IC: Post or Die, Lifelines, and deadlines Options

[Acme]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 4:08 PM. 23rd street, "Glow City"- Cheap-Ohs

Acme nodded, noting that he'd need to cover something for Thirty in the future with him picking up the beers. It was probably the first time he hoped that they'd be a little weak, since he needed to have his head clear for spotting their prey. Already he couldn't look for too long at the girls, it looked like their dances were robotic and memorized instead of the natural flow that one would expect from good talent.
<@Thirty I really hope we don't last here much longer. I think one of the dancers is thinking one of us is her next John..>

[Red-ROM]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 4:07 PM, Oswald's Warehouse, Merrill Creek Pkwy. Everett

The man strapped to a gurney stared at the ceiling as it was more comforting than looking at the robot,"Well, I'm not sure what my options are at this point really. As priorities go, I'd say not being eaten or shot are way up the list. Getting unstrapped from this thing would be nice too. I think I'm done with Twisters. Somebody else can deal with that crazy shit. I know some people in Puyallup that can set me up with somethin."

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 4:08 PM. 23rd street, "Glow City"- Cheap-Ohs

The kid that was nabbed by Professor manages to squirm free and run off. Most of the others join him, but four of the older ones stick around at the mention of money. Their eyes flit back and forth between the dwarf and the man with the comlinks, the light rain beading on their greasy hair. The man sitting in the alley starts to open a bag,"well, I usually charge 50 cred for one of these, but I like your style. I'll let ye have one at 30. Which one you want?"
Inside, Thirty's waitress smiles half hearted,"Sure thing sexy". With that she heads to the table with the Asian man who's arm stops moving under his coat for a second.

[pbangarth]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 4:08 PM. 23rd street, "Glow City"- Cheap-Ohs


Professor sizes up the four boys. "That's an interesting offer, sir. Give me just a moment to deal with these young gentlemen. Boys, I'm looking for a guy named Rusty. I just wanna talk with him. Hangs out here at Cheap-Ohs a lot." He describes Rusty. "I'll give each of you 25 nuyen now to stake this place out for the rest of the day, into the night if necessary, and I'll give 50 more nuyen to the one who finds Rusty and tells me quietly without raising any alarm."

Professor waits for a reply from the boys and gives them the money if they accept. Once they've spread out as they wish, he turns to the sitting man. "I'll give you 250 nuyen for the whole lot of commlinks." He chuckles. "And one of the bags to hold them all."

[Red-ROM]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 4:09 PM. 23rd street, "Glow City"- Cheap-Ohs

The biggest boy, maybe 11, takes the cred and speaks in the toughest voice he can muster,"We know him, I'll let ya know when I see him." He motioned to his friends, and teh ran down the alley toward Ferret's van.
"This must be your lucky day buddy," said the man handing the bags to Professor with a smile of blackened teeth.

[pbangarth]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 4:10 PM. 23rd street, "Glow City"- Cheap-Ohs

Professor pays the man and wanders back to Ferret in the car. On the way back he reports to the team. <<@team: False alarm in the alleyway, I think. Have posted four kids looking for Rusty. One says he knows him. Street bum sold me a bunch of operating commlinks he has collected in the neighbourhood. Taking them to Ferret now to see if he can find anything useful among them. Otherwise I just bought an expensive pile of junk.>>

He makes as unobtrusive a return to the car as he can, and passes the bag of commlinks in to Ferret. "Do your magic, if you can here, big guy. I'll keep my eyes peeled."

[Saint Sithney]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 4:09 PM, Oswald's Warehouse, Merrill Creek Pkwy. Everett

"Eaten, eh? Ahhahaha.. Best not to believe everything you see or hear when people are trying to scare the shit out of you.." Jovan doesn't eat people, right? "Ahh.. you seem smart enough to know you'da been shot by now if that was on the menu. Maybe you'll do something to get yourself shot, though. I don't know. Hard to tell, seeing as how we're strangers yet.. But, if you stay here, you can hang out, watch some trid, have some breakfast. I don't care. If you want to go to the Puyallups, I could drop you off somewhere downtown. Hopefully you've got the cred for an autocab to your destination. I think that link they took off you might be around here somewhere... Problem is I need to get my car fixed up first. You know anything about auto mechanics? Or is that head-wound of yours keeping you on bed-rest still?"

By this point, Oswald had given up on wedging the Rigger Cocoon any further into the vehicle and was well on his way towards the living quarters and offices on the south side of the warehouse. On reaching the door where Danny stood, leveling the massive revolver at the restrained man, Oswald peaked in and flipped on the lights. "Sorry about the lights. I'll only be a moment." Oswald maneuvered around to the man's right arm and, with his right hand holding his Redline pistol, used his left hand to loosen the cuff on the man's wrist so that, with a little bit of twisting and pulling "Jack Jameson" could pull his hand free and take care of the rest of the cuffs himself. With that first small step accomplished, Oswald backed towards the door where the robot kept guard.

"Alright, regardless of whether you stay here a bit longer, help me fix my car so we can get you out of here, or some comedy third option I haven't thought of yet, I'll give you a quick rundown of the rules for my establishment.
1) Don't go outside. I am a man with a lot of explosives and a lot of free time. There are booby traps everywhere. Even more of them set to my biomonitor, should any misfortune befall me.
2) You break it, you bought it... and by "it" I mean the farm. Any harm comes to my property, I will treat it as if that harm was directed at myself, and, well.."
As Jack was working on uncuffing his legs, Oswald raised the laser pistol toward the dart board on the far wall of this little "entertainment room" of his. With nothing but a reek of ozone to mark any action, the center of the dart board flared up momentarily, leaving not only a hole in the center, but through the wall into the room where Jovan lay resting.. and through the far wall... and then through the distant wall of the warehouse... and a tree outside.. it was hard to tell after that.
"3) You're going to be escorted at all times by my lovely assistant over here. That's for your own protection on account of rules one and two. Just so you know, testing out his parameters to see what kind of crap you can get away with before he shoots you.. is one of the parameters for him shooting you. Keep it simple. Bathroom, food, couch, trids. You get esoteric and he might take it the wrong way. He's just froggy like that. Heh heh heh heh..."
"..mm-don't-mind-him-he's-crazy-mm.." the one-armed robot hummed out.
"Dammit, Danny, don't go undermining me in front of company!"
"..mm-sorry-Riggs-mm.."
"So, what's it gonna be, Jack?"

[Notsoevildm]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 4:10 PM. 23rd street, "Glow City", parked near Cheap-Ohs

Ferret relaxes when he hears the Professor's message. He can see the commlinks getting closer in his mind. When the Professor hands him the bag of 'links, he looks like a kid in a candy store.

"Thanks Prof. I'll take a look and see if any of them are any good or have any useful info on them. At the very least we have a decent supply of disposable links."

Ferret takes the bag and sits them in his lap. He starts pulling the links out one by one, scanning them both physically and electronically, then setting each one to hidden mode. He either slaves them to his own link, or to one of the other links he has already checked, slowly building a network of nodes around his own comm with the lowest ratings on the edge and the more powerful ones closer to his own link.

[Red-ROM]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 4:09 PM, Oswald's Warehouse, Merrill Creek Pkwy. Everett

Oswald's captive rubbed his wrists and stretched after sitting up on the gurney,"Sounds like the safest thing to do is help you with your car. I don't know a lot, but I could hand you tools and help you lift things"

[Red-ROM]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 4:10 PM. 23rd street, "Glow City", parked near Cheap-Ohs

Inside, The two women on stage finish their song and make their way through the door to the left of the stage. The girl in the sweater hops up on stage and strips down to nothing. The waitress shows up with two beers, still in the can. She looks to the Elf,"Hey doll, those two girls that were just dancing, they want to know if you're interested in a private party?"
While she's giving her sales pitch, A troll, with a chain mail shirt under his leather jacket and Stiletto colors up one side and down the other, makes his way from the room on the right to the two orks in the club. His septum has eroded to the point that he has one large nostril that drips ever so slightly. He speaks in a stern tone, not trying to raise his voice, but naturally loud,"We gotta go, Squirly and his lot can watch the place"

[Acme]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 4:10 PM. 23rd street, "Glow City", parked near Cheap-Ohs

Acme groans internally, not out of excitement, but confirmation of his fear. That would be all he needed, not only to get distracted away from the job to where Thirty could get hurt if something happened, but then there was the fear that these strippers had some unholy form of VD that had been mutated from the radiation. He held his hand up, shaking his head as he took the beer. "Maybe later, I'm outta credit," he replied. "'s why my cousin here is buying the drinks today." He chuckled and leaned back, forcing himself to watch the newest dancer.

[pbangarth]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 4:10 PM. 23rd street, "Glow City", parked near Cheap-Ohs

<<@Team:Oswald is ready to come overwatch. We might as well add his sky eyes to our grounded ones. Hoy, old man, give us your ETA and we'll keep you informed of our happenings. We have Acme and Thirty inside, God help them, Ferret and Professor outside, and a crew of street children patrolling the environs hoping to earn some cred with an ID. Oh yeah, and Ferret has a fistful of discarded commlinks to play with.

How's Jovan and our guest?>>

[HugeC]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 4:11 PM. 23rd street, "Glow City", parked near Cheap-Ohs

Thirty chuckles softly, grins at Acme and says, <Nice dodge. All those twigs woulda done is poke your eyes out. Looks like we might be waiting a while for Rusty to show. Lets give him a bit longer and then move this party outside. I figure we can keep an eye out just as well from the van, and if we stay too long in here, either I'm going to get really depressed, or really drunk, and I'd rather do neither.> He hoists his beer and takes a sip, giving a whistle of appreciation for the latest performer.

[Saint Sithney]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 4:10 PM, Oswald's Warehouse, Merrill Creek Pkwy. Everett

<<@Professor: Well, since Danny is preoccupied keeping guard on Jack, I figured I'd get Jack to do Danny's work. So, he's here helping me put my car back together. Should be done in an hour or two. Jovan didn't stir when I fired into his room, so it's safe to say he's still sleeping.>>

Jack's shock of walking from a small office environment into a large open-air warehouse was completely lost on Oswald as he powered ahead to the mechanic shop. "This way. This way." He goaded the abused prisoner. "Just help me shove this big son of a bitch in here and I can start bolting it into place..."

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 7:00 PM, Oswald's Warehouse, Merrill Creek Pkwy. Everett

It had taken some time, but, for a rush job, everything looked to be perfectly solid. "Alright. We're ready to get out of here. Why don't you hop in the back. My medical apparatus is back there. I'll run you through a quick physical therapy and drug treatment. Should help speed up your recovery. Also, you won't have to worry about pesky things like remembering where my building is. Go on in. Don't worry. I'll pump you full of the good stuff. You'll be feeling great straight into next week." Ozzy helped the still reluctant man into the Valkyrie Module situated in the Rover's trunk. "There ya go. Just hang on a second." One of the modules cuffs came down and attached to his arm, injecting a light anesthetic. "That's the stuff, eh? Count backwards from ten.." Oswald closed the doors and walked off to the other side of the SUV. Opening the door and the rigger cocoon, he climbed inside, ready to work.

<<@Danny: Go wake our other guest. Ask him if he wants a ride to the site.>>

[Notsoevildm]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 4:42 PM. 23rd street, "Glow City"
PAN: hidden, Programs active: Analyze, Browse, Scan, Spoof, and Stealth

Shit, thinks Ferret realising he has lost around forty minutes while playing around with the commlinks. He looks around nervously, checking to see if anything has happened in the meantime. He only sees the Prof still sitting up front in the van looking vaguely bored.

"Hey buddy, I hate to tell you but these 'links are shit. Nothing interesting on them either. But if you need a disposable comm, I guess they're okay. Sorry, looks like you wasted your money.>>

<<@Thirty, Acme: If you get a chance ask about a troll goes by the name of Snot. Do not laugh at the name. If anyone asks why, tell them you have a line of some 'gear' he might be interested in.>>

<<@Beetle: My van is parked a couple of doors up from Cheap Oh's. Your delivery boy can hand the stuff over when he gets here. BTW, how much is it all gonna cost?>>

[Sephiroth]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 7:01 PM, Oswald's Warehouse, Merrill Creek Pkwy. Everett

Jovan was slowly starting to awaken when his sensitive ears picked up the sound of heavy mechanical footsteps approaching his room. For a moment, he considered in annoyance the idea of Draining the nuisance who sent a drone to bother him, but then he remembered where he was and decided that such a thing might endanger his already precarious status with this group. And so he held his peace and let the manservant enter, simultaneously checking the numerous messages waiting in his inbox so as to update himself on the situation.

"Perhaps. It would depend, of course, on who I would be riding with," he said in response to the manservant's inquiry. "What is the situation with the others in that hellhole?"

[Saint Sithney]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 7:01 PM, Oswald's Warehouse, Merrill Creek Pkwy. Everett


Oswald's voice came hissing through the drone's speaker.
"Well, I'm sealed off in the cocoon, Jack's sealed in the back, the windows are cranked up to opaque, and we're ready to roll. I need to drop Jack off near a cab stand downtown, then we'll take the southern road to lower Redmond. We'll park a few miles from the glow proper, probably near the old hospital where they sent Heka. From there we'll provide offsite backup, but be close enough to get on the ground if needed."
There was a short pause in the torrent of words.
"If you're worried about me and your.. condition, please feel free to take a look around my warehouse. You'll see immediately that I don't throw away anything that's still useful. And before you go jumping to any conclusions and assume that it's common knowledge, I pieced it together from seeing you start smoking as you ran to the blimp earlier. That and you kept saying 'thou' in your messages. You might want to work on not using old English if you want people to think that you're normal like me and Danny. Heheheheh. So knuckle up and let's hit the road... Actually, there's soycaf if you need... and you might want to fill a thermos. I don't know how long we'll be out there before we hit on anything."

[HugeC]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 4:42 PM. 23rd street, "Glow City"

Thirty looks around the club for the troll he had seen earlier, but now there's no sign of him, so he whispers into the comms, <Snot, eh? Yeah, a troll came in a while ago that has to be him, but he left. We'll see if we can track him down.>

[Acme]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 4:42 PM. 23rd street, "Glow City"

Acme shrugged. It was a lead to pursue, much better than the one they'd been going through. Flagging down the waitress, he tilted his head. "There's something ya can actually do for me," he replied. "My 'cus and I were looking for Snot. We need to talk some biz with him, you seen him around lately?"

[Sephiroth]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 7:02 PM, Oswald's Warehouse, Merrill Creek Pkwy. Everett

Jovan ignored the subtle insult for the moment, albeit with slight difficulty. A nosferatu is nobody's tool. There would be time enough to redress the old man's ...error... later. "'Mend your speech a little, Oswald, lest you may mar your fortunes.' If we are releasing the prisoner, I am going to need to do a few things with him first. " He got up off the bed, grabbed his lined coat from where it had been hanging, and made for the Rover. "Let's hurry up and get this job done."

[Red-ROM]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 4:43 PM. 23rd street, "Glow City"

The waitress paused for a second, wondering if they had seen him out here earlier. She surmised that they didn't actually know him, but that didn't mean they didn't have business with the guy,"You just missed him hot pants, he went through here like twenty minutes ago. I think he's in the middle of some Stiletto biz at the moment."
The waitress didn't know much more than that. The scene didn't change much in the next few hours. drunks and perverts came and went. By seven, the sun began to lean on the horizon and add a bit of orange to the pale faces on the street.
Ferret gets a hit back from Beetle,<<My guy can be there in about an hour, Lets round the cred to 300. Drop it in this account{attached}>>

6:02 PM
The occupants of Ferret's van watch a motorcycle pulling up along side them. The driver pings Ferret's number and lets him know that beetle sent him with the gear. He drops off his backpack with him and takes off as fast as he can. Inside the grungy bag is four heavy duty respirators and a bag of Novacoke.

7:20 PM

Oswald's rover was just outside Glow city. The Dickensian child from Professor's alley constitutional came tapping on the side of the van. When addressed he held out his hand for payment,"I seen yer guy."

[pbangarth]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 7:20 PM. 23rd street, "Glow City"

Professor holds the payment ready but doesn't conclude the transaction. "OK, big guy. Where is he... what is he wearing?"

[Red-ROM]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 7:20 PM. 23rd street, "Glow City"

The young man pointed. Through the misty rain hovering in the haze of the sunset, Professor watches an old man in a fuzzy poncho and black motorcycle helmet coming up the far sidewalk, heading into Twisters."There he is" said the grubby kid,"He was up the street, fixing a guys bike."

[pbangarth]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 7:21 PM. 23rd street, "Glow City"
(PAN: active)

Professor makes the payment. "Thanks, kid. Maybe we can do business again sometime. Who should I ask for if I need some work again?"

<<@team:Rusty identified, heading into Twisters. 'Old man in a fuzzy poncho and black motorcycle helmet.'>>

[Acme]

[quote name='pbangarth' date='Oct 18 2010, 08:15 PM' post='1001585']
Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 7:21 PM. 23rd street, "Glow City"


Acme stood up, getting the message. [color="#00FFFF"]"Great, something happened that didn't make us miss a contact," he said, grabbing his coat. He felt lucky that the place watered down its drinks, or with the amount of brain-cell killer that he consumed in the last three hours would have made him useless. He headed for the exit, waiting for Thirty impatiently.

[HugeC]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 7:21 PM. 23rd street, "Glow City"

Thirty gets up and follows Acme out the door, feigning reluctance to leave.

When they have met up with Professor again and are on their way over to Twisters, he says, "I hear this place is where the locals go to get high on the nasty kind of drugs. Let's stick together, get the info we need from Rusty, and get the frag outta here, eh chummers?" He puts on a brave face for his companions, but he longs for the relative safety of his low-rent apartment building back in Tacoma.