Southern Hospitality, Ya'll come back now ... Options

[2bit]

Sunday, March 2nd, 2070; 18:50 EST; Transit station near the Krispy Kreme

Vick surveys the neighborhood as he steps out onto the sidewalk. He'd been dependent on the tube and bus since his old Americar was stolen. He just couldn't spare the cred for a set of wheels right now, because work hadn't been coming his way. He turned down his last offer because of a bad vibe he got from the Johnson. The job before that was a bust because a rookie on the team got sloppy. The last two months had seen no job prospects at all, and then to cap it off, two weeks ago his '59 Ford gets stolen.

The old decade had closed; the new one opened. . . and Vick's luck hadn't changed a bit.

For some reason, ever since Vick got the call from Mr. No-name a couple hours ago, he had a feeling of deja vu that he couldn't shake. Maybe it was because he'd gotten a haircut. That was SOP for him when going to a meet. He couldn't go to his regular place due to the short notice, and the stylist had used a different kind of aftershave. Maybe that was it.

Armed only with an extendable baton concealed beneath his armored jacket, Vick walked into the Krispy Kreme.

[Thanee]

Sunday, March 2nd, 2070; 18:41 EST; Outside Demarco's, Atlanta, CAS

"Eww. No, thanks."

With Book on his way, Jazz swings back onto the front seat of her bike, ready to go.

"C'mon, we don't want to be too late..."

[Redjack]

Sunday, March 2nd, 2070; 18:41 EST; Outside Demarco's, Atlanta, CAS

Book sticks another nugget in his mouth as he puts the sack in his bag. He mounts up without giving the bike a second look. There are days when you get a choice and days you don't. Today appears to be one of the latter.

[ludomastro]

@ Sundown

The Spirit pops into existence and then speaks in English, "Bless you, Master. How can I be of service?"

@ All

The inside of the Krispe Kreme is well lit and clean. Not just clean for the neighborhood - that would not be a difficult feat - but really clean - high end hotel clean. There are some older men - a human and an ork - playing dominoes in the corner booth sipping some coffee with half eaten doughnuts in front of them. The air smells sweet and a bit sticky. The young dwarf behind the counter looks up and asks, "Can I help you?" with a remarkable smile on his face. Upon hearing the words "back room", he directs you through a side door to the back of the store. The sign above the room reads:

NO Weapons
NO Cursing
JUST Business

An older human, with a bit of white at the temples, sits in the room smoking a cigar. He motions for you to sit down and then resumes smoking.

[Thanee]

Sunday, March 2nd, 2070; 18:57 EST; Krispy Kreme, Atlanta, CAS

"I know that look on your face! Hey, we made it in time, alright? It's not like we had an accident," Jazz says with a wink. Of course, they didn't have an accident, she knew how to ride her bike after all.

As they stand before the Krispy Kreme, two tiny flying drones detach themselves from Jazz's pack and take position across the street, so she can monitor the parking place and what else is going on outside at the front of the building.

Inside, once they are led to the back, she immediately notices the sign and turns to the dwarf.

"Is that no carrying or no using?"

[Redjack]

Sunday, March 2nd, 2070; 18:57 EST; Krispy Kreme, Atlanta, CAS

I've forfeit at least two years off the end of my life. There's no mistaking it. Two solid years...
Book steps off the bike, slowly, deliberately placing each foot on the ground, insuring that the ground itself is solid and not some flightly, intangent piece of fluff. I should make the sign of the cross or kiss the ground or something symbolic of my thanks at having made it to the end of the gauntlet with my life and limb... He says not a word though.

Momentarily ignoring Jazz's comment, Book takes out his poncho and unrolls it. He puts it on and pulls the hood over his head. He summons the mana around his body and begins following Jazz, slowly changing as they approach the Krispe Kreme entrance.

By the time he reaches the door, the shade of his suit is darker and pinstriped, topped with a red power tie. His jacket no longer appearing like a duster, rather an Armani overcoat. His face clean shaven and his features now stronger, sharper jawline. The facial change is not dramitic, but enough that he will not be recognizable. He pulls his hood back and it disappears into the illusion. Jazz has seen this face before. It is a common one for Book. Well memorized and eay to maintain, no sense a Johnson seeing his real face unless need be.

He switches his gaze to that of the astral world around them and summons a watcher from the fabric of space. Patrol around this building. Warn me of spells or spirits entering this building after me.

As she reaches for the door handle, he says in a low voice, "No. No accident.. It just sent me to my next life..". Her snicker telling him she got it, regardless of whether it was genuine or faked for the social reasons. He knew her drones had already informed her of the change anyway.

As she stops to question the dwarf, Book calls forth a second watcher. Follow me and watch over me from astral space. Alert me of danger by whispering to me, but insure I hear you.

[ErrosCallidus]

Sunday- 2 March 2070; 1900 EST; Krispy Kreme, East Point, Atlanta

Nothing, just a fancy car from out of town, must be the employer... boring after all. After a quick glance at the empty RF Scanner, Carron slides on his concealed holster and drops the Predator into it. He steps out of the car and shrugs on his Camo (UCAS Pattern) Jacket. Slips two spare mags into the outside pockets of his jacket. Before he closes the car door he flips a blanket over the gear in the back seat. He locks the door and heads across the street.

Oddest doughnut shop I've seen... he thinks when he sees the interior with his Mk.I Eyeball.

As he gets into the back room he glances around at the 'runners already present appraising them. Damn, wish all my teammates were that good looking. Hope her capabilities match her looks. His gaze slides from the girl in leather over to the two suits in the room; Fraggin' poufs he thinks and dismisses them.

"I'll stand thanks" he says to the gesture to sit and moves into the corner opposite the door and waits, slowly scanning the room.

[2bit]

Sunday- 2 March 2070; 1900 EST; Krispy Kreme, East Point, Atlanta

Vick walks through the Krispy Kreme, snapping pictures of each person he comes in contact with using his cybereyes. Putting on his best poker face, Vick steps into the back room, nods to the seated man, and takes a seat directly across from him.
Four so far. . . looks to be a sizable team, and I don't know anybody yet. Not a good start.

[Cedric Rolfsson]

March 1, 2070 O-Dark-Thirty EST; CavalryArm Condos, Atlanta

Buzz. . . . .Buzz. . . . Buzz. . . . .

Dean lifts his head from his sweat damped pillow and stares with bleary alcohol fogged eyes at his commlink as it continued to vibrate spitefully at him. His head ached and his eyes refused to focus properly after yet another night of drowning out his current existence at the Cube with Digger. Not feeling up to an AR interaction he spoke out loud in a whiskey roughed voice.

"Commlink connect, voaux only." He paused for a second to let the connection hit.

"Ya?"

The voice that answered was that of Digger, only it was modulated and changed enough to suggest he was using some kind of program to prevent anyone from tracing his voice or using stress analysis.

"Get up chummer, I got you some real work!"

Dean sighed, and pulled himself out of bed, if his friend actually had real shadow work for him to do he had to get himself up and moving, he'd better be ready and professional when the time came.

"Okay guy, give me twenty to get moving and I'll comm you back for the info." He closed the connection without waiting for a reply, since if he gave Digger half a chance the fixer would bury him in data before Dean had a chance to wake up.

Time for a shower and some real coffee. Some real strong coffee.

[ludomastro]

Back Room, Krispe Kreme, East Point, Atlanta: Sunday 02-MAR-2070 - 1900

The smoking man looks at Jazz and says, "Normally sweetheart, its no carrying; however, for someone as cute at you, we'll make it no using."

The dwarf from behind the counter brings in a plate of doughnuts and some coffee. He sets them on the table and them looks at the smoking man and asks, "Will there be anything else Mr..."

Before he can finish the man's name, the smoking man smoothly cuts in, "No. That is enough for now. He then turns to those at the table and says, "We will get started here in a bit. There are several more coming and here in the South we don't get as uptight as those damn Yankees up north."

[Trigger]

Krispe Kreme, East Point, Atlanta: Sunday 02-MAR-2070 - 18:30

Belle had arrived almost a half hour early for the meet, first scoping out the area and then taking a seat inside the shop. She ordered a small cup of soykaf and a couple of donuts, eating through them slowly as she pretended to be browsing the matrix, controlling it with her AR gloves while actually scoping the joint and everyone in it out.

As it got closer to the time the others started to show, each of them in turn moving to the back room of the establishment. After watching them all enter the room Belle rose from her own seat and discarded the remnants of her donut into the trashcan and made her own way into the room, taking a seat at the table after nodding to each of the others.

[ErrosCallidus]

Back Room, Krispe Kreme, East Point, Atlanta: Sunday 02-MAR-2070 - 1900

Carron stiffens slightly as the suit mentions "damn yankees."

Easy, not good to piss off the boss before the job begins...

He relaxes, lets the comment pass and resumes watching the others silently.

[Redjack]

Sunday, March 2nd, 2070; 19:00 EST; Krispy Kreme-Back Room, Atlanta, CAS

The watcher on his shoulder as they proceed into the back room of little shop, Book keeps his sight in the astral assensing each of the individuals therein. Once completed with that he pulls even more mana to himself and silently, motionlessly weaves it around himself. No sense being caught unaware today.

He takes a seat next to Jazz and quietly awaits the briefing to begin.

[Cedric Rolfsson]

Sunday March 2, 2070: 19:00:15 - Krispe Kreme - Atlanta
PAN: Passive

A Krispe Kreme shop? Jesus, this place probably attracts more cops than a corpse attracts flies.

Dean made sure that his electronic glasses and respirator were securely in place before proceeding towards the door. He already had his agent program spoofing away at his electronic trail, just in case, and his AR gloves effectively prevented any fingerprints.

He surrepticiously felt at his neck, where a small tooth hung on a pure silver chain, the tooth carved with tiny Futhark runes symbolizing health and magic. On his left hand he wore what looked to be a simple wedding band in white gold but it too glowed with Power to those who could See. He activated his power focus, the ring boosting his own magical abilities enough to make them worthwhile, and then activated the medallion's spell sustaining powers, tracing discrete runes in the air and casting his spell.

[ludomastro]

Back Room, Krispe Kreme, East Point, Atlanta: Sunday 02-MAR-2070 - 1905

The smoking man smiles as everyone takes their final seats. "You all come recommended for your various skills. Some more highly than others. I have a proposition for you. I have an opponent who needs to be removed." He hesitates for a moment and grimaces. He waves his hands as if trying to clean something off them and continues, "No, not wetwork. That is a nasty business that I will not be involved with. I need a political assassination. I can not abide a certain Senatorial candidate. I am offering two thousand per person with half up front. Before we divulge details, I will need to know who is interested."

[Redjack]

Sunday, March 2nd, 2070; 19:05 EST; Krispy Kreme-Back Room, Atlanta, CAS

Eric takes a moment, looking around the room and taking a slow, deep breath. He looks back at Mr Johnson, maintaining good posture and looking eye to eye to play his role. "Senatorial candidate and you are offering two thousand per person?" He pauses for effect then continues, "I dare say that our expenses alone will run that high.... Whew... Perhaps I've just misunderstood the basic premise of what you are asking for. Is this a dirt finding mission or is there a specific time bound assignment?"

[ludomastro]

The smoking man looks at Eric for a moment and then says, "I suppose I had that comming. What I am proposing is a two part assignment. The first is dirt finding as you have said. The other part is indeed time dependent; however, the specifics of that will have to wait. And yes, there is more money for part two. That point will have to be negociated once I know if you are interested or not." He leans back in the chair, folds his hands together and bows his head slightly.

[Thanee]

Sunday, March 2nd, 2070; 19:07 EST; Krispy Kreme (Back Room), Atlanta, CAS

"Everyone in this room is interested, that's the reason we are sitting here after all," Jazz explains. "I at least havn't heard anything yet, that would negate that. Two kay doesn't get you very far, but you know that already. I'm sure we will be able to come to a mutual agreement, though."

[Redjack]

Sunday, March 2nd, 2070; 19:08 EST; Krispy Kreme-Back Room, Atlanta, CAS

Nodding to Jazz, Eric adds another bit, "I agree. My presence is indicative of interest, but I have great concern about our ability to complete task one, getting the dirt, in a suitable timeframe to you." Wth a small, momentary smile, "Getting dirt is a specialty of mine," Returning to a poker face, "but people tend to spend lots of money to keep their dirt secret and it usually takes more money than they spent to hide it to uncover that dirt..." another pause for effect, "and a senatorial candidate has a lot of money to spend hiding their dust as well as a lot of deadly people invested to keep that dirt hidden.... That equates to exponential risk..." Moving his left hand to his chin to rub it as if he has just had an epiphany, "and the value of the derailment of one's opposition in these things in the savings of advertising alone must be high six figures...." Lowering his hand and looking back to the Johnson, "This seems prime runner class work and the initial offer is street runner pay... unless I again misunderstand the role you are seeking us to play?"

[2bit]

Sunday, March 2nd, 2070; 19:08 EST; Krispy Kreme-Back Room, Atlanta, CAS

Vick twitches when Mr. Johnson explains the run.
Well that explains the deja vu. . .

Gesturing to Eric with a nod of the head, Vick enters the conversation, saying, "The man's right; two will get you an in-and-out grab-slash-planting of previously identified or provided material. You want us to dig up his skeletons for you, that'll cost you extra. You want us to be quiet about it, well that's extra too. If you need dirt fabricated, that's also extra. And if you want him coerced into a 'dirty' situation, well, that's an extra zero. So, if you could be a bit more specific, we'd appreciate it."

[Shadow]

Sounds like it is within my abilities. Sundown munches another bight ouf the soft creamy donut. The greatness that is Krispe Kreme fills his mouth with a little bit of heaven.

[ludomastro]

The smoking man's head snaps back and he lets out a laugh that sounds as if he were completely unhinged. "Damn, boys that was intertaining ... and ladies." He puts out his cigar, stands up, closes the door and returns to his seat. "I was hoping that the fixers that I contacted hadn't sent me a bunch of street thugs and I see that they haven't. Alright, let's get back to business. I would like any and all dirt dug up in the next ten days. Also I want to plant some evidence of his ... involvement, with the Azzies that can come to light later. I'm paying two grand each for the run to plant evidence with a bonus if everything is completely quiet. The dirt digging pays ten with half up front. Certain expenses will be payed by anonymous donors via credstick, provided, of course, that you keep me in the loop. Any questions?"

[Thanee]

Sunday, March 2nd, 2070; 19:10 EST; Krispy Kreme (Back Room), Atlanta, CAS

"Now we are getting somewhere," Jazz then says. "Do you have all the data you already have collected about the candidate available? Saves time, if we do not have to put everything together again."

[Redjack]

Sunday, March 2nd, 2070; 19:11 EST; Krispy Kreme-Back Room, Atlanta, CAS

Book nods in agreement and relaxes his face to signal an end to negotiations and moving on to business, "Any information on his movements over the next ten days, family, friends, rumors that could be substanciated... any and all would greatly increase our chances of success..". He smiles a little as he ends and adds a little lift in his voice, "and success for us is success for you."

As an afterthought he adds, "An of course we need your preferred method of communication.." Looking at the man, Book takes this moment to study his aura to enable him to send a watcher on a messenger task in the future...

[Cedric Rolfsson]

Sunday March 2, 2070 19:11 EST Krispy Kreme - Back Room - Atlanta

Dean sat quiet while the others spoke, having slipped in and found a seat at the back of the room as unobtrussively as possible.

The run seemed pretty reasonable, just planting the evidence and digging dirt, now that the price was getting closer to right. He was worried about having cattle call of runners show up and do the job but everyone seemed competent enough.

"With those numbers, I'm interested."

He actually liked the idea of playing politics, even if they weren't able to earn that bonus, there was likely to be all sorts of important people rubbing shoulders with a senatorial politico and most would be willing and able to make a reasonable blackmail payment. Besides, most of them deserved all the drek that could be heaped upon them.