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

[RdMarquis]

@E:PL UK
[May 21st, 2072, 18:38; Clearwater Pumping Station, Exmoor, UK]
SIN: Spencer Lovett, PAN: Hidden

Mordred reacted just in the nick of time. But only to save himself from being completely incapacitated. Taking cover didn't stop the worst of the explosion. And the wall felt more like a clutch than a shield as he staggered upright, feeling shaken to his core. It took an effort to haul himself into a position in which he could continue fighting. His limbs were beginning to feel numb, and he nearly dropped the fresh clip.

<<Oh, should we?>> The adept choked out a laugh. Firing a parting shot at the remaining enemies, he began backing toward the door.

[Machine Ghost]

@E:Tribes, Sprogget
September 1, 2072 22:28 Approaching the Fre∑dom Mall, Puyallup
Bionode: Response 4(5), Signal 2, System 4, Firewall 3; Hidden; Analyze(3), Command(1), Edit(1), Scan(1), Sniffer(3), Spoof(1), Stealth(3), Shield(1), Tacsoft(2), Simrig(1)
CMT Clip: Response 1, Signal 3, System 1, Firewall 1; Hidden; SIN: Paul Brickhill (R3)

After the close pass alongside the car hulk, the replay of the sensor data confirms the lone occupant of the car to be a young Ork teen wearing Spined Drakes gang colours.
@self:Spined Drakes?  I thought they had moved on.  Guess not very far.

As the van rams into only currently visible target, almost knocking it into the monocycle before it gets clear, tacnet starts showing a couple of enemy targets.  One in the car, and another shooting from one of the buildings.

@jailbreakers: <<Easy there Tweak.  I don't want that can in my lap here.  Spined Drakes gang colors.  Maybe looking to get back some turf?  The monocycle wheel is armoured, and my main weapon is a blade.  For now, I'll try to use the DR for a weapon, and see if I can get LeFey a line to a target, while trying to find how many and where the rest are.>>
@self:That Yamaha Pulsar LeFey is packing does not have a lot of range.  I'll need to get fairly close to a target for it to be effective, while trying to keep us under cover behind the wheel.  At least it has smartgun, so the camera can be used to point it, by just reaching outside the coverage.

Braking hard to slow just enough enough to make the 180 turn using all 4 lanes, and maybe a bit more, Sprogget reverses direction while watching the sensors and tacnet for new targets.
@self:There's got to be more than 2.  Where are they?  If they have any active wireless equipment, commlinks, or even on the weapons, I might be able to spot the sources with the scanner.  It's good for more than RFID tags!
Sprogget links the radio signal scanner information into the PAN and tacnet data.

@LeFey: <<Shooting from a moving vehicle messes targeting a lot.  If you want, I can find a spot to let you off, although then you lose the armored wheel.  Might be able to time it right, to pull to a stop to let you get a shot, then take off again.  Let me know what you want.>>

[Notsoevildm]

@Virtual Scream, Alex Bianchi
September 2, 2072, 12:42; Not quite the Barrens
Renraku Sensei: Passive | SIN: Jimmy Delfino (Fake ID, Rating 3) (Re 2 - Sig 4 - Fi 2 - Sys 2)

Alpha pulls Alex through traffic with an eagerness that has the ex-cop reaching for the brakes on several occasions. Harvey's shop might not be in the best part of town but at least the cops will go there. The further Alex drives, the more run-down the area becomes. As the number boarded up and burnt out buildings increases, the amount of traffic decreases. Alex realises he is getting close to the Puyallup barrens.

The van's speakers blare into life with Harvey's deep voice.

"Hey Bi...Jimmy, got some good news and some bad news. Good news is the goons stopped before Beta ran out of of juice. She's sitting on the roof of the building across the street from them watching their car. Bad news is they went into an abandoned appartment block. They could be anywhere inside. I'll see if I can find a wireless signal and triangulate via the drones. Be careful and don't damage my babies."

Harvey routes a grainy video feed to the van's HUD. It shows three human males exiting a beat up old Ford Americar and hustling into a building. One of them is carrying an object that could be Harvey's old terminal. A few minutes later Alpha pulls over to the kerb about 100 m short of the building in the video. Alex can hear the soft whine of machinery as Charlie deploys from the rear of the van. As he climbs out, the drone's twin SMGs look up at him expectantly.

[Notsoevildm]

@Virtual Scream/Cipher
[September 1, 2072, 15:15; Downtown, Seattle]

Cipher's outburst and collapse certainly has the desired effect.

The now wide-eyed receptionist jumps to her feet, shouting.

"Get a crashcart here right now!"

Withing seconds several staff are clustered around the prone technomancer. A young doctor with tired eyes is trying to feel for a pulse, check his retinal response and listen to his heart all at once. Then he is lifted onto a stretcher and whisked away, through banging doors and long, too bright corridors. He catches a glimpse of himself as he is placed onto the stretcher. He has no hands or feet and his torso is cut open from neck to navel revealing glistening intestines.

The doctors babble on about CT scans and EEGs while asking him how he feels and what his name is without really paying any attention to his answers. He is poked, prodded, injected and hooked up to various devices. He wonders what they injected him with as as he feels the headache begin to fade and then ... nothing.

[September 2, 2072, 08:00; Ares Seattle General Hospital]

Cipher wakes to noises around him. His mouth is dry and his throat feels croaky. At least his head doesn't hurt anymore. Opening his eyes is an effort and the room seems too bright. He is in a hospital bed, wearing nothing but a pale green smock, and is hooked up to various machines making regular but overly loud beeping noises. An young ork orderly smiles at him as she places a tray of unappealing looking food on his lap.

"Morning. Want some breakfast?"

[karhig]

@Virtual Scream / Cat
[September 2, 2072, 10:00, 524 7th Street Northeast]
PAN: Active, SIN: Moll Flanders (Fake SIN Rtg 4), System: 2, Signal: 2, Response: 2, Firewall: 2

Having crammed in a few hours of sleep and gone through her usual morning regime, Cat feels about ready to contact DRKHOR5E. She drops onto her parent's couch, takes a moment to compose herself and then hits the icon for DRKHOR5E's business card. The icon takes an age to load on her severely degraded link, but eventually it opens an AR window displaying the exact same Mansion house as last time, only the matrix address was different. Once again she maximises the window and knocks on the large horse head knocker. After a brief pause the door opens.

"Miss Flanders, it's good to see you again. The master is busy right now, but he is eager to see you. Please, come in a wait."

The bulldog faced butler shows her to a beautiful 18th century drawing room opposite the study she was in last time she was here.

"Please, take a seat. If there's anything I can get you, just pull on the bell rope."

Cat takes a seat in one of the embroidered and upholstered mahogony chairs infront of a low table. Behind her a bank of oil paintings showing nobles in various poses with their hunting dogs and horses look down on her dismissively.

I wonder if this place still exists in the real. So much history and artistry.

[Dakka Fiend]

@E:Tribes, Spring
September 1, 2072 22:28 Approaching the Fre∑dom Mall, Puyallup
Renraku Sensei: Hidden, SIN: Steven Brokvich (fake R3)

After an uneventful drive, Spring is practically dozing on his bike, when the lull of side streets is suddenly interupted by activity.

What the? Spikes? What's the name of that gang we...

Astonished he watches Sprogget zoom across the road and past the spikes while Tweak seems to head right for the Americar.

You crazy...

Without even having to think about it, Spring closes up to the Van, to follow through behind it.

<<@Tweak Show-off! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nyahnyah.gif) >>

[Slacker]

@Virtual Scream: Dubstep, Cat, Dante
[September 3, 2072, 13:12:23, Hai Fuk Noodle House, Redmond Barrens, Seattle]
PAN: Hidden, SIN: Jo Datsik (Fake SIN Rtg4), Response 6, Signal 5, System 6, Firewall 6, (Analyze 6, Armor 3-Ergonomic, Attack 4-Ergo, Biofeedback Filter 6, Browse 6-Ergo, Command 6-Ergo, Disarm 3, ECCM 3-Ergo, Edit 6-Ergo, Exploit 6, Scan 6, Spoof 3-Ergo, Stealth 6)

Secondary PAN: Active, SIN: Jo Datsik(Fake SIN Rtg4), Response 3, Signal 4, System 4, Firewall 4, (Agent 3, Analyze 4, Browse 4, Edit 4, Tacsoft 2)


The music in Dubstep headphones shift to something uncertain as the approach of Dante is registered by his agent Cindy. At the change in his life's soundtrack, Dubstep refocuses his attention on his surroundings rather than the AR world that had been unfolding before his eyes.

"Dante...Nice to meet you?" he says questioningly. "I may know a thing or two about viruses. Is there a particular one you are..." he trails off as he notices Jenny in the background watching the two of them meet.

"Ahhhhhhhh.....of course. You're interested in the scream." He says the last word with disgust though the more he's having to deal with it, the more he's becoming resigned to it. At least this guy is talking about business. maybe I can make some money off of him.

"What's it worth to you?"

[Aria]

@Virtual Scream / Gossamer
[September 1, 2072, 12:19, Argent's ‘link node]
PAN: N/A, SIN: None, Response *, Signal *, System (5), Firewall (4), (Analyze, Scan, Decrypt, Exploit [5, inherent], Stealth [6, inherent], Armour, Browse, Encrypt, Medic [6, ergo, optzd])

From Argent’s vantage point Gossamer watched as Slater worked on her inert form. The gaping hole, almost a wound, of her missing power cell still disturbed her and the coiling power cable that Slater attached, umbilical like, into her did little to relieve her mood.

Eventually with a sigh of aching limbs Slater straightened up from her, closed the various open ports and reengaged the pod’s nutrient bath. The glowing blue liquid slowly bathed her body in its balm. Hopefully the news on her core would be as calming

<<@Slater[Gossamer]: So, is it in there still? If it is can you get it out? I really don’t relish the thought of sharing my body with a foreign piece of viral coding! If absolutely necessary I’m prepared to abandon this body and find a new one but I would prefer it didn’t come to that…this is where I woke to sentience, I suppose you could say I have an emotional attachment to it, from a metahuman perspective…>>

[Aria]

@E:PL /UK
[May 21st, 2072, 18:38; Clearwater Pumping Station, Exmoor, UK]

Gemeaux & Mordred

Reeling from the sensory onslaught of the flashbang, you never the less manage to gather yourselves and respond with overwhelming force, helped in part by the fact that the attacker’s chameleon layer seems to be on the fritz. Bullets strike home, and, although you are fairly certain they don’t penetrate the beetle like armour encasing him, he finally succumbs and collapses to the floor, leaving you with a momentary respite which allows you to make a run for the door and head deeper into the complex. Back across the dam and ahead you see Tsubaki coming back towards you.

Tsubaki

As the Collots disappear out of the door under the cover of your spirit you head back around and see your compatriots high tailing it towards you…

[phlapjack77]

@Virtual Scream / Dante, Dubstep, Cat
[September 2, 2072, 13:12, Hai Fuk Noodle House, Redmond Barrens, Seattle]
PAN: hidden, Response 1, Signal 3, System 2, Firewall 1

This is messed up.

Dante's eyes narrowed slightly at the question of worth. It seemed this foreigner was going to be difficult. He could give the guy some respect, coming in to a place like this and still sticking to his guns. Not many would feel comfortable being the odd meta out in an all Chinese establishment.

"Maybe, I should ask what is this information worth. The waitress, he said you could clean viruses. You know about virtual scream virus, I think. I have many pieces together, this should be worth some cred, yes? I can find more virus body pieces, you can help gather them. Also I can give you some protection, you look like you could use it. Partners?"

His hand extended across the table in an odd reproduction of a handshake, although it's a little off from the normal "handshake" gesture. Similar to what might happen if one has seen something on the trid shows, but never actually done this thing in meatspace.

[Aria]

@E:Tribes
September 1, 2072 22:28 Approx 600m from the Fre∑dom Mall, Puyallup

Sprogget

As you reach out through the mono’s complicated array of sensors looking for the other threats your display is lit up like a proverbial Christmas tree and you hope to the Gods that it doesn’t represent the number of foes facing you. For a supposedly deserted area of the barrens there are far too many signals and then you realise that you must be within the surveillance mesh that the Fre∑domers set up when they arrived. The plethora of signals will be coming from listening devices, concealed cameras, signal routers and possibly even drones…now if only someone in the mall is watching the feeds then the cavalry should be arriving any minute…unfortunately with the mall isolating itself from the mesh the chances are these devices are just spewing data into the wind. And it doesn’t get you much closer to pinpointing your enemy! Another disturbing thought crosses your mind: how did they know this would be a good time to get close to the mall…or is it just dumb luck?

As you loop across the carriageway you see the original shooter on the east side of the street and two more figures running out from the west side, one towards the wrecked Americar and the other to fire on the side of the van.

Spring

As you close up to the van you instinctively duck as the sound of fire comes across the street and you catch a glimpse of a burly orc in Spined Drake colours with something that looks like an Uzi or possibly a Warrior sub machine gun. You’ve had plenty of VR experience of getting shot at in various sims but those bullets come uncomfortably close as they spang off the back of the van and you get the distinct feeling of real danger.

Tweak

Fire incoming from the left and the right! Beginning to feel like one of your VR games!

Scrapheap

You duck as the side panel of the van develops some new moulding as bullets impact the side. Time to take the fight to these bastards! Behind the van you can hear the whine of Spring’s scooter and the shooters seem to be on both sides now, although pulling towards the rear as Tweak crashes on through…

LeFey

Well, this is the barrens, depressing grey ash covered hulks and constant gunfire…except this time the gunfire seems to be aimed in your direction!

[Aria]

Balefire
[Wednesday August 17th, 2072; Silk's Apartment, University District, Seattle]

Silk wasn’t sure how she her subconscious brain had managed to sift all those random bits of data and find the pattern but she certainly wasn’t going to ignore it. The data was fragmented and she would need to extrapolate some of it but it certainly fit…

Settling into the calm VR environment of her node she methodically began to sort the information, letting her mind drift so that her gift would form the intuitive links that it was so good at.

Project Mindset, it even sounded like a corper’s idea of a sinister operations name. The data suggested that it had been a project outside Deep Watch, they had simply been the knife wielded to complete some of the objectives. Silk needed a lead on the hand rather than the knife.

Ares had either sanctioned the project and then stomped on Deep Watch when things hadn’t gone according to plan, or they’d been affected by it in some way and in typical draconian fashion had expunged their rival and sold off its assets. She didn’t yet know which was the more likely and Silk privately hoped that she wasn’t setting herself up to take on Ares; that would be an exercise in extreme futility. Then again this had the hallmarks of a major corp operating through proxies to preserve its rep, just on a larger scale than the typical shadowrun. So eventually there would probably be a behemoth that Silk couldn’t hope to bring down. But she had no intention of giving up, perhaps there was a slim chance that the truth would do some damage…

Whatever had been rampaging through the Deep Watch servers had caused significant corruption to the data but names and dates jumped out at Silk…Tracing a stray file header to a piece of reconstituted email Silk began to piece together something of what this was about. This had to have something to do with her mother’s death; it was too much of a coincidence that she had been targeted at the same time by the same people. The names and dates corresponded with reports of disappearing persons, fractured families and businesses chewed up and spat out; a string of seemingly unrelated disappearances that Silk had come across while hunting the ‘trix for solid information. The lovely euphemism ‘being removed from circulation’ seemed to imply that these people were silenced permanently or else handed over to places like SinTec for whatever experimentation the mad docs could conjure up.

Suddenly her link warned her of an intrusion attempt and she turned to face a white, waistcoated rabbit swinging a pocket watch in her general direction. Before she could even think about bouncing it out of her node it began to gabble a message at her in a breathless voice, its whiskers twitching frantically as Herne’s antlers swung down towards it.

“Summer needs to see you, here [node link], she says you have found it but that she can tell you what it means”

“What what means? Wait, damn…” the rabbit had whisked itself back out of her node and a quick check showed that the bloody thing had even rewritten the access log so she had no way to trace it.

Summer and her games again, the meddling techno had given them solid intel that led them to rescue her kindred from Sintec a couple of months ago but that didn’t make Silk feel any better about being led about by the nose.

With a sigh Silk resigned herself to this meeting and composing herself she reached out into the virtual environment and sped towards the node that the rabbit had dropped into her lap.

[Slacker]

@Virtual Scream: Dubstep / Dante / Cat
[September 3, 2072, 13:13:23, Hai Fuk Noodle House, Redmond Barrens, Seattle]
PAN: Hidden, SIN: Jo Datsik (Fake SIN Rtg4), Response 6, Signal 5, System 6, Firewall 6, (Analyze 6, Armor 3-Ergonomic, Attack 4-Ergo, Biofeedback Filter 6, Browse 6-Ergo, Command 6-Ergo, Disarm 3, ECCM 3-Ergo, Edit 6-Ergo, Exploit 6, Scan 6, Spoof 3-Ergo, Stealth 6)

Secondary PAN: Active, SIN: Jo Datsik(Fake SIN Rtg4), Response 3, Signal 4, System 4, Firewall 4, (Agent 3, Analyze 4, Browse 4, Edit 4, Tacsoft 2)


Dubstep looks down at Dante's hand, then back into his eyes. He easily dismissed Dante's talk of helping him find pieces of the Scream. He had that covered with the list of 5000 affected nodes he'd already obtained. However, he didn't know where tracking the virus would lead him. Having some muscle could certainly be handy.

"I suppose a joint venture could be arranged. With how many people got hit with this thing, it's hard not to trip over the pieces everywhere I go. But some backup might be helpful if the pieces lead down any darkened alleys." He hesitated a moment longer, then put his hand in Dante's with a firm grip."Most people call me Dubstep"

His waryness seemed to evaporate as soon as he shook Dante's hand."Guess you, like everybody else I've run into lately, got hit too? Yeah, I can clear it out of your commlink. I've got some programming time setup on a Nexus supercomputer that I can move it onto." He specifically doesn't mention who's Nexus he's working with, just in case Dante isn't as up and up as he appeared.

"I've got somebody else meeting me here for lunch. She needs the same thing done on her 'link. I'll just take care of everybody together. Out of curiousity, what piece of it did you get?"

[Dakka Fiend]

@E:Tribes
Spring
September 1, 2072 22:28 Ambushed near the Freedom Mall, Puyallup
Renraku Sensei: Hidden, SIN: Steven Brokvich (fake R3)

Crash, bang! Stop us?! Hah!

The kid's joy at watching his friend drive the van through the road block is quickly killed by the two attackers shooting at them.

Frak this! Ain't got my gun and I'm out in the...

Frak!

Worrying about the gangers, he hadn't given the van right in front of him much thought when suddenly it swerves to the left and starts to brake hard.

Trying to kill me?!

<<From:Tweak> 'din pulling aggro>

Oh. Guess that makes me squishy mage.

Tweak
[Inside the Van]
Novatech Airwave: Hidden, SIN: James Teems (fake R3)

Shield on one side, sword on the other...

As the Van suddenly lurches to the left, Tweak activates the speakers again: Think you can give Spring some cover fire?

There better be no wyverns this time.

[RdMarquis]

@E:Tribes
September 1, 2072 22:28 Approx 600m from the Fre∑dom Mall, Puyallup
SIN: Iwakura Lain, PAN: Passive

Time to put up or shut up. Permanently. Morgan took a deep, filtered breath. She hadn't expected to be in a fight so soon. But try telling that to the gunmen, one of whom was undeniably aiming for her. LeFey twisted sideways, then flattened herself against the monocycle. How could Riley (or anyone else) do this? There were so many things to keep in mind as she raised the taser. The movement of the vehicle and her target. The damned shaking of her hands. And of course, the nagging doubt that something was deeply wrong with shooting at someone her own age.

She flicked off the safety and allowed the smartgun system to guide her aim. "Sorry." Morgan whispered, then pulled the trigger. Almost immediately, she ducked back behind the vehicle. LeFey lingered only to glance into the matrix. Was there some way to help that was actually within her capabilities?

[Machine Ghost]

@E:Tribes, Sprogget
September 1, 2072 22:28  Approx 600m from the Fre∑dom Mall, Puyallup
Bionode: Response 4(5), Signal 2, System 4, Firewall 3; Hidden; Analyze(3), Command(1), Edit(1), Scan(1), Sniffer(3), Spoof(1), Stealth(3), Shield(1), Tacsoft(2), Simrig(1)
CMT Clip: Response 1, Signal 3, System 1, Firewall 1; Hidden; SIN: Paul Brickhill (R3)

As the DR comes around to face the known threats, Sprogget's sensor display starts to flood with electronic signal sources, lighting up like someone firing off every piece of fireworks for the New Year's party!
@self:What? ... Ah!  The Fre∑domer's surveillance tech!  Wonder if anyone is monitoring, and is scrambling?  Prospero was disconnecting from the main link, but did he leave the 'local' connections up?  He should not have been neglecting physical security while increasing matrix protection.  I wonder if I can access that gear, and add it to tacnet?  What are the SP's doing this close anyway?  Did they know sensors might not be reporting them just now?
Checking his position a little more closely.
@self:Slot!  Not quite close enough to try raising security inside the Mall direct from here myself.

@jailbreakers: <<We are inside the border for the Fre∑dom security sensor network!  Tweak, you know enough about the sensor network to tap in quick, or get LeFey or I access?  Love use all that data to paint any Spined Drakes not seen yet onto tacnet.  Also at this range, you should be able to get a comm signal through direct, if you know anyone at the Mall that has good signal, and roust some security if the virus means they are not already on the way.>>

@jailbreakers: <<Ah ... Assuming we intend to give this bunch an immediate lesson in acceptable behaviour this close to the Mall, instead of just exiting.>>

Not waiting for a response to question or comment, he points the DR at the shooter that ran out from the west side, and is spraying bullets at the van, aiming to pass the oncoming van to the east, then around behind, since the initial turn looped him clear across to the east side of the street.  The shooter gets marked in tacnet so the rest of the team knows the target, and intended path of the DR.
@self:Too many signals to check, to try to find targets that way quickly, although anything detected moving should get flagged fast.

Glancing at the reported list of in range active or passive nodes,
@self:Is any of that tech publishing any sort of connection address?
Bearing down hard on the shooter, Sprogget continues to scan for more threats while waiting for Tweaks response.

[ Spoiler ]

Edited to target visible shooter per OoC post

[RdMarquis]

@E:PL UK
[May 21st, 2072, 18:38; Clearwater Pumping Station, Exmoor, UK]
SIN: Spencer Lovett, PAN: Hidden

As soon as he and Gemeaux are through the door, Mordred kicks it shut. Then he takes off running. <<Get going! they're right behind us!>> He gives the door a quick glance. Drawing a stim patch out of a side pocket, he reaches under the suit and places it on his arm. <<You have our escape all ready?>>

[mister__joshua]

@E:CoP/Johnny Awesome
[August 20th, 2072, 22:01; Balcony on the NeoNet Tower, Oxford]

"I don't mind overt" he said with a smile. "It's better than being sly. You know where you stand with overt."

He takes a moment to briefly picture an evening with Browyn. Maybe he wouldn't mind being the mouse for a change? He's too often the cat in these situations, and change is good for the soul.

"I'm sorry Ryl, I didn't mean to offend but people at these parties so often want something of me."

He looked down at the city thoughtfully for a moment, lighting his cigar and blowing rings of smoke over the balcony.
"Say, if you truly don't have an agenda here, why don't you grab your friend, I'll grab a few bottles and we can head out of here. Maybe you can show me your city?"

[mister__joshua]

@Virtual Scream/Cipher
[September 2, 2072, 08:00; Ares Seattle General Hospital]

"Um... Yes, please." He answers without really thinking what was asked. He needed to start getting a grip on this place. Which reality was he in now? With so many it gets confusing. Maybe this could be real reality? Unlikely, though he always imagined when he did wake up, it'd be like this.

He tried the food while waiting politely for the orderly to leave. As soon as she'd gone he brushed it to one side and accessed his medical records, wondering what knowledge they would contain.

[ChromeZephyr]

@E:Tribes, Scrapheap;
September 1, 2072 22:28; ~600m from Fre∑dom Mall, Puyallup Barrens
PAN mode: Hidden | SIN displayed: Eric Jones

"On it," Scrapheap growled as he extricated himself from the seatbelt. Murder blazed in his eyes as he booted open the back door and dropped to the pavement. Might not be tha fucks I really wants ta kill, but dese pieces'a shit'll do for tonight.

The whine of Spring's scooter to the van's left told him where he needed to be, and he racked the slide of the Remington, the shrak-CHAK of the action adding a feral, hungry smile to the hate boiling in him. He leaned out from behind the bulk of the transport, trying to give as little of himself as possible for someone to return fire at while still bringing one of the gangers into his sights. There, by the trap car. The shotgun roared in his hands, though he hardly felt the stock recoil against his shoulder.

[phlapjack77]

@Virtual Scream / Dante, Dubstep, Cat
[September 2, 2072, 13:13, Hai Fuk Noodle House, Redmond Barrens, Seattle]
PAN: hidden, Response 1, Signal 3, System 2, Firewall 1

Dante relaxed as well after the handshake (which had played out with Dante's hand hanging limply like a dead fish while Dubstep performed the ritual). He knew how foreigners were, how sacrosanct the handshake was to them. He knew he could trust this Dubstep now.

"Very nice to meet you. I'm Dante. For this agreement, we can split the money that is earned directly in half. Yes?" Without waiting for a reply, Dante barrels on. "I have a hand in my 'link, and an...eye...in my drone. My idea is that if we can get enough of these things together, it will be worth some cred to somebody. So the work will be to gather the pieces, and find a buyer."

[Aria]

@E:Tribes
September 1, 2072 22:28 Ambushed near the Freedom Mall, Puyallup

Spring

You breathe a sigh of relief as the tacnet places you out of the immediate line of fire from the Spines’ foot soldiers, at least for a second or two…

LeFey

Leaning into the turn of the mono bike you peak around the wheel to see that Sprogget is driving you straight at one of your attackers! The looming maw of his gun almost eclipses the brief glance you spare his acne scarred face and scared eyes. Almost without thinking about it the smartlink turns to a steady red pulse as the taser comes on line and you feel your finger squeeze the trigger…

Sprogget

Too easy! The taser dart impacts the punk in front of you and as he staggers the wheel ploughs over him and grinds him into the broken black top. He certainly won’t be firing at you any more, although you briefly regret the bloody mess you are going to have to clean out of the wheel’s pseudopods later! Your sensors track the first attacker as he swings his chattergun after you but with a deft flick of the wheel you place the armoured bulk between the bullets and your more fragile forms and they barely scratch any paint

Scrapheap

The shotgun booms as the young breeder looks up at you in surprise. He might as well be wearing wet paper as the ragged armour tee for all the good it does against your blast and he looks down in amazement at the hole cored out where his midriff was moments before.

Tweak

As combat whirls behind you, you are distracted from it by the appearance of a host of new attackers, 3 bikes, a vicious looking Harley flanked by a couple of crotch rockets race out of 28th ave whilst you become aware of another Americar, this one looking like the lost survivor of some post apocalypse sim, coming from 27th to pin you into the trap…

[Dakka Fiend]

@E:Tribes
Spring
September 1, 2072 22:28 Ambushed near the Freedom Mall, Puyallup
Renraku Sensei: Hidden, SIN: Steven Brokvich (fake R3)

Yes! Seeing Scrapheap return fire and take out one of their assailants feels good for a second but then...
Another day, that could be me. Sitting out here in the open. That's crazy. At least we're past... what the? How many of them are there?

Tweak
[Inside the Van]
Novatech Airwave: Hidden, SIN: James Teems (fake R3)

Uhm, guess it's getting bumpy again...

The speaker switches off in mid-sigh.

Rammed by a car, rammed a car (intentional), been shot, about to ram a bike (again, intentional) - the earliest I'm gonna be allowed to even look at the van again is gonna be 3072! Would be nice to see some of our guys around, though.

[Machine Ghost]

@E:Tribes, Sprogget
September 1, 2072 22:28  Ambushed near the Fre∑dom Mall, Puyallup
Bionode: Response 4(5), Signal 2, System 4, Firewall 3; Hidden; Analyze(3), Command(1), Edit(1), Scan(1), Sniffer(3), Spoof(1), Stealth(3), Shield(1), Tacsoft(2), Simrig(1)
CMT Clip: Response 1, Signal 3, System 1, Firewall 1; Hidden; SIN: Paul Brickhill (R3)

Accelerating back past the destroyed heap, Sprogget lines up on the punk that has been spraying lead around.  Just before the monocycle smashes into him, the sensors show LeFey's taser connecting as well.
@self:One down.  Guess LeFey knows how to use that darter, even from a moving bike.  Ren Man is going to have some work to do, cleaning the mess off the bike.  Good thing the spokes are intended for use in messy environments.

Almost simultaneously with that, tacnet shows another ganger taken out by Scrapheap's shot.
@self:Make that two down.  Now where ...?

Then several new hostile targets pop up on tacnet.
@self:Drek!  I knew there had to be more of them!  How many in that decrepit Americar anyway?  Are they holding it together with their hands?  Should be easy to out maneuver, or out run that heap, but those bikes are another story.  Trying to take out that mobile rust factory with the DR does not seem productive, and LeFey's taser won't do much against it either.  Even though it looks like it would fall apart from a good kick.

Those bikes though.  Trying to pin us here."

Deciding the three bikes present a better opportunity, Sprogget leans the bike hard to the right, accelerating through the turn.
@self:I think I'm getting better at this.  Roadrunner suggested more practice.  I guess that dance on the way to Bellevue counts!

Making the turn to the far East side of the street, he updates the team on tentative plans.
@jailbreakers: <<{dryly} As you can see on the tac, we have some extra guests crashing the party.  Moving the celebration to the mall seems like a good idea.  They can't all be sleeping there!  I'm going to see about breaking up that trio to the South.  LeFey, you might get a shot at the original shooter {flagging target #1 on tacnet} as I go past, or those bikes are going to be in range fast.>>
@self:And if he steps out of that doorway 'fore I get there, the DR will turn him into another street pancake!

Seeing that  Tweak is also getting the Van moving toward the bikes, and tacnet showing targeting for one of the racing bikes,
@self:Right, looks like the same general idea.  Don't know if I can get there soon enough to double team, but going to try!
Designating the second racing bike as the current target, Sprogget keeps an eye on the tacnet display, while moving on to something more immediate.

@self:Maybe I can set off some alarms, and get some attention here.  No ID to spoof access, so try knocking down the door.
Deliberately turning off the Stealth complex form, Sprogget quickly pulls the resonance together into battering ram.  Looking at the meager result,
@self:Hmmm, Resonance is being stingy.  Something else I should be better at, but get in or no, this should set off alarms without stealth running.  The firewall of whatever that is slaved to should notice a prod like this!
Randomly picking one of the identified slaved sensor nodes, he smacks it with no attempt to be subtle.

[Aria]

@E:CoP/Johnny Awesome
[August 20th, 2072, 22:01; Balcony on the NeoNet Tower, Oxford]

Ryl frowns slightly at you…something she seems to be doing more than you like now you really know what she is…it’s not that you think she might eat you, but she’s not metahuman either and you shouldn’t forget that, no matter how easy it might seem to be

"Come now Johnny, everyone has an agenda, you know that. Some are more honest about it than others and it might be that Bronwyn’s is just to bed an interesting human, mine is perhaps more complicated. Things are changing, we are watching that change but we also have the power to nudge it in the direction that our wills dictate. Of course equally powerful wills nudge it another way but that is the nature of the game is it not? So, the game’s afoot, now we just need to find out who’s playing it!"