only person he'd gotten closer to was John - now that he was determined to make the most he could of his education, he was home a lot more, and he had a lot more in common with his straightlaced roommate. They studied together a lot, and of all the far-out people Adam was meeting, John was the one he was gaining respect for. He was building something for himself - and not in a flashy, get-rich-quick kinda way - that way balanced self-destruction with the lazy quick payoff. The more Adam saw of the other side, it was no wonder most people lived legitimate lives - they earned more over their lifetimes - it just didn't come in huge thank-Ghost-I'm-still-alive-to-spend-it chunks. And they didn't spend their lives not trusting anyone and wondering how they'd conduct themselves when they finally got hauled before a rival for a final gloating chat before someone emptied their brainpan with a .44 slug.

He wanted out (right now, he REALLY wanted out).

But his mother didn't have time for a long, steady career. She needed the big quick payoffs, and she needed them every month.

Tuesday 8/12/70 14:23:56

Adam fast-walked down the sidewalks that cross-crossed the big grassy expanse between the HUB and Thomson Hall. He had six minutes to get to his Asia: Cross-cultural Perspectives class. He had to keep up his 'perfect student' image for Harper. He was learning to spend all his time hedging every bet he could.

But his mind was how he was going to come up with the money for his mother's next round of treatments. He'd had to spend most of his reserve getting his face fixed up, and he'd had to work less. Franco still called a lot, but it wasn't enough. And now, shit, he was sure to be late - there was Cal and Deerwalker heading his way.

Cal wore jeans and a dorky T-shirt that said 'Save the Leviathans'. He just wasn't a stylin' guy like Adam was. But what was weird was that as Adam had been spending a lot of time talking to real shady people - and generally not the garden variety hoods, but the real connected guys with the edginess and personal magnetism to rise to the top of the thug-heap - he had learned to identify a certain something in the eye. And geeky peacenik hippie though he was, he saw it in Cal's eyes.

And there was Deerwalker. It was a hot August day, and she was wearing a loincloth. The campus peoplel had asked her to wear, maybe, something in additon to a loincloth on days like today, but then their little organization had had a meeting with some other association of equally bored and spoiled college children and soon the Native American empowerment coalition was demanding that the administration explain just what exactly was wrong with traditional Salish garb. And then there were the feminists going on about patriarchal restraint of womyn identity through body bondage - whatever - all Adam knew was that Deerwalker was in very little bondage of any kind. If sex was her weapon, and it was, they were letting her stroll the campus with a Panther assault cannon.

He braced himself for the usual - for months, ever since the Tate blast had galvanized the forces of eco-dom into a 'conscientious awareness of the importance of direct action' they had been trying to recruit him. But he ate meat. He used animal-tested hair product. They didn't seem to care about that. Cal just kept sitting down next to him in the cafeteria talking about his one really cool demo, or this one prank that would really bring home to the corp-controlled faculty that the animals had defenders, too. Thing was, it was all volunteer stuff - do it for the cause stuff. And as much as he thought they'd make good contacts, Adam just didn't have any time to spare playing games that didn't directly contribute to his cred balance or his GPA, even when Deerwalker would go on with a twinkle about how much gun the after-action parties were, about how 'free' and 'primal' the actions always left her feeling.

So now they were going to want him to donate his time to plaster the Science building with flyers or some crap. But instead they stopped right in front of him, right in the center of the Quad with no one nearby. Cal said, "Listen dude, everyone wants to only use people they say have proven their loyalty. I say you'll join the cause after you see the work we do. You are a talented guy, Adam, that's obvious from the excellent work you do." WHAT? Was he talking about schoolwork? "We need someone like you for our next job. It's a job we can't mess up - it's THE job for our chapter. And there's no one who can do what we need done like you can."

"So we'll pay you," Deerwalker chimed in. "Y400 cash, thirty minutes work, no direct involvement. If money is all you care about, there it is."

[adamu]

Sledge
Thursday 8/14/70 22:03:00

Heading for her apartment in the underground, Sledge felt more human than she had in weeks.

Baseball.

Good people.

And there was Big Jimmy outside the tunnel that led to her place. "Hoi, Mary Sue, Monica wants to have a chat."

So much for baseball and good...she stopped herself...why would she think that?

They found Monica in the office, a big Greg Jackson poster strategically placed on the wall behind her desk, gazing at guests over her head like a benevolent and all-protecting god.

They were alone.

"Harriet, how've you been....." began the pleasantries, but both were eager to get to the matter at hand.

"As we've explained, like any other organization that wants to get anything done in this world, we need agents that can move about untethered by organizational restrictions. We need people that can act outside the constraints placed on us by public perception. People with wide and deep enough skill sets to do that are pretty rare, cerri, but you definitely fit the bill. And above all loyalty. And you've more than proven that. It's time for you to strike out on your own. We will still be communicating regularly - but discreetly. There will be things we need you to do from time to time. But more than anything, for now we simply want to see you well established in the shadow community at large.
"There are many factions at work in the world, and even in Seattle itself. Some may be our friends - and we will need allies to prevail against the weight of six worlds of racist legacy. And that is what we need you to do now.
"We are going to get you set up somewhere up top, and after that we aren't going to have any sort of traceable contact for a while - that means no direct support, only communication. But before you go totally solo, we have one job for you. We are seriously considering a working relationship with TerraFirst. ORC has already developed close ties with Sierra Inc. here in the Pacific Northwest. Now we need to get close to their wayward stepchildren that are a little deeper in the green. There is a TerraFirst cell operating out of the U of S campus. They want to expand the scope of our exchange - funding, access to the underground in exchange for campus resources, joint operations. We are thinking hard about it - many of our goals are the same. But we must move cautiously. We've provided funding for an action they have planned for this week. Strings attached. You are the strings. You are to go along on their job. Assist them when you can, but everyone knows you are there as an ambassador and an observer - we want to see how these people spend our money, what their real attitude - under pressure - will be when forced to work with a sister, and above all whether they are competent and reliable."
Monica flashed a commcode and a picture to Sledge's comm. "That's Cal. He runs the cell. Get moved out of your place down here. Call him, do the job. Report afterwards. And then get more work for yourself. And be careful, Harriet - sisters like you, you are the cause's hope."

[BlackHat]

Adam
Tuesday 8/12/70 14:24:03

Adam winced at Deerwalker spoke. He wanted to deny it. A few months ago and he would have jumped on the opportunity to help them out, reguardless of what it was they were protesting. Lately, though, he hadn't been able to spare the time to enjoy a movie, or take in a game, or a party, or any of the other things that used to make college life fun.

He stopped, checking the time in AR, and sighed. "Money isn't the only thing I care about." Then he went silent. Adam wanted to tell them to keep the money, but he could really use it. He wanted to tell them why he needed the money, but didn't.

Instead, he looked at Cal. "Look, I've got class in 6 minutes. You've always been cool to me, so I want to help you guys out. I'm sorry I've been so busy lately... but if you two knew the kind of summer I have had.... Anyways, give me the quick version of what is going on, and I'll think about it in class - and give you my answer afterwards."

Before Cal could respond, he started asking the big questions he wanted answers to. He also decided to try to turn the tables on them. Almost reflexively his social skills tried to excuse his behavior and suggest that they were making the social faux paux. "Since last May it has felt like you guys have been up to something big, and although you keep asking me for help, neither of you has told me what it is. So, let's make a deal. You guys tell me what's up, and I'll tell you why I can't afford to do volunteer work, anymore. I would like to know why you think you 'need' me, and that you're willing to spend :nuyen: 400 to hire me for a half hour? That's a lot of money. Not the kind of money Earthens usually throw around to grease the wheels of protest. What sort of 'work' have I done that impressed you? Because I havn't had time to do a lot for the cause. And what sort of 'job' is this?"

Adam was cleary exhausted and in a hurry, but seemed like he wanted to be helpful.

[adamu]

Adam
Tuesday 8/12/70 17:43:00

The Earthens had been more than happy to answer Adam's questions - somewhere more discreet. They had asked him to meet them in their office in the basement of the Husky Union Building.
He walked in and found Deerwalker - no better dressed than before - with a distant sort of look in her eyes lounging like a big erotic cat on a ratty sofa.
Cal was sitting on an institutional chair at a table covered with socialist and eco-warrior rags, and motioned for Adam to take a seat.
"We swept the room an hour ago, and Deerwalker will make sure nothing intangible disturbs us."
So Deerwalker was some sort of shaman?
Adam got right to biz, repeating his earlier questions.

"Buddy, I have formed a real good impression of you in the last few months. So I insisted on bringing you on board for this. Now, I can't tell you all that we've got going, and you don't need to tell me about your money issues if you don't want to. But the fact is, you obviously want cash, and we've got it. Suffice to say we've got backing, and we want to use it for this job because it's sort of an audition. Like, our organization has a lot of different groups. Some are more prominent or more influential than others. Now, the international leadership just may start taking a more careful look at the Seattle area in the next few months, and so if our little band of brothers is gonna shine, now's the time to pull out all the stops."

He paused to look Adam right in the eye - "I can tell you some of this stuff because, well, seems you've been pretty busy with a real colorful variety of people lately. Makes us think you're someone we can trust." He let that hang in the air for a moment before continuing.

"So this job, I can't tell you a lot of details until we know you're on board, but, like, yeah, Y400 cash, thirty minutes not counting transport time - don't worry, it's in the plex - and no one is gonna get hurt. In fact, this job is definitely and exactly and precisely a mission of mercy, man. A real feelgood kinda gig."

[BlackHat]

Adam
Tuesday 8/12/70 17:45:00

Adam furrowed his brow, as he thought. He had already thought this over during class. More precisely, he couldn't get his mind to focus on schoolwork while this was out there in the air. He had pretty much convinced himself that Tyisha hadn't kept his little rescue misson to herself - not that he really minded. He was all prepared to tell Cal that - whatever he thought he knew about Adam's "work," Tyisha hired him because she needed a miracle. Cal was clearly not in need of a miracle - at least, as Deerwalker was presenting the job. In fact, he was worried taht accepting the job would just encourage them - that he'd never get them to leave him alone of he agreed once and did a decent job. After all, he was basically doing this professionally now - being asked to mediate disputes between college clubs was almost insulting.

Of course, his perception of the situation had changed dramatically. In the dark, private room Cal's comment had caused his stomach to do a double-flip. Well, apparantly 'Mr. Smith' hasn't been keeping himself as anonymous as he would have liked. For the next few seconds, he had forgotten all about Cal, Deerwalker, and their offer. He was scared for his life. Not only had he pulled the wool over Franco's eyes, a lot of people could see his later employment as 'flaunting it'... and he didn't even want to begin thinking about the other criminals he had delt with in the last few months. Some of them could probably care less about who he was - they all understood who he represented... but Adam definatly didn't like the idea of his name and face being known in circles this far removed from the mob.

It would be bad enough if Franco found out - Adam was pretty sure he could handle that. He'd thought about it a lot in the last few months, and figured he could manage damage control long enough to come up with a better plan - but if a bunch of rich fucking hippies on campus somehow knew what he has been up to....

He needed to know more.

He needed the money, so he was already 'in'. Thanks to his new face, he needed any job he could get right now, and the job sounded easy enough, so that was a bonus. It was a chance to help out a couple of friends (though, lately he has felt like he knows way less about them than they do about him), so he felt good about that. But the most important reason he was going to accept was to figure out what was going on, and assess how much damage had been done - to assess how big a threat these two were to him.

"Deal. I'm in." His furrowed brow lightened, and he smiled at Cal. "... under three conditions." Adam couldn't help but negotiate for a better position.

He pointed at Cal, "One, I wanna know how you know what I've been up to the last couple of months. Not just the details of this job. I wanna know how you've been scouting me... " then he pointed at Deerwalker, and tried not to stare at her body. "...Two, I wanna be invited to the afterparty. I've heard they are awesome." Then he pointed at himself, "Three... I need to know what's going on if I am going to do the kind of job that I think you want me to do, and once I know what you know I need to know... if I like what I hear... I want the opportunity to help you guys out... more."

Adam was hoping this would come as good news to Cal.

Still smiling, he gestured around the room. "Clearly, you guys are going 'big time' with this activist thing - and that's pretty cool. To be honest, the Earthens always struck me as 'all talk, and no action' - and its good to see that you guys are out there doing something, now. You want to get noticed, and I'd like to help you with that... so if my services could be useful beyond the thirty-minute meeting... let me know." His goals were three-fold. First, he'd always thought that these guys would make decent contacts. Hearing that they were a lot more active than he had ever thought simply increased their potential value. Secondly, they were interested in getting connected with bigger fish - that meant more potential work. Lastly, they knew his dirty little secret... and as much as it burned him inside to consider it... they could make his life a lot more Hellish than it already was if they wern't very very happy with him.

"Oh, and... I'd prefer to keep my involvement in this job as quiet as possible." Adam shook his head, "I know you guys prefer attention, and credit for what it is you do - that's part of being an activist, I guess - but I usually operate anonymously. Or, attempt to." He shot Cal a look, and added, "... which is why I am surprised that you know anything about the kinds of guys I've been dealing with lately - but we'll talk more about that later."

"In any case, this puts me in a very awkward position - since you both know me personally. I assume a lot of the other members of your movement will know me from around campus, and if they can all be trusted, that's fine. They'll probably be thrilled to hear I am on-board. But if you're hiring me to do the sort of job that I'm usually hired to do... the people I'll be meeting outside of your movement are probably not the kinds of people I would like to be on a first-name basis with, get me?" Adam glanced at Deerwalker to try to read her impression of the situation. He could imagine her being anywhere from thrilled to have him around to furious that someone like him would presume they could just sign up for a cause they don't believe in.

Then he turned his attention back to Cal, looking very grim and serious. "If you've been keeping tabs on me, you understand the level of shit I am in. If things go bad, and we all end up in jail... it isn't just my chances for a diploma that is going to die." Then Adam laughed, and returned to his usual good-natured self.

He then extended his hand towards Cal. "By the way, man. Congratulations." Adam was sincere. Although his opinion of Deerwalker was always all over the place, he had always liked Cal - and always thought he was a charismatic sort of guy. The fact that he had finally organised the activists around campus into something worth international attention was a real accomplishment. Adam also wished he had Cal's ability to take credit for his actions. He was doing something he believed in - and didn't care who knew it. Adam had spent the last couple of months doing shit for the mob - shit he didn't stand for at all... and he didn't want any credit for it at all. He didn't want anyone to know what he had done. Unfortunatly, some people apparantly did know - and if Cal was connected enough to be one of those people... then he was doing something right.

Course... why would Cal's activist organization have any connections to Seattle's organised crime rings? Almost immediatly after accepting the job, Adam began to wonder what he had gotten himself into - but tried to push the thoughts away. If Cal was going to tell him, he'd find out soon enough - and if he wasn't going to tell him, there was very little hope of Adam being of much use.

[adamu]

Adam
Tuesday 8/12/70 17:50:00

Cal nodded thoughtfully at everything Adam said, waiting for him to finish.

"Okay, man, I am sorry to spook you by knowing about your other gigs. But the thing is, we just kinda heard about it man - like, someone told us. So, like, we can't say who, but what you are going to come to understand is that we are a big organization with fingers in a lot of pies man. We got a lot of, like, alliances, sort of, with likeminded groups. Any of them hears anything about campus goings on, they let us know, and you're getting to be a big man on campus - especially after that Greek thing. So someone we know, and that's a lot of someones, okay, someone noticed you and told us lot of stuff - stuff that made us think you'd be cool - and effective - to work with.
"As for other members of our group knowing about your involvement, or even about this action - man, there's our group, and then there's our group, man. This is strictly an inner circle kinda deal, okay.
"And as far as after action party - dude - with ALL the trimmings." And Deerwalker took the opportunity to stretch and yawn, right on cue.

"So let me tell you what you gotta do, now that you're in. Few nights from now, on the 17th - we are gonna do a liberation on an animal butchery lab in Snohomish. Man, you should SEE some of the things they are doing to those poor furries. They gotta be freed man. And we are not talking about some sort of evil - hurt the animals to save meta lives man, no way. It's some kinda big exterminate the non-humans kinda anti-Awakened gene kinda crap. Motherfuckers are racists on top of being murderers and torturers. They gotta pay. This frees our animal brothers and costs the bastards millions.

"Now, we got the security all sussed out. We got Matrix support all locked up - our hacker's already got lotsa back doors all set up. But they got a live guard in the front, and he's boxed into a secure booth, so we can't take him out before he trips an alarm, which they got hardwired to somewhere, so we can't stop it on the matrix.
"We got the schedule of the shift change, and we got the replacement guy for that night under watchful eyes. We're gonna grab him, put you in his uniform, and you gotta work your magic and get whatever info from him to convince the duty guy that you are really his replacement, since he called in sick or some crap. It could be a tough con - and that's why we needed you. Once you send that guy packing and got the front doors all covered, we go in and liberate the animal comrades."

[BlackHat]

Adam
Tuesday 8/12/70 17:55:00

Adam seemed pleased with Cal's answers, and nodded along with the details. He had gotten pretty used to remembering the important bits of the pre-meeting details - and noticing where those details were lacking. "So, when you said 'no one is gonna get hurt'... you meant, 'no one is gonna get hurt, assuming you pull this con off'." From Adam's limited perspective of the plan, it seemed like if the on-duty guard didn't buy the ruse, he'd trip the alarm, and the whole plan would go up in smoke. He didn't even bring up the fact that if that were to happen, Adam would be the only guy in immediate danger who couldn't just abort the mission. He wasn't too thrilled by the fact that his eco-friendly activist friend had become an eco-terrorist in what felt like "overnight" - but he couldn't say he was entirely surprised.

Adam smiled, making light of the seriousness of the situation. "Don't worry, I think I can handle it."

Adam had a lot of questions, and had never seen any of Cal's work - so he didn't realy feel comfortable assuming that anything was covered. Still, Cal sounded like he knew what he was doing. Adam decided to try a volley of questions anyway - if for no other reason than to give the impression that he covers his bases. "Couple more questions, though... who owns this lab?"

"Idenshitech" Never heard of them.

".... Who does their security?"

"It'd handled 'in-house'." Great. That means its going to be tougher to convince them that I am an employee - since we're on-sight and I'm unlikely to have whatever ID, card, or RFID tag these employees carry to identify each other.

".... Do you need me to keep-post while you guys do your thing - and cover your escape? or once the doors are open, will all hell be breaking loose?"

"Well, like, yeah. Nothing's gonna go wrong. Just chill and look like the Man." You have to be kidding me. 'Nothing's gonna go wrong' ? Right.

"Well. You've hired me for a half-hour. If you guys arn't back outside by then, and I'm not in communication with you, I'm gone."

Adam could tell Cal was getting annoyed with all of these questions, but he pressed on anyways. It didn't matter that Cal thought he had already covered all of these bases - what mattered is whether or not Adam thought he had... and so far, he wasn't very impressed by Cal's big plan. ".... Are these guards armed, and if so, with what?"

"I dunno, man... guns." Okay, now he's just being rude.

".... Where are we meeting on the 17th?"

"we'll pick you up wherever you want, say, aroudn 10." Finally, something useful.

".... How are you planning to get all those animals out?"

"Dude, they're animals. THEY know how to live in this world, and without messing it up. Once we open the cages and the doors, nature'll take care of the rest." Uh... huh...

Adam had to admit, after bringing up some of the questions he had just off of the top of his head, he wasn't really thrilled with the outlook. He was basically going to be asked to arrive at a secure compound, without any backup, and convince them he is replacing another guard - without any proof of this, or even of his employement with the security agency. It was going to be tough, that was for sure - but it might get easier if he could get some more information, and the captive guard's cooperation.

"Alright. I guess I'll see you on the 17th."

"I'll bring some of my personal gear to help get information out of that guard. I'd like to be in charge of that, personally. Then I guess I'll be changing costumes, so I'll stash my gear wherever we're making headquarters."

This sounded dangerous. Franco usually sent Adam into dangerous situations - but at least in those negotiations, both sides had a reason to negotiate. This was going to be different. Should Adam fail, he was certain the guard would shoot him without thinking about it - and alert security, ruining Cal's big job. Adam wasn't going to get a lot of chances to fast-talk his way out of any complications that arose.

Damn, I wish I didn't need this money. Four-hundred bucks isn't even a lot of money - but what I can I expect for something they expect to only take thirty-minutes. Adam had to remind himself why he was doing this. His parents were counting on him, and this was a great networking opportunity. If he fucked up, he was dead - but that wasn't so different from every other night on the job, since May.

[BlackHat]

Adam
Tuesday 8/12/70 17:57:00

Before he left, Adam added, "Oh, and if you could get me any information on either of these guards you are watching - that would help a lot. Here's my 'work number'." Adam gave Cal the contact information he used for these purposes, hoping he would forward along whatever data his friends had uncovered on these men up until now. Much like his original meeting with Franco, Adam felt that he could get some advantage by knowing more about this guard than he knows about Adam. Whether through subtle intimidation, or just off-hand remarks that imply that he had done his homework - Adam enjoyed doing a little homework before going into situations like this, and if Cal had already done that homework for him, great.

[DireRadiant]

Sledge
Thursday 8/14/70 23:24:39

Sledge started working.

It hadn't taken long to pack up. Not long at all. She hadn't had much in her old life either. Except for hopes and dreams, and the high risk fully vested retirement fund and thousands of option shares and bonus shares in VB Construction. None of which mattered anymore. That was a lie. It mattered. She was just never going to get her hands on it. And it all paled compared to how she felt about Andy, Morris, and even the stupid Star. Money was easy to get if you wanted it enough, she'd known that for a long time. Now she was going to go get some. But in the end this wasn't going to be about the money. Not for her. But for Andy and Morris, the cops, and in the end even Monica and her friends like Big Jimmy.

Someone was going to pay. Sledge was going to make sure to collect.

Sledge went to work.

Making sure to have the agent spoof her commcodes she placed the call to Cal, "Sledge. I'm the chaperone for the party. Can you meet tonight? Name a place."

[adamu]

Sledge
Thursday 8/14/70 23:24:43

Voice only. A lazy voice, but eager to please. Male. Young, but not as young as it wanted to sound.

"Yeah, man, we can totally meet you whenever. Tonight's great. How about Green Lake Park, by the boathouse. We'll be on the bleachers. It's a good spot. Low-key, lots of like-minded people around. Nice place to talk, maybe go somewhere else from there. We can head over there now, if you like."

[DireRadiant]

Sledge
Thursday 8/14/70 23:59:27

She'd said midnight, so that's when she arrived. She'd toyed with sneaking up on them in the bleachers as a test, but this was a terrorist action cell, they'd probably wouldn't appreciate it, and might react badly. She was going to have to meet them first, talk a bit and feel them out. So she drove the harley right up and through the park to the bleachers, killing the engine before getting off and removing her helmet. The dark night wasn't much of an obstacle, her tusker vision allowed her to see the area in detail.

The people to meet were obvious in the bleachers, picking out Cal was simple enough. She just walked right up the bleacher seats and stood in front of him, "Sledge. Tell me about the event."

Cal told her.

After the second or third sentence Sledge had a bad feeling that steadily got worse.

... I'm Just Another Vutting Observer...

[adamu]

Sledge
Friday 8/15/70 00:00:31

Sitting on the bleachers before her were a man and a woman, but Sledge felt sure she'd seen spotters around the perimeter.

The man was a little under medium build, with short-cropped curly dark hair, a slightly weaselly, unshaven face, and a denim jacket. The woman was beautiful, with long blond hair and rangey legs, all wrapped in buckskin.

They were both breeders.

"The event is simple, man. Have a seat. There's torture lab. They're hurting the animal comrades. Hurting 'em bad. Like any crappy corp, all they care about is saving money, so their security is all about cost efficiency. That means the place is locked up tight with all sorts of automated security measures, but they only keep one actual live person on duty at a time. And they got no grounds to speak of, we can just drive right up. So since we got a very groovy hacker who just totally owns the place, we can just walk in and liberate the brothers. He'll take care of all the security except the one guard. Now the guard, they got him at what security types call a chokepoint," Cal explained as if he were talking to an exceptionally intelligent five-year-old. "Only way into the building is right through the foyer past him - no way he's not gonna see someone coming in. But we got a guy - a real ace with his mouth, you know - he's gonna take the place of the guard's relief, just go in and make it all good with the real guard. Once that guy's gone, we just go in."

"Right on," agreed the woman.

"So like I said, the event is boring. What's just gonna curdle your soul is the why of it all. I mean, like, I know your noble race are pretty carnivorous, and that's not your fault, mostly, so you might not see eye to eye with us on the animal rights thing, but what this corp is doing...
"You know anything about latent phenotypic expression? Sure you do - you must - it's like, if you'd been born a hundred years ago, you'd have been stuck in one of these weak, unevolved human bodies. But even then you'd have had robustus genes. So we all know how when the mana got high enough the nobler races started to throw off their human guises. Everyone thought that was a one-time deal. But then we saw that with SURGE, when the mana level gets higher, still more genes, buried even deeper in the DNA, they Awaken too. So this corp, they are thinking it's not all over yet. They reckon there are still lots more changes waiting in the genetic structures of the Mother's creatures just waiting to happen. They figure they'll make a mint if they can predict what the next step will be. Only thing is, this corp, they don't want to promote it, they want to STOP it - to arrest our natural development - which I don't mind saying is pretty upsetting to Deerwalker and I personally, since we are just itching to express in our true Morlock forms. It is just too shameful being human.
"So anyway, you can see why your people were eager to help us put a stop to these monstrous experiments. It goes down on the 17th. We'll pick you up in the early evening - you just gotta let us know where, sistah."

[DireRadiant]

Sledge
Friday 8/15/70 00:02:43

Morlock Forms... check later, probably some sort of college frat prank or something.

Sledge quietly nodded to keep the man going. All the way till he told her about her little part. Where she was going to be just another vut observer. Despite the urge to let them all go to buunda, but that would be letting down her sister. She had a job to do, and no matter what she cared for some test lab animals or not, she was going to do the best job she could. Unlike these rek.

Sledge moved. Right into his face, flashing her teeth. And stopped a full centimeter away. Running her tongue over lip, she smiled as Cal finally reacted by jerking his head back.

"I like a man that can tell a ... sistah what to do. Your kinda a cute, I could eat you all up."

Stepping back, Sledge continued, "I need to know a little more before I risk my ass, or my sistah's money."

"Can you tell me what the standard security detail that will respond, and how long they take to arrive once the alert goes off?"

because it surely will go off eventually

[adamu]

Sledge
Friday 8/15/70 00:02:53

"Oh, man, it's all good, cerri," Cal stammered, and said to Deerwalker - "She's definitely got the hez, don't she?"

"Right on, totally the hez to the max."

"So, like, that's a good question and all - I guess you really know your stuff, but the thing is, you got to get the power of positive thinking. Can't have us get jinxed by no negativity. Thing is, see, like I said, we got the whole matrix thing tight, sistah. Only hole that leaves is the one guard, and like I said, the guy we got is like, the master of sweet-talking people. It's gonna go off without a hitch. You'll see. Trust me."

"Hey," broke in Deerwalker as if they were discussing cocktail mixes in a lounge instead of felony on some damp bleachers, "You like girlmeat, girlfriend?"

[DireRadiant]

Sledge
Friday 8/15/70 00:03:42

Sledge stepped back a few steps, then looked at the young woman in buckskins, "You answer my question, I'll answer yours."

Holding her hands out to her sides to look less threatening, she turns back to Cal, "Nobody wants this to go wrong, especially me when I'm out there too. But I can help make it work right, and I can't help but be in the way if I don't know what's happening. And finally, if you don't tell me, then I have to think it's either you don't know, or you don't trust me."

Half turning back towards her ride, "So talk."

"Or I walk."

[adamu]

Sledge
Friday 8/15/70 00:04:00

A confusing set of expressions played across Cal's unshaven features as Sledge insisted on an answer to her question. "Whoa, there, cerri, no need to go gettin' all bent outta shape. Chill pill time. Listen, they got their dorm where all their staff live, including the sec guys, a few minutes drive from the place. But those guys don't really seem like they're ready to scramble or anything. Hell, they only got two guys on duty during the day, and just one at night, so their whole complement can't be more than four, if its that, the way the Japs run their people. The place is in the middle of nowhere - nearest Star house is a good ten minutes off. So turn that frown upside down, sistah, and tell us where we can pick you up Sunday night."

[DireRadiant]

Sledge
Friday 8/15/70 00:04:24

"Better." Sledge turns back and faces the pair. Turning her head towards the young woman in buckskins she grins revealing her tusks and incisors, "No."

Swiveling her head to look between the two of them, she continues, "Just tell me where you are picking up the rest of your crew, I can travel with them. Is there anything you'll be needing me to do other then to keep my big feet out of the way and to not snack on any lab animals when I get my late night munchies?"

[BlackHat]

Adam
Thursday 8/14/70 19:03:23

It was days before Adam heard from Cal again, and although Adam had been doing a little Matrix legwork in his spre time between classes, he tried not to let the upcoming mission interfere with his schoolwork too much.

Unfortunatly, his newfound dedication to his classes seemed to be coming way too late in his life. He had had a decade and a half of schooling in which to develope good study habits, and create a routine for himself, but he hadn't. Thus, at the age of 23, buckling down and trying to focus on studying for an upcoming test seemed next to impossible. He could go over the homework, but that wouldn't be what was on the exam - and he hadn't necessarily done very well on those either. Since in many of his classes, homework was optional, it was easy to let it go to the wayside when something more important came up - like his job with Franco. He'd found a good circle of classmates willing and able to help him out and his luck hadn't failed him when it game to the tests during the first couple of weeks of class that generally weed out students. Come to think of it, Adam hadnt' been doing badly in his classes before all of this. Getting by on luck and charm had worked pretty well for him in the last 4 or 5 years - the only reason he hadnt' graduated yet was that he didnt' really have any desire to, and kept changing his major. Of course, there were now a lot more demands on his attention and time - so practicing these skills seemed important.

The other thing that was distracting him was having not heard from Franco lately. That last job really messed him up, so Adam wasn't complaining about having a week to recover - but if things didn't pick up soon, he might have a hard time paying the bills this month. It was great that Cal had made him an offer, but although he didn't mention it to Cal, at :nuyen: 400 for a night's worth of work, it was hardly worth his time. Which was kind of funny to think about, since that's more than any other college student probably makes in a single night at their jobs - but the kind of work Adam has gotten used to doing required quite a bit more money. :nuyen: 400 barely covers a clip of bullets, a disguise, or even a fake license - it certainly wouldn't get him in and out of hte hospital again if anything went wrong.

And Cal was so certain it wouldn't that Adam couldn't shake the feeling that it would. Cal was too laid back - probably a side effect of his lifestyle up until now - but Adam didn't get the impression that planning was his strong-point. Leadership, sure. Charisma, definatly - but even the greatest generals had tacticians to help them with the planning.

Sitting on his couch, half-watching some crime-drama flick while he went over his notes from his Computer Architechtures course, he realised he had completely stopped looking at his notes. He was a lot more interested in the movie, and in thinking about his upcoming jobs. He was somewhat startled when his "work" commlink rang, and a little disappointed when the commcode of the call revealed that it wasn't from Franco.

"Hey, ...." Adam fought back the urge to use Cal's name - who knew who could be listening, or even if this was really Cal. Adam felt there was a good chance if Deerwalker was going to call him, it would be with Cal's commlink. "'Smith' here."

His commlink was only broadcasting voice-data, He wasn't displaying a video-feed, mostly out of habit, and a little bit because he knew it would look like shit going through the cheap-o MetaLink - especially with the majority of its processing power going towards encrypting the data going between them.

In AR, a window opened up with Cals' face in it. "Hey A.. er... 'Smith'." The look on Cal's face was priceless, but at least he cought the fact that Adam didn't want him to use his name, even when it was just the two of them. "I have that information you wanted."

"Great. Send it over. I had a couple of things I wanted to bring up too."

"Oh yeah? Shoot, dude. I've got all the answers ya need."

Um, yeah. I hope so. "Okay, I did some digging on Idenshitech, you know, so I'll have some background information. Turns out they are an equity method affiliate of Parashield - a provider of awakened security animals, and a subsidieary of MCT."

"Yeah, man, we already looked into it."

"Seriously? Because I don't remember you mentioning three-headed guard-dogs when you told me the plan earlier. I'm not saying anything has changed, but I thought I'd give you a heads up. I can handle the on-site guard, and I assume the hacker will handle the drones, but if there are paranormal animals around - you're on your own."

Cal seemed a annoyed, "Dude. The plan is FINE. Our hacker already looked into it, the paranormal animals are for the experiments! They don't keep any as guards."

Chill out. I'm just looking to fill in the holes in your half-baked plan. Its not my fault if you didn't tell me about them to begin with. Adam's words didn't match up with his thoughts at all. "Okay, man. Sorry, it sounds like you guys have thought this through. I appologize for stepping on any toes, but I wanna make sure this thing goes off without a hitch."

"Its cool, bro. Anything else?"

By now, Adam was already looking over the data that Cal had sent over - a dossier on one of the guards. "Yeah, lots of good data here. I see it says we think this guy has headware - a comm?"

"Yeah."

"Well, since you know about it, I'm sure you're getting a headjammer lined up - but if you need any help getting a hold of one on short notice, let me know." Adam carefully worded this one, so as to not make it sound like he was punching holes in the plan or anything - or implying that Cal's group hadn't thought the whole thing out yet.

It seemed to work, as Cal was dead silent for a second or two. Adam smirked a little bit - the image in AR seemed in deep thought, then Cal responded. "REAL good idea, man. I'll get one of those - through our people."

Adam shrugged, even though Cal couldn't see it. "Let me know if there are any complications and I'll put my people on the task, too.... There is lots of stuff here on one of the guards - but nothing on the guy who will be on duty?"

Cal's attitude seemed to have shifted in reguard to Adam opinion of the plan. Now he seemed pretty impressed that Adam was taking the job this seriously. "Good question, but no we're not sure who that will be. You really know your stuff man. Opening a door in my mind."

Adam was pleased with the reaction, but displeased with the answer. Oh well, I'll have to improvise. Maybe the guard we bag will know. "What about team communications? Once I have the guard's uniform and gear, I should be patched into their secutiry network, and radio-frequencies. I have some of my own gear too, so I could relay some of that information - you know, lighten the Hacker's load some."

"Comms, man? We don't need 'em. We're just gonna go in and the place is gonna be wide open. Anyway, the hacker is gonna be able to see and hear us all the time, so if we need to talk we just tell him and he passes it on. Sweet deal, hey?"

"Single point of failure." Adam wasn't pleased with this part of the plan, but wasn't going to push too hard on it. "If you change your mind, I'd be happy to set up a backup network that we could link to their security data - it would increase the team's SA so you guys could split up and cover more ground in less time - and let the hacker focus on keeping the security system under control. Think about it at least."

"One last thing," Adam actually wanted to ask about this first, but left it for last so he'd get a chance to win some points by showing that he had done his homework, and was ready willing and able to help out, either with team tactics, communications, technical skills, or whatever. "I'm going to be meeting the on-site guard face-to-face. The hacker can edit their security tapes to erase everyone else's faces during the job, but this guy will probably get a real good look at me, and his boss WILL ask what I look like when he comes into work the next day."

"I was thinking, I would normally want a latex mask, or a nanopaste disguise or something - but, the numbers you gave me don't cover it. So I was thinking, if you wanna impress your boss by using some bleeding-edge tech, and getting this thing done professionally, let me know, and I can hook us up. Otherwise, I can do my best to put him at ease so he doesn't bother to look real closely at my features - but, he's going to be suspicious."

"Man, if you want to look different, man, that's great. Deerwalker can HANDLE that for you man. You just relax and leave it to her."

Oh yeah, she's some sort of shaman or something. Damn. Won't be looking at her the same way for a while. "Okay, sounds like a plan. That's going to be important. If she can make me look like the guard we bag, that might make this whole thing a whole lot easier - if not, anyone's face but mine will do. That is an impressive ability she has."

"Before we go... " Adam had already said 'one last thing' and now he was adding another, but he didn't think Cal would mind - or notice. "... call me 'Mr. Smith' when we're discussing 'professional' matters. Deerwalker sort of already has a codename." Adam felt safe using her name on the phone, since Cal already had. "Did you have one you wanted me to use? or do you want people to know that you and your group are involved?"

"Also, what exactly is this group's name? I've been meaning to ask...."

After the call, Adam closed the connection and went back to his movie. He set aside his class notes for now - it was a lost cause. His mind was on this job, for the time being, and no matter how much he studied, when crunch time came, he knew he would somehow find a way through it - and not due to diligence.

This job, on the otherhand, could easily go sour - and if it did, getting himself out was going to be a lot tougher than any exam.

[adamu]

Sledge
Sunday 8/17/70 20:14:45

Standing on the street corner near the U-District they'd agreed upon for the pick-up, Sledge fumed.
At the meet, the hippies had been all too eager to brush off her questions. She'd had a hard time telling if they were just uncooperative or simply didn't have any answers. Neither possibility was reassuring. And now they were almost a quarter of an hour late.
She was about to call it and take off when an expensive SK Stallion, the big sleek four-door model, glided up to the curb. The window rolled down and there was Cal riding shotgun, his golden-haired girl Friday at the wheel. Apparently they didn't love Mother Earth enough to drive electric. And apparently they had a lot of money to burn for people coming hat-in-hand to the ORC.
She got in the back, braced for a nightmarish evening.
Cal shouted without turning to face her - "One more pick-up - the guy I told you about that's gonna handle the guard.

Mr. Smith
Sunday 8/17/70 20:17:00

Smith paced in front of his dorm. At least he hadn't had to go far to be stood up. Somehow he wasn't surprised they were late.
And it gave him too much time to think about the end of that last call - when he'd asked about exactly who Cal & Co were affiliated with.
Cal had laughed. "Written right on the office door, man. Sierra Inc USeattle." But his tone had sounded like - C'mon dude, don't play dumb - you know exactly who we are.
But Smith didn't know, and he'd been too busy keeping up with school to find out anything else.
At last - he recognized Deerwalker's car - it had always amused him - nothing like a rich corporate daddy to finance the revolution. He got in the back and found himself sitting next to a solidly-built ork woman with short-cropped hair.
"Hey, man, this is, uh, a diplomatic emissary from a like-minded group of concerned individuals of conscience... who have the same...uh...like us...whatever," Cal's voice trailed off as his attempt to speak formally crashed and burned. "Anyway," he resumed, turning to Sledge, "this is our bro Ad...uh...Mr. Smith."