2072: Game World, IC thread for 2072: Recruitment always open! Options

[Combat Mage]

[20:07 January 1st, 2072; The Muddy River Bar, Redmond]

Akecheta eyed his commlink suspiciously. How in all hells did that happen now? Someone had listened to his conversation with the barkeep without him noticing. He looked around the badly lit room but he couldn't make anyone that was obviously paying attention to him.
The whole thing seemed fishy. In addition he would have to go against the mob. He already had one syndicate putting a price on his head, he didn't need another. But a quick glance towards his account balance, which displayed the sad number of 350 nuyen total, convinced him that he couldn't be too picky right now.

He quickly typed a message and sent it to the contact information his mysterious Johnson had given.

<<Alright. Give me ten minutes to get some equipment and I'm on it. You have the exact location of the target?>>

With that done he quickly left the shabby bar and got on the troll-sized black motorcycle waiting for him in the parking lot. With a surprisingly quiet hum the electric motor kicked into action.

Six Minutes later Akecheta was back in his new apartment. He quickly put on his complete armor set, form-fitting body armor, some additional discreet strap-on protection pieces and the armored leather jacket. He pulled the Praetor and the MGL-6 from their hiding place behind the night table and stuffed some spare clips into his pockets.
Finally he put on a ski mask and covered it with his motorcycle helmet that had been adapted to accomodate his horns.

Now the only thing to do was wait for the mysterious employer to call him back.

Six against one. Not exactly the most favorable odds. But he wasn't called The Beast for nothing after all.

[Abschalten]

Silk
[13:52 January 1st, 2072; Seattle University Campus Library, Downtown Seattle]

Dr. Fleming rose and took Silk's hand in both of hers. With a smile that lit up her entire face, she said, "No, dearie. I think the pleasure is going to be all mine. Do keep in touch!" And with that, Fleming turned off the WNG, grabbed her purse, and then slipped out of the room.

[Suicidal Street ...]

Rhodes snorted at the mention of a respirator, but did follow Seti back into Penumbra. He nodded to the booth where the botched date had begun, and where the silver-haired pretty boy was sitting with his head down on the table. He flexed his fists and cracked his knuckles; his blood was up and he was ready for a fight. Or a beer. He slid into one of the chairs -- it creaked a bit, but held -- then rolled his shoulders as he settled in.

"So. You said something about a drink. And a job."

Seti nodded. "Yeah, order up. You too," he nodded to Silver. "Without you two, I'd be ground soy right now."

He waited for the drinks to come, and then huddled in close to the table. "Alright, so another runner-friend of mine has just landed a job, but she needs a team for it. We freelance, so she hasn't got anybody to tap, necessarily. You guys have just proved to me that you're good in a fight; if you want, I can vouch for you two." He took a sip of the lukewarm ale, and thought Now here comes the tough sell.

"Only one problem: She's out of her mind. This girl plays with superviruses like they were AR games. If you join in, there is a chance that you'll get infected with something you can't even pronounce." Another sip. "Worse yet, I'm not one-hundred percent sure what the job is, yet. But, it sounds like she's already met with the Johnson, and a job in the hand is worth two in the bush. What'd'ya say?"

[Combat Mage]

[20:18 January 1st, 2072; Club Penumbra, International District, Seattle]
[Silver]

Superviruses? That's too crazy for my liking...

"Generally I'm always up for some well paid work but right now I got something I need to take care of. So I'll have to decline your offer. Was nice meeting you two though. Take care."

With that the white-haired mage stood up and left the club.

[Grimm]

Akechete
[20:24 January 1st, 2072; Akechete‘s Apartment; Redmond]

The troll seemed to have some recollection of a couple people coming and going during his time in the Muddy River Bar. Any one of them could have been the mysterious Johnson with the seemingly odd job. His return message was answered as he donned his running gear in the privacy of his squat.

”I am pleased you have decided to accept the job. This information is current as of approximately forty minutes ago. I currently have a shadow keeping an eye on the location. Floor plans for these condos in the ‘plex are not reliable due to the nature of Redmond. Of this, I’m sure you will understand.”

With the message came a series of images that included the location of the condo. It appeared to be one simply in a series of other old condos that fell out of use as Redmond descended into squalor. One interesting oddity that stands out to Akechete from the images is local squatters seem to stay away from the building. The condo itself appears to be two stories tall and has a single car garage attached to it. The side doors have long since been boarded up and the front appears to have a series of locks on it. Much of the area surrounding the condo is overgrown with weeds and other vegetation. Reaching the condo would likely require no greater than a twenty minute drive by motorcycle.

”It is unknown where the prisoner is currently being held inside of the condo. You will have to find that out yourself. Bring the prisoner, whether alive or dead; to the additional coordinates. This is where we will take him from you and transfer your pay. Any further questions, contact me.”

[Combat Mage]

[20:45 January 1st, 2072; Dilapidated Condominium; Bargain Basement]

About 20 minutes after receiving the information on the condo Akecheta had reached his target. He stopped the black Yamaha Suzuki Mirage a block away and activated the anti-theft-system. He took out the Praetor from his saddlebag and slid it's sling over his shoulder. He quickly checked the magazine and confirmed that it was loaded with stick-n-shock ammunition. no need to upset the mob any more than he had too.

Keeping the helmet on he carefully made his way closer to the target building. He tried to be as inconspicuous as possible but a 3 meter troll doesn't lend itself to stealthy acitivity easily and he wasn't very experienced with infiltration matters anyway.

As soon as he had good visual he thought for a moment on how he wanted to handle the situation.

[Suicidal Street ...]

[20:18 January 1st, 2072; Club Penumbra, International District, Seattle]

Seti nodded at Silver's back. He couldn't blame the guy.

"Well, chummer, what about you?"

[Grimm]

[20:45 January 1st, 2072; Dilapidated Condominium; Bargain Basement]

Akechete wheeled his bike up the side street that led to the condoplex where his target was located. He caught a glimpse of an old sign in the undergrowth along the side of the road denoting the condoplex as "Oceania Plaza". A quaint name given its current sordid state of affairs. The anti-theft system would ensure no one would strip or steal the bike; though it was clear that some of the locals were circling like starving vultures. Or meta-humans as the case may be.

The path through the locals cleared easily ahead of him as the troll made his way up the street. A couple of glimpses of the huge troll from those nearby caused them to clear out quickly. Leaning against a half-broken down wall he took in the condo that had been marked in the communication from the Johnson. The safehouse looked as though it had been subject to a fair amount of repair work. Connected to the left side of the condo was the neighboring condo. That half of the building had been left to rot and decay as time passed. The troll was certain he spotted some movement in that half of the building but could not be entirely sure what it was.

The front door of the safehouse was secured three visible locks with no indication of any of the other measures that might be in place. After a few minutes of observation, nothing seems to be occurring in or around the safehouse other than the bit of errant movement in the adjoining condo.

[Combat Mage]

[20:45 January 1st, 2072; Dilapidated Condominium; Bargain Basement]

For a moment Akecheta considered just going in with a bang. That was what he did best after all and he was equipped for it too. His trusty pistol-sized grenade launcher should suffice to open up the boarded side door. Since this were the barrens police response would take eternities if they came at all, leaving him with enough time to get his business done.

But he decided to try a more subtle approach first, he could always go back to the "hands-on" tactic later on.

Maybe they set up an escape route through the adjacent building. Worth a try at least.

The large troll made his way towards the run-down condo next to his real target in big strides. He had no time to waste. With each second it was more likely that he couldn't retrieve the guy alive, which would cut his profit by half.

Just stay alive a while longer you idiot! You can die after I delivered you to the Johnson...

[Red_Cap]

[20:18 January 1st, 2072; Club Penumbra, International District, Seattle]

Seti nodded at Silver's back. He couldn't blame the guy.

"Well, chummer, what about you?"

Rhodes stared into the tall glass of hurlg he'd ordered, shrugged, and slammed the whole thing. "A job's a job, right? Gotta keep myself in soy. I'm in." He punctuated that with a loud belch followed by the toothiest grin possible this side of a hungry tiger.

[Grimm]

Akechete
[20:47 January 1st, 2072; Dilapidated Condominium; Bargain Basement]

The troll jogged quickly towards the ruined side of the building to look for an alternate exit the inhabitants of the safehouse might use. The walls of this side of the condo are barely held together in most places from pieces of wood that have been nailed up on the interior. Akechete cautiously leans near a hole to get a view of the inside and is greeted by the acrid smell of waste. Piles of refuse and garbage litter the entire area. A massive, mutated quadraped is nosing around through the garbage as it hunts for something to eat. It looks as though it could have been a dog at some point in the past.

The wall of the first floor that is adjacent to the safehouse appears to be in moderate repair. There are several places on the wall where varying pieces of wood have been used to patch holes. It does not appear that there is an exit built anywhere into the first floor from the safehouse. A set of stairs leads upstairs though Akechete isn't entirely sure about how they will support his weight.

OOC: So you know I will likely be gone most of the day today. So if I reply it likely won't be until later tonight, 12+ hours after the timestamp on this post.

[Combat Mage]

[20:47 January 1st, 2072; Dilapidated Condominium; Bargain Basement]

Akecheta scratched his head. Well, so much for that plan... He turned around and made his way back towards the target building.

Let's do this the direct way!

The side door seemed to be the weakest point. While approaching it the troll burst into a sprint and crashed into the boarded over door with the full weight of almost 900 pounds of muscles and reinforced bones.

[Grimm]

[20:47 January 1st, 2072; Dilapidated Condominium; Bargain Basement]

The large troll barreled into what he assumed to be the weakest point of the safehouse to gain entry. A strong charge and shoulder check knocked a huge chunk out of the wall; but it did not do as much damage as he assumed it would. The plywood that was boarded over the door was supported behind by a denser sheet of material of some sort. Akecheta could tell this material was not something one would find in a squat. Unfortunately, the hole he knocked through the barrier was at chest and head level where his upper body had contacted. The troll saw movement as some yells in Italian echoed in the interior.

A quick survey of the interior shows the hole leads into a living room. The dining room is off of the living room to the left. The kitchen and the living room are split by a divider where the dining room grant access to the kitchen. A set of stairs is to the right that leads to the second floor. The floor is littered with miscellaneous garbage and a few errant pieces of furniture. Graffiti covers the walls almost completely.

It appears as though there is one mobster standing out in the kitchen and two more in the living room. The unmistakable sounds of guns being cocked echoed in his ears.

OOC: You basically plowed into the barrier and knocked a hole through the top. Their immediate response was to draw weapons as it is always an assumption for them that any disturbance at the safehouse is hostile. I'm not going to give them an attack until Initiative is determined however. If the substance had been only plywood then you would have gone straight through on your roll. But since it was backed by a Reinforced layer (In case something like this happened), you only managed to knock a hole out as determined by the soak roles and Armor/Structure Rating. The description is your quick glimpse of the room as you gained access.

[Combat Mage]

[20:47 January 1st, 2072; Dilapidated Condominium; Bargain Basement]

Drek!

This wasn't exactly how he had pictured the whole thing going. Cursing the massive troll moved a bit to the left to avoid being shot through the fresh hole in the door. He put all his strength in a kick that he hoped would take out the still intact lower half of the door, finally allowing him entrance.

Let the fun time begin!

[Grimm]

[20:47 January 1st, 2072; Dilapidated Condominium; Bargain Basement]

Akecheta's sharp kick on the remaining sheet of reinforcement caused it to shudder and give way, leaving an opening into the safehouse. He could hear more Italian words being exchanged from the interior and the tell-tale reports of gunshots as the mobsters fired through the opening. They did not appear to make any effort to exit the building and come out to him.

[Combat Mage]

[20:47 January 1st, 2072; Dilapidated Condominium; Bargain Basement]

Here it goes, action!

Akecheta pulled out his ArmTech MGL pistol-size grenade launcher, waiting for a short break in the shooting. As soon as it stopped for a second he quickly leaned in to get a line of sight and fired two smoke grenades through the open door, one to the left and one to the right. Jumping back behind the wall he took a second to stow it away before he carefully entered the building with the Praetor SMG ready, relying on his natural thermographic vision and the vision enhancements in his glasses to make out his enemies movements.

[AStarshipforAnts]

[21:03 January 3rd, 2072; An as-of-yet unnamed rough part of town]

Dahlia left Doc M’s clinic empty handed. The street doc had no information for her regarding any freelancers that she didn’t already know about. Had she called her sniper friend, yet? Of course. And by the time Dahlia had dressed appropriately for an excursion into Redmond and spoken to Doc M, night had fallen upon Seattle. At least she had gone into the scumpit of the city armed to the teeth, or at least as armed as an academic like Dahlia could.

She stepped out of Doc M’s street clinic, the rectangle of light from the tiny building’s interior squeezing shut before disappearing altogether into the darkness. Dahlia double-checked the buttons on her winter coat before shoving her hands in her pockets—where the vibroblade and injection dagger (loaded with a dose of KE IV) rested. On the interior of her coat, the Ares Predator rested against the small of her back —loaded with a clip of stick-n-shock. Beneath the coat, and festive red synthwool sweater, she wore the form-fitting body armor usually reserved for jobs and other trips into unsavory areas.

These were normal precautions. But, so wrapped up was she in the machinations of her own mind, that she didn’t notice a dark and lanky shadow slink from an alleyway to follow her.

[Aria]

[14:14 January 1st, 2072; Outside Seattle University Campus Library, Downtown Seattle]

Silk made her way rapidly back to the bus stop just as the corrosive drops of Seattle rain began to fall in earnest. For Silk the place came alive in the rain, even more so than in the rare sunshine, everything was washed clean, or at least appeared so, the lights were reflected into infinity and the AR feeds seemed that much more vibrant.

Of course they could be a distraction too, she mused, swatting aside an advert for a new campus coffee shop filled with bright young things exercising their academic and social impulses. Pangs of hunger struck quickly and realising that she eaten anything since waking earlier she changed direction and headed for the new watering hole. Sitting down in the plush arm chairs designed to lull the occupant in to spending more money she ordered a double espresso and a sandwich.

Hopefully Aria would be able to round up some matrix talent, that just left Silk to see if she could dredge up some astral support. Although she didn't anticipate a company like this requiring active mages or spirits on site she would be stupid to go in there without checking first. Silk hadn't been on ShadowSEA for a while but she knew the right sort of places to look...hopefully she should be able to track it down without going to Aria yet again.

[Grimm]

[20:47 January 1st, 2072; Dilapidated Condominium; Bargain Basement]

The pair of smoke grenades sung through the air as they impacted in their respective locations and began to flood the area with smoke. Inside, he could make out the harsh sound of coughing as a periodic shot cracked into the material around the opening the troll had created. He slipped through the hole at a point when the action was light and could clearly make out two distinct heat signatures amidst the billowing smoke. Both appeared to be jerking fairly erratically, moving in line with the heavy coughing sound.

OOC: I apologize for the space in posting, was out of town the last day. But I'm back now. Also you butchered your name again. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

[Combat Mage]

[20:47 January 1st, 2072; Dilapidated Condominium; Bargain Basement]

The big troll stepped fully into the opening, ignoring the erratic shots from the inside. Sometimes you have to rely on your luck and he was pretty tough anyway. As soon as he saw the heat signatures he immediatly brought the Praetor up and squeezed off two bursts at the red shapes. The recoil only pressed the stock into his shoulder lightly, the gun was heavily modded and very stable in it's handling.

Two here. There are supposed to be at least six so I gotta be on the lookout for more. Wait, weren't there three when I looked through the hole just seconds ago? One of them must have gone to warn the others. I need to solve this quickly.

[Grimm]

[20:47 January 1st, 2072; Dilapidated Condominium; Bargain Basement]

The bark of Akecheta's Praetor heralded his coming. The satisfying sound of electricity ramping through his Stick N' Shock ammo filled the area with the smell of burning hair and ozone. Both mafia thugs went down from the volley of shots. The one to the left could be seen attempting to crawl away and failing horribly. From behind the wall the troll detected no movement. He was not sure where the third thug had disappeared to; but it was either upstairs or into the adjoining garage of the condo.

OOC: One is completely incapacitated, the second is at like one box. I'm ruling him basically out of the fight due to taking a massive amount of subdual damage in short span. And their armor provided no impact protection.

[Combat Mage]

[20:47 January 1st, 2072; Dilapidated Condominium; Bargain Basement]

Akecheta ignored the mobster on the floor that was still flailing around weakly. The guy was in no condition to do anything to him.

He needed to make a quick decision. Second floor or garage? If they're torturing him chances are they'd use the garage where it's easier to clean up afterwards. Let's try that first.

His mind made up the troll made his way to the entrance of the garage. No messing around with grenades this time, don't wanna shoot the target by accident. I'll just storm in and kick ass!

He shot a quick glance towards the information that the smartlink projected into his field of vision through the image link in his glasses. Ammunition 41/50. Plenty enough.

[Grimm]

[20:48 January 1st, 2072; Dilapidated Condominium; Bargain Basement]

The troll stalked his way through the debris of the wall and into the condo to hunt down his target. The smell of burning flesh and the smoke grenade was sharp in his nose, causing the entire condo to smell something like smoky ham. His first instinct was to go for the garage.

Coming around the corner into the kitchen he noted the second thug that had engaged laying on the floor, completely unconscious. With a smirk he turned towards the garage door. The door had no reinforcement to his sharp kick that caused it to flap in.

He moved quickly into the room and noted nothing more than what appeared to be a car of some sort sitting in the middle. Nothing moved in the garage save for a couple of rats in a corner.

[Combat Mage]

[20:48 January 1st, 2072; Dilapidated Condominium; Bargain Basement]

The troll took a look and the empty garage and scowled.
Seems my first insticts are more mostly wrong. Maybe I should start doing the opposite of whatever I think is the right move...

Turning around he headed towards the stairs to the second floor, glad that his helmet protected him from the worst of the smoke and all-around bad smells that prevailed after his assault. On the way he looked for the weapon the unconscious mafioso had surely dropped when falling down, so he'd have a rough idea of their equipment level.

[Grimm]

[20:48 January 1st, 2072; Dilapidated Condominium; Bargain Basement]

The mafia thug he passed en route to the stairs appeared to have been using a Colt Manhunter as his primary weapon. Being that they were the mafia he was confident they probably had access to some higher grade gear. The troll continued on towards the stairs unopposed as he reached the bottom.