Tokyo in the Shadows, The story of Kambei Options

[Tabula Rasa]

Neo-Tokyo - 04/23/2008 – 0047

"Thanks a lot," he says, why did I look at that file... was it just to humiliate her? Kambei can't imagine who'd pay to go to a bunraku parlor without getting picking a personality or outfit... you could go to a normal whore house for that and probably a lot cheaper.

"And you said the car was tracker free right?" After receiving confirmation he keeps driving as he dials the number Mr. Tanake gave him for the limousine pickup.

[Fuchs]

Neo-Tokyo - 04/23/2008 – 0050

Arranging the limousine pickup is done without problem - Mr. Tanaka is glad that the "delicate matter" was handled so promptly.

30 Minutes later, the Nissan stops on a parking lot near an old restaurant, next to the limousine waiting there. After the appropriate calls are exchanged, a tall uniformed driver steps out to receive the still unconscious Ahiko. The big man cradles the girl gently in his arms and puts her into the limousine. While he doesn't talk, he seems genuinely glad that Ahiko is safely back. He bows deeply to Kambei - deeper than would be simple politeness.

[Tabula Rasa]

Neo-Tokyo - 04/23/2008 – 0050

He bows back as is appropriate and whispers in his ear, "she will need a doctor to look her over. Take care of her."

Kambei gets back into the car and drives to within a eight minute walk of where he parked his bike and pulls into an alley. It's a shame I don't know of any chop shops... gotta look into that. He makes sure all of his gear is out of the car and he uses his admin account to deactivate the car's computer.

He leaves the door of the car wide open, activates his chameleon suit, no need to have anyone stop me and ask me why I'm dressed like this and carrying an SMG, and walks as quickly as is safe to where he parked his bike. He takes a few minutes to pack his gear back into the bag hidden in the alley, puts on the rolled up jump suit, takes off his mask and heads towards his home.

He enjoys the feel of the open air on his skin, feels like you are suffocating after a while under the FFBA and that damn chameleon suit, and after he is about halfway home and feeling his heartbeat slowing down to its normal beat he leaves Mr. Tanaka a quick message: "I have your commlink for delivery. I did not feel it was safe to hand it to your driver. I also have a copy of the recordings of what Ahiko went through. I wanted to discuss how you wanted it handled at a more private location than the Matrix and at a more normal hour."

[Fuchs]

Neo-Tokyo - 04/23/2008 – 0130

Mr. Tanaka is a bit annoyed that the whole operation is not yet over, but the additional information and the fact that Ahiko was found quickly, seems to be just enough to persuade him to agree to a meeting the next evening, 2000, in Celerity, after a bit of talking.

Back home Kambei finds Ayaka and Aoi in the middle of a full-VR racing game involving spaceships and asteroids on his home entertaiment system.

[Tabula Rasa]

Neo-Tokyo - 04/23/2008 – 0130

Kambei is very surprised to find Aoi and Ayaka up this late on a weekday. I'm going to have to revise the "good students from the suburbs" stereotype.

He tries to sneak past them into the bedroom so he can change without questions and maybe relax a bit since sleeping wasn't an option.

[Fuchs]

Neo-Tokyo - 04/23/2008 – 0130

[ Spoiler ]

Sneak test (13d6.hits(5)=5)

Kambei has no problem sneaking past the two girls caught in the VR game, and reaches his room. Changing goes quickly, but he has just managed to stash his gear again when he hears the two girls finish up a session, and go to the kitchen for some bottled water or soda, discussing the latest race, and comparing notes about the other players.

[Tabula Rasa]

Neo-Tokyo - 04/23/2008 – 0135

Kambei changes quickly as he tries to rid the recent unpleasant images spinning in his head. Why did I even look at that file… hopefully her family will return the favor to the people responsible for what happened to the poor girl.

Shacking his head to clear it, he joins Aoi and Ayaka in the kitchen quietly enough to give them a little scare.

“Hey, didn’t think I would find you two awake. Kicking ass and taking names I hope.�

No reason to spoil the night for them. My problems aren’t for them to deal with.

[Fuchs]

Neo-Tokyo - 04/23/2008 – 0135

Ayaka gasps and Aoi squeels when Kambei scares them, but both quickly compose themselves, trying to act nonchalant even as they are scolding Kambei - both for scaring them, and for exepcting them being already asleep "this early". After all, they are young, students, and enjoying their life after the study hell needed to pass the entrance exams.

They brighten up again when they mention their latest races, and some competition they left in the stardust. Then they start to prod Kambei with semi-serious questions about his job, playing tag team with an ease and a flirting undertone that hints at both being adept at that game. Their "but it is getting late for you, so you should get to bed" argument seems a bit at odds with what follows in the bedroom, which would have kept Kambei up even if he wasn't strung out on Long Haul.

Later, laying between the sleeping duo, himself still awake, Kambei goes over the situation again. What happened to Ahiko looks like a well-planned act. Using Kouki and the Falcons to make contact, and lure her into a "bad crowd". Then having her kidnapped, and making it look like she ran away. Getting rid of the Falcons, and making it look like an accident. But the p-fix and the orgy? Kambei knows that the Triads use this, or the threat of such, in kidnappings to make the family of a kidnapped girl pay money, but they do not use a data filter in such cases, and they also do not bother to make it look like the girl took part willingly. The yakuza usually use less drastic methods to get protection money, small accidents that ruin goods, or other troubles, kidnappings rock the waves too much.

A call from Kouki interrupts his thoughts.

[Tabula Rasa]

Neo-Tokyo - 04/23/2008 – 0135

Kambei sits up in bed with all these thoughts running through his head. I’m letting myself care too much about this. It’s not like its my business anyway, I was just paid to find the girl.

He couldn’t quite get the thoughts to go away, shouldn’t have taken this Long Haul shit, I’m gonna be a wreck for days after this.

He carefully steps out of bed and paces the bedroom thinking over the situation some more, nothing I can do about it anyway. I will offer them my services in righting the wrongs done to their family. They should be willing to go that far if they have any honor. If someone had done the same to my family and I knew who he was he would be chocking on his own blood right now.

Kambei catches himself before he punches the closet door as a rush of anger at his own situation suddenly surfaces and before he can collect himself he receives a call. Momentarily flustered, he doesn’t even check who it is before he accepts the call, “Hello?�

[Fuchs]

Neo-Tokyo - 04/23/2008 – 0245

It's Kouki.

"Hi Buddy! I found another piece of information. I got Ryu's commlink, and since he made the deal with the yakuza, I am sure he has some backup on his commlink. So, let's meet up so I can give the commlink to you!"

Kouki sounds a bit off, a bit too eager.

[Tabula Rasa]

Neo-Tokyo - 04/23/2008 – 0245

Kambei resists the urge to scream “fuck� out loud as he realizes how careless he was. Should have killed the fuck when I had the chance. What are the odds that there isn’t a glock jacked up against his temple right now.

He checks to verify that his stealth program is active – which it always is on his real commlink. That program was the best I could find, hopefully they can’t track me down.

He didn’t know if it was his recent behavior - and a quick glance at the beautiful girls lying in his bed quickly dismissed that thought – or the Long Haul or something else that had made him this careless.

Either way, there was no point to denying knowing about any of this. If they were coercing him into making this call they already knew I was involved. Maybe I’m just being paranoid.

Despite the swirling thoughts in his head he responds quickly enough to not seem suspicious, “when where you thinking of meeting? I’ve got a few things going on, and what did you, dig it out of his head or something? Wasn’t it internal?�

Gotta keep this conversation going, see if he spills something out by accident.

[Fuchs]

Neo-Tokyo - 04/23/2008 – 0245

"Ah, where we met the hacker and her fried, you remember the place? And, his new commlink was internal, but his old wasn't, I found it when I returned to our last base."

Kouki sounds a bit more like his usual self as the conversation continues - Kambei is reminded how the zoku "warmed up" to him after he put pressure on him a day ago. Fortunately, the stealth program seems to hold - no hacking attempt made so far.

[Tabula Rasa]

Neo-Tokyo - 04/23/2008 – 0245

Kambei says, “I don’t know if I want to meet there. I’m not fond of going to the same place multiple times. Let me get back to you late tomorrow, I’ll let you know where to meet me then and I’ll bring you a six-pack of that shit you drink, what was it, Miller? for your troubles.�

Gotta remember a place I can use to meet up, somewhere real crowded and easy to get lost in the crowd. I hope I’m just being paranoid. I don’t need all this trouble for seven and a half grand.

[Fuchs]

Neo-Tokyo - 04/23/2008 – 0245

Kouki doesn't like that proposal.

"Hey, buddy - that's hot information. It could make or break this case."

He whines some, then, after a short pause, goes on, with a subtle change in tone.

"Think about the girl, we need to save her!"

[Tabula Rasa]

Neo-Tokyo - 04/23/2008 – 0245

Kambei deliberates his options a bit, this is probably a trap, but it might be worth it to just scope it out. See if it really is a trap and if it is how many people they brought for me.

He says to Kouki, “alright, tell you what. Ride to the Tamaguchi Bakery in Shinjuku and be there at 3:30 sharp. I’ll call you and tell you where we’ll meet from there. Okay?�

What the hell am I gonna tell them, he thinks, looking at the sleeping beauties, this is just going to make them want to dig for more, and I’m not that great at casual lying…

[Fuchs]

Neo-Tokyo - 04/23/2008 – 0245

Kouki isn't happy about it, but agrees to that. Ayaka and Aoi are sleeping still. If Kambei hurries, he might be back before they wake up. At this time of the day, Neo-Tokyo is as close to sleeping as it comes, so there won't be that many vehicles clogging the street.

[Tabula Rasa]

Neo-Tokyo - 04/23/2008 – 0315

Kambei tries to make as little noise as possible as he fetches all the gear he just put away plus a basic set of climbing gear and a few more clips of ammo and some EX to boot. I'm not gonna fuck around if this is an ambush.

He dresses in the living room, grimacing as he pulls on the FFBA without having cleaned it, grabs his gear and heads for his bike with his non-descript jumpsuit on.

Just in case he sends a message to the front desk of his building to let the girls in and out of the apartment if they asked. No sense in causing them trouble if something happens.

He heads to the location well ahead of time, a place he is familiar with. The bakery is on a wide avenue with eight floor buildings on either side. There's a perfect location to spot anyone standing in the bakery, and watching them go into the deep dead-end alley nearby. Hopefully whoever is tailing him follows him and shows themselves to his vantage point.

Kambei waits patiently, his senses alert for anything out of place as he waits for the meet time to approach.

[Fuchs]

Neo-Tokyo - 04/23/2008 – 0315

[ Spoiler ]

Noticing shadows (13d6.hits(5)=2)
Shadowing (5d6.hits(5)=3)
Shadowing (5d6.hits(5)=1)
Hiding (13d6.hits(5)=4)
Perception (4d6.hits(5)=3)
Perception (13d6.hits(5)=(IMG:style_emoticons/default/cool.gif)

10 minutes before the time of the meeting, Kouki arrives. The zoku looks around, and appears rather nervous while he moves to the bakery. He also reacts subtly, but noticably to Kambei's enhanced vision to two men - one of them even Kambei dismissed as a harmless drunk earlier, sitting on the street "resting", his jacket off and crumpled in his lap - a lot could be hidden beneath that - the other a salaryman up early buying bread, carrying a briefcase. They cover both sides of the bakery.

Kouki buys some breakfast from the bakery, but the way he looks around he probably doesn't even notice what he is eating. His right eye is a bit swollen.

If this is a yakuza set-up then there would be more than two people, maybe a squad or two waiting nearby or in cars, out of sight.

[Tabula Rasa]

Neo-Tokyo - 04/23/2008 – 0330

Kambei smiles to himself, these guys actually managed to keep themselves hidden for a while. Not bad. Now lets get the rest of them out.

He contacts Kouki after again assuring himself that there was nothing wrong with his stealth program, “Hey Kouki, listen close.

“I want you to walk down the street away from the main street and take a right when you get to the T intersection. Then duck into the alley on your right.�

Kambei doesn’t wait for a response before hanging up. He watches from his vantage point atop the building, carefully following Kouki and looking for anyone in the area who breaks off to the other street so they can keep a view of the zoku.

[Fuchs]

Neo-Tokyo - 04/23/2008 – 0330

Kouki looks around, then starts to walk down the street Kambei told him to. He looks nervous.

[ Spoiler ]

Perception cehck (13d6.hits(5)=3)

Kambei spots the drunk slowly getting up, and the sararymanstarting down another street - probably planning to parallel Kouki. There's also a mobile vendor machine that's walking into Kouki's direction. Two cars start moving a bit away, one to each street, but that could be coincidence - both are vans, and look like they fit in at first glance.

[Tabula Rasa]

Neo-Tokyo - 04/23/2008 – 0330

Kambei frowns, that’s a lot of goods, even if it’s just one of those vans.

He observes for a little bit longer to see if anyone else moves or if either of the vans moves along.

Just about when Kouki looks like he can’t stand to wait any longer Kambei dials him again, “Kouki, you aren’t looking too good. Did you hit on a lady that was taken? Never mind that though, show me the commlink you brough, hold it over your head.�

[Fuchs]

Neo-Tokyo - 04/23/2008 – 0330

Kouki jumps as Kambei calls him, and wildly looks around, then hesitantly pulls a small commlink out of his pocket and holds it up.

[ Spoiler ]

Perception check (13d6.hits(5)=4)
Perception checks (3d6.hits(5)=2, 3d6.hits(5)=3, 3d6.hits(5)=0, 3d6.hits(5)=2)

It looks like a regular commlink as Kambei zooms in. The two yakuza he spotted are still acting "casually", and the vans left. Then Kambei spots a movement in the air, a bit away from Kouki - a small spydrone flying past a wall, checking windows. It looks like the Yakuza didn't send just human eyes. They have probably hackers too, who are currently scanning for hacked cameras or spydrones.

[Tabula Rasa]

Neo-Tokyo - 04/23/2008 – 0330

Kambei instinctively presses himself closer to the ground as he spots the drones. Hopefully their sensors can’t see through my thermal dampening.

He begins to move laterally, very slowly, to find a little cover from above just incase as he speaks, “well, I see what you got and I’d be happy to take it, but you seem to have attracted some company that I don’t know personally. What’s going on Kouki?�

Gotta stall for more time… should I just leave him to die or try something…

[Fuchs]

Neo-Tokyo - 04/23/2008 – 0330

[ Spoiler ]

Hide (13d6.hits(5)=7) Judge intentions (8d6.hits(5)=5)

Kambei shifts into a better position, out of the line of sight for the drone he spotted as well. Kouki sounds even more nervous.

"Company? What do you mean?"

If Kouki was playing poker he'd be on the road to ruin right now, so transparent is his attempt to lie, at least for Kambei. Then, again after a short pause, Kambei changes his tunes.

"Oh, fuck... yakuza. Damn, get me out of here, that's a trap!"

He doesn't sound as if he just recently spotted them, but his desperation seems real.

[Tabula Rasa]

Neo-Tokyo - 04/23/2008 – 0330

Kambei curses himself for not bringing his Alpha. From eight floors up an SMG wasn’t the ideal weapon. He grabs the HK from his side and pulls it to a ready position as he holds to see if the Yakuza make a move on him

Do I just let him die and stay safe… or do I try to keep him alive? If I fire a shot surely the drone will spot me unless it’s a piece of shit. Why the fuck would he think I’d try to keep him alive.

Kambei continues to hold, sweat forming under his mask, as he silently deliberates his moral quandary. He had a hard time letting someone so desperate and scared just die, despite what scum the zoku really was.