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

[Chrome Head]

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

Amy lets go of the girl's hand, but tries to establish eye contact. Smiling, she speaks to her calmly. "It's okay, we're not gonna hurt you. Take a deep breath."

[ Spoiler ]

"But what can we do about it right now? We're not going into Los Mags territory guns blazing. I can't think of anything other than try to grab some drekhead who knows what's going on and make him talk. Seems to me like Stinger would be the perfect target for that, but we can do is wait until he shows up. What more can we do tonight?"
posted at the same time, post edited

[Lobo0705]

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


The girl's eyes remained wide, and her breathing rapid, but she slowly started to lower her arms. Glancing around the room, she saw Overkill sitting in the corner, idly playing with his deck while Oppenheimer was curled up on his lap. The dark-haired elf smiled and waved to her, trying to look harmless.

"Where...where am I? What happened?" She winced as she tried to move, her wrists faw and red from her time spent on the cross.

[Jack VII]

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

"Buenas noches," Jack said from his squatting position next to the couch. Obviously unarmed with a sterile cloth in one hand and the smelling salts container in the other, he continued, "You can call me Jack. Right now you're in the Warrens. More importantly, you're safe. It looked like you were kidnapped by a cult that wanted to sacrifice you for some reason. They won't be a problem anymore."

Reaching into his medkit, the ork pulled out a small tube of burn ointment. "Can I see your wrists? Those are some nasty friction burns. This ointment should help to soothe the pain."

With a steady eye, Jack asked, "Do you mind telling us who you are and how you were kidnapped? We're worried there might be more victims out there."

[Lobo0705]

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

The girl stretches out her hands and gasps in pain as Jack gently daubs her wrists. After he wipes them clean, he applies the ointment slowly to ease the pain, and then carefully releases her hands.

The girl slowly sits up, and says, "My name is Mary, I work for Federated Boeing as a consultant. I also belong to a group of Awakened metahumans that provide charity and outreach to those afflicted with magical addiction. The... the last thing I remember before... before being at the lake was being at a meeting, and an explosion. I.. think something hit me in the back of the head," she lifts her hand to feel her skull, 'but there doesn't seem to be any lump there."

She tears up a little, "I woke up again hanging on that cross, I didn't know where I was or who took me. Can you please just call a cab and let me go?"

[Chrome Head]

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

"We'll call a taxi for you right away, of course."

Amy was sad for her. "My name's Amy. Sorry to meet you in such terrible circumstances. I saw in the news that the Sisterhood of Divinity was hit last night pretty much the way you describe it. I just want to tell you, I feel very sorry for you and I'm sympathetic to your cause. I'm myself involved in a movement that helps the people of the Warrens, and our rally was also attacked."

"Let me give you a commlink, that'll help to get you home, I'll give you my number so you can reach me if you need something or you want to have someone to talk to. And don't forget to get some rest, you probably have a concussion."

[Lobo0705]

2525 South Dunkirk Street, Aurora Warrens, 11:57 PM, August 1st, 2075

"Thank you so much Amy, and you too, all of you." Relief washes across her face as she accepts the commlink and leans back on the couch.

Her hands trembled a little as she punched in a number on the commlink.

After a moment, she starts speaking into it. "Yes, hello, I'd like a taxi right away, I'm at...?", she looks around questioningly.

Overkill looks up from his deck and says, "Tell them to pick you up at the Motel 6 in 30 minutes. We'll make sure you get there on time." He smiles reassuringly at the young woman.

Mary repeats the address, and then says "Thank you." and hangs up. "They said they would be there in half an hour."

She looks up again and says, in a quavering voice, "You said you read about it on the news, was there any reports of survivors? Do you know if anyone made it out of there?"

[Jack VII]

2525 South Dunkirk Street, Aurora Warrens, 11:57 PM, August 1st, 2075

Jack shook his head grimly. "The Tribune didn't mention any survivors, Mary. But it also didn't mention anyone getting kidnapped, so there's no telling what the truth of the matter is. Lone Star is investigating it, so they might even be hiding things from the media. You're probably going to want to talk to them."

Thinking for a second, Jack said, "Can you do us a favor and hang on to that commlink? We can check with some of our contacts and have someone from the Star get in contact with you at that number, probably early tomorrow morning. I'm sure they would like to know more about what happened and may know the truth about survivors. It probably goes without saying, but we'd appreciate it if you could keep us out of their report. Just tell them the people that pulled you out of the situation were wearing ski masks and asked you where they could drop you off. That would probably be the easiest explanation."

[Lobo0705]

2525 South Dunkirk Street, Aurora Warrens, 11:57 PM, August 1st, 2075


Mary clutches the commlink tightly and says, "Of course... I owe you my life, I wouldn't do anything to put you in jeopardy. I'm not sure what, if anything I can do to repay you, but if you ever need anything, you have only to ask."

She looks around for something to write on, and then shrugs and says, "My full name is Mary Tantello, you can reach me at LTG 9303-39293-4638, or obviously on this commlink if you wish."

[Chrome Head]

2525 South Dunkirk Street, Aurora Warrens, 11:57 PM, August 1st, 2075

Amy feels reassured by Mary's attitude, convinced that she's genuine. "I'll give you a call in a few days to see how you're doing. Perhaps we'll be able to speak more easily when you've had time to step back and rest."

[Jack VII]

2525 South Dunkirk Street, Aurora Warrens, 11:57 PM, August 1st, 2075

Jack simply gave the woman a small smile and said, "Glad we could help out, Mary. Here's some aspirin for your headache."

[DrZaius]

2525 South Dunkirk Street, Aurora Warrens, 11:57 PM, August 1st, 2075

Grease gives her a tight smile, and a reassuring nod. "I'd lay low for a few days, maybe not frequent the same places you normally do." His smile turns to a frown. "You were very, very lucky. If we hadn't got there when we did, I don't even want to imagine what would have happened. You think of anything else, please contact us here."

Grease sends the LTG code for their burner commlink over to Mary's burner.

"The group that was doing this isn't going to be bothering anyone anytime soon, but there may be others out there. Watch your back."

[Lobo0705]

2525 South Dunkirk Street, Aurora Warrens, 11:58 PM, August 1st, 2075

Mary smiles and says "Thank you again, so much."

Overkill stands up and extends his arm, "If you'll follow me, my lady, I will bring you to the car that will take you to the Motel 6. Gentlemen, I will return in a few minutes. Mind Oppenheimer here, he is an attention hog."

The two of them enter the cargo elevator and ascend to the ground floor.

[Jack VII]

2525 South Dunkirk Street, Aurora Warrens, 11:58 PM, August 1st, 2075

After Mary and Overkill departed, Jack put one hand on the back of his skull and the other grasping his chin. With a quick jerk, he loudly cracked his neck. "¡Dios mío! I've been needing to do that for a while... squatting in that spider hole was muy incómodo. So what now?"

Before waiting for a response, the ork put in his own opinion. "To close the loop on Mary, I think we should pass on her information and what went down last night and tonight to Ramirez. He's pretty much above board; I think we can trust him to take care of her. I'm a little worried about who Lone Star has investigating it since we know Truck was involved. In fact, knowing who is officially assigned to the case might be tell us something."

Returning the supplies to it, Jack snapped his medkit closed before finishing. "I'm also going to try and get in touch with my contact who provided us the information about Truck and let him know that part has been handled. Other than that, I know I'd like to get a good night's sleep for once."

[DrZaius]

2525 South Dunkirk Street, Aurora Warrens, 11:58 PM, August 1st, 2075

Waiting for Overkill to return, Grease continues the conversation. He's clearly still jazzed from the firefight earlier. Or maybe it's something else?...

"I think we gotta move tonight. We've got the element of surprise here. Truck was their muscle, or at least a large percentage of it. We wait around for them to figure out he's missing, they're going to gear up to go to the mattresses." Looking around the room, he continues. "I don't know about you, but I'm not too keen on having an assassin have my number and want to erase me because I know too much."

Looking up at the AR display in the corner of his eye, he continues. "I'm tracking Mary via the cab's sensors. I'll know where it drops her off, so we'll at least know where to check to see if she's safe later."

Pacing now, he finishes his thought. "I think we gotta go in there and make a move. Just waiting for Stinger to show up for his fix hasn't worked so far, and it's likely Lynx has them in lockdown. I'm not any more pleased about wanderign into Los Mags as the rest of you. I think we need a plan to get in there, and a plan to get out. Or at least get eyes in there."

Turning to Overkill, Grease asks, "You know generally where that Truck was transmitting to, right? You think we can get a Fly-spy in there without them noticing?"

[Lobo0705]

2525 South Dunkirk Street, Aurora Warrens, 11:58 PM, August 1st, 2075

Overkill picks up Oppenheimer and begins stroking the cat's back to its obvious delight.

"I know exactly where he was transmitting to, at least where that was 15 minutes ago. But as to the defenses, I cannot profess to know anything about them."

Putting the cat down, he pulls up an overhead image of the area. "There are several ways in and out of here, but I'm not sure of how tight there security is." Pointing to one of the streets, he says, "Amy was able to walk in here, pretending to be an addict, and for all we know Lynx and his team were there at the time, so they may not be watching people very closely, I'm not sure about surveillance drones."

[Chrome Head]

2525 South Dunkirk Street, Aurora Warrens, 11:58 PM, August 1st, 2075

Amy had no intention of going back into the LM turf if it could be avoided at all. "I've been in there by myself before, and I saw a very powerful magician there. One perhaps more powerful than me. The Los Magnificos have the numbers on their side, they might have Lynx's team, and if Lone Star shows up we all know what side they'd be on. So no, we're not gonna rush in there. I think that we need to continue to try and take them down one by one. Spying is worth trying."

Amy was frowning as she concentrated on the problem they had. "Maybe that part of the job is just too dangerous to pull off and we can just focus on other objectives, like rooting out the dirty cops who are part of the conspiracy."

[DrZaius]

2525 South Dunkirk Street, Aurora Warrens, 11:59 PM, August 1st, 2075

Grease grins. "If it wasn't dangerous, we wouldn't be making the big cred." Seeing Amy scowl, he continues. "C'mon, how are we supposed to figure out who the dirty cops are without pulling this thread? It's all about what's going on down there. The pills, Lynx's crew, it's all tied together."

he crosses his arms. "We're not going to wrap this up without getting our hands dirty here. Now is as good a time as any. I'm not saying we should go in without a plan; that's what I'm trying to work out right now. What I am saying is that this feels like the first time in a long while I don't feel like I'm on my heels during this thing!" His voice and color rising, "We've got the upper hand! We've got just a BIT of a drop on the bad guys! We have to strike while the iron is hot!"

[Jack VII]

2525 South Dunkirk Street, Aurora Warrens, 11:58 PM, August 1st, 2075

"I've got to agree with Amy on this one, I don't think we're in any position to march into Los Mags turf." Jack said, somewhat anticipating Grease's rush to do something that didn't involve patience or following up on the case leads they actually had. The ork wondered if they would ever actually investigate all of the crimes. "With that said, getting eyes in there would be a good idea, even if it is only to let us know if any of them head off on their own."

"Since Truck hasn't even been dead an hour yet, I think we have some time before they figure out something is wrong. Maybe their rigger has some questions concerning the van's sensor feed, but it doesn't point to us automatically. I think we've still got time to regroup and wait out Stinger. Now, about Stinger... assuming he shows up at that chip house fairly soon, do we have any plan that doesn't involve shooting up the place? It was pretty easy to get away with that in the middle of an abandoned military installation, but I don't know about the middle of the Warrens."

Reaching down and opening up the duffle bag, Jack grabs the commlinks and hands them to Overkill. "Anything you can make out of these? I don't remember which one is Truck's, but that one might be the most useful at the moment."

[DrZaius]

2525 South Dunkirk Street, Aurora Warrens, 11:59 PM, August 1st, 2075

Grease sighs impatiently. "I'm not going to force anyone's hand here. You want to hold back, that's fine. But that's going to be a much tougher nut to crack when they notice the Troll is missing."
Shaking his head clear, he manages to appear to completely forget the argument and move forward. "I can get a Fly-Spy over there, but it may be better to have Overkill do so. I'm probably better at flying them, but he's likely better at making sure they're unseen. With something like that, someone is much more likely to notice it in the Matrix than they are with the naked eye."
He sits down again, leaning back on the chair."Per Stinger; I think I could do a pretty convincing impression of a drug addict."
He lets the comment float for just a moment, smiling internally.
"Put me on the inside of that house, and we have a much better chance of getting him out in one piece with the rest of us alive. We have an inside man, and I figure out when to make a move. Overkill kills the power for the street or somesuch, I clear an entrance for Jack and Amy, we snatch him and make a break for it."

[Chrome Head]

2525 South Dunkirk Street, Aurora Warrens, 11:59 PM, August 1st, 2075

Amy was glad to see Grease focus on the right kind of action. "That's a good plan Grease. With you inside it would be much easier. If we could get our hands on a.. tranq patch I think they're called? maybe you could soften him up that way before we all make our move."

[Jack VII]

2525 South Dunkirk Street, Aurora Warrens, 11:59 PM, August 1st, 2075

"He's going to be... downloading something directly to his brain, right? I'm not really familiar with chips, but is there something we could swap out for whatever he regularly drops that would knock him out or make him open to suggestion? Either pick-pocketing him or persuading his dealer?" Jack kept his gaze on Grease during his questions, figuring the man likely had far more experience in these matters than anyone else in the room.

[DrZaius]

2525 South Dunkirk Street, Aurora Warrens, 11:59 PM, August 1st, 2075

Grease rubs his chin. "Well, I'm not as familiar with that particular brand of poison, so I'm not sure how to do what you suggest. What I do know is that if it's anything like normal drugs, he'd be anxious to try something new. I could convince him to try the "new drek" I give him for free fairly easily. It would just be a matter of figuring out how to program a bad BTL; something I'm not familiar with." He grins. "I sincerely doubt we'd be able to convince his dealer without a significant amount of cred though; it's in the dealer's best interest to keep his client happy and alive so he can keep coming back."

[Jack VII]

2525 South Dunkirk Street, Aurora Warrens, 11:59 PM, August 1st, 2075

Jack frowned. "If you could get in there, I bet you could convince him to trade you for the new, hot drek that you managed to score. Well, if we had any new, hot drek to offer. I guess there's really no plan here if we can't get a chip that would work for us. Anyone have other suggestions? We could wait for him to leave after he takes his hit and ambush him somewhere. Hell, if he takes a cab there, I don't see any reason why we couldn't send a cab to meet him..."

[Lobo0705]

2525 South Dunkirk Street, Aurora Warrens, 12:00 PM, August 2nd, 2075

Overkill looks up from the commlinks he has been working on. "I prefer taking him when he is alone than trying to break into another gang territory. If we can use Grease's taxi, so much the better." He tosses one of the commlinks onto his desk.

"This one was Truck's. It is a burner, there is nothing on here of interest. It might be worth holding onto in case he gets a call from his buddies, but then again, I'm not sure we want to give them any way of tracking us. Right now its off, so its harmless. The only call history it has matches this one." He holds up a second cheap commlink.

"This one is from our blonde friend who we had to leave behind." He tosses it next to the previous one. "It too, is a piece of junk." He points to the other three commlinks. "These, on the other hand, are all high quality pieces of gear, but what makes this interesting is this." Picking up the first one, he says, "This is a Cross Applied Technologies phone." He adds a second, "This one is Yamatetsu." He points to the third. "This one is Ares."

Shaking his head. "I don't know what they were doing, but clearly they had some extracurricular activities going on, and I don't think that any of their corporate masters would be thrilled to hear about this. I'm not sure I want to dig any deeper on this one. I say we take these out somewhere and trash them."

[DrZaius]

2525 South Dunkirk Street, Aurora Warrens, 12:00 PM, August 1st, 2075

Grease shrugs. "I'm confident I can get in there alone, no problem. After that, I can just tail him and give you guys the eyeball on where it's easiest to grab him. A loose plan works fine for me. That said," he adds, looking around for something, "It'd probably be better if I was there already when he got there. He'll be less on his guard than if I walk in and start talking to him."

Grease frowns. "Is there an electronic way to tell if someone is messing with BTLs? I'd prefer a fake load-out, rather than thinking I'm a Troll Ballerina or somesuch when I'm trying to keep an eye out for this guy." He grins. "That commlink connection is interesting. I wonder if THIS conspiracy is tied to our drug conspiracy somehow?"