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

[adamu]

Paloma Diner, Meredith, Renton
Tuesday 8/19/70 07:13:12

Just as Angel sent a message, a man entered the diner. He was a human, caucasian. Looked to be in his early thirties, blue eyes, sandy hair. He was by no means dressed ostentatiously, but his khaki slacks, sweater, and Horizon Ultrawear jacket (The best protection style can buy!) set him clearly apart from any of the blue collar patrons. He appeared to be heading straight for the team's table - Smith could swear he'd caught his eye - but then Smith also noticed the newcomer's eye flicker briefly in the direction of Rolex-guy, and he just walked past the three of them to the bathroom.
Emerging about two minutes later, he headed for the front door. The waitress yelled something about the john being for customers only, and the man muttered an apology.
Smith watched him all the way out, from the bathroom, past the table, and through the door.
Then he looked down at the table and there was a tightly folded packet of paper towel.
Unfolding it, he saw bold block letters scrawled across the pulp surface - "Wait twenty minutes, then all of you leave. Then ONE of you meet me two blocks down and one over, behind the U-Stor-It place."

[BlackHat]

Paloma Diner, Meredith, Renton
Tuesday 8/19/70 07:13:30
Mr. Smith - Johnson
PAN – Hidden

Mr. Johnson passed the note around, looking rather annoyed - once someone else took it from him he began to type up another message, informing the team of what was going on.

<<@Team:: Damn it. "Will" just told us when and where to meet him. Wants us to wait twenty minutes - I dunno if Cerberus has that long, but there is no use in everyone else dying here, if he doesn't. >>

<<@Team:: He will only meet with one of us, so I'll go - the rest of you think you can find a safe place for him to meet you where you can discuss the details of the mission, in private? We can communicate like this until then, and Angel and Rocky can fill everyone in on most of the details - just keep me in the loop.>>

Turning to Rocky he said aloud, "Sorry, man - looks like this place doesn't take walk-ins. Think you can tough it out for another hour or so? I'll score a medkit, and see what I can do when we meet back up."

[pragma]

Meredith, Renton
Tuesday 8/19/70 7:13:40
Fortunato - Support Mage
PAN - Hidden

As Sledge and Fortunato worked their way through Renton he typed a response to Johnson's concerns about Cerberus:

<<@Team: I wouldn't worry about security on Cerberus; it's pretty tight. On that note, you might not want to drop my or Sledge's names around the clinic any time soon.>>

As an afterthought he added:

<<@Team: Did I catch a snippet about someone bleeding a while ago? I can deal with the wound magically, but the clinic would likely do a better job.>>

[BlackHat]

Paloma Diner, Meredith, Renton
Tuesday 8/19/70 07:13:45
Mr. Smith - Johnson
PAN – Hidden

<<@Team:: Yeah, could you take a look at Rocky's arm. Louie's men winged him and he's not looking too good. If I get into the clinic, to see Cerberus I'll see if they can tend to Rocky later, as well.>>

Mr. Johnson assumed that the shakiness, lack of energy, or palor were all symptoms of the gun-wound. He had never been shot, and looking at the detoxing troll across the booth from him, he really didn't ever want to be.

[DireRadiant]

Meredith, Renton
Tuesday 8/19/70 7:14:47
Sledge - Technical Support
PAN - Hidden

Rolling the scorpion to a smooth stop at the deserted intersection stop light, Sledge twisted her torso and turned to face her passenger as much as you could sitting directly in front of them. Taking special care to turn off her feed into the matrix channel most of the team were using to chatter at each other she spoke, aloud for the first time since before entering the black clinic, quietly and earnestly. "rekart, we don't have much time for it, but you and I both know you would have done it." pointing at her eye, " And I know, but maybe you don't, " expression snarling revealing tusks, "that whatever way you called it, that's the way it would have gone. But the kart Johnson don't understand it so much. Just words to him I think. Not going to see his hands covered in blood and brains. We need to rek the kids real fast."

Taking a breath, then , "I'm a simple tusker, next time, lay out the options and basic workflow before we go in, number or code signals. I don't want to have to wait for you to fall over bleeding from something I can't see before having to figure out what to do on my own."

Flashing a tusky grin as she turns back to face forward, and raising her voice to be heard behind her, "Anyway, that went well enough, we out and alive, so that means they are willing to listen."

[pragma]

Meredith, Renton
Tuesday 8/19/70 7:15:12
Fortunato - Support Mage
PAN - Hidden

"I'm afraid my Or'Zet's a bit rusty, but I catch your drift," he said as he scratched his beard absentmindedly. "I'll keep you in the loop on the astral and we'll figure out some way to make sure the kids know that we do what they ask us to. I've been following orders for too long to stop now."

He paused, looking past the rainsoaked gutter they'd been driving through and into the storm front that was obscuring the brief morning sunshine, and said "Good working with you, by the way."

"Any rate, lets catch this Rocky character, see what I can do for him and keep moving - I figure if we stay within a couple of blocks of the hot spot we'll be fine."

[adamu]

Behind the U-Stor-It, Meredith, Renton
Tuesday 8/19/70 07:34:00

Smith had tried to blend as much as possible on his short walk to the meet, shoving his hands in pockets of the jersey, hood pulled well over his head.
Unlike when he had arrived in the neighborhood, he no longer felt like a lone interloper on empty streets - workday traffic was picking up markedly, with cars, bikes and light trucks converging on the area for another day in the warehouses and factories that dominated the area.
Cutting across a gravel lot, he ducked behing the self-store facility, only to find the rear of the area deserted. Maybe a few more minutes? Should he wait, or blow?

[adamu]

Meredith, Renton

It was simply a matter of a quick commcall to lock down the location of the hurt troll, and within seconds, Sledge was pulling alongside him as he walked alongside the comparatively tiny elf girl. Unable to be heard easily over the roar of the hog, she jerked a thumb at a nearby alley about halfway between the diner and the clinic.

Dismounting, Fortunato approached the troll, who was already taking off his jacket. But before they could all even exhange greetings, they heard a voice calling to them from - directly overhead. Looking up, Angel and Rocky saw just the eyes and hair of the guy (Will???) from the diner - the guy that was supposed to be meeting Smith right now.
He was calling down from the roof of the warehouse they were next to, just loud enough to be heard - "Hey, you'll have to apologize to that other guy - but the last person I want to be negotiating with is whatever silver-tongued devil you tapped for the meet."

[Konsaki]

Alleyway in Meredith, Renton
Tuesday 8/19/70 07:34:20
Angel - Technomancer - Hidden
PAN – Passive

During the few seconds that passed after he yelled down to the group, the youngest member of the group unconsiously moved behind Rocky and put a hand on his arm, though she and the man could still both see each other. Angel could clearly see his blond hair in contrast to the dark blue sky behind it and the blue eyes that scanned the area and people down below.
The first voice the man heard calling up was the pink haired girl asking, "Are you the person who knows..." Angel stopped herself before just blurting out Cerberus' name. With a little thought and another spur of the moment decision, she continued a second later, "Do you know Bob Michaels?"

[DireRadiant]

Alleyway in Meredith, Renton
Tuesday 8/19/70 07:34:30
Sledge - Technical Support
PAN hidden

...breathe...

Taking her empty hand out of her jacket palm open and up, Sledge slid off her scorpions seat and started walking slowly away from the group and scanning one end of the alleyway.

<<@team:: Contact. I got this end, Rocky the other. Negotiations inside or outside, we watch. Fortunato talks, Angel secure updates on this channel. Johnson, be careful, you are alone out there, keep your eyes peeled. Fortunato, run through some signs for us when you can.>>

he probably isn't used to being stood up at ALL..

[BlackHat]

Behind the U-Stor-It, Meredith, Renton
Tuesday 8/19/70 07:34:40
Mr. Smith - Johnson
PAN - Hidden

Adam got the message in AR, and looked around. He wasn't sure what was going on - and he didn't like that. He set down one briefcase long enough to adjust some of his AR settings, and re-enable his subvocal mic. Picking the briefcase back up, he continued to walk around a bit, while speaking silently to the group. Taking his queue from Sledge, he calmly asked his questions of Angel.

<<@Team:: "Angel, what's going on?">>

Man, we need to get some video feeds - gotta remember to set aside some money for equipment.

Adam hadn't headed back to the team yet - he wasn't quite sure if they had been ambushed, or what - but they seemed to know he was alone, and told him to keep his eyes peeled, so he thought they probably knew something he didn't. As he maintained his position, he looked for a better place to wait - one with more exits.

[Konsaki]

Alleyway in Meredith, Renton
Tuesday 8/19/70 07:34:43
Angel - Technomancer - Hidden
PAN – Passive

<<@Johnson :: "That guy from the diner is on a roof telling us about how he ditched you... This should help...">>, Angel's voice answered over a private channel in an excited tone. A split second later, a window opened up in Mr Johnson's AR view showing a feed of a blond haired man on a roof with the sky behind him. Sounds of people moving around could also be heard, though it was obviously coming from a matrix feed of some sort.

[pragma]

Alleyway in Meredith, Renton
Tuesday 8/19/70 07:34:35
Fortunato - Support Mage
PAN - Hidden

"Are we going to be yelling up and down the building or would you rather join us down here?" Fortunato said with as the minimum volume necessary to carry up the building.

He typed as he talked: <<@Team: Per Sledge's request we're setting up a few coded warning signs. I'll slip the word "coral" into the conversation if there's any bad mojo in the air, "sidewidner" if we need to get ready to run and "rattler" if I think things are getting violent some time in the future. Angel if it looks like we're going to have matrix trouble drop the code word "choir." We can settle on something better in the future, these should do for now.>>

"Any rate, I'm pretty low on the totem pole around here, but my understanding is that you're a friend of a sleeping giant. We're interested in seeing him stay alive for the rest of the day. Come on down, or tell me how to get up there, and we can hammer out the details a little more quietly."

[adamu]

Rooftop in Meredith, Renton
Tuesday 8/19/70 07:34:45

The man on the roof smiled and gave a wink and a thumbs up to Angel's question, and then answered Fortunato - "Well, I'm interested in getting him through the day, too. But I'm equally interested in surviving myself, and after seeing the feed from the waiting room, I think I'll keep a bit of distance between us."

[pragma]

Alleyway in Meredith, Renton
Tuesday 8/19/70 7:34:55
Fortunato - Support Mage
PAN - Hidden

"Suit yourself. In my defense, I was told I was on a timetable and we did clear the air rather quickly."

"Regardless, the important point is that my employer has some sort of deal to offer your troll. I can't say for sure but its likely the same one he made Rocky and Angel," he said gesturing to the pair of runners.

"He'll probably chime in over the network and say an awful lot of words in the near future. Until then, I'm probably allowed to say that we'll help the troll survive and help him deal with the man who wants him dead in exchange for him helping us do the same. We might even be able to offer him employment thereafter. Again, that's Johnson's business, not mine."

He turned to Angel and quietly asked, "Is there some sort of conference call thing we can set up to make this run smoother?" While asking he tryed to mimic the idea with hand gestures, as if he was speaking a faintly foreign language.

[adamu]

Rooftop in Meredith, Renton
Tuesday 8/19/70 07:35:02

"Wow, that sounds like the foundation for a great deal. On principle, he accepts your offer...as soon as you find some way to show me you're not really just working for Fishbreath."

[pragma]

Alleyway in Meredith, Renton
Tuesday 8/19/70 7:35:12
Fortunato - Support Mage
PAN - Hidden

"Both the kid and the other troll are still alive and kicking," he says gesturing to the others. "They can speak their peace about the Johnson's intentions. I'll even cover my eyes so as not to intimidate the withnesses."

He covers his eyes with his hands, with a flourish.

[adamu]

Rooftop in Meredith, Renton
Tuesday 8/19/70 07:35:20

"Other troll, huh? Cerberus didn't say anything about race, but he did say he had a partner. And he said he got in trouble for letting an elf girl live. She supposed to be a hacker, and that little chica with you knew his fake IC handle. Tell you what, either that troll tells me something about Cerberus that I don't think my buddy would ever have told his other mob friends, or the girl there hacks my comm. I'll take either of those as proof that they're in the same bind as Cerberus."

[pragma]

Alleyway in Meredith, Renton
Tuesday 8/19/70 7:35:25
Fortunato - Support Mage
PAN - Hidden

"You two heard the man, time is money."

[Konsaki]

Alleyway in Meredith, Renton
Tuesday 8/19/70 07:35:31
Angel - Technomancer - Hidden
PAN – Passive

"Ok, I guess...", the female elf replied with a hesitant voice as she looked over to Fortunato. Turning her gaze back up at the sandy haired man, she looked into his eyes before closing hers and taking a deep breath. Caittie felt the streams of raw data like currents of air flowing around her, the area was thick with it. She concentrated a second and then reached out with her mind warp it to her needs.
In cyberspace, she could feel the actions taking place as desired, though strained, and with the final burst of energy, her sprite was complete. Then it hit her, the fatigue and dizzyness. Angel tightened her grip on the tall troll's arm and used it to support her as her breathing increased and she flinched from the wave of pain in her mind. The slight weight increase was nothing for Rocky to bare, but without the support Caittie looked like she would have fallen to her knees.

She could feel the annoyance of the sprite as the male looking being called out to her. "You know, not that I mind looking at a good looking angel, but did you 'have' to call me here right at the worst time?", the sprite asked as he ran a gloved hand through his hair and his tail moved around behind him, curling and bending with a mind of its own. The cyber angel raised a hand to her forehead as she let out a deep sigh before responding to the monkey tailed sprite. "I appologise for that, but I really need your help getting into someone's commlink. Can you do that for me? I can send you back to whatever you were doing before I called you, afterwords.", she asked.
Putting a hand to his chin, the sandy haired man thought for a second and replied, "Ok, sounds like a deal." With that, he started concentrating as a circle of energy appeared around him on the ground. Motes of light floated around as he performed the act, and in no time at all, both he and the technomancer felt the world around them shift as the scenery changed.

[JDragon]

Alleyway in Meredith, Renton
Tuesday 8/19/70 07:35:33
Rocky - physical adept
PAN: Hidden

Rocky looked down at Cattie as she grabbed his arm, then looked up at the guy on the roof. "Well to tell you the truth, Cerberus and I never really got a chance to chat, Fishbreath kept us busy knocking random people around from the first day we met." Rocky stops for a second and groans as the cramps remind him they are still in control or his body.

Straightening back up he continues "But I can tell you that he's not a bad guy, and didn't like the work we were doing any more than I did." Rocky stops for a few seconds like he's done, but then adds one more thing, "Oh and he can fight, and I don't just mean throw a punch, he's had some serious professional training."

[adamu]

Rooftop in Meredith, Renton
Tuesday 8/19/70 07:35:40

"Well, as the guy that did the training, thanks. But you got to admit you haven't told me anything the other side wouldn't know."

[BlackHat]

Behind the U-Stor-It, Meredith, Renton
Tuesday 8/19/70 07:35:45
Mr. Smith - Johnson
PAN - Hidden

Mr. Johnson watched through Angel's eys and listened through her ears as the team made contact with "Will". Will seemed like a nice enough guy, and wasn't asking anything crazy (he even offered up his comm to Angel) so Johnson didn't speak up - even after Fortunato's comment about a conference call. He was as curious as Will was to see what this team could do - and while the idea of them doing it without his direct supervision still made him a little nervous, it was going to be something he got used to. Adam wasn't the kind of guy that would make a really great micromanager - he needed employees who could manage themselves and see that the job got done.

He paid enough attention to his surroundings to try to keep from being mugged, but Johnson must have looked rather strange as he began to take a stroll around the block, watching a live broadcast in AR as he did.

<<@Angel:: "This is great. I had no idea you had cybereyes. Once we're all settled, this is the sort of thing we should all be aware of about one another.">>

<<@Team:: "Johnson here, ready for conference call - once you've convinced this guy you don't work for Louie. Not sure I can help you there, and he doesn't want to talk to me anyway.">>

[Konsaki]

Alleyway in Meredith, Renton
Tuesday 8/19/70 07:35:43
Angel - Technomancer - Hidden
PAN – Passive

As Caittie felt her personna gain access to the blue eyed man's commlink, she also felt her sprite groan with annoyance yet again. "I must be getting rusty or something. This device saw me trying to get it, but it's not that bad. Now that we are in, you can turn it off since I delayed the alarm.", the sandy haired sprite explained. The cyber angel reached around with her mind, exploring the device they had just entered, flipping a few settings around to disable the alarm and then grinned a little in the real world.
"Thank you for helping me out. I'm in a bit of a jam and this makes things alot easier. You can head back to the Resonance or where ever you want now, but I would like to know your name, in case I need to call you back.", Angel asked of her sprite before it left. "The names Zidane, and I'm one of the best at getting into anywhere I want to go, though it also depends on the skill of you people who call me.", the sprite said with a huge grin on his face. "Ok then, Zidane. Thank you again.", the cyber angel replied as her sprite dissapeared into the datastreams of the matrix.

Focusing her mind, Angel then set about the task of finding anything that she could use to proove herself. She felt windows popping open in her AR vision, to which she opened her eyes to flinch at the pain looking into the daylight caused. Baring through it though, she looked through SIN information, home location and all other files and data. Though when she came across a folder marked Bellevue, she looked inside and found what she was looking for, though it made Caittie raise her eyebrows at what she saw. Quickly, she downloaded his SIN and contact information to her own commlink before looking up at him in the real world. Squinting up at the man on the roof, Caittie could see his eyes and knew what she saw was real. "Like how you are planning to head into Bellevue, Kyle?", the green eyed elf asked and then flinched as her own voice caused her pain.
<<@Kyle :: "I dont care about what you are doing with these plans. I just want to be free of having to worry about everytime I wake up, is there someone just outside my door trying to kill me...">>, her voice shifted to speaking over the matrix into his earbuds, as it didn't hurt her as much as talking in the real world.

[Konsaki]

Alleyway in Meredith, Renton
Tuesday 8/19/70 07:35:48
Angel - Technomancer - Hidden
PAN – Passive

<<@Johnson :: "I... dont tell people... about... Please dont say anything...">>, Johnson could hear over the matrix as Caittie stuttered out a pleading explanation and request.