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

[adamu]

Outside Hotel Hell - Posse Turf, Sophocles, Redmond Barrens
Tuesday 8/19/70 14:41:11


Most of the young gangers shifted uneasily at the ork woman's display - it was clear they were hoping not to have to mess with her. But their leader was not so cowed, although his eyes did flash at the mention of beer by the case.

"All right, sure, we know where you can get beer, and plenty of it. And hell, we'll even show you the way. Just pop open this beast here and we'll all pile in for a ride. There's some Japs up the road, keep cases of beer on ice and Nerps© on the grill."

[DireRadiant]

Outside Hotel Hell - Posse Turf, Sophocles, Redmond Barrens
Tuesday 8/19/70 14:41:20
Sledge - Beer Run
PAN - Hidden

"Japs? You want them doing your dirty work, something you can't do yourself. Like getting at the beast here."

With that Sledge angled the hammer handle to let the body she was propping up settle to the ground. No need to drain the batteries.

[Konsaki]

Hotel Hell – Posse Turf, Redmond Barrens
Tuesday 8/19/70 14:44:01
Angel – Technomancer - Hidden
PAN – Hidden

After finishing the message, Rocky heard the girl’s voice and looked up at Angel. Before saying anything, he glanced at the door then turned back to the younger redhead. "Well actually, up till about three weeks ago I was the professional boxer, Angus "Rocky" Smith.�, he replied while looking into the girl’s eyes to gauge her reaction.
“My last fight went bad and, well, I had to hit the streets in a hurry.�, he continued as he saw the girl lean forward in interest. “The first few minutes I was running around in my trunks and fight robe.", finished before laughing a little to himself, thinking about that day.

This, though, caused the elven girl to quirk her eyebrows in confusion as she straightened back out in the worn chair. It looked like she hadn't really expected the muscled troll to actually divulge his past that easily... in fact it made her think it really 'was' too easy.
Rocky could see Angel’s eyes looked off in the distance for a second, like she was looking through him, before she flinched. The painful reminder of her loss of connection smacked Caittie, as if mocking her, as she tried to look up the information Rocky was giving her.
Letting out an annoyed sigh, she focused her piercing green eyes back on Rocky before continuing. "So... Angus...", Caittie started before pausing, trying to think about how she was going to say her next question.
"It's Rocky now. Angus Smith no longer exists anymore...", the fist fighter corrected her with a slight sigh at having to say it. "Ok... Rocky. How exactly did you go from being a boxer to working for Louie?", she finally asked with true inquisitiveness in her voice as the technomancer ran a hand through her hair before resting her chin on it.

"Well as I said, my last fight went bad… really bad. The guy I had just beat collapsed in his dressing room a couple minutes after the fight and never got back up.�, he explained with a tone of regret. “Due to how the world runs and the choices I made, I would have gone to jail for his death, which wasn't my fault, but no one would have seen it that way."
He stopped again, looking around the room before checking the front door again. Caittie guessed he was doing it to break the conversation to think. She couldn’t blame him. What Rocky was telling her was deep.

"I was out on the street with almost nothing… and no one from my old life could help me cause of the Star. I needed money to survive, which meant getting a job where your back ground didn't matter as much.�, he continued as he looked back over to the elf.
“Someone I knew had put me in contact with this guy, Smithers, that specialized in getting people work. Well, the first job he set up with was working for Louie.", Rocky continued before braking into a long sigh before he went on. "I had no idea how evil he really was until the night we met you.�, the troll said with a flick of his hand towards the room Cerberus was sleeping in. “Up till that night, we had been collecting from dead beat criminals."

The teenager sitting at the table just sat there looking at Rocky for a while after he finished. Sometime during his story, her hand went from holding her head up to covering her mouth, her imagination creating a vivid visualization of the events. The troll eventually turned his gaze from hers to look at the door yet again, but she continued to stare at him as she processed what he had said.
‘Can this really be true? I mean, he just explained his entire ‘story’ to me…’, Caittie asked herself in disbelief. ‘But… it fits… sort of…’, she continued while leaning back in the chair while raising her hand from her face to run through her hair once again.
As she sat there for a bit sorting through the last day’s experiences, the girl just couldn’t come to any conclusions. If it weren’t for the incident early in the morning hours, she would have fully believed him with no problems, but…
“Ok… so…�, Caittie started, though it seemed hesitant and a little confused. “Thanks… I guess you didn’t really have to tell me anything... Thank you.�, she continued, grabbing the troll’s attention from the door. The young technomancer couldn’t keep his gaze though and dropped her own to the black backpack on the table.
“I guess you’ve heard enough of my life through my own outbursts, huh?�, she admitted apologetically as she clasped her hands in front of her over the backpack.

[adamu]

Outside Hotel Hell - Posse Turf, Sophocles, Redmond Barrens
Tuesday 8/19/70 14:41:40


The leader of the boys licked his lips. Sledge saw that he had a tin star pinned to his jacket with the word "DEPUTY" etched crudely into it. "Oh, I'll get into your ride, bitch. I'll just make me some gloves outta yer mangy tusker hide." He took one step forward, closing the distance between them by about a quarter. His crew shuffled about, making a show of following, but more than willing to make him face the huge ork woman first.
"Or maybe I'll just slice your eyes open with a razor and pour gasoline in 'em until you just open it for me."

[adamu]

Outside Hotel Hell - Posse Turf, Sophocles, Redmond Barrens
Tuesday 8/19/70 14:41:41


As both sides postured, the rain drizzled down relentlessly, running off soaked clothes and pooling into mud around the antagonists' feet. A crow croaked somewhere, and Sledge could feel eyes peeking down from slits in boarded up windows. The grizzled men that worked the food stalls had stopped their loud hawking.

Off down the road a ways, a stray dog stepped into a rat trap, giving a band of street urchins the chance they needed to swarm and kill it.

[DireRadiant]

Outside Hotel Hell - Posse Turf, Sophocles, Redmond Barrens
Tuesday 8/19/70 14:41:50
Sledge - Beer Run
PAN - Hidden

... breathe ...

"Go get your gas Deputy ...Star"

Memories of, or the all too real present, acrid smoke, flaming odors, and charred flesh faded into the background as Sledge shifted her foot minutely for balance.

She spat the last word out, and fixed the ganger with her tusky filled glare.

... breathe ...

[adamu]

Outside Hotel Hell - Posse Turf, Sophocles, Redmond Barrens
Tuesday 8/19/70 14:42:00


Sledge's comment sent the gang lieutenant over the edge.

"Are you calling me a fucking PIG, tusker whore?"

He took a menacing step forward, pulling an ugly blade from his chapped synthleather belt.

"Are you saying I fucking roll with the Blue Crew, THOSE PUSSIES???"

Another step, now only a pace away, striking distance.

"Maybe calling me a snitch, a NARC, a fucking RAT? You wanna DIE, bitch?"

He was literally frothing at the mouth, now, his spittle spraying to and fro, spatters stricking Sledge's face.

The other boys had not advanced, watching the showdown keenly.

And the skin on Sledge's back prickled with the awareness that a step or a shove backward could doom her to the same high-voltage fate as the young ganger that lay at her feet.

[DireRadiant]

Outside Hotel Hell - Posse Turf, Sophocles, Redmond Barrens
Tuesday 8/19/70 14:42:10
Sledge - Showdown
PAN - Hidden

... breathe ... ready ...

"Gonna use that thing, or you only know how to play with yourself?" one side of her snarling mouth raised in sneering disdain.

There wasn't much room, but that didn't matter, his mass wasn't going to move her, and she wanted him to get closer, away from the interference of his friends reach.

Sledge held the handle down and close, close enough to block anything yet not threatening. Not threatening if you thought she couldn't whip the handle through an arc of several meters with the strength and leverage a hundred and 50 plus kilos of healthy tusker could bring to bear in under a second. The kinetic impulse generated in impact was actually higher then a bullet, diffused slightly be the fact of the higher impact area. Calculations that didn't matter now, not when the all too real effects were about to be experienced.

[pragma]

Hotel Hell, Exterior -- Posse Turf, Sophocles, Redmond
Tuesday 8/19/70 14:43:12
Fortunato - Support Mage
PAN - Hidden (Contacts, Earbuds, Smartlink)
Astrally Inactive

Fortunato kept hearing snatches of some kind of conversation as he picked his way toward the van for supplies. It wasn't until he was in the lobby that he realized the yelling was coming from right where he'd parked. He communicated with the air spirit:

What the hell is going on?

The ork woman I've been concealing is fighting six humans.

It was a classic "Oh, Fuck" moment. Sledge was the only one here who really seemed to know what she was doing. Fortunato took off at a sprint, forming a quick plan.

To an outside observer, he changed as he ran: legs elongating and merging together into a sinuous tail, skin scaling over and weapons bursting into flames. By the time he wheeled around the corner to see Sledge exchanging blows with a posse member, he was an eight foot tall snake carrying a shotgun wrapped in fire and brimstone. It only took one look at the rest of the gangers to scatter them.

After that, it was just a matter of watching and waiting. Sledge was bound to have the upper hand eventually. Fortunato engaged in a few more bloody and fiery theatrics before Sledge finally knocked the child over and crushed his ribcage. It was one of those scenes in his life where he felt like he should feel something; maybe he should have felt some kind of pity at a young life snuffed out by an uncaring world or some kind of shame that he hadn't stepped in with a taser, but the kid was dead and that was that.

He dropped the mask, resumed his usual form and asked: "You alright?"

Sledge nodded. "How's the supply run going?" He asked wryly. Sledge's withering glare shut him up briefly. "We've got an apartment secured and a few squatters on the streets who might let us know if something is up. I was going to try and cobble together a back exit if we've got any rope in the van."

[DireRadiant]

Outside Hotel Hell - Posse Turf, Sophocles, Redmond Barrens
Tuesday 8/19/70 14:43:30
Sledge - Aftershock
PAN - Hidden

Sledge wound up and kicked the deputy. The corpse rolled 36 cm and rolled onto it's side. She slid out her hammer head and twisted it onto the already bloodied hammer handle she'd been using. She took a deep breath and then looked down at the man and answered.

...breathe...

"Right, focus."

"Rope? Vut!"

Sledge sighed, and continued pointing with her hammer at one then the other body, "This idiot fried himself on the security panels, too late for me to save him, then this one wanted to string me up and cut my eyes when I wouldn't give him a joy ride. Bastards were just laughing at their own getting fried."

...breathe...

"Thanks for the backup. Keep extra alert, dunno what wasting one of their deputies will do for our arrangements. Probably won't talk to me, they string up metas. But you might pull the ole Massah act, say you keep me an' the trogs in line."

...breathe...

"Otherwise was just going to get some brews, even some for this sorry lot."

[adamu]

Outside Hotel Hell - Posse Turf, Sophocles, Redmond Barrens
Tuesday 8/19/70 14:43:40


The rain kept drizzling down, the muddy puddles around the two runners' feet kept getting higher. In the buildings around them, people kept starving.

It wasn't long at all before the food stalls came back to life, hawkers shouting, scavengers poking and prodding under every rock and weed. The only thing different was that where the Posse had earlier dominated the scene, there were now none in sight.

[DireRadiant]

Outside Hotel Hell - Posse Turf, Sophocles, Redmond Barrens
Tuesday 8/19/70 14:43:45
Sledge - Surveyor
PAN - Hidden

She couldn't help herself. Her booted foot connected against the slackening cooling flesh with a thud. Sledge closed her eyes to recover, then opened them and looked at Fortunato again.

"Can you handle things here while I go get some basic supplies for us? Thought I'd get some brews, clean water, some food, maybe a blanket or two, some new flats... or I can stay and deal with these idiots when they come back. They're too stupid to not come back."

[pragma]

Hotel Hell, Exterior -- Posse Turf, Sophocles, Redmond
Tuesday 8/19/70 14:43:55
Fortunato - Support Mage
PAN - Hidden (Contacts, Earbuds, Smartlink)
Astrally Inactive

"I'll hold down the fort. I've got Rocky to back me up and I can call out the astral troops if need be. Just hope I get a chance to crash somewhere in the middle. Make the run quick."

He pulled his coat tighter against the rain.

"I'd offer a hand with the bike, but I'll probably just get in the way. Know if we've got any rope?"

[DireRadiant]

Outside Hotel Hell - Posse Turf, Sophocles, Redmond Barrens
Tuesday 8/19/70 14:44:45
Sledge - Shopper
PAN - Hidden

Sledge pulled some coils of rope and passed them out of the rear of the van to Fortunato.

"Here... and spot that I got the tracking right when I back out down the plank. And when you get back up there, have Angel cycle the codes and have the stupid thing alert us when the security systems gets triggered. Might have saved us some trouble."

[Konsaki]

Hotel Hell – Posse Turf, Redmond Barrens
Tuesday 8/19/70 14:44:48
Angel – Technomancer - Hidden
PAN – Hidden

It was like a beacon in the night, or at least that’s what it seemed to Caittie as she felt the van’s systems come back online. To Rocky, her expression changed from one of sheepishness to that of eager joy as she quickly latched onto the signal and dived into the van. The feeling of the matrix, albeit minute compared to the usual multi-stream she was used to, was a godsend to the team’s hidden technomancer.
She bathed in the van’s node, connecting to as many of her favorite nodes as possible to just feel the connection, not really to check anything from them. She just existed within the tiny link she had for a few seconds before a thought came to mind. ‘I can set this up so I can access this any time and still be secure… I think…’
It only took her a few seconds to call on Wedge and ask him to sit in the node for her. A plan was put into place that if done correctly, would do what she wanted; give her access to the Matrix whenever she needed it and secure from any normal hackers.

Figuring that since the van was up anyways, Caittie also decided to activate the cameras on the vehicle, wondering what Fortunato was up to. Turning on the camera, the sight which beheld her was one she had seen before many times this day… Blood on the ground, blood from a body, blood sprayed on one of her ‘teammates’. “What happened out there?! Are you ok?�, the surprised girl asked over the current team’s network.

[DireRadiant]

Outside Hotel Hell - Posse Turf, Sophocles, Redmond Barrens
Tuesday 8/19/70 14:44:52
Sledge - Shopper
PAN - Hidden

<<@crew:: Posse was acting like a bunch of stupid boys and one of them got too close to the van. Angel can you set the Love Machine to actively alert us in case this happens again?>>

Sledge stared at Fortunato while she transmitted her response. Then shook her head and started pushing her bike out and down when she was done.

[DireRadiant]

Bargain Basement, Redmond Barrens
Tuesday 8/19/70 15:42:05
Sledge - Shopper
PAN - Hidden

The ride over had taken her concentration to not run into a pothole or more troubles. It made it slow to go the distance, but safer. It helped clear her mind a bit. By the time she'd arrived she wasn't she was subject to flashes of nervous shakes anymore.

Rounding up some simple factory sealed water jugs, a couple cases of brews, a box of nutribars, and a couple field blankets hadn't been too difficult, but expensive. Considering the situation, she'd not even bargained, just stuffed it all into the large box she'd picked up first thing.

Now it was time for the real reason she'd come here.

The greasy trodes, out of the jar of dirty disinfectant, went onto her head, and she went through the steps she'd been instructed. The encryption software downloaded into the public dataterm, it would run a bit slow, but well enough, and she rebooted her commlink and then turned it off again.

The first part was simple enough in theory. But as Sledge worked through the factual recording of the past few days events here eyes watered, her mouth grimaced, and fists clenched and unclenched and her face went through various colorations. Immediately after recommending implanting sensor equipment and recording instruments in any follow up operatives, or perhaps some current ones, she keyed this to a different set of codes.

<< For M Eyes Only::

Left out a bit on the Feebs. They know me. Really, truly. What is going on with that? Either you're compromised or I've been tagged by them all along. Either case is bad. Watch your back.

This day is vut, some little slip of a hacker has been dancing out of the way of the pair of trogs, screaming innocence, but this morning she blew away who knows how many people by my simply asking her. The trogs I know how to handle. Knock their head enough they listen. The mouth I can handle, typical management type, which leaves the magic man, he's been steady so far, so that's been good. But it's magic. Snakes give me the creeps.

You say I'm hard, I say you do more evil with your activities, but what I seen today, couple kids are piles of cold meat just because they are too poor and stupid and never learned to care. And there's so many of them. The wasteland out here isn't the streets and buildings about to fall, but all those people out here.

You're not going to get anywhere with that you are trying unless you include them too.>>

Sledge dumped the encrypted file into the timed release matrix drop box.

Time to get back to work.

[DireRadiant]

Hotel Hell - Posse Turf, Sophocles, Redmond Barrens
Tuesday 8/19/70 16:04:17
Sledge - Shopper
PAN - Hidden

Sledge alerted Rocky as she headed up the stairs. The stench was still overpowering. She shut it out, there were worse smells. Once inside she dropped the box and pushed it into the center of the room, then nodded to the troll, "I can watch for a bit, you need to rest more then I do."

[pragma]

Hotel Hell, Third Floor -- Posse Turf, Sophocles, Redmond
Tuesday 8/19/70 16:04:19
Fortunato - Support Mage
PAN - Hidden (Contacts, Earbuds, Smartlink)
Astrally Inactive

After Sledge rolled off into the distance Greg looped the rope over his body and picked his way back to the apartment. After knocking and nodding to Rocky, he set about the business of knotting the rope every foot or so and finding something to secure it to. It was harder than he'd expected. The apartment was a shambles and next to devoid of furniture. He settled on the bar on the door. Leaving a knotted strand of rope dangling across the room and the remaining coil next to the window.

Finished he approached Rocky. "Think you've got the guarding taken care of?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Go ahead and crash."

With that, Fortunato found a spot where he could lean against the wall and start dozing.

[JDragon]

Hotel Hell, Third Floor -- Posse Turf, Sophocles, Redmond
Tuesday 8/19/70 16:04:27
Rocky - physical adept
PAN: Hidden

Rocky was gald to see the Sledge's shoppping trip had been successful. He grabbed a bottle of water once she had set the stuff down on the table.

"I can watch for a bit, you need to rest more then I do."

"Thanks. I'm not as beat up as Cerebrus is but some good sleep and a some down time would help the couple bullet holes I've picked un in the last 24 hours start healing up. Wake me when I'm needed." With that Rocky drank the bottle of water in one long drink and then curled up on the floor out of the way with his face toward the wall.

With in a couple minutes he was asleep, and after the day he had had, it was a silent sleep not bothered by dreams.

[BlackHat]

Somewhere on Campus
Tuesday 8/19/70 16:48:22
Mr. Smith - Johnson
PAN - Hidden

Despite finishing up his last class for the day, Adam knew his night was far from over. His day started at 4am, and he was ready to crash. He was barely able to keep his eyes open during his classes, and now he knew he was going to have to see through the orchestration of a murder before calling it a night - at least, he hoped things were going to be moving along that quickly. He had the nagging suspicion that he was the only one who cared if this mission happened today, or a week from now. His work-comm, which had been on vibrate during class, had been eerily inactive.

As he walked out to his bike, which he had parked in faculty parking, he was glad to see it had not been towed, and there wasn't a ticket on it. He was usually pretty lucky about things like that, and he had some friends among the campus meter-maids.

As he saddled up, he flicked open Johnson's commlink, and dialed Sledge's number to check in on the team....

[DireRadiant]

Hotel Hell, Third Floor -- Posse Turf, Sophocles, Redmond
Tuesday 8/19/70 16:48:23
Sledge - Watchwoman
PAN - Hidden

The ork woman tensed, glanced over at the slender elf girl, then focused on her incoming ARO.

<<@Sugar Lips:: \\ ? >>

Sledge started moving to check the exits.

[BlackHat]

Somewhere on Campus
Tuesday 8/19/70 16:48:24
Mr. Smith - Johnson
PAN - Hidden

<<@Sledge:: "Just saying 'hi'. How's my favorite team?">>
<<@Sledge:: "Is no-news good-news?">>

[DireRadiant]

Hotel Hell, Third Floor -- Posse Turf, Sophocles, Redmond
Tuesday 8/19/70 16:48:30
Sledge - Watchwoman
PAN - Hidden

<< signal lost >>

A quick scan revealing what she already knew, Sledge shrugged and resumed her random circuit to the window to look outside before checking the hallway and stairs once again.

That was the whole point of being in this wasteland, hard to get at. Sledge just hoped it wasn't hard to get out of.

[DireRadiant]

Hotel Hell, Third Floor -- Posse Turf, Sophocles, Redmond
Tuesday 8/19/70 21:47:06
Sledge - Watchwoman
PAN - Hidden

"I don't know what your doing, you'll need to go over the basics with us sometime, but whatever you did, it puts a physical strain on you, you should be recovering enough for me to measure according to the to the medkit diagnostics, but it's obviously not happening. I think."

*knock*

She jumped, tearing off the sticky diagnostic strip off of Fortunato as her hands pulled and she whirled towards the door. After two steps towards her hammer, Sledge finally realized it was just a knock.

... breathe...

Handle in hand she looked inquiringly at Fortunato as she settled in with her back towards the wall as she stood next to the door.