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

[Combat Mage]

[The Night of January 2nd, 2072; Akecheta‘s Squat, Redmond]

Lilly! The troll sat upright in his bed, cold sweat on his body, clutching his chest. The pain was as bad as the first time he'd seen her dead body. He dreamed of her often, felt his loss over and over again when he woke up and found her missing, but it never dulled, never lost it's edge. He would always be tortured by these memories. And I deserve it!, he thought, the feeling of guilt rising that was his companion throughout every day.

Forcing himself to tho think of something else he shifted his attention to the noise that pulled him from his dreams. To lazy to put on the trodes he used manual control to check his inbox.

[TheDoctor]

[Night of January 2nd, 2072; Loftus's Shop]

"Call me 'The Doctor,'" Martin told the dwarf, Loftus. Martin had taken time to use a mask spell to disguise his features.

"The Doctor, eh," the dwarf snorted dismissively, "What can I do for you, Doctor?" Loftus the talismonger looked over the counter filled with irrelevant gewgaws and cheap metal knickknacks meant to impress the mundies.

"Once...long ago," Martin began, "You had a friend; Gabber...he called himself. He 'died' after a run about 30 years ago, but you know different. Gabber contacted you personally over the years to let you know he was okay."

Loftus squinted and said, "Yeah...Let's say that's so. What's it to you, chummer?"

"Gabber taught me nearly everything I know...and someone murdered him. Magic was involved. I tracked the magic to Seattle," Martin loomed now, trying to exude menace.

The dwarf waved him off, "Don't bother trying to threaten me, boy. And let's drop the pretense. I know who you are. Gabber told me you might come. He left me a message too...Doctor." Loftus pointed towards his head.

Martin rocked back on his heels while Loftus continued, "You think he grabbed that book by himself? There was a scramble for that black thing and he managed to get it.”

Loftus sighed, “Nearly killed him though. Most in the shadows thought Gabber dead. I'm surprised he got away for so long. That book scared Gabber; he’d read it. Every once in a while he’d get me a message to track something down. If I could do it without being found out, I’d do it. I wanted no part of his damned ruse.”

Loftus said, “His dream sending asked me to help you as best I could.”

Martin nodded, "Da...Gabber asked me to find the book and destroy it…and to find you. But mostly, I want the drekhead who killed him."

Loftus waved a hand, “Bah! You don’t know what you’re getting into, kid,” the dwarf gripped the counter and added, “Look…Gabber saved my tuckus more than a couple times so I owe him…but I ain’t getting my own head blown off to help his ki…”

Martin scowled and Loftus corrected himself, “…to help you track down that bad mojo. Whoever got Gabber is beyond my powers and definitely beyond yours.”

“I want them dwarf. I want them bad. I want to see them in jail,” Martin growled.

Loftus growled back, “Idiot! They won’t be fraggers you put in jail. They tracked a dead man and stole a book he’d carefully hidden for over 30 years. They’ll have mojo of their own and it’ll be bad stuff. Don’t you get it? They have killed and will kill for that book. If you can’t or won’t match them vicious for vicious, you’re a dead man yourself.”

Martin ground his teeth, “Fine.” Inside he wondered if he had it in him to kill. He’d only learned Manabolt after his dad died as an idle exercise in fantasy if he did meet his father’s murderer. And Ph.D.’s typically didn’t get into knock-down to the death dragouts…except metaphorically.

Martin tried to gather the core of his anger and pain at his father’s murder, “I want them, Loftus. Dead…jail. It doesn’t matter. They killed my…killed Gabber.”

Then Martin sagged a bit and his fire went out a little, “But I don’t know where to start.”

Loftus nodded, "I do, kid. And you're not going to like it. Gabber wouldn't have neither. You're going to have to start a shadow life. Wait here."

The dwarf talismonger went into the back and came out a moment later with a small package that he passed over to Martin.

Martin frowned and inquired, "What's this?"

"Don't open it here, kid," Loftus whispered, "Go home. You have a place right? Somewhere legit?"

Martin nodded.

"You'll need a less reputable hole to go to then. These will help. Your dad asked me to get them."

Now Martin was curious...what were they?

Loftus kept on, "And...you'll need money to keep up your lifestyle. You got a job?"

Martin shook his head.

“All right…I know a guy. Needs some mojo to back him up on a job. Lemme reach out to him. I’ll vouch for you this one time. But you’ll need to get your own work after this.”

[to be continued]


This post has been edited by TheDoctor: Aug 28 2010, 02:37 PM

[Grimm]

Akecheta
[06:43 A.M. January 2nd, 2072; Akecheta‘s Squat, Redmond]

The troll tried to push the memories from his mind as the sadness welled up within him. Those eyes constantly haunted him, but he knew how to take the pain away. His salvation lay there in the his inbox, waiting for his attention. Sheer, pure, unadulterated violence would stem the feelings of misery and loss. To lose himself in the rage of battle was just as blissful as exploring the velvety depths of some whore.. though not his Lilly.

He clicked open the message that waited for him and focused all of his attention on it.

*
From: Unknown
Source: Unknown
Subject: Business

Mr. B;

I have another package that needs recovered. Though this time it will not be a person but a truck that was hijacked by gangers. It is believed that they hold the guards prisoner at the current time. Their recovery, while it would be appreciated, is not inherently mandatory to the success of this job. We can find new personnel, but the truck is irreplaceable.

If this job interests you, please let me know and I can give you more specific information.

Mr. O.
*

[Combat Mage]

[06:44 A.M. January 2nd, 2072; Akecheta‘s Squat, Redmond]

A cynical smile appeared on Akecheta's lips as the big troll read the message. An opportunity to drown his sorrow in blood was always welcome. Quickly he typed up a reply and sent it off.

Greetings Mr. O,

I'm interested and ready to start as soon as I get the information and a number regarding compensation.

Mr. B

As soon as he had pressend the 'send' button he realized that his tone could be interpreted as a bit rude if the japs did value politeness as much as he had read somewhere on the 'trix.
Well fuck that, I'm not hired for my pleasantness...

Whitout waiting for an answer he began to put on his armor and grabbed his weapons. The Praetor's grip in his hand sparked a feeling of anticipation. It was time to hunt again.




OOC: I'm moving to another city tomorrow so if I'm unlucky it could take a couple of days for me to reply. More likely than not I'll have opportunity to access the net somewhere for a quick answer but in case I don't I wanted to give you a heads-up.

[TheDoctor]

[January 5th, Martin's Apartment, Seattle]


A message came up on the comlink for the Doctor.

From: Your Friend
Message: Come see me


That could only have been Loftus thought Martin. Of course...I don't have any crypto on this thing. To easy to hack these things without something nasty on them to stop it. Martin made himself over into the Doctor and hustled off to Loftus's shop.

The rains in Seattle bore down that morning and Martin...no he was the Doctor now...shook off the water frolm his coat as he came into the shop. There were some mundies in there hanging around looking to get a little vicarious thrill from seeing a real mage or shaman, but the Doctor ignored them. He looked around the shop himself and made like he was browsing until the mundies left...bored.

"All riight, Loftus. What have you got."

Loftus silently passes a card to him. "Go here. They need a mage. Pack heavy. You'll need it."

The Doctor nodded back and started to leave.

Loftus called out, "And kid...this is the real deal. Be ready."

[January 5th-two hours later, Dahlia's Apartment]

The Doctor knocked on the non-descript door. What the frag had Loftus found for him?

[AStarshipforAnts]

[January 5th, 2072; Summeroaks Apartments 29C, Renton]

The chime of the doorbell threw Dahlia off for a moment. She'd put out the word to a few key associates that she was looking for a little extra talent, and that they should show up at the meeting if they could. But, the woman hadn't actually expected anyone to come through for her on such short notice. Dahlia's expression seemed to freeze in time for a moment as the gears whirred away in her head.

And then she was at the door, opening it and answering with the sort of wide grin that should be reserved for Tupperware parties, not criminal meetings on planning abductions. "Yes?"

[Grimm]

Akecheta
[06:48 A.M. January 2nd, 2072; Akecheta‘s Squat, Redmond]

It did not take Mr. Okayama long to return a message to Akecheta with the following information:

*
Mr. B.

The truck is currently located at a lightly fortified warehouse on the north side of Redmond. (Coordinates Attached). Outer fence is chain, likely electrified, with razorwire across the top. Only one normal access point via the front entry which appears to have a guard post. Internal defenses are unclear though likely. External, expect some resistance.

Offering 5000 for retrieval of truck and whatever personnel you can manage. An additional 500 per person retrieved alive. (Total of 2 captured)

Mr. O.
*

OOC: Not a problem man. Not too worried about it since no one else is really involved in this plot at the moment either way. Good luck with the move.

[TheDoctor]

[January 5th, 2072; Summeroaks Apartments 29C, Renton]

The chime of the doorbell threw Dahlia off for a moment. She'd put out the word to a few key associates that she was looking for a little extra talent, and that they should show up at the meeting if they could. But, the woman hadn't actually expected anyone to come through for her on such short notice. Dahlia's expression seemed to freeze in time for a moment as the gears whirred away in her head.

And then she was at the door, opening it and answering with the sort of wide grin that should be reserved for Tupperware parties, not criminal meetings on planning abductions. "Yes?"

A youngish, but non-descript man stood at Dahlia's door. He wore a black coat and had brown, somewhat wild hair with thin nose and prominent cheeks.

"You are the one called Dahlia, correct? A friend of a friend told me you were looking for a mage. I am the Doctor," he announced tersely, "and a mage," he added unnecessarily.

[Suicidal Street ...]

[January 5th, 2072; Summeroaks Apartments 29C, Renton]

Dahlia's apartment seemed even more empty and souless than usual. Without Asim banging around, and all the pictures off the walls, it seemed a bit more...

This is how she feels. All the time. Thumb sitter, no wonder she's so creepy; there's nothing left. No wonder she wants to poison everyone.

Seti coughed in his fist. Dahlia and some new guy were still standing in the doorway, and it looked like the gangers were eyeing each other. The last thing we need is a gangwar here. "There is another way, of course. Rather than trying to hit one and then hone in on the others before they catch wise, why don't we gather them all in one place." He felt the eyes swivel towards him. The heat prickled his neck in this virus-house. "They're Runners, right? Which means they'll be looking for money, which means work. But they're inexperienced, right? Why don't we just give them a job? They'll all gather to meet the Johnson, and we can take them out then and there. Coordinated flanking attack."

[Notsoevildm]

[04:43 AM, January 2nd, 2072; Abandoned office block, Redmond barrens]

Distant gunshots pulled Copperhead from her sleep. She yawned and stretched on the lumpy mattress that served as the bed she shared with Cutter. The servos in her arms whined into wakefulness and she wove her hands lazily back and forth in front of her face. She still marvelled at these miracles of technology, admiring how the dirty orange light from the room's single bulb reflected off their scaled casings.

Like magic, she thought, then frowned as Snake hissed angrily in her mind.

Not magic. Technology.

Mumbling an apology to her mentor spirit, Copperhead rolled over and stood up. Cutter’s side of the bed was empty with no sign remaining of his body’s warmth. He’d obviously been up for a while. Shivering a little at the cold, she padded across the room naked, scratching at the dermal armor scales on her ribs and paused before the large piece of one-way glass that served as a mirror.

Cutter had scavenged it for her from an abandoned police station a couple of blocks away and hauled it all the way back on his own. She pushed her long copper hair back between her horns, while admiring her (in her eyes at least) perfect body . Short for a troll, she stood only slightly over two metres tall and weighed in at a slim 240 kilos. She performed a slow twirl and then with a sultry and tusky grin, and a wink, headed to the can.

Their squat was on the second floor of an old office building. They had dumped all the busted office furniture out the windows and then boarded them up with plascrete panels stripped from other parts of the building. One of Cutter’s ganger buddies had fixed up one of the toilets and rewired a couple of solar panels on the roof to give them enough power to run a few lights and a battered old hotel-room fridge - not that they really needed to run the fridge this time of year. It wasn’t much, but it was home.

Even though it was still dark out, she was awake now. So after dressing in sweats and tidying up the room, Copperhead carefully wove her trode net into her hair and loaded up an exercise sim. She worked out for an hour or so, then stripped off, washed and put on her street clothes: a camo-green Cyberpirate two-piece consisting of sports bra and hotpants, matched with a pair of battered black nyke sneakers that were all the rage a couple of years ago. It wasn't exactly the best outfit to wear in an unheated room, so she also wrapped the blanket off their bed around her shoulders to keep warm.

She munched on one of the few remaining nutrisoy bars in the fridge and drank the last of their bottled water. Where the frag was Cutter anyway? He did occassionally disappear in the middle of the night, when some last minute 'work' came up. She tried calling his number but it went directly through to his answering machine. That usually did mean he was 'working', although he hadn’t mentioned anything to her last night. She considered going out to look for him, but didn't have a clue where to start. So instead, she settled down into a lotus position on the bed and swaying gently from side to side, opened her senses to the astral and communed with Snake.

[Combat Mage]

[06:48 A.M. January 2nd, 2072; Outside of Akecheta‘s Squat, Redmond]

The Beasts thundering steps made the old house's stairway shake and tremble as the massive troll stormed downwards. Hopping on his black Suzuki Akecheta transferred the coordinates to his navigation software and drove off into the dawning morning light.

An old movie he'd seen a remake of on the 'trix came to his mind as the rays of the sun began to illuminate the dirty streets of the barrens. In it some elf had said something about a red sun rising as a sign of blood having been spilled that night.
Pretty stupid but the troll couldn't help but smile at the thought of turning the sun crimson through his bloody deeds.

[Grimm]

Copperhead

[06:45ish A.M. January 2nd, 2072; Copperhead and Cutter’s Apartment; Redmond]

The troll shaman settled down into position to take on a meditative state. Even if her boyfriend was nowhere to be found, she could still work to become closer to Snake and reach deeper meaning and connection with the Astral. Just as she was about to let her spirit loose, her commlink indicated an incoming message.

<<Help. Captured. Coordinates -312.5; 219.1. Cutter.>>

A quick grid check revealed the coordinates to be a partially dilapidated, lightly fortified warehouse only a couple of miles down the road.

Akecheta

[06:55 A.M. January 2nd, 2072; The Streets of Redmond]

The troll moved with all the subtlety and grace as a herd of elephants as he barreled down to where his bike wait for him. He roared off down the street towards the coordinates Mr. O. had attached to the message. The filth of Redmond seemed to be deeper than normal, causing him to need to take detours around the transients and over what used to be sidewalks. The high-performance bike did not struggle much with the terrain but it was an annoyance to say the least.

OOC: Akecheta, I’m going to work Copperhead up a bit further in time to get you two on the same track. So bear with me while I do. My intention is for you two to meet at the target site.

Copperhead, I am fairly new to Shadowrun 4E. I’m just one of those people that believes in diving into things head first. So if I screw something up or get something wrong, just let me know so I can rectify the problem.

[Aria]

"You called me because you need magical and astral asistance, which means you can't do it yourself. You are an adept, I take it?"

[15:37 January 1st, 2072; Ravenna Park, Downtown Seattle]

Silk thought for a moment before replying…”Yes, I’m an adept, but my magic is almost entirely focused inwards and I’m sensible enough to know that I can’t do everything by myself. I’m hoping to avoid any confrontation and whilst I reasonably confident of being able to bypass mundane security I can’t see a spirit coming until it’s crawling all over me and the guards are running.

And I like it out here…the thing about shitty weather is that nobody would be insane enough to be lurking in it unless they have to, makes spotting anyone following us easier to do. If you know somewhere nearby that’s a little drier we can talk as we walk?”

[Notsoevildm]

[06:47 A.M. January 2nd, 2072; Copperhead and Cutter’s Apartment; Redmond]

Startled from her trance by the worrying message, it takes Copperhead a moment to get her bearings. What? Cutter captured? How? Who? Frag, if they've hurt him they're gonna pay.

<<Hold tight, loverboy. There's a big, angry troll coming to get you out.>>

Couple of miles, shouldn't take me longer than 15-20 minutes to hoof it there.

Scrambling to her feet, she undoes all her tidying up as she grabs up her gear in a hurry. She stuffs her arms into her sleeveless long coat, checks that her telescoping staff is in the long pocket sewn inside and loads her battered old shotgun. A handful of extra shells go into her pockets and then she's out the door. She has to force herself to stop and take the time to lock the place up, and then shift the heavy metal panel that conceals the door into place.

Stepping out onto the street, she hurries off in the direction of the warehouse. She moves quickly but carefully. While the barrens are quiet this time of the morning, there could still be a few predators about. She curses at the red sun creeping over the horizon and crosses the street to keep in the shadows, composing a quick message to the only other person in the barrens she can trust, her talismonger and teacher.

<<Lenny. Cutter's in trouble. I'm going to see if I can help him out. If you don't hear back from me in a couple of hours, give these coordinates [-312.5; 219.1] to the Crushers.>>

[AStarshipforAnts]

[January 5th, 2072; Summeroaks Apartments 29C, Renton]

Dahlia paused for a moment after The Doctor’s response. The combination of the woman’s silence and rather blank expression probably would have made the situation awkward on their own. But, there was always a way to make it worse. Dahlia turned back into the apartment, all but shouting, “He’s a mage!” into the living room full of killers. She left the door open for The Doctor, returning to the meeting and fully expecting the mage to close the door behind him.

“If we could pull it off, that would be a very tidy plan, Seti,” Dahlia nodded. “The only problem will be setting it up to look legitimate enough. We won’t be able to fake anything over the matrix. Any ideas?”

[Suicidal Street ...]

[January 5th, 2072; Summeroaks Apartments 29C, Renton]

"Actually, I think it's better if we can't do it over the matrix. They've got a hacker, and from all accounts, he's better than anyone we could find." Seti took a sip from his drink. "I think it's better if we keep this as off-the-matrix as possible. Now that we have a mage, he can provide magical overwatch, so their mage doesn't see us coming. That's the only thing we'd have had to worry about. We geek their mage first, and pop an EMP grenade to cancel out any drones...anybody see a problem with this?"

[Abschalten]

Silk
[15:37 January 1st, 2072; Ravenna Park, Downtown Seattle]
He-Who-Sees-Within nodded to Silk and gave her a polite smile. "Indeed. There's a sort of coffee shop turned jazz lounge not a couple of blocks from here, called Common Grounds. It has a pleasant, ah... flavor in astral space that I enjoy being around. Many young, bohemian-style hipsters and college kids go there to recite poetry on open mic night, or just chill out. It's probably my favorite place to relax. We could go there. There's a booth all the way in the back where we'd have the privacy to discuss our business arrangements. And, I'll buy of course."

((Make an Intuition+Charisma roll))

[Grimm]

Copperhead
[07:01 A.M. January 2nd, 2072; The Ruined Remnants of a Road; Redmond]

Copperhead secured her dwelling in the hopes that the scavengers and leeches of Redmond would not find their way into it. The measures they took to that end often accomplished that goal, but periodically she or Cutter would return to find the place ransacked.

Cutter had not replied to the message she had sent back, but that was not entirely surprising given the information she had just received. It took her about fifteen minutes to jog through the streets to where the warehouse sat. It stood ominously in the dawning light against a backlighting of the sun. A chain link fence wrapped the entire way around with what appeared to be a single guard near the entrance at the west side of the building. Various vehicles were parked in a lot between the warehouse and the fence.

As she was about to move forward to the complex; she noticed a rather large, hulking troll failing miserably at trying to make himself look small and unseen. It appeared as though he was sizing up the warehouse himself for reasons unbeknownst to her.

At that moment, her commlink indicated and a message from Lenny came in.

<<Will do. Be safe out there.>>

OOC: The entrance to the complex is towards the west. You and Akecheta are not really near each other but are both sort of the south-east of the warehouse. I realize its very deus ex machina-ish but I’d rather go this route than wait out a week of posting to get you guys on the same page.

[TheDoctor]

[January 5th, 2072; Summeroaks Apartments 29C, Renton]

"Actually, I think it's better if we can't do it over the matrix. They've got a hacker, and from all accounts, he's better than anyone we could find." Seti took a sip from his drink. "I think it's better if we keep this as off-the-matrix as possible. Now that we have a mage, he can provide magical overwatch, so their mage doesn't see us coming. That's the only thing we'd have had to worry about. We geek their mage first, and pop an EMP grenade to cancel out any drones...anybody see a problem with this?"

The Doctor walked in after Dahlia's announcement. He tried to radiate a cold professional aura about himself, pulling his thoughts inward.

"Possibly. "As I am late to the party, perhaps someone could fill me in on the job?" he inquired.

[Notsoevildm]

[07:16 A.M. January 2nd, 2072; The Ruined Remnants of a Road; Redmond]

Copperhead paused in the shadows near the warehouse to catch her breath. She squinted against the growing daylight, already feeling the tell-tale signs of a migraine at the back of her brain. She needed to do this before it got much brighter and the growing headache totally incapacitated her.

A flicker of movement caught her eye, and she almost grinned at the hulking figure of a troll failing miserably at trying to make himself look small and unseen. Intrigued, she circled as stealthily as she could towards him. Maybe he could help her, or maybe he was just another predator. She kept her shotgun at the ready just in case.

[Atomic Communist]

[January 1st, 2072; Haddleton Apartments, 13M, Renton]

Red sighed as she placed the grocery bags onto the small bar top that served as her dining room. That's the last time I try and carry my groceries on a bicycle without my pack... She was still scraping bits of jam off her boots from the 'accident' earlier on the road. That's also the last time that guy will cut anyone off. See how he likes his insurance premiums jumping through the roof! Red snagged one of the beers from her fridge and replaced it with her new groceries. She popped the top off the bottle with her ring and took a sip. "Ah. Much better."

She plopped down onto her small couch, centered in the middle of her apartment. The walls around her were bare. In fact, all of the walls in room 13 were as bare as the day she had moved in. Unless, of course, you switched over to AR. That was a different story. Each wall was covered in newsvids, streaming videos, blogs, online articles, clocks in different timezones, cartoons, instant messages, and forums. Red glanced casually over each area before holding up her hands and spreading them apart, enlarging one of the smaller windows. The top ten rock videos of the week were playing and she turned up the volume. Red quickly finished her beer before turning sideways on the couch and laying down, her eyes closing. She felt that familiar sensation of entering the Matrix in full VR, like a perpetual sneeze.

Blinking a couple times to clear her vision, Red examined her new surroundings. Her personal node was quite different from her apartment. It appeared to be a mixture of nature and technology. Large metallic trees reached up to a steel grey sky, while underfoot, tiny green resistors made up the grass. She smiled and settled down into the lotus position. Her own body had changed as well. She was now a deep, dark red. Her normal street clothes were gone. Silver lines crisscrossed her body, like metal serpents coiling around her body to save her modesty, but other than that she was nude. She closed her eyes once more as the silvery tendrils reached out into the matrix, seeking out the node she was searching for. Once found, all but that tendril fell back into place.

All of this happened at the speed of thought, and very soon Red was at the main Seattle host node. She grinned as thousands of other Icons walked, flew, hopped, and drove by. People watching in the Matrix was one of her favorite activities. She could spend an afternoon here, lost amidst the crowds. Today, she'd stay until she got the message she had been waiting for all day. She needed a job, badly. She was low on funds, had just enough for rent, and didn't really want to go off doing freelance info gathering, since that was really no guarantee of money. Sadly, she'd have to wait!

[Grimm]

Akecheta and Copperhead
[07:20 AM, January 2nd, 2072; A Ruined Road; Redmond]

Akecheta skulked along the wall heading towards the warehouse when he noticed another troll sizing him up intently. She appeared to be armed but did not make any overly hostile maneuvers towards him; nor did it appear that she was attempting to conceal herself from him.

OOC: You both can pick up from this point RP wise.

[Notsoevildm]

Akecheta and Copperhead
[07:20 AM, January 2nd, 2072; A Ruined Road; Redmond]

Seeing that the big troll has spotted her, Copperhead holds up her left hand palm towards him, at the same time letting the muzzle of the shotgun drop towards the ground.

"Easy, chummer", she hisses in a low voice. "I ain't lookin fer no trouble." Well, not from you anyway.

"Friend of mine's in a spot of trouble. Some dudes are holdin him in there an' I need to get him out." She gestures towards the warehouse with her shotgun, squinting at the light reflecting off the aluminium siding.

"You look like you got some biz there too." She strikes what could be interpreted as a sultry pose. "Whatcha say; you scratch my back an' I scratch yours?"

[Combat Mage]

[07:20 AM, January 2nd, 2072; A Ruined Road; Redmond]

Akecheta had been sizing up the warehouse, preparing for his usual subtle approach of barreling straight through the fence and possibly the wall too. The adrenalin was already pumping through his veins, making him jumpy and yearning for action. His wires were on fire and itching to burst into movement.

But then he saw another troll coming towards him. She was was small for one of their kind but at least as strange-looking as he was. She seemed to be covered in scales of some sort. Maybe some kind of reptilian fetish. But the thing that caught his attention the most was the shotgun she held at the ready. Quickly he brought up the Praetor, suspecting the woman to be a bounty hunter that had tracked him down. His red eyes were blazing and the nano-tattoos in his face unconsciously changed their shape to more aggressive forms. But before he'd made the decision to squeeze the trigger the female troll had already lowered her weapon and started to talk. And her words took all the anger and fighting spirit out of him in a moment.

She was trying to save a friend. Maybe even her friend. The same way Akecheta had tried to save Lilly only to see her killed before his very eyes. Normally The Beast would have taken the scaly troll down, just to be on the sure side and to keep her from interfering with his job. But Lilly would have wanted him to help her. Lilly wouldn't want other people to suffer like he was suffering now. And maybe in helping her he could find just the slightest bit of redemption.

His voice was rough when he answered, laden with remembrance and guilt.

"No problem, snake-lady. I need to get back some stuff in there anyway, grabbing your friend along the way ain't gonna be a big deal."

[Notsoevildm]

[07:20 AM, January 2nd, 2072; A Ruined Road; Redmond]

Copperhead lets out a breath she didn't realise she had been holding. Up close the big troll was even more scary. And fast. His gun had been pointing at her so quickly, she thought he was going to shoot her before she could speak. Then, the anger had simply drained out of him and he sounded almost sad when he replied.

She gave him a genuine smile, dimples and all, when he called her snake-lady. "Name's Copperhead," she said, shaking her long hair for emphasis.

"You gotta name? An' what's da plan?"

She prattles on, perhaps nervous or just anxious about her friend. "I got me some mojo. I could go look inside in da astral, unless dey got a mage. See how many dey is and where dey be. Maybe talk to Snake. If she's feeling generous, maybe she'll lend me a spirit to help."

She crosses her scaled cyberarms across her chest, the shotgun resting in the crook of her left arm and, with a raised eyebrow, waits for the big troll to respond.