IC: Post or Die, Lifelines, and deadlines Options

[Acme]

[quote name='Red-ROM' date='Sep 16 2010, 05:50 PM' post='989194']
Friday, September 11, 2071, 10:56 AM The Gold Lion Hotel

Acme scratched his chin, nodding in consideration. It didn't seem to be too bad, he'd run around the Barrens before way back when so he wasn't afraid of it like some other pampered runners were. And ten grand would stretch pretty well, especially when he managed to flimflam the landlord into thinking that the rent was already paid once or twice a year...

"All right, I'll be in," he replied. "Lets have those details. I assume this will be a paid after completion run, or is there any up front?"

[Saint Sithney]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 10:56 AM, Oswald's Warehouse, Merrill Creek Pkwy. Everett

After forcing the man's broken collar bone back into place, Oswald stepped back a moment to watch him struggle painfully against the straps. Soon after the Professor spoke the man slowed his protestations and finally stopped. "Satisfied? I surely hope so, because you've got a nasty hematoma forming under you skull, and if it keeps pushing down on your brain like that, you might get an embolism and stroke out. So, if you wouldn't mind holding still for a second, I'd like to save your life." He turned to the Professor. "Hold his head still please, and watch out. This is going to squirt a bit." With a swift motion, he pushed the small drill in and out of the man's skull, followed by a two foot spurt of blood, which soon slowed to a trickle.

"Well, that should take care of any immediate threats to your continuing health. I'll kick out of here for now, but I'll be back for the surgery to pin your bones and such. Provided things turn out well for you... Until then, keep your chin up.. or actually, keep your legs up. Otherwise you might go into shock." With that parting word, Oswald opened the door and walked out, leaving the man and Professor alone in the operating room. Now to land the Sky-pod.

Oswald sat at the chair by the door to his little operating theater and slipped into VR to take direct control of the small blimp. He directed it down right by the large door connected to his operating room. Normally, he would use this entrance to transport an injured patient from the Rover 2068, his makeshift ambulance, directly into the surgery room for recovery. Today it would be used to let Jovan walk straight from the blimp to the waiting captive. There he parked the vessel, settling it lightly on the ground. <<Alright Joe. He's being kept in an isolated room across from your landing point. Door to the captive will open when you're ready, and close shortly after. We'll be waiting around in the warehouse proper. Action happens on your word.>>

[HugeC]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 10:56 AM, Oswald's Warehouse, Merrill Creek Pkwy. Everett

Strange, Thirty thinks, Professor seemed to think I was available to protect him from Jovan, not the prisoner. Jovan must have something to lose in the real world if he doesn't want his fellow runners to know who he is, but I can't protect him, or the rest of the team, if I don't know all the variables in play. I'll have to find out what his deal is without letting him know, he decides.

Thirty takes a quick look around for a place where he might catch a glimpse of Jovan disembarking from the blimp without being seen himself. He settles for the passenger seat of the Shin, where he leans the seat back a bit, places Kanjin on his lap, and lets his head droop to the side a bit as if he is catching a quick nap. His eyes remain open and alert behind his mirrorshades, however. I wish I had cyber eyes, he laments silently, then I could zoom in on Jovan's face. Regular eyeballs will have to do, I guess. He waits and watches, hoping to see something that will give him a clue to Jovan's identity.

Once Jovan has disembarked from the blimp, Thirty gives him about 5 seconds of head start before he gets out of the Shin and takes up a position outside the medical room's door, reattaching his sword's scabbard to his jacket as he crosses the warehouse.

[Sephiroth]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 10:56 AM, Oswald's Warehouse, Merrill Creek Pkwy. Everett

Jovan nodded in understanding. It was too early to tell for sure whether everything would go according to plan here, but at least things were starting off smoothly. He opened the door of the blimp and stepped out lightly, feeling slightly optimistic about things here. He set off towards the door in a cautious walk, eyes scanning his surroundings to validate that no one else was within sight. He was just about to signal Oswald to open the door when he spotted someone, presumably one of his teammates, sitting in the passenger seat of a car parked in the warehouse. He appeared to be sleeping, but Jovan didn't buy it. He forced himself to remain calm and continue moving as if he had not seen anyone, but a cold anger was slowly settling upon his mood. He doubted that Professor had intentionally double-crossed him; the man just seemed too sincere. Perhaps this fool had tried to break the terms of the deal on his own, fancying himself stealthy enough to do so without alerting either Jovan or Professor. That would not be the fault of Professor, most likely. But he had been betrayed nonetheless.

<<You may open the door, Oswald.>>

Jovan continued forward as the door opened, keeping his pace unaltered. He was greeted by the sight of their target strapped to a gurney, who seemed to be in quite a rough condition of health. This was not helped by the trickle of blood coming from his head and the pool of blood on the ground below it. His eyes were drawn to the dwarf standing beside the target, whom Jovan presumed to be Professor. In different circumstances, he would have commenced with polite introductions for this first face-to-face meeting. But right now, Jovan was just a tad infuriated by the betrayal of his anonymity. "One of your friends fancies himself subtle, and tried to observe my disembarkment without my knowledge," he said to Professor as he approached, his voice kept as level as possible despite his anger. "Give me one good reason why I should not ensure that 'though those that are betray'd Do feel the treason sharply, yet the traitor Stands in worse case of woe,' Professor."

[pbangarth]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 10:57 AM, Oswald's Warehouse, Merrill Creek Pkwy. Everett

Professor sighs and responds to Jovan, "I'll give you several reasons. First of all, I suspect it is Thirty you saw, given he was in the car. Thirty has already proven himself willing to put his own life in danger for a teammate, and you are a teammate. He is not a threat to you, he is an ally. You would do yourself harm were you to harm him.

"Second, our employers are inundated with deaths and disappearances among our number already, yet they have no idea why such attrition afflicts us... and them. You would do well not to give ones with such resources a reason to suspect you.

"Finally, and perhaps the most compelling reason for one so learned as yourself. Cymbeline is a play rife with misunderstandings and misrepresentations of evildoing on the part of innocents. Surely you would not allow yourself to be easily misled to believe ill of an accomplice, only in the end to learn you were the victim of your own mistrust. All of us, including yourself, have gone to great lengths this morning to find an accommodation of all of our needs. Let's not throw that effort away when there is profitable work to be done right here before us." Professor indicates the bound captive with a nod of his head.

[Sephiroth]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 10:57 AM, Oswald's Warehouse, Merrill Creek Pkwy. Everett

Jovan stared at Professor for several seconds, transfixed by his words. Suddenly, a small smile appeared on his lips. His body grew a bit more relaxed. "Touche, Professor. Perhaps you are a more learned and worthy ally than I had dared believe." He recalled the conversation between Arviragus and his father Belarius in Cymbeline Act III in which Arviragus laments his lack of experience of the world lying beyond their Welsh cave. How coincidentally similar to this moment, indeed. He recited it out loud, more to himself than Professor; his eyes became unfocused, and his voice grew quiet.

"What should we speak of
When we are old as you? When we shall hear
The rain and wind beat dark December, how,
In this our pinching cave, shall we discourse
The freezing hours away?"

Jovan shook the lines out of his mind. He had come here for business. He turned to their captive, still bound to the gurney. "We desire some information from you, dear gentleman. How do you feel? It seems you crashed into a concrete wall earlier, but you don't seem too worse for wear," he said, making sure his fangs were visible as he spoke. "Not yet, at least. Are you going to cooperate with us?"

[Saint Sithney]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 10:58 AM, Oswald's Warehouse, Merrill Creek Pkwy. Everett

Oswald remained by the operating room door simply listening for confirmation that Jovan was inside before he closed the outer door behind him, and was instead rewarded by a quick exchange of Shakespearean verse. Well, I suppose those two are getting along well enough. Meanwhile, Thirty was hurrying quietly to the operating room door. "Hup!" Oz groaned, getting up from his chair and walking over to intercept thirty's advance. "Heh heh heh. Boy did you almost blow it with that snoop move. Best to walk on eggshells for a time." He paused for a moment, smiling. <<@Thirty If you wanted to get a look at the guy, you should have just asked me for a copy of the trid. The blimp has cameras you know...>> He resumed speaking, the smile still on his lips. "Heh heh heh, I'll be in the back working on Danny some more - unless there's any other pressing matters. Hmm?"

With that, the old man lazily shuffled towards the back of the warehouse, followed by his limping robot.
"..mmm-just-know-we're-still-around-Benny-mm..." the robot warned as it passed.
"Oh, don't worry yourself Danny. I'm sure he wouldn't try anything, knowing me as well as he does.."

[HugeC]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 10:58 AM, Oswald's Warehouse, Merrill Creek Pkwy. Everett

When he catches a glimpse of Jovan, Thirty's mind finally puts all the pieces together. So that's what Professor was hinting at! Jovan's not a celebrity, he's a vampire. Then he sees the bald man looking at him angrily, and he realizes he's been made. He remains still, trying to pass off the nap bluff, and watches Jovan until the door to the medical room closes behind him.

When Thirty gets out of the car and crosses the room as planned, he is intercepted by Oswald, who chides him for his lack of stealth. Thirty sighs through his nose and says, "Yep, I gotta remember I'm a samurai, not a ninja." In response to Oswald's private message, he writes, <@Oswald: Guess I should have thought of that, I'll keep it in mind for the future.> Then he goes around the west corner of the medical building until he can't see the blimp and leans up against the wall to wait for the interrogation to be over, stroking his chin with arms half-folded.

[Red-ROM]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 10:58 AM, Oswald's Warehouse, Merrill Creek Pkwy. Everett

The black man strapped to the gurney shrank away as much as he could from the fanged creature addressing him. He had hoped for one delusional second that he was in a hospital. Now he was pretty sure he was going to be eaten alive. His dark eyes swung wild around the room glancing pleadingly at the dwarf for a moment, then returning defensively to the Nosferatu,"What the hell do you guys want man!? You've been through my club! That's all I got man. What the hell do you want!?"

Ferret skimmed along the Matrix, just outside of the DMV's home node. The sculpting was that of an old fashion drive in, complete vintage cars and dancing snack food. past the public access and shiny facade was a fairly complex topography. the node was encrypted, and actively scanning. The smiling man at the gate in the red paper hat was an Agent. Most likely an Intrusion Countermeasure. The chrome rodent scurried along the outside fence looking for a crack to slip through, But the simple wooden fence pictured in VR was turning out to be a really decent firewall. He set up some scripts to keep the analyze program on task in case he had to take a break, because this was going to take a while. Maybe this was worth more than a soyburger..

Friday, September 11, 2071, 10:58 AM The Gold Lion Hotel

The woman's expression stayed as unchanging as her eyes. Acme imagined her poker face was unbeatable,"I'm afraid I can't offer an advance right now, but if all goes well, there will be advances on future business, when we have a better working relationship. Here are the details, and if you need transportation to catch up with the team, I can help arrange it."she mentally types a message as she downloads the job info onto a data chip for Acme<<@ Team: I have confirmed another member for our operation. Where and when can he rendezvous?>>

[Acme]

Friday, September 11, 2071, 10:58 AM The Gold Lion Hotel

Acme sighed internally. It was a risky gamble, taking a job that seemed easy enough for a decent amount... And not getting anything up front. But he didn't really have any choice, as he was sure that the Bear shaman and his buddy would probably make sure he didn't remember anything in the room, and probably the easy way too. Besides, he'd already accepted it like a dope, so this was just details. "If you can get me a car I can borrow, that would be great. I can go over the details you gave me on the way."

[Notsoevildm]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 10:58 AM, skulking round the DMV node
Ferret's chromed nose twitched as he sniffed along the fence looking for a way under, over or through. His large, mirrored eyes probed beyond the sculpting looking for flaws in the firewall concealed in the fence. This was no Stuffer Shack or Coffin Motel with limited defences, this was the real deal.

For a start, the whole node was encrypted, meaning that it was going to take time to decrypt the records and then re-encrypt them once he had switched them. More time meant more chance of detection. Secondly, the icon at the gate was an agent, probably loaded with IC. At least it looked like an agent and not another decker, which would be worse. A show of force like that was enough to keep the wannabe deckers out, but if he could get through the firewall without triggering an alert, he knew he wouldn't even have to deal with it.

His whiskers twitched in agitation as he ran a quick check on his 'Ghost III' Stealth program. He wished he had spent some time upgrading it, guessing that even with an admin account his chances of getting in unnoticed were only about 50%.

Maybe I should have held out for more than a couple of soyburgers and fries. Hmm, Oswald seems pretty tech smart, I wonder if he has something a bit more up-to-date. Or maybe Ms Johnson could get me something better, even just a vanilla version of 'Ghost IV'.

She hadn't been running any stealth when they had met, but her other 'ware had been impressive enough, a real show of force. But getting something from her would have to wait till they got paid, unless Thirty could front the cred now. That meant getting some real data from the biker.

I wonder how they are getting on?

A silver fly appeared, buzzing around his head. Ferret snatched at it with his teeth and gulped it down, digesting the content.

Jeez, the lady sure works fast. A replacement for Heka already. Does she also have a replacement for me waiting in the wings?

[pbangarth]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 10:58 AM, Oswald's Warehouse, Merrill Creek Pkwy. Everett

Professor thought a moment. "His club?" << Any idea what this guy means when he says we've been through his club?>> He laid a hand gently on an uninjured part of the man's arm, presenting the avuncular, professorial image that worked so often with students who were realizing the import of a term's worth of partying and sleeping it off.

"What we want is simple. We've been hired to retrieve three truckloads of goods that were stolen by a fellow by the name of Big Daddy Long Legs and others with him. All we want is to get those items back. We are not being paid to do harm to him or anyone else, so we are inclined to do our job with as little damage as possible. We came upon you because you were using a Matrix ID he has used in the past. We want information from you. The sooner we find out what we need to know, the sooner our doctor can finish patching you up and we can deliver you somewhere safe. The longer it takes to get what we want to know the more effort we will put into extracting that information from you. Most of our team is outside. They prefer to be there, rather than in the same room with my partner here." He nods towards Jovan. "I'm sure you get a sense of why. Answer our questions, and he won't have to use his ... talents to rip the information out of you. Or move on to the lady who, through an amazing bit of editing of your voice by our hacker, is waiting for you, or us, to pick her up tonight and take her away from all of this. I should like to remind you that the copious amount of your blood that is strewn about this room is making my partner uncomfortably hungry. I suggest you answer quickly. Here's the order in which we would prefer information.

"First and foremost, we want to know where the trucks and their cargo are. We want to know how they are being guarded.

"Next most useful, we want to know how to get a hold of Big Daddy Long Legs, to question him about the whereabouts of the cargo.

"Otherwise, we want to know who this Ted-E fellow is, whom we hear about in your communications. Is he a teammate of Big Daddy Long Legs? Where can we find him?

"I want to emphasize, we don't want to hurt you or anyone else. Get us to the goods, and we can be done. The doctor will set your bones and sew you up. As soon as we get the cargo in our possession, we will set you free. It's as simple as that. Now, what can you tell us?"

[Sephiroth]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 10:59 AM, Oswald's Warehouse, Merrill Creek Pkwy. Everett

Jovan grinned at the the man, fangs bared. "We also want to know who you are and how you fit into this, good fellow. I would like to know the identities of these people are who have been through your club, as you say, for I do not believe we and they are the same people." While he was speaking, Jovan subtly planted a suggestion in the man's mind that the nosferatu might eat him, or worse, turn him into a vampire, if he wasn't completely honest and forthcoming with information.

[Notsoevildm]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 10:58 AM, Oswald's Warehouse, Merrill Creek Pkwy. Everett

<<Any idea what this guy means when he says we've been through his club?>>

<<@Team: His girlfriend did mention something about their place being trashed, I just assumed she meant their home. That's also when she talked about the Ted-E guy being killed too. I'm starting to think this guy's not involved with BDLL at all but I'll check into it anyway. Ask him where he got the commlink he was using. I'll get back to you asap. Keep him talking...>>

Ferret scampers away from the DMV node at the speed of thought, flying through the matrix following his trace program to the woman's location. Coming to an abrupt halt he loads up his browser program and starts scanning the area for clubs or bars.

[Saint Sithney]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 10:58 AM, Oswald's Warehouse, Merrill Creek Pkwy. Everett

Oswald continued his long shuffle to the other side of the warehouse, taking a mental moment to respond to the nebulous authority figure this comcode represented.
<<@ Ms. Johnson: We're at my place for the moment. I figured that the team should get familiar with it, as we'll likely need to stash the trucks here prior to shipping them out from the nearby docks. For similar reasons, I'd like to minimize the traffic to and from the place. I suppose I could send the car around for him, but I don't know how much longer we'll be gathered here anyway. I have trouble keeping track of the time. I suppose it all really depends on what sort of info we can pull out of our new cycle enthusiast friend. Anyway, say the word and I'll send my car around for him. At the very least he can use it to meet us at whatever new location we whirl to next.. By the way, what's the new guy's deal? Another freak, doubtless...>>

[Red-ROM]

Friday, September 11, 2071, 10:59 AM The Gold Lion Hotel

The blond with the steely gaze was staring into cybrespace once again,<<A car would be greatly appreciated Oswald, we're at the Gold Lion hotel downtown. This genleman is another weilder of the arcane, but one who seems more... stable than Heka. That's just my opinion though. >>
She then addresses the real world again,"Your new associates will be sending a car for you. There operation is moving swiftly, I hope you are prepared to start work immediately."

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 10:59 AM, Oswald's Warehouse, Merrill Creek Pkwy. Everett

The man on the gurney was nearly shaking visibly. It occurred to him that if he failed to be honest and forthcoming with this fanged creature, he would likely be eaten, or worse,"Man, this is some heavy shit man. I'm just a club owner. Twisters, in glow city, You heard of it? I get some side action from gangs and local runners, but I try not to get too deep. Big Daddy is an old time runner. he moves some big cred shit. I knew it was too deep for me, but the money was always right and he never had trouble before. Rumors came through about two or three weeks ago on a big job looking for a wheel man. I passed the word along to Big Daddy, and that was the last I heard of 'em"
He was talking so fast, it was almost incoherent. The pain killers in his system were probably the only thing keeping him from a full blown panic attack,"As for gettin in touch with him, this cat is super secretive. He don't want anyone to know nothin about where he's at or how he operates. He's got a guy, Rusty. He's a regular at the strip, er the clubs in the city. he's like a bum or somethin. But he's the guy I talk to to reach Big Daddy Long Legs, Unless Big Daddy comes to the club himself, which he did on occasion. But he don't run a commlink until he's on the job. He uses mine, or one I buy for him. After the job, he burns it. This guy don't want to be found. Now Rusty, he lives in some squat north of glow city. A real bombed out area.Cross tried to rebuild it in the sixties before they went tits up. Nothing but devil rats and homeless people there now. I couldn't tell ya any better than that."
"As for Ted-E, he's a bouncer at my club. Strawberry is my bartender, kinda my manager I guess. I got her off the beetles, and onto some more down to earth shit. Anyway, I'm on my way back from some supply business, and I get a call, It's Straw-dog screamin that some guys are wreckin the club lookin for Long Legs. I decided to take a detour, Some small time drug runners owed me a favor, so I held up at their place until I could make a move to get outa town. I have no Idea who the people wreckin the club are. I figured it was y'all."

Ferret scurried through the Matrix until he was looking at an overhead of an area of Glow city. A fifty meter cirlce was highlighted and various clubs and businesses popped up from different nodes and tags. Nothing very corporate here. Real Do It Yourself stuff. A list of clubs were prioritized; Night Shade, Tournament, Ape House, Twisters, Cheap-Oh's.

[pbangarth]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 10:59 AM, Oswald's Warehouse, Merrill Creek Pkwy. Everett

Professor patted the man on his good shoulder. "You're doing fine, chummer. That's good information. The word you passed along to Big Daddy, what was it? What contact information, or where was he to go to meet the concern interested in hiring him as a wheel man?"

He quickly texts the information gleaned so far to the others. <<Ferret or Oswald. You guys know about a place north of Glow city that was a reclamation project for Cross in the sixties? We might have to seek out 'Rusty' there.>>

[Saint Sithney]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 10:59 AM, Oswald's Warehouse, Merrill Creek Pkwy. Everett

"Stable, eh? Guess that means he's not a Trog. Maybe he's some sort of rock monster. Rocks are stable... Or a horse man. Horses live in stables..."
As Oswald continued his long journey across the floor of the warehouse, muttering to himself, the Rover, still laden with the armed and ready Kull on its roof, backed away from the door, turned and moved to the shop at the rear of the warehouse. He slung the overhead ropes around the wings, disconnected the holding ropes from wing to window and reeled in the pulley until it was taught. He then backed the car up and out from under the hanging drone plane. Another minute removing the rack-mounted launch harness and the car was ready to go.

<<@ Ms. Johnson: Vehicle on the way. I've programmed it to page you when it reaches the hotel.>>
With that, the car was off to the pre-programmed destination. Driver seat still missing.

<<@ Professor: I was still Ares' prisoner all through the 60s. CATCo business wasn't my business. Let me know when Joe is done in there. I want to talk to him about warding this place. I figure it's the natural spot to hold up our re-pilfered trucks since it's only a few miles from the Everett docks.>>

[Acme]

Friday, September 11, 2071, 10:59 AM The Gold Lion Hotel

Acme frowned but shrugged. What other choice did he have. He figured he could have the team swing by his place if he really needed something; the beauty of being a shaman is he usually had his bits with him and didn't need something stupid like a silver cane to tap three times in the moon... He nodded to Mrs. J and held out his hand. "If you bodyguard would help me by returning my pistol I'll be right as rain," he replied. "Coyote's taught me to pack light. Man only really needs the spirits." He smirked to the other shaman.

[pbangarth]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 11:00 AM, Oswald's Warehouse, Merrill Creek Pkwy. Everett

<<@Oswald: I was sort of hoping that while I am occupied here someone might ferret out information through the matrix.>>

[Sephiroth]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 11:00 AM, Oswald's Warehouse, Merrill Creek Pkwy. Everett

Jovan took a moment to consider the implications of an unidentified party looking for Long Legs as well, simultaneously looking at the new message he had received from their employer. Oh no. Not another one. I already have too many people to hide myself from as it is. He made a mental note to speak with Professor about that problem after their business with this man was concluded. Then a small realization hit him about the unknown people looking for Long Legs. Perhaps these people are not so unidentified after all.

He took a step closer to the man as he spoke, "Are you acquainted with a person who goes by the moniker of Viper12? This person may be linked with the trashing of your club, if it wasn't actually Ares' doing. And as for Long Legs, you said that he came to your Twisters club on occasion. So you have met him in the past. What does he look like? What do you know of his capabilities and general modus operandi besides his burning of commlinks? What kind of person did he strike you as on the occasions when you met with him personally?"

[Saint Sithney]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 11:00 AM, Oswald's Warehouse, Merrill Creek Pkwy. Everett

<<@Professor: Oh, heheheheh, yeah.. sure thing.>>

<<@Agent: Monty! Fetch me all the info you can on CATCo's Redmond reclamation project from the middle 2060s. Images of the site are encouraged.>>

"Right, Danny. Back up on the table. I gotta finish taking stock of your parts."

[Notsoevildm]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 10:59 AM, Oswald's Warehouse, Merrill Creek Pkwy. Everett
Ferret scurried through the Matrix until he was looking at an overhead of an area of Glow city. A fifty meter cirlce was highlighted and various clubs and businesses popped up from different nodes and tags. Nothing very corporate here. Real Do It Yourself stuff. A list of clubs were prioritized; Night Shade, Tournament, Ape House, Twisters, Cheap-Oh's.

<<@Team: Ok, got some club names near where the girlfriend is located: Night Shade, Tournament, Ape House, Twisters, Cheap-Oh's. Don't know too much about them, but any of them match up with what our friend has mentioned?

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 10:59 AM, Oswald's Warehouse, Merrill Creek Pkwy. Everett
<<Ferret or Oswald. You guys know about a place north of Glow city that was a reclamation project for Cross in the sixties? We might have to seek out 'Rusty' there.>>

<<@Team: Well if you mean north of Glow City but still in Redmond, I got a couple of contacts that might be able to help. If you mean North of Redmond, then we're gonna need some more info on this mook, like what does he looks like. Let me know and I'll put the word out to my people. Ah frag it. It's gonna take a good while to find a way into the DMV, time for a break.

Keeping his programs running in the background, the chromed rodent flies back to it's nest and Ferret opens his eyes. Then he unlocks the van and steps out into the warehouse. Rolling the stiffness out of his neck and stretching his short arms in with a yawn, he ambles over towards Thirty.

"Don't hear no screaming, so I guess our boy is cooperating?"

[HugeC]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 11:00 AM, Oswald's Warehouse, Merrill Creek Pkwy. Everett

Thirty comes out of his apparent reverie and nods at Ferret. "Seems like. Also sounds like some other interested party is one or more steps ahead of us. We need to get caught up quick, or I fear the Johnsons will be very disappointed with us. Soon as Professor and Jovan declare they are done, we can start following up these new leads," he says.

As an afterthought he adds, "Oh, and chummer, I know it goes without saying, but any work you need to do to take care of the Johnsons' problem takes precedent over that favor you were gonna do for me. I sure do appreciate that, by the way. If you feel you need some more soyburgers or anything, you just let me know, I'll hook you up." He offers Ferret a friendly, tusky smile and a respectful nod.

[Red-ROM]

Friday, September 11, 2071, 11:27 AM The Gold Lion Hotel

The Rover had made its way through traffic pretty well, since morning rush hour had passed. Mrs. Johnson had called down and alerted the Hotel's node to the expected car. Acme had his gun returned and was escorted to the lobby by his new "cousin". Once in the elevator again, the Big man whispered as if someone was listening,"I will keep my eyes open for this ghoul of yours, I hope you do the same. There are some bad shadows looming."With the doors opening, The man put on a phony smile and walked Acme to his car.

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 11:27 AM, Oswald's Warehouse, Merrill Creek Pkwy. Everett

Oswalds agent had run through the Matrix gathering what it could on CatCo, Reclamation, Mid twenty-sixties. And came back with a bucket load of data. It was a lot to process. Especially since Oswald was elbows deep in putting Danny back together. The project started with a state of the art Chemical lab in the middle of the barrens, Probably put there to discourage prying eyes. The move was called folly by the media after several employees were murdered or robbed and beaten in the street. Lucien Cross went on the trids calling this the last straw. Several clips of the speech were referenced,"Too long have we let prime real estate go to gangs and crime. I will personally buy it back from the brink, chunk by chunk. In time,My efforts are sure to encourage my peers to do the same. This will create jobs and stability, and make this city whole again. The first jobs created will be the increased security forces that will put an end to this absurdity at our doorstep. The lives lost here today will not go in vain". For four years CatCo worked to build their oasis in the desert of garbage. Several office towers and distribution centers went up along with new infrastructure; roads, water and sewage, electrical, state of the art Matrix lines. The general public lost interest after the first week, they only paid attention when something went wrong, and a lot of things were going wrong. The lists of violence on the streets and strange accidents on the job would fill a data chip. The worst being the explosion of the Chemical plant. 600 dead and 1,200 injured, mostly by escaping, toxic fumes. The company took a major loss on the whole development and shut it down, leaving it worse off than when they started.