Food Fight!, IC - Dairy Dash Options

[Xiuhaun]

Knuckles places Zany on the floor, and hurries back to grab Slicerdicer. After hauling him to the recently formed 'gang pile', he assists Nick in binding up some of the gangers before grabbing his keys and heading outside to lead the caravan to his doc's residence. Hopping on his BMW, giving a kick to start, he looks back to see if the others are ready. When ready, he starts down the street towards the doc's house.

[BobRoberts]

"I'm going have a quick look at the camera, if anyone wants to give me a hand."

Troy's pauses and his face goes slack for a moment. A channel opens, routed from his brain, through the neural interface at the top of his leg and down into the control deck. Quick look through the sensors to see no undesirables are nearby. Assuming not, a swift mental command:

Mr Van. Disengage rear and side door locks. Engage full lock on manual drive controls.

"If we're heading to the doc's, I can take a crowd... Mines the red Bison, doors are unlocked."

Pop a window showing the sensor output... keep an eye on who goes in or out.

[Green Eyed Monst...]

As I see the ork bring the former katana weilder over Rocky reaches into a pocket and hand him the set of keys I took off the girl. "I figure you earned this."

Soon after, I see the other ork that double tapped the mage and hand him the set of keys I took off that gang member. "You earned these," I say and add, "can't ride more than one at a time anyway. Even if I could ride."

Rocky assenses the gang as they are being bound. I easily distinguish the magical from the mundane, but I see something that disturbs me and makes me worry for Mr. Nick when we leave. I wish there was more than duct tape to bind them with. I go back to the medical supplies and grab half a dozen low rating Tranq Patches. I look at the large selection of slap patches and stuff my pockets until filled with the most expensive of each type.

I go back to the check-out counter and tell Mr. Nick, "If it looks like they are coming around, hit 'em with one of these." I give the Tranq patches to him. "I'd have Johnny help you watch them because," I point them out as I describe them, "this one and this one are magically active, and these guys look like they may have spurs or razors embedded in them."

I don't like the fear and trepidation I see on his face. "Don't worry but I'm going to have a spirit stay with you and keep an eye on them until you say he can go. I'd appreciate that being before Lone Star notices him."

I command the last service from the big sylph spirit. Use your psychokinesis power to attack any of the gang (mental image and point to them) that regains cosciusness until Mr. Nick says you can go. <Points to Mr. Nick.> Thank you for your help.

[Xiuhaun]

Knuckles looks over the keys Rocky gave him. He thinks to himself:

"Would rather ride a BMW than push a Harley... can't ride both bikes anyways"

"Keys in the Harley out here if anyone's interested. Feel free to help yourself"

Knuckles goes out to search the bike for anything that might be worth keeping, puts the key in the ignition, and walks to his bike.

[tisoz]

When it looks like everybody has mounted up, Knuckles start leading the small convoy through the dark and story streets of Tacoma.

Graffiti appears and disappears in the periphery of the headlight beams.

Kick the Khan!
Khan ROOLZ!!!

Harlequin wuz here

[BobRoberts]

Mentally wrestling with two vehciles in the rain is tough work... in one of the quiet moments Troy catches sight of the graffiti through the flurry of wiper blades.

Harlequin? Isn't that some sorta olden days clown? Wonder what that means?

The thought is pushed from his brain as a powerful gust of wind catches the Bulldog full on the side.

[Ears]

Ah, the lovely and famous Seattle weather.
Hmm, what should I do with the Suzuki? Rob ponders ..sure it's a nice bike WHOA!
Seeing the warning lights of the autonav lighting up, Rob barely avoids getting hit by a suicidal cab. When he's gotten clear of the car he pats the fuel cylinder of his Harley. You're right, I'll sell it and give you some upgrades, baby.
Rob accelerates, overtakes the cab that cut him off and gets back in line with the convoy. A Convoy, a group of people. Not the worst crew. Come to think of it, these gangers didn't stand a chance back there. Maybe some of them are competition? Colleagues?
With a thin smile Rob mumbles to himself "Now this will be interesting.".

[Green Eyed Monst...]

The ork on the motorcycle led off followed by a van, then a Bison, then another van with another motorcycle bringing up the rear. John "Rocky" Stone was in the second van, hauling a load of stolen motorcycles.

I wonder if seeing this guy cast this healing spell is worth as much as this load of bikes and van. I could turn off anywhere down through here and just go my own good way. Definitely worth a good deal of cred.

I balance these thoughts with others. These guys seemed friendly enough, not too bloodthirsty, either. When it comes to that, I think I was responsible for more real damage than the others. Not that often you leave the opposition without anyone dead. Most runs I've been on had their share of gratuitous violence. It almost seems like runners these days are all psychopaths. These guys are a nice change. I wonder if they're in the biz. Or want to be? Or are already a part of a regular crew?

Maybe I should split off. A bird in hand and all that. Then I think of how someone I trusted had betrayed me.

A sudden turn yanks me out of my reverie. The wheels on one side jump the curb and almost jars the wheel from my grip. I quickly adjust, too quickly I realize and drop the movement power, over adjust and fish tail the van. I get it straightened out with a jerky motion and think, you'd think the streets would be slippery enough to avoid jerking like that. I wonder if anybody noticed? Glad I've still got that Guard power up. That could have left a nasty mark.

[Xiuhaun]

Knuckles pulls up first, and motions for the other vehicles to be parked along the street, so that the driveway could be used for unloading the wounded. He pulls his bike up alongside the garage, and shakes some water drops off his coat before knocking on the door.

After Sarah answers the door, he proceeds to say "Thanks for helping us out on such short notice, doc. Some gangers decided to jump the SS down the street, didnt realize what hit them. The fragged one is in the van, I can help them get him downstairs for you."

Knuckles then heads to the van in the driveway to assist in moving Tinker to the lab in the basement.

[Green Eyed Monst...]

John "Rocky" Stone sees the ork who led the way park and direct people to parking spaces. Good, it looks like he's saving an easy spot for me. I head for the nice, wide open space by the driveway, when suddenly, the ork waves me off. I manhandle the wheel trying to avoid running him down as he steps in the drive to make his point clear that I am not to park there. I barely get the vehicle under control as I cross over the street and knock over some garbage cans opposite the driveway, bringing the van to a lurching, jerking stop. I jump out quickly thinking any landing you walk away from... and acting like that was exactly how I meant to park and go to help get the wounded inside.

[BobRoberts]

Troy parks both his vans, taking care not to jostle his own vehicle with the injured guy in it.

Wow. A hottie dwarf doctor. This day just keeps getting better.

He mentally orders his van to open up and moves to lend a hand moving Tinker to the docs 'Slicing Room'.

[Xiuhaun]

Knuckles and Troy quickly move Tinker to the basement and let the doc get to work.

To Troy, Knuckles says "By the way, I'm Hugh. My mates call me 'Knuckles' as you may have guessed back at the SS. Thanks for the assist back there, lucky this was all I got."

[Chance359]

Conciousness comes and goes for Tinker as he's transported from the scene of a robbery gone right to a flat table in a clinically clean room. Every once and a while the dwarf in scrubs soothing storkes his forehead as she pulls bits of lead and ceramic fragments out of his body.

[tisoz]

As the good Samaritans work to get the injured out of the rain and down the stairs, they can hear sirens approaching. A few blocks away, the majority of the wailing vehicles sound like they are headed for the vacated Stuffer Shack. However, from the Doppler effect, it sounds like one is headed to your location.

How could they know we came this way?

There is a collective sigh of relief when the DocWagon ambulance turns onto the street.

Sarah is busy tending to the unconscious man who has been laid out an a short table that makes you think of Japanese dining. The clink of a bloody slug dropping into a stainless steel bowl jars you back to the seriousness of the situation. Another slug gets pulled from the man, the forceps holding it held for a closer look and then it joins the first with another clink. "Both bullets looked intact. He's lucky," Sarah says.

The next thing you know, a pair of paramedics are joining Sarah in the makeshift operating room. "You going to take him away now that the hard part is over?" Sarah asks them.

They look at each other, then shrug. One of them says, "I don't really want to carry him up those stairs on a gurney. We were just doing our job, ma'am. He's lucky to have such good friends to get him treated so quickly. Too bad they didn't know we were on the way and could have saved themselves some trouble."

The other one adds, "We were kind of wondering if it was going to be another one of those eviscerated joygirls that have been getting hit around here. All in all, I'm glad it was just some poor slag with a sucking chest wound. Those girls... The memory of those bodies is going to haunt me the rest of my life." He visibly shudders.

[Ears]

Arriving last, Rob parks his chopper next to the others' vehicles and follows them inside. What's her name? Sarrah? Could be my sister if she'd gone on the wild side like me. Her office is a lot nicer, I must admit.

Inside he drops his wet jacket over a radiator, looks for some coffee and then leans against the wall, half watching the doc do her job, half reading one of the comic books he'd taken from the Stuffer Shack. As the paramedics come in, he glances up, grins and goes back to leafing through his comic.

Rob straightens and any remaining trace of a smile vanishes from his face, when the EMTs mention the brutally killed joygirls.

A shocked DocWagon paramedic? Must have been really bad. Or he's still a rookie.

He walks over to one of them and says "Sorry, chummer. What was that about joygirls being attacked in the vicinity?"

Why do you ask? You're no longer a bounty hunter. So what? I have to look away?

[BobRoberts]

Earlier - to Knuckles. "Good to meet ya Knuckles. I'm Troy... If anyone needs thanks for the assist, it's you... Think I'd have been in deep drek if you hadn't been there. I owe you one!" After a few reflective seconds "You know that gang? Think we're gonna get more trouble from 'em?"


Later - to the paramedic. "Eviscerated Joygirls... More than one?" Troy lets out a sad sigh "Jeez, I don't envy your job mate. Take it they're different from the usual crimewave round here?"

[Xiuhaun]

Knuckles, to Troy, "Cant say that I recognized them, but it seems they were after the 'Shack, and we just got in the way. I'd be surprised any of them might recognize us, but I'll let my boys know to be on the lookout, just the same."

At the sound of "Eviscerated Joygirls...", Knuckles grabs his phone and calls Rachel, a street-walking friend of his, immediately to see if she is alright.

[tisoz]

Rob says, "Sorry, chummer. What was that about joygirls being attacked in the vicinity?"

The paramedic answers, "Yeah, I was wondering all the way over here if it was going to be another joygirl call. That's what we've, well DocWagon, have been getting in this area for about a week. I know the records list the patient as male, but when the details in the file are as sketchy as his, sometimes the records are wrong, and after all, it's just one character. You know, an M or an F. Then there's the wise guys who put a Y in there, but those are almost all guys."

The paramedic is rambling now. "Eviscerated Joygirls... More than one?" Troy tries to get him back on subject and lets out a sad sigh "Jeez, I don't envy your job mate. Take it they're different from the usual crime wave round here?"

"Well, yeah. Their mostly the same, it's like whoever is doing them is doing an autopsy or something, but from the bruising and blood you can tell the person was still alive when they were getting dissected. That's the biggest difference. I mean sometimes the victim gets unlucky and survives a lot of mutilation. Maybe just luck, or bad luck. But these victims were all alive through about the whole ordeal. Luck like that should buy a lottery ticket or not go out on a night like this 'cause lightning's going to get 'em."

Knuckles grabs his phone and calls Rachel, a street-walking friend of his, immediately to see if she is alright.

"Knuckles," Rachel answers, "I'm so glad you called. Me and the girls might have a job for you." She goes on to explain about the recent murders to members of her profession in the area she works. How Lone Star has stepped up their presence throughout Tacoma, but how even though the bodies have turned up across Tacoma all the girls regular corners were in a 15 block area, and Lone Star isn't paying those 15 blocks the attention it deserves.

"Anyways," Rachel says, "I figure me and some of the girls could hire you and yours to find the guy. I mean, we could hire bodyguards to watch us, but that could get into big nuyen if they don't stop this guy soon. I figure if me and some of the girls payed you what we'd pay a bodyguard for a week, it would make it worth your while to get this freak."

Sarah interrupts the talk about hacked up women. "Who's paying for this guy, anyway? I don't suppose DocWagon wants to reimburse me for all the expense they saved?"

"Sorry, ma'am," the first paramedic says, taps his partner and signals with a nod of his head that they should go. And that quick, Sarah gets rid of the paramedics.

"He's going to need cared for and, watched and rest for about the next week," Sarah points out. "I can put him up here with my other patient." Sarah does a quick mental calculation. "Call it an even thousand nuyen for the surgery and the recovery, unless he requires something more than ordinary." She looks expectantly at the group gathered around.

[Green Eyed Monst...]

As everyone seems to be examining either their footwear or the ceiling tiles, Rocky looks around and says, "I guess I can cover that, but it just about taps me out." When Rocky becomes the new focus of just about everyones attention, he explains, "Just nobody complain about me getting my nuyen back for this when I sell some of the gangs stuff. As far as that goes, Sarah, would you be interested in some medical supplies instead of nuyen?"

[BobRoberts]

"That's good of you Rocky, I've got a mate who'd be interested in the vehicles if you want an introduction?"

[Green Eyed Monst...]

Sarah seems happy with the medical supplies offer saying, "Feel free to come back anytime."

"Thanks for the invite," Rocky replies, "but if I do, I hope it's a situation like this; where I'm helping the wounded and not a customer."

About everyone comes around and let's him know how to contact them for when he's completed converting the swag to nuyen.

In response to Troy's offer, "I'd appreciate the help unloading this stuff," Rocky says. Thinking back to his ride over he adds, "I think I'll even let you do the driving."

Rocky looks over the assembly of people and can't help thinking this could make a nice shadowrunning team. He decides to see if the group intends to extend their easy alliance by asking, "Anyone thinking of looking into these joygirl attacks? We could try to find someone to foot the bill. Maybe Lone Star would pay a reward, or maybe we could see if some of the pimps or girls want to put up some nuyen to catch the guy. As far as that goes, maybe even the Mafia or Yakuza would put up some nuyen." Rocky gives a little laugh, "If we got real lucky, maybe they would all kick in some cred."

As people start discussing his suggestion, Rocky approaches Sphinx. "Have you got any use for a spirit focus? If not, I can probably get a good price for it and give you the cred."

[Ears]

Rob listens intently to what the paramedic has to say about the killings.
Now that's strange. Wouldn't at least the pimps look out for their 'investments'?
"hmm"

A thousand? Guess I still owe 'sis something for that other time...

To Rocky "Yeah, if you've got the contacts, go ahead and sell 'em" Rob hands him a key and a paper business card. "Here's a number. Just leave a message when the sale's done."

Aren't we in a trusty mood tonight?

...

After Rocky's proposal Rob flashes a smile "Getting paid to bust some murderous bastard's ass? Sounds just like my old job. If there's some cred in it, I'll bite. Let's get some intel."

Walking off into a corner, Rob opens his wristphone, dials a number from memory and, after a sort pause, leaves a message. "Hoi, big boy. I was shocked to hear about the way joygirls are being treated in Tacoma these days. You don't happen to know something about that, do you? Why don't we meet and talk about the old times? The usual spot, the usual time, yadda, yadda."

Come on, you nosy bugger; if your colleagues are not looking into this; I bet you do

[BobRoberts]

"No probs on the driving, don't want to trash the merchandise!"

"Hell, I'd be happy chasing crazy slashers round. If someones gonna pay, then it's the good type of public service?"

Troy fishes out his earpiece phone and joins in the cellphone party that seems to be starting.

"Oi. Larry. How ya doing? Got a good story and some bikes you might be interested in?"

[Chance359]

Tinker hears his rescuers discussing their future in the other room. Groaning as he attempts to sit up in the bed, "If anyone would grab my cyberdeck from my truck, I could use the 'trix to start narrowing down you guy's hunting area."

[BobRoberts]

Troy Hustles off to fetch the deck. Removes any of his own junk from Tinkers ride. Then locks it up.

"Hey man, good to see you up and about! I'm Troy. You sure you're up to that, you have been leaking a bit lately?"

Troy hands over the deck and Tinkers keys.