Land of Nine Dragons, Enter the Tiger, Mystery of the East Options

[De Badd Ass]

02:20 Tuesday, 11 February 2070 - Hallway, The Peninsula, Salisbury Road, Kowloon, Hong Kong
Fooey - Hidden
Vector Xim: Passive

Don't attract attention!

Fooey had gone down the steps at dwarf speed, before realizing that people don't run in places like The Peninsula Hotel. He paused and took a few calming breaths; then left the stairwell and walked calmly and purposefully to the elevators. He then pushed the down button.

[Guest_MK Ultra_*]

02:19:07 Tuesday 11 February 2070 - Deluxe Harbor View Suite, The Peninsula, Salisbury Road, Kowloon, Hong Kong

They quickly scan the bed-, dressing- and bathroom for any dangers, before the old man begins to search them a bit more throughly, to make sure there are no monsters in the closets or under the bed. When Mike moves on into the bedroom, he receives a quick handsign that everything is clear and a gesture to indicate something interesting on the bed. Then he walks back into the livingroom, to see if anyone is treating his nephew.

"Mr. Root is done here? If nobody else can help Jhonny Wang, I´m going to give him a trauma-patch now."

After waiting for a moment, he moves to patch the shot man, unless anyone objects.

"So, I understand that we go with Ms. Willow´s advice, which means most of us ony meat once before, when Mr. Wang invited us to a dinner. I am Jhonny Wang´s uncle. We can tell them that Mr. Chan panicked and ran away."

[TheRedRightHand]

Mike finishes his search of the suite back where he started, by the body.

"Damn, what's taking the ambulance so long?" He mutters as the old man apples the trauma patch to Wang. He knows it can't do much good with this type of injury, but it couldn't hurt.

"He still has a chance if they get here soon." He'd liked this Johnson, which, while not a first, was still a rareity in this business.

He goes over to the table with the "gifts" on it, and glances them over. If they are easy to open he'll take a quick look inside each of them to make sure nothing was stolen during the attack and, if something is different or unusual about them, it is better to find out now, rather then later when the cops arrive.

After he is done inspecting them he will retun them to the exact same place and formation that he found them in.

He turns back and looks over the rest of the team standing there.

"So, any of you know anything about Wang here?" He motions to the body, "Any know who would want him dead? 'Cause they didn't steal our loot, which rules out a robbery. Also, he seemed pretty well off at our first meeting. A guy like this you'd figgure he'd have his own security with him. Especially if he had enimies."

[amra28]

02:25:07 Tuesday 11 February 2070 - Deluxe Harbor View Suite, The Peninsula, Salisbury Road, Kowloon, Hong Kong

Wu Xian takes his time moving from room to room, checking any obvious hiding places for any surprises. After finding nothing or no one hiding in the suite he takes the silencer off of his gun and puts them both away.

Now what do I do, he wonders. Knowing that he has no skills in investigating a crime scene he shrugs to himself and heads back to the main room to join the others.

[toturi]

02:26 Tuesday 11 February 2070 - Deluxe Harbor View Suite, The Peninsula, Salisbury Road, Kowloon, Hong Kong

"Although it might be more believable if we were close friends and family of Johnny's, I agree we should just keep it simple. Since revered elder has taken the place of Johnny's uncle, I do not think someone else should be a family member unless quite far removed. I shall be just a friend of his."

Cloud examines the area around the suite and the connecting corridors for any clues that be available.

[DireRadiant]

02:21:01 Tuesday 11 February 2070 - Elevator, The Peninsula, Salisbury Road, Kowloon, Hong Kong

With an inaudible hiss and a change in air pressure the elevator doors slide open. A wave of tigers move to step out through the doors, but pause and bump against each other.

in english "Hey, this is the wrong floor!"

There are some giggles and purrs as the multicolored tigers push themselves back in the elevator to admit the new passenger. Most of the tigers are walking upright, and the wandering bit of revealed human flesh and clothes intermixed with real fur along with morphing real and AR images clearly indicate these aren't real tigers. Even if there seems to be a scent of real animal musk.

in english "C'mon, get in, is okay, you're too little to eat!"

A feline paw waves at Fooey to get in.

[DireRadiant]

02:32:01 Tuesday 11 February 2070 - Deluxe Harbor View Suite, The Peninsula, Salisbury Road, Kowloon, Hong Kong

The harbor view abruptly faded out as the large window tinted itself opaque, though in a the brief moment before everything was obscured there was a hint of glaring orange light washing out the spectacular view across Victoria harbor. The rooms interior lit up in contrast, the area in front of the window in the living room and in a cone to Wang's body lit itself up in a warning yellow pulse. Several standard warning icons appeared indicating the unsafe zone. In the meantime the front door had opened and a Peninsular uniformed short caucasian woman with neck length cropped blond hair and brilliant green eyes rolled in a covered serving cart immediately after she declared "Room service!" in clipped native cantonese tones.

Setting the rolling cart to the side as she stepped in, she checked that everyone was out of the indicated warning zone before speaking clearly to the empty air, "Clear. On my authority, entry granted."

A small flash and a pop and the window fell out in a swirl of cool humid air, the scents of ozone and salt air slipping into the room along with the loud wash of high powered rotors. As the window pane flew up into the darkness on a swirl of smoke, the hovering gyrocopter completed it's maneuver, slinging a coffin sized capsule and a young man in crisp shiny white scrubs into the room on the end of about 8 meters of cable. The man wrestled the coffin unit over to Wang and simply dropped it over him. An instant later the lines went taut, and the man and glistening black coffin were dragged out and up.

With heavy winds and noise fading away, the uniformed woman moved to the window and ran a glue stick along the bottom and sides that she could reach, as she finished the window floated down and in place, the opaque tint slowly fading away.

The woman turned back as the glass panel eased into place, and looking over everyone with her piercing green eyes, spoke, "Hilary Green. The Peninsular Group wishes to know how they can be of service to our guests." The cool polite tone is at odds with the strong gaze she uses to sweep the room.

[De Badd Ass]

[Mister Juan]

02:32:01 Tuesday 11 February 2070 - Deluxe Harbor View Suite, The Peninsula, Salisbury Road, Kowloon, Hong Kong
Gabe - TechWiz
PAN - Hidden

Still leaning against the wall, in the same exact spot, the hacker simply gave a shrug to Mike as he spoke.

“Everything I could yap about would be wind. I know next to nothing about Johnny-boy… and this place starting to creep me.”

Crossing both arms in a relaxed manner, Gabe was in fact trying to hide that he was shivering. Next to him, a large rounded AR window kept him updated on the decryption routines he was running… all of which were going rather well. Not even a minute after he had adjusted the software’s parameters, it had cracked both encryptions. There wasn’t much he could make out, at least not yet… He’d have to take his due time with the files and scan them thoroughly.

Falling back in silence, Gabe decided it was better to let the “grown ups” run the show for now. There wasn’t much he could say or do at this moment. In a few minutes, security would probably be here, and he could leave this place for good. One set of problems would be over… but a whole new bunch would definitely spring up.

When Hilary Green made her entrance, and once Johnny was “taken away”, Gabe only gave her a quick glance. He had decided to play the “traumatized part”… which wasn’t too hard considering he slightly was. If he kept his usually smart ass mouth shut, everything would go well. Hopefully so…

[BlackHat]

02:32:01 Tuesday 11 February 2070 - Deluxe Harbor View Suite, The Peninsula, Salisbury Road, Kowloon, Hong Kong

Blaze, too, kept his mouth shut, and his eyes on the woman. She was being polite, so she was still alive, but he was ready to fry her and her friends if she started to get hostile. Meanwhile, the seconds ticked by while he waited for one of his teammates to speak up.

[Vegas]

02:32:00 Tuesday 11 February 2070 - Deluxe Harbor View Suite, The Peninsula, Salisbury Road, Kowloon, Hong Kong
Willow - Thief
PAN – Passive

Willow had returned to the room, to the scene of Wang’s death like a good grieving friend or acquaintance would. She had managed to get a good but hardly thorough look around the suite before listening in on the simple plan for keeping their stories straight.

When the window shifted and the hotel’s employee walked in her demeanor changed. She was still playing a role, though she was becoming more business-like every second trying to figure out what avenues she could use to buy the team some leeway or an out if necessary. As Wang’s body was summarily removed in a most dramatic matter for those immediately in the room, the impact it had on the rest of the hotel’s guests was probably minimal at best. Willow just watched with wide eyes as the coffin was pulled out the window and the window quickly replaced. She hoped her amazement wasn’t shown across her face and her mouth wasn’t hanging open.

Nice trick, I’ll have to remember that one…

As the woman introduced herself, she took the time to study her features and only slightly relaxed when Miss Green referred to the team as their guests, for now that was a somewhat positive sign even though her body language didn’t match her tone. They had to tread carefully here, the slightest misstep and there would be hell to pay.

[toturi]

02:33 Tuesday 11 February 2070 - Deluxe Harbor View Suite, The Peninsula, Salisbury Road, Kowloon, Hong Kong

"Ms Green, I am Mr Chao. As you can see, some of my fellow guests are quite distraught and I appreciate your concern for our welfare. As you may know, it is inauspicious to carry over debts over the New Year, I think Johnny may have invited us to clear any favors he felt he owed us, however small they may have been." He waves his hand at the line of gifts.

"Seeing his condition however, I hope the management will not think less of us for trying to lighten Johnny's karmic burden. Perhaps the lord Buddha will look upon his little repayment to each of us with favor. Should the management request the presence of any of us when the ceremony to ease Johnny's spirit is conducted, we would be honored to be present. Here are my contact details." He keys his commlink to send her his address, which he did not doubt she already had.

[amra28]

02:33:00 Tuesday 11 February 2070 - Deluxe Harbor View Suite, The Peninsula, Salisbury Road, Kowloon, Hong Kong


Wu Xian is trying to remain calm while standing in one corner of the room. The wait for security to show up was starting to wear on his nerves. Finally though the wait ends and the game begins.

When the hotel employee comes in, Wu Xian doesn't pay as close attention to her as he should have. The process to remove the body though really grabs his attention and leaves him feeling quite impressed.

The the game really begins as the hotel employee identifies herself and one of the team starts to explain their presence. Wu Xian listens but keeps his mouth shut knowing how bad he is at smoothing things over. Mentally though he gives a nod of congratulations to Cloud when he works into the conversation a very valid excuse for the group taking the boxes.

[DireRadiant]

02:33:00 Tuesday 11 February 2070 - Deluxe Harbor View Suite, The Peninsula, Salisbury Road, Kowloon, Hong Kong

The woman dressed in the elegant cheong sam dress with glittering smart embroidery patterns looked at the table covered with red boxes decorated in the traditional red lai si colors with gold decorations, then looked back at the speaker, answering in a strong quiet voice.

"Chao san, thirty taels of shanghai gold each is a sign of strong favor and fortune. It is the strength of these ties and obligations that keep a family strong and prosperous in times of crisis."

Sweeping her gaze across the group, then looking at Mr. Chao, "Do you wish us to summon the authorities to handle this matter?"

[toturi]

02:34:00 Tuesday 11 February 2070 - Deluxe Harbor View Suite, The Peninsula, Salisbury Road, Kowloon, Hong Kong

"Ms Green, I have the utmost faith in your capabilities to handle the situation." Cloud continues in Mandarin,"Speaking for myself, I'd have no problems if things are handled in-house." The literal translation for in-house may also be takened to mean "within the family".

"Afterall, Ms Green, hao si bu chu men, huai si chuan qian li." (Good news does not spread, but bad news travels quickly.)

[DireRadiant]

02:34:15 Tuesday 11 February 2070 - Deluxe Harbor View Suite, The Peninsula, Salisbury Road, Kowloon, Hong Kong

Bending at her hips in a short bow in answer, Hilary Green straightens, continuing in cantonese, "Very well, the Peninsular Group acknowledges your wishes."

After a significant pause, and raising her hand to attract everyone's attention, "Is the Peninsular Group entrusting resolution of this matter to those favored of Wang san?"

[De Badd Ass]

02:30 Tuesday, 11 February 2070 - Outside The Peninsula Hotel, Salisbury Road, Kowloon, Hong Kong
Fooey - Hidden
Vector Xim - Passive

Fooey uses the passcode supplied by the late Johnny Wang to gain user access to the Peninsula Hotel's comm system. He then hacks the system to obtain admin access to Johnny's suite. He can now see and hear the others via the suite's sensors. He spots Gabe leaning up against the wall, and connects to Gabe's commlink.

"Gabe, Jimmy Chan here. I'm outside in front of the hotel. The cops haven't arrived yet. I'll let you know as soon as I see them.

"I couldn't stay in that room. For one thing, I don't need another encounter with Hong Kongs finest. The last one didn't turn out so well. Your encounter with them will be a lot smoother if you keep my name out of it. Another thing, I didn't want to hack the hotel from inside that room. If security became wise, there would be no place to hide. Oh yeah, one more thing, there's a dead body in there! What a way to start the New Year. It's less than three hours old."

02:32 Tuesday, 11 February 2070

"A medivac chopper is approaching the hotel. No sign of the cops yet. I have a sneaking suspicion that the cops weren't called. According to the hotel's switchboard, Johnny Wang is not registered at the Peninsula, and that particular suite is vacant. I imagine the hotel wouldn't want to explain how that happened."

[Guest_MK Ultra_*]

02:32:01 Tuesday 11 February 2070 - Deluxe Harbor View Suite, The Peninsula, Salisbury Road, Kowloon, Hong Kong

A red and a blue eye dart to the large window in shock, as it turns opaque. An instant later, a loud 'phump' echoes through the living room and a rain of diamonds falls onto the rich carpet, as the glass disintegrates into a myriade of small splinters. The boy feels the urge to run or hide, but his muskles won´t move. two or three small cans fly in from outside and explode with a loud boom and a blinding flash, filling the room with choking smoke that stings in the eyes. In terror he watches, as kevlar-clad, camouflage-suited SWAT-troopers swing in from the roof, their faces obscured by gas-masks and helmets. Yelling commands, the men wave around with big guns, while the door is rammed in and spills more men into the apartment. The mechanic rattling of automatic fire drowns out any other sound, as the woman at his side jumps up to ward him from the intruders, only to fall to the ground seconds later, her blood spraying the boy´s face.

The old man clanches his jaws, brushing the unpleasent memorys aside. Stepping away from the light surrounding Jhonny Wang, he concentrates on the hotel-employee entering the suite under a barely audiable, high-pitched staccato of pings. He eyes the serving cart suspiciously for a moment and his comlink confirms his impression.
When Jhnny is carried away, he sends an almost voiceless prayer after him. Then he takes a deep breath, down to the bottom of his belly and braces himself to speak up, shall the need arise, as Hilary Green introduces herself. He is pleased however with Cloud handling the conversation.

[De Badd Ass]

02:34:15 Tuesday, 11 February 2070 - Outside The Peninsula Hotel, Salisbury Road, Kowloon, Hong Kong
Fooey - Hidden
Vector Xim - Passive

"That's what I call a cute trick. She just offered to let us solve and resolve, while the hotel does nothing and pays nothing. If we succeed the hotel gains face. If we fail, their only mistake was trusting us to handle it. How can the 'favored of Wang san' refuse an offer like that? She played us like a Weiqi master.

"Mr. Chao's mistake was asking her if we could take the gold, as if it were hers to give. She countered by asking him if we wanted her to call the cops. Mr. Chao asked her to handle it in-house. She handled it by agreeing to let us take the gold, and dropping the whole matter in our laps. She's good!

"Did you notice that pause before she made the offer? I wonder how many advisors she has in her ear? I wonder if Mr. Chao knows Go? I think it's time we evened up the sides. We shouldn't leave him to handle these negotiations alone. Our reputations are riding on this. Lives, too.

"Gabe, see if you can attract Mr. Chao's attention. Ask Ms. Green for a moment. Set up a conference call."

[Mister Juan]

02:30 Tuesday, 11 February 2070 - Outside The Peninsula Hotel, Salisbury Road, Kowloon, Hong Kong

Just when Gabriel was about to start running his decryptions ware on the data he had extracted, a disc shaped window materialized itself not too far away from him. With a simple mental command, the window was brought in front of his eyes and maximized, overlaying an AR representation of Jimmy’s icon.

“Ts’all chill chummer” transmited back Gabriel, his thoughts transduced into coherent words.


“I don’t dig it either… but there was just too many feathers to ruffle tonight for me to grab loot and make myself scarce. You did what you had to do; I don’t judge you, and I’d back you if need be. So, null presp.

02:32:01 Tuesday, 11 February 2070

“Got it. Call hasn’t be rung, if I’m still on the ball about the deal.”

02:34:18 Tuesday, 11 February 2070 - Outside The Peninsula Hotel, Salisbury Road, Kowloon, Hong Kong

“Hun? Sorry chummer, I ain’t really paying the attention I should be. I pulled a fat load of bytes off Johnny boy’s head link… sifting through it now for anything worth my time. I soon as I can crack the encryption, I’ll copy the batch for you.”

Running a quick hand through his blue hair, Gabe pushed his shoulders off the wall and walked over to where Green and Chao were standing, still talking.

He gave Green a sweet yet somehow shy smile, avoiding her eyes at the last second.

“Pardon my intrusion in your conversation Ms. Green, but could I simply have a quick word with my friend?”

His small hand went to Chao’s shoulder, very gently pulling him away from the woman.

[toturi]

02:35 Tuesday, 11 February 2070 - Outside The Peninsula Hotel, Salisbury Road, Kowloon, Hong Kong

"Yes, my friend?"Cloud turns towards Gabe, nodding to Ms Green, he says,"If you'd please excuse me..."

Cloud keeps his face as impassive and as inscrutable as he can.

Why did Gabe have to interrupt the conversation? He could have just called me on my commlink silently. Goddamnit! He's a hacker, he should know better. *sigh* I mustn't blame him. Afterall, he is just a gwai lo! But that uncouth lout of a mainlander...*sigh*

[Mister Juan]

02:35 Tuesday, 11 February 2070 - Outside The Peninsula Hotel, Salisbury Road, Kowloon, Hong Kong

As he pulled Cloud away from Ms. Green, Gabriel started to speak in a manner none of the parties present had ever heard him speak. Actually, he spoke in a way some of them probably had never heard. His words came out fast, in a slightly slurred and unarticulated way. Here and there, some words sounded French, others English.

Inside, Gabe couldn’t help himself but chuckle. No liguasoft was about to decipher Québec street slang.

What he spoke about probably made no sense at all to Cloud, but the message that his commlink was routing to his senses made it a little clearer.

“Faque mon gars, jvoudrais pas faire poirotter” I’m routing a call from Jimmy “tout ce beau pti monde la icitte” click on Jimmy, conference is online “mais ya comme d’autres s’affaire que faudrait que je fasse. Faque tsé, si on pourrait juste embrayer un peu, ca serait pas mal lfun.”

Giving a slight pat in the back to Cloud, he winked at him, and gave him an ice melting smirk.

[toturi]

02:35 Tuesday, 11 February 2070 - Outside The Peninsula Hotel, Salisbury Road, Kowloon, Hong Kong

Don't smirk, they've got cameras watching. Is the line secure? Cloud quickly types the message into his commlink and keying into the online conference. What is it you want, tongzi(comrade)? Cloud demands.

[De Badd Ass]

02:35:10 Tuesday, 11 February 2070 - Outside The Peninsula Hotel, Salisbury Road, Kowloon, Hong Kong
Fooey - Hidden
Vector Xim - Passive

"Me, personally, Mr. Chao? heh heh...

"I think now is a good time to get everybody's opinion before agreeing to anything. I'm in on whatever you decide, and I prefer no wetwork, and no dealing with the cops. I'm just one vote."

[Konsaki]

02:35 Tuesday, 11 Febuary 2070 - Deluxe Harbor View Suite, The Peninsula, Salisbury Road, Kowloon, Hong Kong
Neko - Support Shaman
PAN - Passive

Neko watched as the ongoing conversation, which she was having a hard time keeping up with, was broken by Gabe's actions. The whole situation was confusing and she was having a hard time keeping her senses about her since Ms Green entered the room. The woman herself was one of the reasons, or more precicely what Hikaru saw about her. It was by pure accident really.
Since she was in the front bath by the main entrance, she heard and saw the door open and the maid enter the room. By the time the changeling had made it into the main room where the body of Johnny Wang lay, the window had blown open. During the explosion and subsiquent burst of air from the chopper blades, dust kicked up into the girl's eyes, practicly blinding her to the physical realm. as the pain and tears caused her to clench her eyes shut and start rubbing them to try and get the dust out, she automaticly switched her vision into the astral.
Now, the young shaman was never really great at reading auras, to her mother's lament, but she knew enough to tell that Ms Green was awakened and that there was a spirit in the room with them. She watched as the spirit helped the awakened maid hold up and set the fallen window pane. By the time that Cloud started talking with Ms Green, Hikaru had finished getting the dust out of her eyes and shifted her sight back onto the physical plane.

The whole conversation was a complex dance which confused the girl some, mainly due to the lack of knowing the language and customs very well. She decided that it would probably be best for her and everyone else if she stayed quiet until there was something for sure that she could help with. It sure didn’t raise her confidence when Gabe interrupted and the conversation and started talking in a language that Neko couldn’t even make out one word.