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

[onlyghostdancesw...]

@Suicide Kings
[April 16th 2072; 00:19:00 Touristville, Rambling down NE 85th Street]

Late night in Touristville. A shiny amalgam of lights, sounds and vibrant street life. Safety so close to the desperation of the Barrens just hundreds of yards away. The playground of the rich and famous slumming to find meaning in life...

As always, Mr.Green was pulled out of his troubled inner monologue by the sheer perversion that was Touristville in full late-night swing. Nowhere else in Seattle was the disparity between have- and the have-nots so apparent as in this 2 block difference. One side of the security barriers, life, and entertainment, enough to lose yourself or hide from anyone in the world; on the other, a place where you could hide because noone had the strength to care.

The last of his stolen skillsofts had finally degraded beyond repair last night and even aether hadn't been able to do anything to preserve them any longer. Despite the extraordinary finesse he had recently learned, crafting hooks and calls out of the Resonance, these mundane programs still seemed arcane as they ever had, and yet, they were yet one more casualty to the freak who got away. The last few months in this city-within-a-city had been a whirlwind of hiding in plain sight, working a few jobs every know and then for Maggie and her many colleagues, though only Hansai had been a repeat customer; he seemingly didn't care too much, or perhaps didn't know about Jacob's history.

Tonight was no different. Every morning Jacob had made a sort of macabre pilgrimage down to the court house, at the corner of NE 85th and 163rd Ave to view and track those the system threw out and discarded. Only here, among the refuse of society, did he not feel the need to be wrapped in constant iconic imagery, protective, shielding iconography to mask the pain underneath. It was a sort of vicarious rite for him these days, looking through the faces, trying to see his own, in a mirror that always changed. He had managed to help a few people out, even a few who came back to thank him later, but he never managed to assauge the longing for his old life.

As he walked on past the drugged out refuse that was the latest pile of newly-addicted chipheads, many of which merely reacted blindly, as if somehow sensing his swirl of painful emotions caused them to twitch and moan even more, he felt a tug in the flow of data, someone had started to look for him. Out of habit more than necessity he flipped on the image link in his cybereyes, those blessings and curses both, just in time to see the message arrive, freshly scrubbed on his PAN:

<<Mr Green. Thanks for the excellent work on the Marcelli outfit. I appreciate that it is very late at night, but I have an urgent and important task for you. A very bad man is framing some acquaintainces of mine. My partner and two of my close personal friends have been killed or seriously injured in the last 2 hours, so I hope you understand that I am feeling rather emotional at the moment.

I believe that these acquaintainces of mine have some evidence that they need a person of your skill level to deal with. I also think that there is likely to be a black operation against a hard target with some serious matrix defences, as well as the physical defences. Are you available? Here <ARO Link> is a summary of what I suspect. - Hansai >>


Working for him again? Hansai has been increasingly agitated recently, especially after the Marcelli info-dump. I wonder if he got caught with the data? He seems to be running from something lately and I ought to figure that out... Switching out of his idle pondering Jacob took a moment to think and then replied:

<< H. - How much is the pay etc etc? I appreciate the repeat business but am concerned about being onsite. Not my usual pattern. - Mr. Green>>

He really doesn't seem too broken over the loss of his partners though... As Jacob read over the transcript once more, he decided he needed to do some more digging on Mr. Hansai, some of the pieces just weren't fitting. It's not like I can turn him down though is it? I can use the rep and the protection, not to mention the hard cred...

[JxJxA]

@ Suicide Kings
[April 16th 2072; 00:20:00 Parking Lot]
[The Pixel Special, ID "Aubert Benoit"]

Demon takes note when Ember mutes his commlink and follows suit. He nods in agreement with the sentiment of his compatriote.

"You hired me for the task of dealing with the villain who attacked your wife, and that is enough for me to continue pursuing Teague until he is dead. That he has waged a public libel campaign against ma réputation, attempted on several occasions to ensure our untimely deaths, and assassinated one of our number strengthen my resolve to see this through until l'acte final when we bring down the curtain upon Teague's miserable life.

"As we have no other leads, I suspect it is best to follow Hansai's. When should we infiltrate le nid du serpent? The morning or evening? Going earlier minimizes the possibility that Knight Errant surprises us, but going later would give us the chance to plan, tend our wounds, and investigate Allanby's data."

[Aria]

@ Suicide Kings
[April 16th 2072; 00:20:00 Parking Lot]

"We cannot afford another ambush...this one we must plan carefully, non? And be prepared with all our tools of the trade...?"

[Seth]

@Suicide Kings
[April 16th 2072; 00:19:00 Touristville, Rambling down NE 85th Street]

<<[Hansai to Mr Green] I appreciate your reticence about being on site. I do believe that this is a high threat engagement: so be under no illusions. I will be offering your usual rate, most of it at the high threat rate, plus a substantial bonus for success. I have a particular interest in their Decker: one EMM386. Should that Decker be captured alive for arresting, I will be particularly generous.>>

[Seth]

@ I'm on a boat
[April 15th 2072; 23:50 SS Henry VIII 4000 meters off shore, Puget Sound]

Siran nods to Silk, while moving. "Let us break the line of sight between ourselves and where the ward was broken. I suspect a visit from an astral mage and / or a spirit. However it takes time for them to respond: but that time is only seconds... I shall leave a diversion." Saying that, Siran paused and summoned a watcher. "Little one: you are to wait over there. When you see a large spirit or mage, you are to flee in that direction. After you have exited the boat you are to return from where you came. Go!"

"When they arrive, their attention will be distracted. It may buy us some more seconds...So lets make the most of our time. As they say in the simsense's: Go! Go! Go!"

[JxJxA]

@ Suicide Kings
[April 16th 2072; 00:20:00 Parking Lot]
[The Pixel Special, ID "Aubert Benoit"]

"My thoughts, exactly. I have---perhaps 'had' is a better word to use if Knight Errant has discovered my abode---a few items that will help in breaking and entering. However, maybe it might be better to acquire another set en route..." I hate having to pay for something that I already have, but in this situation the sin of wastefulness is probably better than the sin of stupidity...

[Notsoevildm]

@ Suicide Kings
[April 16th 2072; 00:20:00 Parking Lot]

Copperhead stifles a yawn, then rubs her temples with a grunt and a grimace.

"Stim is wearing off so I gonna have a major headache which means no spellcasting. And den I gonna crash hard when da cram wears off. Gonna need some beauty sleep to be back at my best. So morning is out. I don't work too good in daylight anyways, so I agree dat best if we do it in da evening."

She glances at her bandaged up team-mates. "An I ain't da only one who could use some rest."

"From what Hansai was saying, sounds like I still got some friends in da Crush. Dey ain't too smart, but by firebombing our squat da cops will have a hard time finding anything to link to me or Cutter. Does mean dat my lodge and summoning materials is gone up in smoke, so I can only summon temporary help."

She shrugs in an 'easy come, easy go' sort of gesture. "We was planning on getting a better place anyways."

"So unless, one of youz got a place for us all to hole up, can you drop me off somewhere?"

[AppliedCheese]

@ Suicide Kings
[April 16th 2072; 00:20:00 Parking Lot]

Dealer makes sure his link is not in audio mode, then begins to talk.

"Gentlemen...and Copper...we do not have the luxury of time. Right now we still have a manhunt on for us, and they have enough people crunching the legwork that its only a matter of time before we pop up. We have a decision point from 0730 - ~0900 when Teague will be en route to or executing his celebrity brunch. After that we've got no known schedule on him. I'm not really sure what his team's playbook is, but they're going to sweep the hell out of that place at least an hour before he gets there, probably with some loyalist security forces if half cut isn't lying about the Yanaga issue. Track that back, anything he's got running escort out of fortress Teague is going to be humming by 0400-0500.

Other than that, daylight is coming up fast. Check your links: 0407 starts morning twilight, and its full sun up by 0519. If we're going in cover of darkness, we need to start 0330 at the latest, and even that might be riding out into the sunrise depending on how long we're in there.

So, if we're planning on taking advantage of this little affair before the KE catches up, we've got about 3 hours to get our drek straight. In between then and now we need to get this pile of data cracked, and see just what we have, equip ourselves, and hopefully grab a wink so we can all clear our heads.

I'm thinking running to known associates ala the crush is a bad idea, as is leaving people alone. But if you're all confident about the crush, we can run out of there, temporarily.

this is what i'm thinking, feel free to intervene when it sound stupid:

Now - 0200: We move the van out to a hidey hole and get our mystery friend to help crack this data. Copper, Ember, you might as well crash out for a bit. Everyone else, catch sleep if you can, once we're hidden.
0200 - 0230: We figure out what we're doing with the data we got. Make a decision to either hit teague's place or a different plan.
0230- 0315: Final legwork for plan.
0330: Hit time. Either we're bodies in motion by now, or we're going in disadvantaged in a big way. Final call on if we're going or not."

Right now, i'm looking at four basic options:

1. Hit Teague's place while he's gone, use the data there via datahaven or any newgroups we can tap. Problem is, this is going to bloody novatech, so we isolate Yanaga.
2. Hit teague's place early, broadcast his guilt at his press conference, with the world watching.
3. Kill teague and friends quietly. Let KE take the credit for a daring raid on teague as a major terrorist financier of the GLF. Yanaga buys in, claims that Novatech, naturally concerned for the public safety, had been investigating him internally for a while and cooperated with KE for the public good.
4. Cut a deal with Yanaga. We disappear into MCT territories, and don't come out until we have new lives. In return, we remove Teague and maybe stay on call as an in house runner team.

No matter what we choose, we need to make sure KE gets public credit for someone other than us, teague dies horribly, and MCT gets to keep the spectres in the stable so we didn't just out a mega a multi-million yen franchise.

[Notsoevildm]

@ Suicide Kings
[April 16th 2072; 00:20:00 Parking Lot]

Copperhead frowns through her growing headache as she tries to follow Dealer's plan.

"Let me get dis straight. We rest up a couple of hours den go after Teague. You meaning to hit his place while he's still dere. Got balls, but security will be tight. If we go in afterwards, dere will be less security but den we only get da data and no Teague."

Just thinking hurts her head. She does some quick math.

"Okay, I reckons I got about 4-5 hours before I crash. A couple of hours to lose dis headache while youz crack da data and we could still have a short window while my reflexes is still jacked up and before you have to carry me out. And I dont think you wanna be doing dat."

So I'm leaning toward option 2. Option 3 could turn inta a clusterfuck. Option 1 is maybe safest but I might be out cold from withdrawal, so still risky. I don't like cutting deals with corps, but if it keeps me in my skin, then option 4 is possible but only a last resort. If we gonna be doing dis, den I needs a nap."

[AppliedCheese]

@ Suicide Kings
[April 16th 2072; 00:20:00 Parking Lot]

Well, here's the deal...after 0900, we're pretty much out of whatever advantage there is to be gained by this press conference. After 0500, we're out of darkness. And every day we hold out is another day that the KE are getting closer. Unless we plan on a daylight assault on Fortress Teague, that means at least 16-18 hours with the city of Seattle still looking for us if we don't start moving by 0330. If we had a fast talker, maybe we could swing it. Straight up sneak and thief or smash and grab, we'd be in it rough for a daylight raid. That said, if all we need to do is kill teague, we can probably bushwhack him when he's in a convoy or any number of other places...so a lot of this is real dependent on whats in these little hard drives."

[AppliedCheese]

@ I'm on a boat
[April 15th 2072; 23:50:15 Somewhere in the pacific]

Raul was supposed to file a report with his superiors, make sure the public relations guys informed the appropriate local authorities, and then make sure the insurance guys and legal cleared deployment, and then only take such actions as would be needed to provide due diligence to the customer before management could reach a decision on what assets to deploy for this contract. As a junior mage, it was pretty clearly set in the Six Sigma program that he was certainly not supposed to take unilateral action unless necessary to preserve "life, limb, eyesight or contractually identified critical assets in those circumstance where the Ganymede Collective has a clear contractual responsibility in the preservation of any of the above.'

He did, in fact, file a report. Then he broke SOP, courtesy of Karl Kombatmage, and flung himself into astral, streaking across miles between him and the Henry in mere seconds. Because, hey the rules only count if you lose, right?

As it stood, Ganymede had good reason to write the rules the way they were. Raul, nervous, excited, and slightly daydreaming about getting to do something new and unique, fell hook line and sinker for the watcher spirit Siran had sent out. It gave a game chase, and he finally butchered it somewhere in the Pacific. Only after glorying in how easy it was did he realize there's no way that little watcher could have chopped through the ward that fast. if he could have blanched astrally, he would have. Because it was then that it hit him that the real threat was still running loose on the Henry, and he didn't even know if the alert had been processed...

[Zaranthan]

@I'm On A Boat
[April 15th 2072; 23:50 SS Henry VIII 4000 meters off shore, Puget Sound]

Robert dashed through the night, barely keeping up with his teammates. The old tricks he'd picked up sneaking out of his parents' house were proving to be useful: move when they're distracted, freeze when they're not, keep your head down and your heels up. He even managed a fancy-looking quickstep to avoid being noticed by a passing drone. The fact that navigation consisted of keeping his eyes trained on the shapely figure in front of him certainly helped. *splash* *beep* *whoosh* Watching her break the maglock was like something out of the trids. Right down to the snazzy keycard with the flickering lights. Go figure. The door slid open, and he charged in before somebody came along to see them.

Something tugged at the edge of his mind. Something on the astral? *SNAP* Yep, something just severed his link with the spirit that was following him. He whirled around, opening his third eye just in time to see Siran tear down the last shards of the ward. Before he can even process what's going on, the other mage has already summoned a spirit to cover their tracks and the shapely sprite is halfway up the stairs.

Good grief, what am I DOING out here? Robert takes a deep breath, and hustles up the stairwell as best he can. Hopefully whoever comes to check on the ward has enough on its mind to let them escape before it gets here.

[Friendbot2000]

@Dysfunctional Family
[April 15th, 2072 11:52am; Stuffer Shack]

Ajax was thoroughly frustrated. He was going to be late to the meet site due to the traffic and he had to go to the Stuffer Shack to pick up some clothes for the kid to change into. He can't have the boy roaming around in street urchin clothes. It will be a dead give away for people watching for him. He entered the Stuffer Shack and a cheery clerk smiled and welcomed him. He smiled and returned the greeting. He moved over towards the clothes section and grabbed a variety of sizes for some generic solid color shirts and pants. He didn't know exactly what size this kid was, but his intuition told him he wouldn't be too large at that age due to malnutrition. He still bought a wide range of sizes just in case. He could always donate the ones that didn't fit to the local street urchins that lived in the alleyways near his loft.

He was seriously contemplating having the kid stay at his place, which was probably safer than having him tromp around with the others. He was an unknown at this point. He would be safe for a short while since the pursuers did not know who he was yet. He picked up some candy, soda, and general snack items for the boy as well. Nothing like food and clothes to bribe a street urchin. He didn't really consider the gifts a bribe, he honestly wanted to help this kid. He took care of some of the street kids in his neighborhood. Put them up in a halfway house and gave them a free meal when he could spare the cash. He always had been fond of children.

Sent accessed the Matrix real quick to send a message to Jotamon <<Might be late, traffic was awful and I am picking up some essentials for the kid. We need to change his appearance so he is not as identifiable at a glance. I would like to talk to him at our meeting place if that is alright.>>

As he was heading to check out he noticed an interesting item. It was an auto haircut razor that could be programmed to automatically give a style of hair cut. "Hmm, that could be useful" He thought to himself. "Damn its expensive though. Oh well, might as well" He went up to the counter and placed the items before the clerk who scanned them into her system. "That will be 110 nuyen please." She said cheerily. Ajax smiled and forwarded the money over to the clerk and waved goodbye as he headed out of the shop.

[JxJxA]

@ Suicide Kings
[April 16th 2072; 00:20:00 Parking Lot]
[The Pixel Special, ID "Aubert Benoit"]

Demon frowns, not exactly liking any of the options. However, his personal preference is to let action dictate the end-result rather than pick an ending and hope it comes true.

"Whatever we do, we are likely going to need more ammunition. Judging from the feux d'artifice in the warehouse, I'm guessing we lost a lot of our bullets and grenades. I have a few left in my smartpack, but I'd prefer acquiring more rather than trying to run another campagne underarmed. Does have an ami dans l'ombre who carries the firepower our cause requires? I am a bit hesitant to try another shop, as it will likely be filled with serait chasseur de primes..."

With the trauma patch wearing off and the resulting headache setting in, he starts slipping back into French despite a concerted effort to keep speaking English.

[LostProxy]

@I'm On A Boat
[April 15th 2072; 23:50 SS Henry VIII 4000 meters off shore, Puget Sound]

Khalil felt the eyes of the nodes security pass over him and he knew that whatever happened in the next few seconds would have to be something worth the effort. Bringing up every exploit he knew Khalil began overloading the node with a classic attack straight from the old school. As the data crashed he felt the warm feeling of a job well done. <<Distraction made ma'am. Good luck.>>

[Seth]

@Dysfunctional Family
[April 15th, 2072 11:53am; Van in transit to Touristville]

<<Pheromones to level 2 reassurance, Engage emotion monitoring software, Select medicare software suite>> Jotamon sent the commands to his internal 'ware. Time to wake the child up, and to wake him gently.

<<Task: awaken child, keep sedation at level 2, ensure cognitive functions operational>> More instructions were issued, then the 'ware began to do it's thing. Jotamon always found this fascinating: it was almost like being a passenger in his body as the Move By Wire^TM took over. Drugs were dispensed from his medikit, and gradually the child woke.

"Wassat, What the Fek's nappening?" said the child "Weres eye, Whos U. Feks Up". Jotamon sighed mentally. He hated this <<Engage gutterspeek linguasoft>>. The boys words blurred and Jotamon understood their meaning. The linguasoft had the advantage that it allowed him to speak as well.

"You're safe for now. The people that were chasing you down the alley when you ran into me are dead." at least that's what he meant to say, what actually came out of his mouth had every other word a profanity. "There are still some people that want you dead though, and Doza and a few friends of mine are about to go and find out who they are and what they want"

"If you want to escape them, we need to know who they are, and what they want. We are about to go back to where we picked you up, and ask some of the people there what they saw. Any help you can give us would let us deal with them". Jotamon winced internally as the words "beatz the fekking crap out of their pwned asses" came out of his mouth, although he mostly agreed with the sentiment.

"So the big questions are: why were the men chasing you, and who are they?"

While he started asking the kid questions, he started arranging meeting up with the others

<<Ajax: can you book us a room in cheap robo hotel in Touristville near where you are? If you can spoof the records so that they don't record any pictures as we come in that would be great. I would rather have a room in a hotel, where no one can see us, than meet in, say, a cafe.>>

<<Isaac: thanks for following. Looks like these guys aren't bad guys (I think). I'm planning on making a temporary base in a hotel. We have a Decker coming with us: name of Ajax <ARO link to digital signiture>. I'll be sending you a destination in a minute.>>

[Alyena]

@Dysfunctional Family
[April 15th, 2072 11:53am; Van in transit to Touristville]

Doza quickly scanned the van as she came back out of VR, checking her weapons more by touch than sight as she did so. Jotamon was starting to wake the kid, using various skillsofts, first to medicate, then to talk to him. She sensed his distaste in using Gutterspeek and grinned, careful to keep out of the child's line of sight as she did so. She stayed quietly in the background, only slowly raising a hand when he named her.

In her experience small children tended to be a bit..... nervous in her presence. That is until they got to know her, then she seemed to become their favourite climbing frame!
Content to let Jotamon do the talking she watched out of the window as the van took a turn, heading to a new deatination.

[Friendbot2000]

@Dysfunctional Family
[April 15th, 2072 11:53am; Chinese Cafe]

Ajax had already arrived at the meeting spot when he got Jotamon's message. "Dammit, the place I know is on the other side of town and I just got my food." He motioned over to the waitress and smiled, "Hey Ju Li, can I get this stuff to go. Something has come up."

Ju Li smiled back, "Of course Mr. Smith, it is no problem at all." She quickly dashed to the back room and retrieved a box for the food. Ajax handed her a credstick with 200 nuyen when she came over to the table. "Here Ju Li, buy Mao something nice. It's his birthday in two days isn't it?"

Ju Li shook her head "Mr. Smith, do you forget anything?" She laughed.
Ajax smiled, "Not much escaped me Ju Li. He is turning 6 isn't he? That is a big step, he will be going to school soon. You should buy him a really nice toy. I don't know what he likes so I figured you would be the best person to get him a gift."

Ju Li smiled "Thank you Mr. Smith. You are very generous."

Ajax beamed back, but really in his heart he was incredibly sad, his boy would have been turning six around now. Giving Mao a great birthday would ease the pain a bit. Besides, Ju Li didn't have the money to spare on a present for the boy. Every kid deserves a present on his birthday.

Ajax collected his food and bowed to Ju Li. She returned his gesture and Ajax left. He had some calls to make.

<<Jotamon, I have a contact over at the Motel Ferdero in Touristville that can give us a room off the books. Not much good at spoofing camera footage, but Miguel can take care of that for us. It will take me awhile to get to that location so I will tell him you are coming.>>

Ajax quickly dialed Miguel, the hotel clerk. The call went through and a thick accented man came on the line, <<"Hello, who is this?">>
<<Miguel old friend I need a favor. I need a room off the books for a couple of hours. I will make it worth your while.>>
<<I don't know Mr. Ajax, you almost got me in trouble last time. How many people are coming to this room?>>
<<I would say about 4>> Ajax replied << I am willing to pay 200 nuyen for the unofficial stay. The cameras will have to be edited though.>>
<<Mr. Ajax, It will cost you 500 nuyen, with cameras edited, boss might find out.>>
Ajax sighed, Miguel was always so difficult just because he got investigated when Ajax protected him from a couple of go gangers looking to wreck the motel. It wasn't his fault they got shot and bled everywhere. Well, time to haggle.

[AppliedCheese]

@ Suicide Kings
[April 16th 2072; 00:20:00 Parking Lot]

"Well, there is one place out in Snoho. Prices premium, certified credstick only. You place an order the right way, a price comes back. Drop the stick where they tell you to, the link you used to order gets a GPS ping for your pick up when they verify the cred. No human interaction, it all comes pre-dusted, nothing hot. Place an order the wrong way and you get a pizza. KE leave it alone for the most part - its a Humanis joint, no doubt about it, but if you can get past that, very discrete.if not, we can always hit the crime mall. Pullayup. Demon knows the place. Otto, yeah?"

[Notsoevildm]

@ Suicide Kings
[April 16th 2072; 00:20:00 Parking Lot]

Copperhead's snake eyes narrow at the mention of Humanis, then she spoils the effect with a massive yawn.

"Youz guys wanna deal wid da breeders, be my guest. I lost some stuff in da explosion, but it was mostly da stuff I replaced wid da new gear from Molly. Time fer a change anyway. Dat long coat look was totally last year."

"Normally I could go to da Crush for help, but dey is hurting or lying low, so we aint gonna get help dere. Not until I gots some time to frag wid da Bloody Skulls fer comin after my gang. And dat aint gonna happen till we sorts dis drek out."

She points a metal finger at Dealer.

"You! You is one crazy fragger, but without you we would be maybe dead tonight. So we goes in early and we goes in hot. Get da fraggin decker to us and whatever da boyz need from da breeders or da shadow market. I'm gonna crash in da back next to dem computer disks so I is good ta go at 3:30. Wake me before den at yer own risk robot boy."

With a lot of grumbling she finds a vaguely comfortable spot amongst the hardware in the back of the van. She angrily punches the controls of the medkit for some relaxants and painkillers, ignoring the warning about using them if on other medication.

Frag, if I'm going to get any rest at all I need to take the edge off the cram. It's turning me into the troll bitch from hell.

[onlyghostdancesw...]

@Suicide Kings
[April 16th 2072; 00:19:00 Touristville, Rambling down NE 85th Street]

The response from Hansai felt weird... nothing more than that but it raised the hairs on the back of Jacob's neck, Hmmm I really need to check this guy out again, something seems a tad too easy. With a quick mental twist he sent out inquiring strains of data along the constant whirlpool of the world grid and had answers almost instantaneously.

Interesting characters isn't the half of it... with a wry grin at some of the more... indiscriminate footage of the "Terrorists" (which, as thinly veiled as it was meant that they were probably doing something right in this corrupted world), especially that last little flicker of niche-porn from the one named Demon, Jacob realizes perhaps just why Hansai is so desperate for matrix overwatch. They seem prone to the limelight a tad too much for my taste but oh well, Im in need of the money, hell if I get caught, I was only trying to cover and apprehend the Terrorists after all...

<<@Hansai - Alright I'll do it but I want double bonus if we pull this off plus health benefits... I'm allergic to lead, and quite frankly the footage I've pulled up of your terrorists is... well... frightening to a person like me. Care to give me a commcode so I can figure out where they are?>>

<<Hansai - Mr.Green - Thank you. I do believe we can discuss those after details are arranged, but yes I believe adequate compensation can be arranged. They are currently, at least if they still maintain the links I gave them, at a remote shopping center, corner of 62nd Ave East and by the old 99 overpass. Make it there quickly if you please, my sources tell me they are somewhat skittish.>>

Well... isn't that convenient? Jacob stopped to watch a Knight Errant drone fly by, hover for a second and then disappear around the corner towards the court house, Hello Mr. Hansai... watching my moves too are you now? With nothing to hold him back and all too many reasons to go forward Jacob mentally shrugged and sent a call out to the local Miracel Shooter Node and logged into one of his lesser used accounts. The comforting anonymity of the battlefield prep station instantly soothed his doubts as he used his erstwhile favorite game and convenient cover to place a call for emergency pickup from the nearest shooter transport specialist and a promise of help leveling later.

Minutes later <Carryman Rick>> had shown up in a beatup growler and made an impressive (if rather frightening) skidding halt in front of Jacob and requested permission to transport his comrade to continue the fight. The trip was rather spontaneous and roundabout, filled with a fairly large number of clashes with enemy forces, all of which were conveniently linked through the Miracle Shooter node, but was uneventful. The growler slid to a halt at the bottom of the overpass about 200 feet from the most garish sushi delivery truck Jacob had ever seen, conveniently out of the range of the defunct security system which characterized this stereotypically decrepit shopping park from a more naive and hopeful era.

Jacob got up rather shakily from his "gunnery" position in the sidecar and threw a crisp salute toward Rick and began walking towards the emissions he could sense coming from the commlinks Hansai had gifted to his errant running team. Now let's hope it's still them that has them...

[Aria]

@ I'm on a boat
[April 15th 2072; 23:50 SS Henry VIII 4000 meters off shore, Puget Sound]

The flyspy spiralled ahead of Silk, the tiny whine of its rotors barely audible over the hum of the engines reverberating through the steel work. In Silk’s peripheral vision an AR display showed her the stairwell ahead as she thumbed a grenade into her hand ready for the assault on the bridge…the chattergun was cradled loosely against her side as she rounded each landing, doing a visual confirmation check before racing up the next flight…

[Aria]

@ Suicide Kings
[April 16th 2072; 00:20:00 Parking Lot]

Ember studied the resolve of his reluctant companions. He felt vaguely guilty about dragging them into this mess but acknowledged to himself that he wouldn’t have survived his first encounter without them…Teague had much to answer to and it was up to them now to see that he did.

“So are we agreed? We rest up until near dawn and then strike Teague’s fortress? It doesn’t give me as much time as I would like to prepare but the noose is tightening and whilst it would always be possible to just disappear, if we wish to continue our lives without looking over our shoulders, we must resolve this quickly.

It feels like we are still one step behind this situation but I’m not sure there is much more we can do. The only other option I can think of is to ambush Teague en route to this breakfast meeting and force him to absolve us. He would be under duress and it would be far too easy for him to wriggle out of that.

Sadly, just killing the petit merde, while satisfying, is even less likely to be effective. We need to ruin him and expose his secrets, once he is discarded then he will become our prey as we have been his…the data here casts doubt on the facts but it is too circumstantial and he has done his work too well for it to be useful without further corroboration.”

He settled back like Copperhead to rest but not before asking one of the Korrigan to watch for anyone approaching the van and warn him. Hopefully the new decker would join them soon and they could begin a real sift through Allanby’s data haul. No doubt there was information in there that would provide more evidence of their lack of guilt but he was convinced it still wouldn’t be enough.

As his body rested his mind whirled through his own options. He had a life here that was threatened. He could take his family back to France away from this risk, and that seemed the perhaps the safest immediate course but that would mean exposing them to the machinations of the noble houses which was hardly safer in the long term. But perhaps the Family could help him with this situation…at the very least to distance Ember from the Penthièvre name. Unlike the others he did not do this for a living and so the loss of his handle would be no great blow. The Family deckers could probably provide an alibi for himself and his kin to prove they weren’t in Seattle during this debacle…after all, a respectable Professor of Magic would hardly be caught up in the likes of these events…now he just needed a secure ‘link to get the message to his Uncle…he certainly was not prepared to trust the one that Hansai had given him.

[Aria]

@Dysfunctional Family
[April 15th, 2072 11:53am; Van in transit to Touristville]

The kid looks up at you…there’s fear in his eyes but he has carefully masked it behind the false bravado of the streets. Now he’s a bit cleaner you assess his age downwards…he’s somewhere between six and eight, scrawny but basically healthy, aside from the bandages around his arm anyway…

“So you fekers are elping me out eh? Waz innit for youz den? I takes it you int with dem fraggers dat kilt everyone udderwize I’d be ghoul meat. It was dem freaky dogz that sniffed dem out and den da hunterz fragged em. Doze dey didn’t cart off anyway…de uva bunch came afta…guess dey didn’t want a mess…dey was dressed like Crimsons but aint no wayz dey was…didn’t talk right…so you did em did ya? Fanks”

[Translation: So you are helping me? Why? I understand you aren’t associated with the attackers otherwise I would be dead. It was the disturbing dogs that sniffed them out and then the hunters did nasty things to them. Those they didn’t take away. The other group came afterwards to clean up…although they were dressed like the Crimson Crush they did not speak in the correct patois…so you killed them did you? Thank you]

[JxJxA]

@ Suicide Kings
[April 16th 2072; 00:20:00 Parking Lot]
[The Pixel Special, ID "Aubert Benoit"]

Demon nods in acknowledgment about the place in Snoho. He is aware of it, although he avoids it whenever possible. The Humanis moral authority always seemed hollow to him, stuffed with the nothingness of sham logic and nonsense. He always enjoyed the company of mages and metahumans. After all, they often boasted more "talent" beneath the sheets than the blanket-wearing bigots who decried their existence.

However, beggars often cannot be choosers. Arc d'Morte was running low on arrows, and Chevalier Noir could probably use a sound suppressor if they planned to make a stealthy approach.

Perhaps they might find themselves having to answer difficult questions if the free press got word that they had financed a known terrorist...

"Oui, I am aware of the place, if not familiar with it. I do not like the idea of financing such people, but I may have to take solace in knowing that at least the weapons I buy will not be used in their objectif dégoûtant."

Still not convinced that going earlier is better than waiting---especially given the condition of Ember and Copperhead---he gives one last argument for going after Teague later.

"I still think we would be better off by taking out time with our next move. So far, we have been forced to jump from fight to fight, and while I always enjoy a challenge I do not like the idea of picking a new fight at half-strength. I will go with whatever we decide as a group, but I simply wish to reiterate the benefits of rest and research before launching a new campaign against our adversary."