Nothing's Free in the Free Zone (IC), Adventure 1: Broken Star Options

[Jack VII]

Rocky Mountain Arsenal Main Entrance, Rocky Mountain Arsenal 11:24 PM, August 1st, 2075

Drek... Jack thought as the tribal band poured out of the building. Stopped at the barricade, the ork took in the group and, not seeing the taxi in sight, hoped that they could avoid a confrontation until the vehicle arrived.

[DrZaius]

Rocky Mountain Arsenal Main Entrance, Rocky Mountain Arsenal 11:24 PM, August 1st, 2075

I knew we shouldn't have turned around; that Thraha is full of drek.

Not bothering with the subvocal, Grease addressed his teammates directly.

"Cab's still a minute out; and this doesn't look like the welcoming committee. I think we're on their turf, and they don't seem pleased about it. We can try talking our way out of it, or maybe something a little more drastic."

In the meantime, he sets their hostage's feet down and cycles the action on his Ingram, followed by quickly entering a few commands on his RCC.

<<@Flyspy [Grease]: Continue monitoring for other threats. >>
<<@Bumble [Grease]: Lower altitude and prepare to engage in suppressing fire.>>
<<@Gypsy [Grease]: Proceed to marked location at speed; permission to ignore street laws granted.>>

[Jack VII]

Rocky Mountain Arsenal Main Entrance, Rocky Mountain Arsenal 11:24 PM, August 1st, 2075

"They're still pretty far away. We might still be able to outrun them, at least until the car gets here. We're not really in the position to fight right now..."

If push came to shove, Jack thought they should try to talk their way out of it given how outnumbered they were. At least until the car got there.

[Chrome Head]

Rocky Mountain Arsenal Main Entrance, Rocky Mountain Arsenal 11:24 PM, August 1st, 2075

Meanwhile, Amy was seemingly looking at something only her could see. As she was taking cover, she speaks to no one in particular. "Two spirits incoming. Don't engage yet."

Very focused, many things were going through Amy's mind at once, but above all she was keeping the security of the team at the top of her concerns.

"Thraha, protect us from harm. If a confrontation starts, fight until we're safe."

[Jack VII]

Rocky Mountain Arsenal Main Entrance, Rocky Mountain Arsenal 11:25 PM, August 1st, 2075

Jack looked at the crowd nervously. The new information from Amy made their situation even more dire. With spirit support, they probably had a mage or two on their side. Unlike the most recent fight, they didn't have the drop on these people. "Spirits? Drek, looks like running is out. Luchar o huir..."

Jack looked to Overkill, the currently designated team leader, for a decision. "What's the play, amigo?"

[Lobo0705]

Rocky Mountain Arsenal Main Entrance, Rocky Mountain Arsenal 11:25 PM, August 1st, 2075

"Time to be leaving." We're never getting out of here carrying him. Overkill drops the blond man unceremoniously on the ground, and coldy puts a round from his SMG into his head. No more than he deserved.

Grease is left a little slackjawed, holding the now twitching man's feet suspended off the ground. I'll explain it later, there's too many of them to stand and fight.

"Liebschen, can you have the spirit cover our escape? Let's go!" Propelling Grease with his left hand, Overkill takes one look over his shoulder at the tribesmen and starts to move down the trail.

[Chrome Head]

Rocky Mountain Arsenal Main Entrance, Rocky Mountain Arsenal 11:25 PM, August 1st, 2075

Amy shivers slightly at Overkill's execution of the unconscious man. I've never seen Overkill like this before. Frak!

"Already covered. If they attack, the spirit attacks back."

Amy keeps looking behind her regularly as she hightails it.

[Jack VII]

Rocky Mountain Arsenal Main Entrance, Rocky Mountain Arsenal 11:25 PM, August 1st, 2075

Jack ducked at the sound of the nearby gunshot. Frag! They're already on us? Turning his head, he noticed the small trail of smoke coming from the end of Overkill's SCK and the small, but expanding, puddle of blood underneath the blonde man's head. Shrugging, the ork tightened his grip on the girl's legs. Hope they don't have anyone else on ice for tomorrow night's planned sacrifice.

The ork briefly considered stopping to collect a finger from the man to prove his identity to Ramirez, but figured that the inbound spirits and tribe weren't going to wait for him. Hopefully one of the commlinks would have enough information to determine his identity.

At Overkill's urging, the ork started to run.

[Lobo0705]

Rocky Mountain Arsenal Main Entrance, Rocky Mountain Arsenal 11:25 PM, August 1st, 2075

The team breaks into a run, tree branches whipping at their faces as they head down the narrow path to the road to meet the taxi. Overkill starts to pull ahead, the vat grown muscles in his legs giving him greater off-the-block speed than the others. He reaches a tree about a dozen yards ahead of the group and turns, looking back down the way they had come. The tribesmen were slowly gaining, and were about halfway across the parking lot now. The others were catching up, and he waved them past. Of all the times I've complained about Grease's driving too fast, for once I wish he was behind the wheel of the taxi...

As Amy blew by Overkill's position, she checked back again, looking at the astral. The whirling cyclone that was Thraha hovered in the Astral in the middle of the path, the two beast spirits circling him and snarling, although not yet attacking. As Amy watched, two more astral forms arrived, their glowing humanoid forms about man-height, glowing alternating shades of red and purple.

"Leave this place or be destroyed!" the one form shouted, its hands held up over its head, energy crackling between its hands.

[Chrome Head]

Rocky Mountain Arsenal Main Entrance, Rocky Mountain Arsenal 11:25 PM, August 1st, 2075

Amy felt the surge of emotions from the astral form, and she knew her own emotions must be showing as well. Right now, she felt threatened, but her fighting spirit was still way up. There was no showing any kind of weakness to people like this. She answered astrally, hoping the message would come across.

"We mean no harm. Don't come too close to us and we'll be out before you know it."

[Lobo0705]

Rocky Mountain Arsenal Main Entrance, Rocky Mountain Arsenal 11:26 PM, August 1st, 2075

As the team moved quickly down the trail, headlights could be seen coming the other way, heralding Grease's taxi arriving at the scene. Jack was the first one to the car, and as he reached for the door handle, the door sprang open prematurely, rapping him painfully on the knuckles. As he snatched his hand back in pain, he saw the other three were busy looking back at their pursuers. Gritting his teeth, he approached the taxi cautiously, and then sprang inside, the door slamming shut just an instant later, narrowly missing slamming his fingers in the door.

Grease popped in a moment later, "Ah, good, you're already inside."

Jack started to say something, then just nodded and crossed his arms. Overkill was waiting at the passenger door for Amy to come in, and the young elven woman slowly backed toward the car, keeping here eyes on the other shamans at all times. With a silent nod to the astral forms, she mentally beckoned Thraha to follow, and got in beside Jack. Overkill, once the last member of his team was safe, got in at last.

As Grease skillfully turned the car around, the last image the team got as they rounded a curve was the tribesmen lifted the body of the blonde man on their shoulders, carrying him back to their base.

"Well, where to now?", asked Grease.

[Chrome Head]

Rocky Mountain Arsenal Main Entrance, Rocky Mountain Arsenal 11:26 PM, August 1st, 2075

"I dunno where to go. I'd rather not go to Nic's place cause we don't know how this one will react when we wake her up. I guess we can go back to 'our' house..." Amy said.

Thinking about what had just happened, she adds "What do you think they'll do to the cultist?"

[DrZaius]

Rocky Mountain Arsenal Main Entrance, Rocky Mountain Arsenal 11:26 PM, August 1st, 2075

"With any luck; eat 'em."

Grease punctuates his statement by shifting the cab into gear and laying rubber down, leaving the area faster than a scalded cat. Looking out the back window the crowd grow small rapidly, until Grease takes a turn on 3 wheels and they're gone.

[Jack VII]

Rocky Mountain Arsenal Main Entrance, Rocky Mountain Arsenal 11:26 PM, August 1st, 2075

His face pushed into the window by the high speed turn, Jack watched as a variety of foliage zipped past. As the car returned to the abnormally high speed that marked Grease's typical driving pattern, the ork provided his input. "I'm not so sure about the house. I think it was perfect for what we needed it for, but we need somewhere a little more secure with a few more amenities now. What about your place, Overkill?"

[Lobo0705]

East 56th, 11:31 PM, August 1st, 2075

Overkill keeps checking his AR feed as the car speeds through the night. "I am willing to offer my place, although I wish we had somewhere closer. The longer I stay in the Matrix, the closer that GOD gets to tracking me down, and the more possibility that someone checks that sensor feed." With a mental command, Overkill sends an ARO to Grease. "Go quickly, I can start hacking in a moment now that we are out of those verdammnte woods."

[Lobo0705]

East 56th, 11:33 PM, August 1st, 2075

As the car careened aournd the curves, Overkill tightened his seat belt, slumped a little lower in the chair, and closed his eyes.

The signal from the Matrix was much clearer now that they were out of the Arsenal, and the area around him lit up like a Christmas tree as icons appeared. Zipping through the traffic, Overkill could see the various icons for the vehicles and the personas of the passengers within, all going about their daily lives. Glad to be back among his element, he focuses his vision on he icon he had marked before. Reaching out to the connection already made, he slowly increased his connection to it, the icon changing from a soft translucent green to a much brighter one as he marked it again.

Satisfied, he pulled a small, exquisitely detailed globe out from under his robes, placed it down next to the icon, and spun the globe. He held the icon with his left hand, while holding his right hand above the globe, index finger extended downward like a dagger. He concentrated on the icon in his left hand, and then with a sudden motion stabbed downward with his finger. He looked at the location, grimaced, and then put the globe away.

Opening his eyes in time to see Grease swerve up onto the sidewalk to avoid a car that was clearly traveling too slowly at only 50mph in a 25mph zone, he closed them again, and then opened one slowly. "The good news, mein Freunde is that I know where the icon is. The bad news is that it is in Billings Street, in the middle of Los Mags territory."

[Jack VII]

East 56th, 11:33 PM, August 1st, 2075

"I guess that isn't entirely unexpected. If the icon's related to Gutter, that probably means the rest of the crew is holed up with the LMs. Frag, can't anything be [/i]sencillo[/i]? Looks like we're probably going to have to put together a plan to draw them out, rather than going to them. Nothing much we can really do about it now... Let's take care of our current situation with the girl, check through the commlinks and gear we grabbed for any clues about this cult, and put that bit of business to bed."

Jack glanced at the still unconscious form of the girl. Swearing, he realized his bio-monitor was now in the hands of the tribe from whom they had just escaped. "Overkill, I may need you to brick a device for me."

[Lobo0705]

East 56th, 11:33 PM, August 1st, 2075

Overkill glances over his shoulder at the ork, and says, "I also do not like the idea of going into the Los Mags territory guns blazing. We should be at my house in about 15 more minutes. Is there anything you want me to do with regards to this icon? And what do you need bricked?"

[Jack VII]

East 56th, 11:34 PM, August 1st, 2075

"My bio-monitor was attached to the blonde hombre when he was in the trunk and I forgot to pull it off in the excitement of getting the frag out of there. I'd rather that tribe not be able to use it or make it difficult for anyone else who happens to find it to track it back to me. I've instructed the device to accept three MARKs from you to make bricking it easier."

Jack leaned back and sighed. The plan had worked fairly well, other than the encounter with the tribe at the end, but none of them were injured and they had rescued the girl. All in all, a pretty good night's work. 300 (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nuyen.gif) was a price well-paid.

[Lobo0705]

East 56th, 11:34 PM, August 1st, 2075

Overkill nodded. "I'm going to try to get some more information about the icon I've marked, and then I will brick your device. Give me a moment." Slumping again, Overkill went back into the Matrix.

Swooping over to the enemy icon again, he picked it up, turning it over and over in his hands, trying to find some weakness in it, some crack in its crystalline structure that would reveal its function, but his efforts were frustrated. No identifying features revealed themselves, and he threw the icon in frustration, the icon rapidly decelerating and then slowly moving back to its position, not bothered in the slightest by his efforts. In an attempt to salve his anger, Overkill quickly called up the icon of the biomonitor, the small cross icon blindingly green in the night as it had accepted three Marks from him at Jack's invitation. Overkill held his hand out, and the 1's and 0's slowly formed into a huge two handed sword, which he smashed down on top of the icon, scattering it into a thousand pieces.

Overkill opened his eyes again. "Your biomonitor is kaputt Jack, but I am no closer to finding out any more information about the device that the data was being transferred to." Overkill rebooted his deck, clearing all the Mark's from the system, and making sure that the vengeful GODs that watched over the Matrix did not catch him.

2525 South Dunkirk Street, Aurora Warrens, 11:50 PM, August 1st, 2075
Grease's taxi skidded to a halt in the warehouse district, Jack's hand the only thing that kept the girls head from snapping forward at the sudden change in momentum. Overkill lead the way, through the front doors, past several squatters sprawled on the floors of the main floor. The place was a maze of temporary walls erected to give some sort of crude privacy, although sound traveled upward and bounced off of the ceiling so that the entire floor was a cacophony of voices. Heading down the main "hallway", which in actuality was simply a clear area in the middle, Overkill nodded to a few of the residents who waved back. Jack and Grease, who supported the girl between them kept saying, "Can't hold her synthol, the lightweight." and shrugging.

The team reached a cargo elevator in the back, and Overkill tripped the mechanism with a wave of his hand, after disarming the security he had installed at his own expense. A thirty second trip down, and the team was met by a blur of motion as a small black cat launched itself at Overkill's legs, almost tripping him. As the cat rubbed itself around Overkill's ankles, he sat down and petted it, whispering in German. To the rest of the group he said, "Please, make yourself at home. There is a couch where you can lay the girl down." With another mental command, he started the soykaf machine, "Coffee will be ready in a few minutes."

The apartment was all one single room, with the exception of a small partition for the toilet and shower. It was divided into three separate areas by movable dividers, kitchen, bedroom, and workspace. Jack and Grease brought the girl over to the workspace area, and Amy moved some of the pieces of various mechanical devices carefully to the floor while the other two lay the girl down. There was a trid and what seemed to be a desk, but it was impossible to tell exactly due to the amount of tools and parts strewn across the top.

[Jack VII]

2525 South Dunkirk Street, Aurora Warrens, 11:50 PM, August 1st, 2075

Depositing the young woman gently on the couch, Jack asked for some room to work and pulled out his medkit. The small kit contained a variety of instruments and pills designed to do light to moderate first aid work. Assessing the prone form, the ork was glad to note that her condition wasn't any worse than when they had pulled her down from the wooden cross. She appeared to mostly have sustained a mild concussion resulting in unconsciousness. Jack felt a slight twinge of guilt since he knew the damage came from the trap they had sprung, but he figured a bad headache was better than being drained of blood and having your throat torn out.

"Alright, I'm going to try to bring her around. Overkill, can you get a cup of agua for her to drink?" Jack asked. Looking at Amy, he said, "Do you mind standing next to me? She's been through a pretty bad experience. It might help if one of the first thing she sees is another woman. That and I'd rather not be flash-fried by a lightning bolt."

[DrZaius]

2525 South Dunkirk Street, Aurora Warrens, 11:50 PM, August 1st, 2075

"I like what you've done with the place." Grease's comment sounds sincere, and his face betrays nothing, but you still feel like he was speaking facetiously. He circles the room, examining the nooks and crannies, probably looking for any listening devices. He's in rare form tonight, and it's clear the drive over here shook off any residual nerves he had from the firefight earlier in the night.

"So, where are we at? We've got an unconscious hostage, a few commlinks, and a trace that puts our bad guys in the middle of Los Mags." Taking one of the few chairs available, he sits down and casually puts his feet up. "Plus, we may have a line on the drug house; presuming they don't close ranks."

Turning to Jack, he asks, "How long did the ritual take last time? When could they reasonable expect Truck to return? Are we on the clock here without knowing it?" Before letting him answer, he continues his train of thought. "We need to snatch someone who knows something; I don't like going in there blind."

Seeing Overkill start to speak, Grease raises his hand. "Listen; I'm not calling anyone out. You had to make a split decision, you were in charge, and what's done is done. Besides, that drek-head may just have known Truck from their little afterschool program, and not anything at all about his other gig."

Rubbing his hands together anxiously, Grease finally says, "So let's lay out a plan here, win lose or draw. I think our best bet is to grab the guy getting high, but that may not be feasible. I think whatever we do it has to be tonight, while they're on their heels."

[Chrome Head]

2525 South Dunkirk Street, Aurora Warrens, 11:50 PM, August 1st, 2075

Amy was getting weary. She had been shot at and hadn't completely healed, and she was constantly casting and summoning at levels that were taking a toll on her health. And now Grease wanted to waste no time resting, and go right back out there.

She sighed. "Well I suppose you're right. We need to act quickly while we still have the initiative. What's your plan?" she said as she stood next to Jack and looked down at the girl, taking one of her hands in hers.

[Jack VII]

2525 South Dunkirk Street, Aurora Warrens, 11:50 PM, August 1st, 2075

Distracted by his work, Jack paused to put on his glasses and check his image-linked chronometer. "Well, when I got the feed last night... this morning... whatever, it was nearly-live, so I'd guess this is about the time that drek would be finishing up. Assuming they cleaned up a bit afterward and tacking on some travel time, probably another hour or two until they would expect Truck back, assuming he headed directly back to Los Mags territory. With that said, their rigger is going to definitely be wondering what the frag is going on... sooner rather than later."

[Lobo0705]

2525 South Dunkirk Street, Aurora Warrens, 11:55 PM, August 1st, 2075

Lifting the woman's eyelids, Jack reaches into his medkit and takes out some smelling salts. Breaking the container under the girl's nose, he waves it around for a moment, and the girl sits upright, shaking her head, which she clutches instantly in pain.

Looking around frantically, she sees Jack and Amy, and brings her arms up defensively. Her blue eyes dart back and forth between the two, and Amy can see she is Astrally Perceiving the two of them. "Who are you where am I let me go!."