IC: Bleeding Edge Options

[last_of_the_grea...]

Mickey looks at Nick with his half vacant eyes and responds in a near monotone. "Because the last time I got drunk noone was able to watch over Prometheus."

As the game ends, he nods when Nick says it's time and stands, following them with the big guy. Once out the door, the predator is in his hands. He wastes no time at all with such niceties as picking a specific point. He goes for center mass, firing 2 quick rounds into the back of Jones' companion. There's 2 more bullets gone. He'd better get his hands on some more real soon!

[Large Mike]

Jones and her buddy Timone had just been walking home after a game of brawl. I mean, sure they were drunk, and Jones did have a bit of reputation, but Timone never thought it was something someone would kack her over. Jones never thought so either. But one second, they're talking about saving up to go buy tickets to Screamers vs. Tombstones in a month, and then, well, it came down to screaming and tombstones.

Timone noticed that a fine red mist had formed in front of Jones' face for a split-second before burning pain seared itself into his back. In instants, he was cold, and found it hard to breath. He could only let out ragged sobs in his attempts to scream, the pavement cold against the side of his face, curled up in the fetal position. He fought to inhale and exhale, and he suddenly realized that he should've gone to church, like his Grandmother had alwayse told him to do. While he was at it, he hoped that whoever ended his friends life had no reason to end his.

[last_of_the_grea...]

Mickey watched Jones' pal hit the ground...he saw Jones' head was all but gone! Nick must have been packing explosive ammo! Damn! He heard Timone gasping...still alive! Damn. He was losing his touch. Maybe he should have had that drink after all. He got ready to finish him, then thought again. He's allready gone through a lot of bullets lately. Jones was done and that was what they were there for. No real need to waste another round on an incedental. All in all, a fine pre-emptive strike on Renraku..!

"Time to go," he said to Nick while he put his gun away. He walked away...seeming not too worried. Running would draw too much attention...and might make Nick look worse. That wouldn't be fair.

[Large Mike]

Widow, having since gone home to leave Nick and Mikey to their work, saunters up to Ghost. Her pistols are on her hips, and the tattoos on her arms are full displayed, as usual.

"So, boss. I got a nephew found himself in a spot o' trouble. He fights, back rooms and stuff, to earn his living. Seems he awakened in the middle of a fight. Everyone seems to think he was masking the whole time and he's a cheater. So, he grabbed a friend and they hi-tailed from Pallyup and looked me up. I figure the both of them are more than men enough to join up, if you'll have 'em."

She shuffles her feet a bit.

"They're waiting outside."

[Digital Heroin]

He gets this big toothy grin on his face, and looks to Kake.

`Lean on 'em, eh. Offer protection. I get ya. We'll need to wait 'til morning, when they's open, I'm fer it tho.`

He'd be able to crack a few skulls then, always liked that.

[Fresno Bob]

Nick smiles with a sense of satisfaction as he sees Jones's head explode, then the other one go down from two shots in the back, then writhe on the pavement in pain.

"Man, she went down like JFK.", Nick remarks. He lingers a bit as Mickey walks away, then rolls the headless corpse of Jones into the gutter with his foot. Crouching down, he places his hand on the living one's back.

"Consider yourself lucky. You'll live.", he says, showing rare emotion. Then he walks into Ming's, and says,

"Hey Ming, theres a guy bleeding outside. Maybe you should call the DocWagon, or something." After that, he heads off after Mickey.

[last_of_the_grea...]

He lets Nick catch up, then takes a roundabout route back to the Bleeding Edge's doss. "Well, Nick, that's one down, three to go. Next up is Teng. We're up 10 hookers today. Not a bad day's work, hmmm? Let's go back to HQ and check in, let Ghost know what's going on. Also, I'd like to see if that cyberarm we salvaged might fit Yellow...that one armed amerind we recruited." He's chomping at the bit to spray his victory sign! The world needs to know when Renraku is stopped for another day. Hanging around would have been too risky though. He'd have to go back tomorrow and mark the spot. With a little luck, he could do it right over a tape outline of Jones!

After about an hour, they're back at HQ. "Ghost, I've returned. Ladies, Jones is no longer an issue for you."

He sits down on the couch, covering the mouthpice with his hand over his mouth...so the noise of the room would not ruin the sound. He gives a call to Dr. Karl Mallus...his street doc contact.

"Hey, doc, it's me, Mickey. Got a question for ya and maybe some biz...a few "friends" of mine that might need regular checkups. Anyway, here's the question. A guy named Teng...classic pimp, but with a twist. He's got chrome and lots of it. I was wondering if you or anyone you know might know just what he's got and what I may be dealing with? Any info you can gimme would be good!"

[Large Mike]

"Yeah, I could probably look at 'em every once in a while. Not free, mind. You're a friend, but I gots ta eat."

"Hmm... Teng... yeah, I remeber him a couple years back. He doesn't actually live around here. He just does all his business here. When he went under my knife, he didn't actually have much real chrome. At that point, everything was just for show. I gave him dermal implants to make his hand look chrome, and pretty to boot. I guess he wasn't pleased, though, cause he never came back to me after that."

Bruised, who'd kept track of which girls were where, went to go tell them the news. All the girls are out working at the moment. There are two guys standing around in the front room. One is a well-muscled, tattooed kid. He stands about 6'3", and looks a little sheepish. The other is an ork, about 5'8", dressed in red and black mostly. His pants and jacket are canvas, kinda like firefighters wear. He's covered in scorch-marks and smells a bit like sulphur.

[last_of_the_grea...]

"Well, of course not for free. That's why I said biz. Anyway, if you can discreetly put out the word, I'd be interested in knowing what he's got. Get back to me, allright?"

He put his phone away and took a look at the 2 guys in the place that he didn't know. "Good evening gentlemen. I do not believe we have met."

[Large Mike]

The tattooed one looks up from his worn shoes to Mikey's face. His eyes are an icy blue-green. "Hi, I'm Bishop. Umm... I'm Widows nephew. She said you guys might have some room for me and my friend Diablo here. She's just inside talking to.... umm.... Ghost?"

[last_of_the_grea...]

"Bishop. Widow's nephew." His response is almost an echo as his vacant eyes stare through the boy. He turns to the ork and says, "And you?" His trigger finger twitches...noone told him new arrivals were coming! Darned inconsiderate of them all!

[Large Mike]

The ork looks up at Mickey. "Umm... I'm James. Everybody calls me Diablo, though, cause of the fire. Um... we could leave, if this is a problem."

Bishop elbows his friend in the ribs and gives him a dirty look. "Widow said it'd be cool for us to be here. She's talking to the big man right now."

[Fresno Bob]

Nick nods at the two new guys, but doesn't talk to them. After that, he goes and checks out the bike he stole, and Techie's bike, and his own bike, the Dream Shredder, performing minor repairs and checkups on the three of them.

"I suppose Painkiller will want his brother's bike...", Nick muses, as he wipes some dust off the bike and tightens a few bolts. Then he puts his tools away, wipes the grease off his hands, and goes downstairs to his bunk. He pulls his Warhawk out, and removes the spent shell, then replaces it with a new bullet. He puts the heavy revolver back in the beaten Ares duffel bag under his bed, and puts the bullets in his belt back in the wooden box labeled ".44 magnum shells".

"I hope my PO doesn't ask if I've shot anyone lately...man that would suck.", Nick thinks out loud. Then, suddenly remembering, he pulls the Cyberdeck he found out of the bag, and runs upstairs.

"Here Mickey. I liberated this for you. See what you can do about my police record, would you? Ah, you guys are new recruits, no? Good luck with that.", then runs back downstairs, stripping of his jacket and shirt in the process. Once downstairs, he plugs his guitar in and slings it across his shoulder, turns up his amp, and begins to play.

[Tanka]

Kake woke up, yawning in his truck, as per usual. This time he was a little more sore, but that's probably just from the fighting and overall chaos of last night. He sits up and begins putting his stuff on. Armor first, a few loose things like clips along his belt. He attempted once more to attach the Gas Vent IV and Shock Pads to the SMG, followed by the Silencer on his PredIII. He glanced at the other two PredIIIs sitting next to his bed, already emptied of ammo and anything of some value. Maybe he could sell them... Trade them for something from an Edger... Something besides let them sit.

Kake stood up and opened the side door, hopped out, shut the door, and walked towards the main Edger building. He went straight for Blitz's room and knocked.

"'Ey, omae, let's go! We gots some work ta do!"

[last_of_the_grea...]

Mickey looks at the precious deck with bulging eyes! He takes it and looks it over The old fuchi design, relabelled by Novatech. "Well, I'll just wait here untill Widow or Ghost comes out and keep an eye on you two." Oh, he wanted to go check the thing out, see what programs it had! He wasn't the best at computers, but he was probably the best of this motley crew! He sits down and looks vacantly at the two recruits, his unnerving gaze never wavering.

[Digital Heroin]

Blitz wasn't in the room, one of the new guys was, but the guy had been told where to find him, well sort of.

`Big freakin' troll right? Said he'd be in the room with the troll bed over at the old Loser place. Whatever that means.`

When Kake heads over, he'll eventually find Blitz passed out on top of a king sized bed, in just a pair of boxers with little hearts on them. He grumbles when the sound of a voice rouses him.

`One more minute mom, I just about got zat daisy eater...`

He grunts and blinks, rolling to his feet.

`Mornin' already? Less go then.`

He grabs up yesterday's clothes and starts to dress, tucking the Deputy into his belt, and hanging the chain.

`Where we hittin' anyway?`

[Tanka]

"Well, how 'bout dat A-1 Con-veen-yance? Mebbe dey'll give us summin' fer free outta respect..."

Kake turned and began walking outside, and then towards the convenient store, barely waiting for Blitz to follow.

[JongWK]

As Blitz and Kake are leaving the HQ, Painkiller joins them.

"Seems Ghost will be busy with the new recruits, at least for the moment."

Pain puts a mean looking Shock Glove in his hand.

"Do you think they'll get the message..." -says while checking his Predator II is loaded- ...or will we need to speak louder?"

[Tanka]

"Ghost wants us ta be proper. If dey's got a problem, let 'em talk ta Ghost, so ka?"

[JongWK]

"No problemo, smooth's OK. Let's do it fast then. The more people know we're in charge of this turf, the better."

[Shadow]

[Fresno Bob]

Nick pauses playing for a bit, while Ghost addresses him from upstairs. He looks up the stairs.

"Mickey and I are in charge of the hookers? Cool. Man, and my ex-girlfriend said I'd never amount to anything...", he says with a smile. Then he wipes some sweat off his forehead, turns his amp up even more, and begins playing his guitar faster and harder.

[last_of_the_grea...]

Mickey nods at the official proclamation of duty, taking it as his due. "Well, now all I need is some more bullets. By the way, Ghost, how much will Nick and my take be from the proceeds os the prostitutes? Assuming say...each prostitute likely making about $300.00 on an average night...basing that on $50-100.00 a pop and 5 or 6 customers a night, making us a nice $750.00 a night, I think 10% for each of us is fair, don't you? That leaves $3000.00 a week just with the 10 we have now, accounting for off nights and a reasonable margin of error."

He doesn't know how good at math Ghost is, but he hopes his use of numbers is clear and solid enough, yet vague enough that he goes for it. It wasn't unreasonable anyway. After all, he and Nick deserved a cut for their new responsibility.

"By, the way, Nick, thank you for the deck. I'll see what I can do, but I suspect I'll need new programs for it."

[Shadow]

"Ok, Blitz, whos this you brought? Gent? Good to meet you.. Blitz says you backed him up. Well, I always say actions speak louder than words. You want in on the Edgers? Attach yourself to Blitz's hip, where he goes you go, I have a feeling you two will make a good pair, welcome aboard Omae."

Ghost shakes the newcommers hand before turning to the remaining group.

"Ok folks we have done a lot today, let's call it a night. I want everyone back here at 9am for a meeting. Good job tonight people."

[grimshear]

"Fair enough Ghost" Gent says as he accepts the handshake.

"If I got a doss, then I might as well grab my stuff."

Leaving and returning shortly, Gent gets back carrying a pair of big black bags. Wandering into the former doss of the Losers, he puts his stuff down in the tidy room and goes about checking through everything to see what he wants to get rid of to make some more space.

"My own little slice of dossitude... Cool."