Up from the Bottom, Wipe Those Tears and Pass the Ammo Options

[adamu]

Palome Diner, Meredith, Renton
Saturday 8/23/70 13:01:00

Right then a man came out of the restroom at the other end of the diner. He appeared to be on his way out, and Adam might never have noticed him had he not for just a step or two headed for an empty booth with a half-eaten breakfast, and then for a split second cast his eyes over the young runner's face. At that point he'd smoothly redirected his course for the front door, seemingly in no hurry. But by then Adam knew he'd seen the swarthy man in the stocking cap before.

[BlackHat]

Paloma Diner, Meredith, Renton
Saturday 8/23/70 13:01:30
Smith
PAN - Offline

When Smith catches the man's eyes, he nods, and raises a few fingers in greeting - that's about all he had time to do as his mind raced to place the face. The gesture either went ignored, or spooked the guy - because he immediately went for the door. As the door closed behind him, Adam connected the dots. He remembered the man's Rolex, face, and the way he took off a few days ago after being asked about 'Will'.

Smith still wasn't sure who this guy was - he didn't remember ever finding out - but he was still pretty sure he was a Made Man. He took another sip of his coffee wondering what that meant for today's meet. He wasn't particularly worried about running into mobsters. It has been a few months since he was collecting apologies and body parts for Franco - but he still knew some names he could drop, and enough of the slang to fit in with the Goodfella's if he needed to.

Smith smirked a little, impressed that his attendance was noteworthy enough to warrant such an exit. Maybe word would get back to Francesca, and reminder her that he existed.

[DireRadiant]

Paloma Diner, Meredith, Renton
Saturday 8/23/70 13:35:57
Sledge
PAN - Offline

It had taken 45 minutes to travel here. Record time with all the transfers they'd had to take. She'd thumped Rocky's coffin about ten times before he showed his trog face. Then hit the streets after explaining where the meet was. Sledge was glad to have her agent stop checking for messages so frequently, it cut down the exposure. Traveling cross town and out to Renton was bad enough. They would fit in well enough, but she wasn't as familiar with the territory as she was downtown.

She signalled the trog to watch the door as she stepped in to check the inside. The last time she'd been in this neighborhood things had ended in hail of lead. There wasn't a reaction other then what she expected, and spotting her target she relaxed a bit and headed over to Sugar Lips

[BlackHat]

Paloma Diner, Meredith, Renton
Saturday 8/23/70 13:36:30
Smith
PAN - Offline

Smith noticed Sledge and Rocky's arrival slightly after they had spotted him. He seemed distracted by something, before, but was all smiles as they approached. He gestured to the empty booth-space across from him. "Glad you could make it. Fortunato is busy - but he sent one of his friends to listen in for him." Smith's eyes darted down towards the table. "Angel... won't be joining us - which is the first thing we need to talk about."

"Shit comes up. I get that." He shrugged. "I would obviously prefer if Cerb and Angel had given me a little warning, and seen this last job though - but they both had their reasons for leaving, and I honestly can't blame either of them."

"So, first-things-first, before we bother worrying about last-night's hack-a-thon, or plugging the holes in our plan for tonight, I need to know if anyone else is planning to resign." He grinned, "After the last few days, I wouldn't blame you. We've lost thirty or forty percent of our... capability, almost overnight - and if this is a rats-fleeing-a-sinking-ship sort of scenario... I just need to know."

[DireRadiant]

Paloma Diner, Meredith, Renton
Saturday 8/23/70 13:36:55
Sledge
PAN - Offline

"In."

Sledge suppressed her emotions and focused, things didn't sound good, and work came first.

"I need to run the equipment. Might have been able to cover keeping us out of matrix trouble otherwise, but once in trouble, I can't do much about it, other then what we just did. Know enough to leave to an expert, or someone talented."

Sledge didn't even consider the trog as she looked at Sugar Lips, "You have the basics, is it enough to cover us?"

[JDragon]

Paloma Diner, Meredith, Renton
Saturday 8/23/70 13:37:03
Rocky - physical adept
PAN: Offline

Rocky waited for the conversation to slow down, before jumping in, "I'm in for this job till the end, the offer from our friend's is just to good to pass on."

"Beyond on that I don't see anything else coming up, but we'll deal with that when it comes up."

Having said his piece Rocky sat back and listened as they worked through the plan.

[BlackHat]

Paloma Diner, Meredith, Renton
Saturday 8/23/70 13:38:00
Smith
PAN - Offline

Smith waited to answer Sledge's question until he got some indication from Rocky that he was still in, but then looked pleased. "Very good. I talked to Fortunato earlier, and although he thought he might have had some last-minute stuff come up, he indicated that he would be able to finish this job, at least."

"As to your question, Sledge - I think you would be the best one to tell us how much matrix support we're going to need. It's your plan, after all. Keep in mind, if I'm pulling double-duty, both responsibilities are going to suffer. If we're not expecting there to be much trouble, I would like to think my skills - or at least my high-end programs - could get us by for a night or two... but, we should probably expect trouble, and apparently Angel doesn't have the same confidence in my abilities."

"Before she left, she took the initiative and found her own replacement." Smith didn't bother to conceal the concerned look that crossed his face. "A polite gesture, for sure, but I think she caused more problems than she solved. From your last few messages, I take it he contacted you?" His eyes darted back and forth between Sledge and Rocky. "... and that went about as well as it did when Fortunato and I talked to him?" His concern faded into a smirk.

"So, this would be the second thing I wanted to talk to you guys about before we got to work, today."

"We need to decide what to do about this guy, and I want input from everyone."

"I wouldn't want to be accused of influencing either of your first-impressions...." His smirk broadened into a devilish grin, "so why don't you two start by filling me in on what went down, yesterday?"

[DireRadiant]

Paloma Diner, Meredith, Renton
Saturday 8/23/70 13:40:08
Sledge
PAN - Offline

"Incoming on comm. Running dark so only crew has handshakes. Stranger knew me, knew about building, knew commcodes. Killed all the gear." , Sledge paused, "I killed the gear to keep it off scan, woke the trog, moved out, sent message, took a nap."

"Figure crew comms got compromised and the team commcode subscription list got out. Bit about building made it bad."

"Means your friends place might get hot, since that's where we were when the connection came in, think I was fast enough to get the gear off scan. Still problem sooner taken care of better."

[BlackHat]

Paloma Diner, Meredith, Renton
Saturday 8/23/70 13:41:00
Smith
PAN - Offline

Smith raised one eyebrow at the mention of the building, and then his eyes widened, when he thought Sledge was saying that the hacker fried their gear. Once she clarified, his expression returned to normal. He nodded his head along, and didn't seem too surprised. "Commcodes were my bad. When Angel introduced us, we... didn't hit it off, but he didn't even try to hack me... so I decided to give him a second-chance. I asked him to contact you guys, and see if he could make a better first-impression. Figured, if we decided to pass, it'd only cost a few nuyen to get new commcodes."

Smith shrugged, "Thing is, I was hoping that giving him some contact info would save him the trouble - and keep him from needing to dig too deep. I figured, he'd make a few quick calls and I would get a few more points of view about this guy - a sanity check before I told him to get lost. I didn't tell him anything about the job, though. Turns out, he did hack my system - and I later find out he did the same to you guys. Sloppy job, too - but, at least we know he did it, so we can make an informed decision about him."

"Kind of a slap in the dick to people you're hoping to find work with, ne?."

"Anyway, I apologize for bringing this kind of problem the day before a big gig." Smith face looked honestly apologetic. "This is precisely the sort of thing I'm supposed to keep on top of, and shield you guys from. I just didn't feel that confident about making the call that we wouldn't need to replace Angel this weekend - and if we were going to, whether or not this is the guy we wanted doing it."

Smith paused for a second, beginning to grin again. "Funny thing was - and I have no idea how this happened - Fortunato managed to track the guy down... in the meat. Threatened to kill him." Smith bit his lip to keep from laughing. "So, I'm not expecting us to have any more trouble - not that this guy has shown an ounce of common-sense, yet."

"So, the balls in our court - but, you are right, the bit about the building does make it bad, which is why we need to talk about him, now."

"First of all, I'm not interested in whether or not we need him - we have a lot of options, there, and we can talk about them in a second. Right now, I want to know whether or not we want to work with him. I was ready to say no, yesterday, and that was before the chaos he caused last night. If either of you feel differently, though, now is the time to tell me."

Smith waited for responses from both of them. If Error had somehow accomplished the task he had been given, it would take a direct question like this to bring out the requisite responses. Thing is, Smith still wasn't sure if his expectations and reactions were reasonable or not. Maybe this was how 'real' Shadowrunners treated one another.

[adamu]

Paloma Diner, Meredith, Renton
Saturday 8/23/70 13:41:05

As the others started to answer, Smith idly checked his messages and was surprised to find one from Franco directing him to call - "Probably nothing," the AR recording growled, "But I got something you might want to hear about."

[BlackHat]

Paloma Diner, Meredith, Renton
Saturday 8/23/70 13:41:15
Smith
PAN - Offline

Sledge and Rocky both noticed Smith's eyes flick from theirs to the side - and the color drain from his face. His gloved fingers twitched, and he looked relieved. "One sec. Important call." His fingers twitched again, as he stood up, gesturing under the table with his other hand. "Discuss amongst yourselves. I'll be right back."

He smiled at the waitress, who had dutifully left him alone while he and his friends were talking, but seemed to have mistaken his sudden rise from his seat to mean she needed to rush a fistfull of menus towards his table. As she passed by him, he made a little hand-sign for phone call, which seemed to relieve her, though she continued over to offer something to the orc and troll.

The call went through just as he got to the bathroom.

[adamu]

Paloma Diner Bathroom, Meredith, Renton
Saturday 8/23/70 13:41:22

Franco answered on the third ring. He wasn't at the club - looked like an office somewhere - real or virtual hard to tell. <<Hey kid. Quick question. You still got an ork squaw on your crew?>> His query was accompanied by an AR image of Sledge.

[BlackHat]

Paloma Diner, Meredith, Renton
Saturday 8/23/70 13:41:23
Smith
PAN - Offline

<<@Franco:: "Sure do....">>

There was a 40% chance that Franco would have asked about someone who had left. Smith's luck held up. He wasn't looking forward to the conversation about how his assets were slipping out of his grasp.

[adamu]

Paloma Diner, Meredith, Renton
Saturday 8/23/70 13:41:32

<<Yeah, knew this one was in on the other thing, but didn't know about now. Anyways, no one expects you to be working with choirboys, but word to wise - coupla nogoodniks of her same persuasion been asking around - not just to me - they canvassed the whole place here. Made some discreet calls and it seems the tuskers from down under are throwing out a pretty wide net - lotta eyes peeled for that battleaxe, so make sure yours are peeled wider.>>

[BlackHat]

Paloma Diner, Meredith, Renton
Saturday 8/23/70 13:41:35
Smith
PAN - Offline

<<@Franco:: "... I appreciate the head's up, and I'll pass along the info.">> Smith paused, wondering if Franco had more to say. He was, at the same time, relieved and worried that Franco had broken his long silence. Smith also knew better than to cut the man off, if he had something important to say.

[BlackHat]

Paloma Diner, Meredith, Renton
Saturday 8/23/70 13:42:30
Smith
PAN - Offline

There was a moment of awkward silence, before the mob boss growled <<"Ciao">> and the connection died. Smith quickly exited and made his way back to his table. Sliding back into his seat, he said, "Sorry about that. New agenda item. Where were we? Oh yeah, what do you guys think about Error?"

[pragma]

Greg's Doss, Enumclaw, Auburn
Saturday 8/23/70 13:41:42
Fortunato - Support Mage
PAN - Passive (Contacts, Earbuds, Smartlink)
Astrally Inactive

Fortunato had carefully mixed bird shit, some of the endless supply of nameless incense that was required for these procedures and some carefully filtered, boiling water into a mixture that was currently sitting on top of the hot plate he used to cook instant soy ramen. The recipe he'd scrawled down, memorized and furiously avoided ever using during introductory thaumaturgy class called for precisely one minute and twelve seconds of heat.

His watcher had been chattering incessantly, apparently Johnson had company. Fortunato knew he should have been preparing the patterns to mould this into sacred glyphs which would then be ground into the powder to draw the binding circle. His eyes flitted back and forth between the porgram to control the moulding device and a text message he composed with the other hand.

<<@Team: We need matrix overwatch. I wouldn't set foot in there without it. At least we know ERROR is reasonably good even if he's a fucker. Maybe you can do better on seven hour notice, but the night shift is creeping up really quickly.>>

He looked up and noticed a white, foul smelling foam roiling out of the pot on his hot plate. The glyph was only half-programmed, none of the fine detail was there. It would have to do , binding came with a tight schedule. He hoped nothing bad would come of it.

[DireRadiant]

Paloma Diner, Meredith, Renton
Saturday 8/23/70 13:42:50
Sledge
PAN - Offline

"Good handle"

Sledge paused very briefly, then continued, "Needed. I got gear, you got the kissy kissy, trog has his bit, one not here has his, we need him, where I can get a handle. Can't risk remote work. Things go bad, just logoff, no sweat. Different when we bleed he bleed."

[BlackHat]

Paloma Diner, Meredith, Renton
Saturday 8/23/70 13:42:55
Smith
PAN - Offline

Smith nodded, and set his commlink down where the team could see Fortunato's newest message. "Entirely reasonable - though I doubt he will agree. We sort of jumped a step, but it sounds like we mostly agree that, one way or another, we need a hacker. Any objections if I get him on the phone, and set up a meet." He glanced at his AR watch. "We're going to need to get to work, right after we're done here, right?"

[JDragon]

Paloma Diner, Meredith, Renton
Saturday 8/23/70 13:43:04
Rocky - physical adept
PAN: Offline

"Works for me."

Rocky thought he should say more, but really had nothing else to add so he left it simple and waited for the next step.

[BlackHat]

Paloma Diner, Meredith, Renton
Saturday 8/23/70 13:43:10
Smith
PAN - Offline

Smith had no intention of making another active connection with Error's commlink, so he began drafting a text message he could send to the same commcode Angel had given him the day before. If Error had already moved on, and created a new account, somewhere, Smith didn't really have any way of getting a hold of him, but he felt like he was putting forth a good effort. He decided to play-up the circumstances surrounding his invitation.

<<@Error:: Amazing work. I honestly didn't expect it to happen, but you're in. All three recommendations came in this morning - with only one stipulation. Assuming you're still interested, you can meet us in Renton, at this address. Come physically - that's the stipulation. I think everyone would prefer if we did not have to come to you. Come prepared. We start when you arrive.>>

Rocky's assent seemed sufficient, and Smith fired off the message before taking his PAN back offline. "Last order of business: That phone call I just got was about you, Sledge." Smith lowered his voice, as though suddenly more concerned about the patrons eavesdropping. "I don't know all of the details, but I got a heads-up that a couple of orks are plastering your face all over town - working pretty hard to track you down." He looked genuinely concerned. "A, did you already know about this? B, is this going to affect our weekend plans? and C, is there anything I can do to help?"

[DireRadiant]

Paloma Diner, Meredith, Renton
Saturday 8/23/70 13:43:20
Sledge
PAN - Offline

.. ABC? ... cody speak...

Sledge stood up abruptly, "ORC Orks?" She paused in her move away from the table and out. "After we're done I'll let them find me." she snarled quietly and bared her tusks savagely, "Again." She bent her frame down over the table and looked the human in the eye from a few centimeters away.

"I'll accept your help, but this is personal, not biz. zakhan ereth bat'cerri"

[BlackHat]

Paloma Diner, Meredith, Renton
Saturday 8/23/70 13:43:35
Smith
PAN - Offline

Smith raised an eyebrow. "You'd know better than I would, I hope." He stood up too, it looked like Sledge was eager to get to work, too. "If its personal, I'll let you take things from here - but if there is anything I can do, let me know."

"I left a message for Error, telling him to meet us here. If you two want to get started, we can meet you at the garage. Otherwise, brunch is on me." He gestured down at the table.

[JDragon]

Paloma Diner, Meredith, Renton
Saturday 8/23/70 13:43:41
Rocky - physical adept
PAN: Offline

"Its looking like its going to be a long weekend, so a good meal to get it started would be great. We got time?" Looking over Sledge to see what she was wanting to do.

[DireRadiant]

Paloma Diner, Meredith, Renton
Saturday 8/23/70 13:43:50
Sledge
PAN - Offline

"Can't sit. Never know who's got eyes I'll grab some nuke-its to eat and get started on the gear checks."