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

[adamu]

Rooftop in Meredith, Renton
Tuesday 8/19/70 07:36:23

"Shit!" exclaimed Kyle. He stood up straight, then quickly reached down and flipped a switch on the Fairlight Caliban strapped to his belt. His reaction looked like nothing so much as a man suddenly caught naked in public. But an easy grin immediately returned to his face.
"Well," he began, vaulting the edge of the building and catching himself on an exterior drainage pipe; he scrambled down it as effortlessly as a monkey, chatting all the way, "I believe you are who you say you are. So that means you've got a deal with Cerberus. Not me though - I stay out of this Mafia bullshit - for reasons that should be obvious. Right now, though," he said, dropping the last few meters and landing as lightly as a cat, "my personal and your professional problem is that Cerberus is hurt. Hurt bad. Can't say how soon he'll be of much use to you. And as I understood the offer, your end of the deal is making sure he stays alive."

[DireRadiant]

Alleyway in Meredith, Renton
Tuesday 8/19/70 07:35:48
Sledge - Tech Tusker
PAN Hidden

As soon as she had taken a few steps away and turned her back on the group to keep watch on the main street at this end of the alleyway, Sledge had palmed the defiance shocker and made note with a mental marker of the spot she'd have to move to get the upper floor warehouse in range. Ignoring most of the chatter, but making sure to pay enough attention for the key words Fortunato had gone over, she edged towards one fo the walls and hesitated briefly before slouching against it.

you've seen Morris in enough alleyways to know what it looks like. how no one pays attention to a tusker chiphead sleeping it off in the trash.

Sledge slowly slid down the alley wall into a slack position.

... breathe...

<<@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.">>

<<@team:: He wants to talk to you, but he's unenlightened enough to not want to deal with your silver tongue in return. Doesn't know what he's missing.>>

[BlackHat]

Near the U-Stor-It, Meredith, Renton
Tuesday 8/19/70 07:36:23
Mr. Smith - Johnson
PAN - Hidden

Johnson typed up some replies to the AR chatter.

<<@Angel:: "It's cool. If you don't want me to, I won't say anything.">>

<<@Team:: "Ha. Well, we're all on the same side here - so he doesn't have anything to fear from me. Of course, his paranoia might get his friend killed if we're all not lucky.">>

After a minute or two Johnson sees the man decending - apparantly convinced.

<<@Team:: "I assume that was your work, Angel? Very nice.">>

The fact that her glasses didn't show any evidence of her hacking anything in AR wasn't lost on him - but it wasn't impossible that she had a cranial commlink that he wasn't being shown. After all, if the girl had had her eyes cut out, who knows what else she's had replaced.

He also cringed a bit at the man's words, but started to head back to his team - he had done his part by staying away from that encounter. Now it was time to get back to buisness.

<<@Team:: "On my way back. Great, both trolls are injured badly. We really need to get them some medical attention, if we're going to pull this thing off. See if you can find out how bad Cerberus is. Can we talk to him? Can he be moved? I don't suppose the doc can look at Rocky's arm?">>

[Konsaki]

Alleyway in Meredith, Renton
Tuesday 8/19/70 07:36:27
Angel - Technomancer - Hidden
PAN – Passive

<<@Team :: Thanks, but he turned off his commlink, so there isnt much more I can do... Hmm... Let me try something...>>, the team could hear the young woman's voice through the matrix. As she was talking, she thought of a work around since she already knew his commcode from breaking into his commlink.
Flexing her mind, causing her to flinch again as pain wracked her head, Caittie distorted her own commlink's commcode to mimic Kyle's and connected it to his earbuds.

<<@Team :: There...>>, Angel continued over the net before taking a deep breath, both mental and physical. <<You should be able to talk directly into his earbuds, Johnson.>>

[BlackHat]

Near the U-Stor-It, Meredith, Renton
Tuesday 8/19/70 07:36:33
Mr. Smith - Johnson
PAN - Hidden

Damn, this girl is good.

Still subvocalizing, he spoke, hoping that the man in the AR feed would hear him and react in some way. <<@Everyone:: "Now that you understand that we're on the same side - perhaps we could speak with Cerberus, without any further delays. I apologise for the impatient manner in which we approached you, but I hope you understand that if we were able to track him down this quickly, Louie is capable of the same - and could be here any minute. We've been at this cloak-and-dagger game, for almost an hour, and I am eager to make my offer, and then get him out of there - in whatever shape he is in.">>

Sensing an opportunity to leverage this man's concearn for Cerberus to gain something he wanted, as well - Johnson offered up an good alternative.

<<@Everyone:: "Unless, of course, he is still being worked on - in which case, we could come in and protect the area. I'm afraid we havn't made a very good impression with your clinical staff, but perhaps you could speak on our behalf, and get us inside. Rocky has been shot, and if we could get him looked at, he would be better able to help defend Cerberus - and vice versa. I think you will agree that Cerberus chances of survival go up if we do our best to help each other out....>>

[DireRadiant]

Alleyway in Meredith, Renton
Tuesday 8/19/70 07:36:42
Sledge - Tech Tusker
PAN Hidden

<<An ARO icon multidimensional image of a red lipsticked giant lips, glossy white enamel teeth and a huge extruding chrome reflective tongue high speed wagging as it licks a giant 3 headed puppy clean of blood.>>

Sledge snorts, then regretfully saves the ARO for later as she scans the streets once more, keeping a lookout for Johnson, who couldn't possibly be tracking for tails at the rate he was going.

[pragma]

Alleyway in Meredith, Renton
Tuesday 8/19/70 07:36:43
Fortunato - Support Mage
PAN - Hidden

"I warned you he'd talk your ear off," Fortunato offers to Kyle with a smile.

Glancing towards Rocky, he adds "However, he does have a decent point about getting Rocky patched up. You don't need to sweet talk me into the clinic, I know my welcome is more than worn out, but getting this troll in there would help both the trolls keep ticking."

[adamu]

Alleyway in Meredith, Renton
Tuesday 8/19/70 07:36:45

Kyle smiled appreciatively at Fortunato's remark, then gave a half-scolding, half-impressed smirk at Angel before saying, "Looks like I'll be talking to Silvertongue anyway. Can he hear me?"

[BlackHat]

A little farther from the U-Stor-It, Meredith, Renton
Tuesday 8/19/70 07:36:50
Mr. Smith - Johnson
PAN - Hidden

<<@Everyone:: "I can hear you, and I didn't appreciate your ruse. If you'd rather not talk to me, I'd be happy to leave - but I'll be taking my Shadowrunners with me, and Cerberus is on his own. Like you said, he's not a lot of use to me like this, and I could care less what Louie does to this clinic when he gets here.">>

Mr. Johnson's tone became a good deal more jaded - due mostly to the fact that he just overheard Fortunato saying that he had predicted Johnson would "talk his ear off".

Fine, if nobody here wants to handle this thing delicately, and talk about it like civilized people, we can jump right to the action. Fuck me for wanting to make everyone's lives a little easier.

He decided not to bring it up, in case everyone except Angel had the mistaken impression that he couldn't see and hear everything they were doing. It might give him some better insight into just how far he could trust them when he wasn't around.

He hoped the reminder, that Cerberus needed him a lot more than he needed Cerberus, would hit home and change Will's attitude. He also made a mental note that apparantly Fortuanto, at least, didn't appreciate the fine art of negotiation - of course he wouldn't, his life isn't on the line... yet. But Johnson's still was, so, dispite his little reminder, he wasn't about to back out of negotiations entirely.

<<@Everyone:: "So, do we understand one another?">>

[Konsaki]

Alleyway in Meredith, Renton
Tuesday 8/19/70 07:36:50
Angel - Technomancer - Hidden
PAN – Passive

As Kyle proceeds to smirk/smile at Caittie, she blushes some and looks down towards the ground to avert her sight from his gaze. <<@Kyle :: "Sorry... I'm just doing my... job... I guess...">>, she says directly into his ears over the net. Listening to herself think that, the idea sounds halfway foreign that this was truly a job. Though it was almost like working with her father in the electronics shop but with the obvious differences, she never really thought of working with her father as a true job.
Then, realising she is still holding on tightly to Rocky's arm, though she no longer needs the support, Angel lets go and clasps both her hands behind her while blushing even more. 'Come on, girl. Get a grip on yourself, this isnt the time for this...', she thinks to herself as she slightly kicks at a loose stone by her feet.

[BlackHat]

A little farther from the U-Stor-It, Meredith, Renton
Tuesday 8/19/70 07:36:52
Mr. Smith - Johnson
PAN - Hidden

<<@Angel:: "Ahem, heads up Cattie. I need to see his reaction.">>

[DireRadiant]

Alleyway in Meredith, Renton
Tuesday 8/19/70 07:37:20
Sledge - Tech Tusker
PAN Hidden

<<@Fortunato;Angel;Johnson;Rocky:: This is what I understand. Suicide squeeze. You want to bring Angel, and Rocky home. Cerberus starts the play. Clinic is home field advantage. Use it. Doesn't matter what the clinic or this trog lover wants. All we need is Louie. The only thing we need is Louie. We don't get Louie, nothing else matters. EVER. Loiue wants Cerberus, Cerberus is here. Louie is coming here. We take care of the game here at home, or we are asking for trouble in trying to win an away game.>>

<<Oh yeah, I got my softball league game tonight, so if we can finish with this Louie business before then I'd appreciate it.>>

[BlackHat]

A little farther from the U-Stor-It, Meredith, Renton
Tuesday 8/19/70 07:37:30
Mr. Smith - Johnson
PAN - Hidden

Sledge's last comment brought a smile to Johnson's face, releaving some of his annoyance from a few seconds ago. While talking with "Will", he paused to set down one briefcase, and quickly type up a response meant only for the team. He then picked his case back up, and continued his slow return to the clinic.

<<@Sledge,Angel,Fortunato,Rocky:: Yeah, I wouldn't mind getting done early today either, but Louie's arrival isn't as certain as all of that - I just want this guy to think it is. Honestly, I have no idea if Louie knows he is here, or not, but we could probably arrange that he find out. Still, there is no garuntee he will show up personally to handle the job... This is the kind of information I expect that Rocky and Cerberus can provide us with. Taking him on here does sound a lot better than my plan involving Rudolpho's - which would have given him the home-field advantage, but garuntee that he shows up for the game. In any case, we should first try to get our guys patched up. After that, we can discuss when and where we want Louie to find them.>>

[Konsaki]

Alleyway in Meredith, Renton
Tuesday 8/19/70 07:37:23
Angel - Technomancer - Hidden
PAN – Passive

Hearing the human's voice over the matrix, not so subtly prodding her, the pink banged elf slowly raised her head to look into Kyle's face once again. She blushed to even greater proportions after thinking about how girly she must look, but kept her head up so Johnson could see the target of his negotiations.
<<@Johnson :: "Sorry...">>, she silently sent over the comm net. 'I'm saying that a lot...', Caittie noted to herself, though she couldn't help it.

She didn't have to wait long before a window opened up in her glasses, blocking a lot of the view, as Sledge message made it's way though. Angel started reading it over, but most of it confused her as she had little to no experience with sports metaphors. The only thing she got about it was something about 'only Louie matters' and the fact that Sledge was worried about missing her softball game tonight.
Taking a quick second or two to read over the message again to try and pull more from it, but failing to succeed, Caittie mentally closed the AR window in annoyance. <<@Team :: "Could you say that again... In English?">>, she broadcasted to everyone but Kyle in a confused sounding voice. 'And why are you worried about your game...'

[Konsaki]

Alleyway in Meredith, Renton
Tuesday 8/19/70 07:37:33
Angel - Technomancer - Hidden
PAN – Passive

<<@Team :: "Nevermind...">>, Angel transmitted as she saw Mr Johnson's message appear which mostly explained Sledge's sports filled comment.

[adamu]

A little closer to THE alley in Meredith, Renton
Tuesday 8/19/70 07:39:00

As the team chattered on private channels, Smith watched Kyle's reaction to his latest verbal salvo through Angel's eyes. The easy smile disappeared from his face, which started to turn red. He quickly got that under control, however, hardening his features into a dark smirk. He slowly looked around himself, and while he didn't reach for a weapon, his hands came out of where they'd been sitting casually in his pockets. He took a deep breath before answering, and when he did Smith could see that he was no longer looking at Angel but instead keeping his gaze fixed on some other point in the alley.

"All right," he said into the air, assuming he could be heard, "I see how it is. You make all nice while I'm relatively safe on the roof, then when I'm on the ground surrounded by your people you start with the tough talk. Back at the clinic, they told me someone was looking for Cerberus. They asked me to blow you off - they didn't know you and neither did I. But you're right that I'll do about anything for my friend. So I went to meet you. Then I see in the diner you're sitting right next to a Mafia watchdog. Then I go in the can to work something else out, and they send me a feed of your guy here sticking a pen in the receptionist's eye. Well, you'll just have to pardon me if I decided a few more precautions were in order. All right," he takes another deep breath, "I suppose my temper here has probably talked me into a beating - or worse - you'll just have to decide if it's worth the life of at least one of your people."

[JDragon]

Alleyway in Meredith, Renton
Tuesday 8/19/70 07:39:03
Rocky - physical adept
PAN: Hidden

Rocky holds his hands up with them open, making sure to ot get any closer, but tries to be ready if Will / Kyle decides he doesn't like what Rocky has to say. "Hey, no one's looking for a fight, at least not with anyone but Fishbreath and his goons. Everyone's just a little on edge right now, k chummer?." As he finshes, Rocky lowers his hands and cradelling his gut as the cramps continue to try and twist his body in to a pretzel.

[Konsaki]

Alleyway in Meredith, Renton
Tuesday 8/19/70 07:39:06
Angel - Technomancer - Hidden
PAN – Passive

"Mr Sanders?", Caittie speaks up in a questioning voice. The sudden shift in his temperment caused her to hide behind Rocky's bent over form even more. Following Kyle's gaze, she sees the older elf in the buisness suit as the target of his stare.
"Please, dont do this... We are just trying to help out Cerberus... He's in this mess because he saved my life, and I want to help save his. Please... Kyle...", she pleaded to the blond haired man. Her voice reaching out, not through the wireless connection, but out of her own mouth, with each word causing her pain.

[adamu]

Alleyway in Meredith, Renton
Tuesday 8/19/70 07:39:15

The tension in the man's posture seemed to ratchet down a notch. He smiled kindly at the elf girl, then spoke to the troll, still keeping one eye on Fortunato. "Yeah, you're right. Everyone on edge." He nods a few times, almost as if he's reassuring himself of something. "So yeah, let's make this conversation more constructive. We need more info on Cerberus' condition - all I know is he almost died of blood loss, shot up real bad. Doc's got him under the knife right now. How long it'll be before he can be moved I cannot say. Seems like maybe the first thing we need to do is have a sit down with the doc, see what's up."

[BlackHat]

Alleyway Meredith, Renton
Tuesday 8/19/70 07:39:30
Mr. Smith - Johnson
PAN - Hidden

<<@Everyone:: "My thoughts exactly.">>

Mr. Johnson was standing at the alleyway entrance, smiling. For some reason, he had lost the feed that Angel was sending him, but was almost a the alley, so he didn't mention it.

<<@Everyone:: "But did I hear you say you saw us near a 'mafia-watchdog'? That must have been the guy with the rolex. I'm sure he got a REAL good look at Rocky and Angel, back there. Time is shorter than I thought.>>

At the far end of the alley, Johnson jerked a thumb to signal his desire to get out of there.

[DireRadiant]

Alleyway Meredith, Renton
Tuesday 8/19/70 07:39:42
Sledge - Tusker Tech
PAN - Hidden

The scorpion's motor gave a short click then roared into life as Sledge, having watched Mr Johnson's back trail, got up out of her slouch at the alley way entrance and started moving back for her bike.

For the first time in hours she spoke aloud, "On Rolex, looks like suicide squeeze is on."

[BlackHat]

Alleyway Meredith, Renton
Tuesday 8/19/70 07:39:42
Mr. Smith - Johnson
PAN - Hidden

Johnson simply nodded. It didn't look like they were going to have any choice in the matter, but Sledge was right - if they were being handed an advantage, they should take it. He only hoped that the bait would work, and that Louie, himself, would show up to see the job done right.

[JDragon]

Alleyway in Meredith, Renton
Tuesday 8/19/70 07:39:50
Rocky - physical adept
PAN: Hidden

As the others talk Rocky starts thinking and then throws his two nuyen in, "Hey guys, if Louie and his guys are on the way, he's going to come hard, real hard. We've already slipped by all the guys he had lined up to wack her." Pointing behind him at Cattie. "Plus he sent teams after both Cerberus and I, which we know were not completly successful."

He lets this sink in, then turns to Fortunato, "With that in mind, if you can help with the healing, doing it now may be a better idea then waiting for the clinic, especially if they only got one doc and he's working on Cerberus."

[adamu]

Alleyway in Meredith, Renton
Tuesday 8/19/70 07:40:00

"Wiz, so while you guys take care of that, I can take someone to talk with the Doc," offered Kyle.

[pragma]

Alleyway in Meredith, Renton
Tuesday 8/19/70 07:40:10
Fortunato - Support Mage
PAN - Hidden

"Alright, give me a minute."

Fortunato walked up to the troll and poked and prodded his shoulder, which was conveniently at eye level for the slightly shorter than average elf.

A pained expression crossed his face as he studied the wound because this wound was old and the body had started doing its best to form clots and scabs. Fortunato knew that his healing spell required him to know precisely what was wrong with the aura of the patient in order to fix it, and the body's natural healing processes made that harder to discern. The spell itself also limited his ability to observe the wound, which led to negative feedback that eventually limited its effects.

Given the state of this one, and its relative severity, he suspected most of his efforts would be window dressing. The spell would stop the bleeding though.

He looked at Rocky and said "I'm going to be able to do some good, but probably not as much as they can do," as he jerked a thumb in the direction of the clinic. "Also, the spell is going to close the wounds and make first aid impossible, if someone can patch the wounds up a little bit first then you'll heal much faster. That said, I can cast the spell whenever you like." He began a series of wrist stretching exercises, based on the rate the troll bleeding he was going to need to warm up for this one.