Living in the Shadows: IC, your run might be over... Options

[grendel]

18:33:02 Tuesday 02 January 2063 - FTL Matrixware, Los Angeles, CFS

"Well, most of the procedures are classified, I can't tell you. But if you're interested, I suppose I could show you a couple of martial arts moves. I'm a level four master in krav maga."

Rob grins, making no effort to conceal his appraisal of Cosmo's body.

[Morgannah]

18:33:02 Tuesday 02 January 2063 - FTL Matrixware, Los Angeles, CFS

Of course you are. Did you know that my aunt Fanny was the first Irish woman to tunnel through the earth?

"Interested? Depends on yer moves, don't it?" She looked him over at least as boldly as he was checking her out.

"Any way you can tell yer buds to keep their eyes away for .." Cosmo raised an eyebrow, the question clear in her gruff voice, "ten minutes?"

[grendel]

18:33:29 Tuesday 02 January 2063 - FTL Matrixware, Los Angeles, CFS

Rob's eyes grow a little wider as he realizes that Cosmo means right now.

"Oh yeah," he whispers. Quickly glancing around, he spots the door to the warehouse section. Checking the hallway, he takes Cosmo's hand and pulls her towards the door. Reaching up to his shoulder, he keys the mike clipped to the lapel of his jacket.

"Six, Four-Six, can you give me a loopback test on the warehouse section cameras?"

He winks at Cosmo.

"That'll put 'em out of service for nine minutes, so we'll have to be quick."

[Morgannah]

18:33:56 Tuesday 02 January 2063 - FTL Matrixware, Los Angeles, CFS

Cosmo reached into her pocket and depressed the timer button of her pocket secretary, winking broadly at Rob before giving him a genuinely smoldering stare. She dropped the act for half a second and gave him her best 'hurry the hell up' look and very nearly laughed when he did.

Nine minutes and counting....

"No complaints here. There's always time for another round later, ka?"

[grendel]

18:34:12 Tuesday 02 January 2063 - FTL Matrixware, Los Angeles, CFS

"Goddamn, girl, but you're a hungry one. Well, all right then."

Rob slips his jacket off and lays it on the floor, before unhooking his webbelt and tossing it on a nearby shelf. He glances at Cosmo expectantly.

[Morgannah]

18:34:25 Tuesday 02 January 2063 - FTL Matrixware, Los Angeles, CFS

Cosmo takes half a second to look around the interior of the supply area, planning her next few moves and grinning when she spotted the inventory computer not too far away as well as a narrow exit in the far corner. She chuckled as he set his coat down on the floor and approached him slowly, her gloved fingers hovering over the buttons of her blouse.

"And here I thought you were going to show me some krav maga...."

Her voice was soft, sultry, and more of a purr than a growl as she leaned in to whisper warmly into his ear, her hands trailing up his chest. She grinned and shook her head even as one hand darted up to cover his mouth. Her knee struck into his padded stomach next and she placed a wet kiss on the brute's cheek while she spun around behind him, her forearm pressed into his throat to slowly cut out his supply of oxygen.

"Sorry Rob, I'll have to catch you some other time. Tonight's my busy night." Cosmo cooed as he began falling asleep, gently brushing aside the shaggy hair that was falling across his eyes.

[grendel]

18:34:42 Tuesday 02 January 2063 - FTL Matrixware, Los Angeles, CFS

Already stunned from the blow to his solar plexus, Rob struggles for air, his vision graying out to black within a minute. Cosmo lowers him to the ground before stuffing him on to one of the lower shelves.

Now, let's work...

[Morgannah]

18:35:17 Tuesday 02 January 2063 - FTL Matrixware, Los Angeles, CFS

Cosmo adjusted her unconscious friend's earpiece and boom mic until she was satisfied with their fit, a self-satisfied smirk playing across her lips. Slinging her duffel over one shoulder, she jogs towards the inventory computer, pulls out her p-sec and brings up a list of the components she was sent to find.

4CX1Q21-4327E: server controller, 6 port, configurable, pack of 4
EW780B5-0210P: optical memory storage deck, RW-R, 5000 Mp capacity, pack of 10
7HK1950-1974J: FICON express 990 superscalar processors, pack of 6
8LP1011-H60B: blade RAM, optical, 1000Mp capacity, pack of 8
6XU4263-92C3: rack power supply, 220V, 600W, 80A, air-cooled, pack of five

There wouldn't be much time to spare in retrieving everything but she fully intended to hurry through her search .. and pick up a few extra bits along the way, of course.

[grendel]

18:41:35 Tuesday 02 January 2063 - FTL Matrixware, Los Angeles, CFS

The search didn't take long, the storage system was remarkably effecient. The problem was, each box that Cosmo pulled from the shelves measured 50cm by 50cm by 40cm and weight about 5 kilos. The pile of five boxes wait for her on the cement floor. Now, to shop for herself....

[Morgannah]

18:41:41 Tuesday 02 January 2063 - FTL Matrixware, Los Angeles, CFS

Grinding her teeth under the weight of the five boxes she carried, Cosmo judged that she had time to grab a few more if they were all in one place. She spotted a handtruck against one wall, grinned, and set the boxes down quickly before rushing over to the section she'd noted earlier and the few boxes of MPCP chips she knew were there.

Ten boxes altogether, not bad.

Allowing herself the briefest moment of enjoyment, she took the remainder of her 9-minute loop to haul her payload out into the cold, awaiting night. The biggest part of her success rate came from looking like she belonged and while she knew that someone would question the intent of a security guard carting away several boxes from the FTL warehouse; she hoped to seem confident enough in what she was doing that whomever thought to question her would pause long enough to give her time to get away. She strode around the building, looking for all the world like she was just another guard doing some crap job outside, listening closely over the radio frequency for any indication that she'd been noticed.

[grendel]

10:07:18 Sunday 07 January 2063 - Seattle, UCAS

If Tenmou had planned on any lengthy rest, that hope was dashed Sunday morning when the caller ID indicated it was Zeyda on the other end of the telecomm.

"It's the Sabbath, a day of rest and contemplation," stated Tenmou as he picked up the handset.

"I might believe you if I didn't know you were a Zen Buddhist," replied the fixer, a smile in his voice.

"I'm not a UCAS citizen, either, but I plan on taking President's Day Off."

Zeyda laughed. "Very well, I'll make a note of it. Anyway, are you seriously occupied? Something just came down the line and you're my varsity squad. It's supposed to be just a pick-up and a delivery, easy cash, 4k total. Interested?"

[grendel]

18:44:09 Tuesday 02 January 2063 - FTL Matrixware, Los Angeles, CFS

The truck bed makes an excellent place to stash her ill-gotten gains, and for speed and an instinct not to waste tools unnecessarily, Cosmo loads the handcart as well. Checking to make sure she's not about to treat her first victim to a short and surely lethal ride, she climbs into the cab of the pick-up and makes good her escape. The sensors on the entrance gate open once she slots the pilfered ID card, and as the last of the daylight fades she disappears into the vast sprawl of the City of Angels.

[Sedna]

1320 Saturday, January 6, 2063 - Puyallup, still not too far from the civic centre, spirally wending her way through an increasingly broken-down neighbourhood, gradually moving closer to what passes for a doss

This is going to be harder than I thought.

Oh, not the mechanics of it. Delivery guy stopping in for a sec to check his messages. Spiky-haired punk. Grocery clerk. Three inch stilettoed by-the-hour whore. Small changes in hair and skin and clothing and tone of voice and most importantly demeanour, a minute or so in one location, a couple of minutes in the next. Not infrequently she goes for a specific dramatic accent, such as that jagged Noh pattern she'd used three locations ago:

Do you remember the person who used this terminal shortly after 1?
Oh, you mean "John"? The guy with the huge afro and the spiked teeth?
Yes, that's the one -- what else did he look like?
Uhh ...

Give them something to remember, let it fill what they think they need to remember.

How many different hundreds of elements had she already rote-learned, oriented toward the same basic four types? Even if she never again learned another one, how many possible combinations, from what she had already?

Not the mechanics at all -- but how do you get someone just to tell you what you need them to tell you?

This would be so much easier if I could just find out the who and the how, and then just talk to them, face to face. How am I supposed to get them to just tell me what I want to know if I can't hear their voice?

As she's logging out again and covering such footprints of hers as she can, her phone rings. Before she can say a single word, a familiar voice in her ear: "You sure do have a way with people."

Frag it to hell, Grail, not now ...

Tick. Tick. Tick. ...

[Morgannah]

19:58:03 Tuesday 02 January 2063 - An Undisclosed Location, Los Angeles, CFS

Well, well, well. It would seem as though my dear Mr. Johnson has opted to maintain his secret identity.

There wasn't anything particularily surprising about the rough neighbourhood she was cruising through or, for that matter, the seemingly abandoned brick house she'd driven past twice already. Two stories, though, she countered, and solid, considering the location. What were you expecting, anyway? A house in the Hollywood hills? The security grates over the windows and doors would give even her a bit of trouble. She glanced at the hard, hungry faces of the people on the streets here, recognizing their expressions as she drove past in her bloodred BMW. There was no way to help it of course, the pickup truck had been abandoned as soon as possible, left at a 24-hour car wash along with her target's ID tag, keys, and a package of Sugar Blasted Berry Bombs (by way of apology).

"Okay, so it wasn't necessary," she said to no one in particular, a small smile pulling at one corner of her mouth, "but he didn't do anything wrong. These things have to balance themselves out, you know."

Please don't tell me you're expecting an answer, girl, 'cos there's no one here but you and me.

Cosmo looked up into her reflection in the rearview mirror as the sleek sports coupe pulled to a halt; she looked like herself again, finally, with all traces of Jess Chaplin wiped away. Sporting a snug black turtleneck sweater and a pair of supple suede trousers, she pulled the hood of her long coat over her head to obscure most of her features but left the coat itself open, subtley displaying the heavy pistol nestled against her hip. She made a point of clearing the long tails of her coat away as she stepped out of the car, just in case any of the kids nearby were feeling brave, but carried on as if nothing was out of the ordinary as she engaged the vehicle's security system and crossed the street to investigate this new building. She hoped, at least, that whomever was cleared to accept the delivery was quick enough that she'd be able to get back out before her car was stolen....

This post has been edited by Morgannah: Apr 26 2005, 03:22 AM

[Scrapheap]

19:42:05 Sunday 07 January 2063 – The Ground Floor Coffee Shop

John watched through the coffee shop's window as a couple gangers in colors that he didn't recognize carried an obviously wounded third between them down the snowy street. Wonder if the fight at the arcade finally broke up? What a mess. Good thing I'm so smooth, or there could have been trouble. Yep, like smoke, that's me. In and out with out a trace. He gave a small shake of his head and took a sip of his steaming soycaf. It was hot; the waitress had just been by with a refill. Yeah, you're real wiz, you fraggin' idiot. You're lucky you ran into the girl. Lucky, that's all. And with your luck, you better not count on it again.

"The girl," Megan, was sitting across from him, keeping up a steady stream of chatter. Seemed she was the type who couldn't stand the quiet, talked incessantly when uncomfortable or nervous. About what, John had no idea. He'd stopped paying attention long before. As long as she leads me to Twiggy, she can talk all night for all I care.

After a short debate and a walk up the street through the snow, he had chosen this coffee shop because it offered direct line of sight to the entrance of Oodles of Noodles. At least it did to him, with the magnification function of his cybereyes. From their seats in a window booth, John could see the restaurant’s entrance quite easily.

So they sat and drank coffee and waited for Megan's chummers. Though glancing at the girl as she continued to talk in her animated fashion, John began to doubt the wisdom of the coffee part, at least for her. For himself, he needed some pick-me-up. The Doc still hadn't called, which meant he was busy. Stim patches were a last resort anyway. He'd just have to get by without them.

Movement by the restaurant’s entrance caught his attention, so he quickly zoomed in on the area. It turned out to be a false alarm. Just a middle-aged dwarf going in to get some noodles, or so he assumed. Stifling a yawn, and silently wishing he had some earplugs, John went back to watching the entrance for anything out of the ordinary and waiting until the top of the hour for Megan's escort.

[grendel]

20:00:23 Tuesday 02 January 2063 - An Undisclosed Location, Los Angeles, CFS

The doorbell chimes faintly from inside. Cosmo stands back and to the side of the door, out of direct line of sight and line of fire. The door opens after only a heartbeat, as if she was expected, revealing an unlit hallway. Illuminated by the faint orange light from the streetlamp on the corner was a child, really, a boy about twelve years old dressed in a form fitting slate gray jumpsuit. His eyes are an unnatural pure white.

"I am Kald. Have you brought the items?"

[Morgannah]

20:00:39 Tuesday 02 January 2063 - An Undisclosed Location, Los Angeles, CFS

Cosmo masked her surprise as only a true actress could, smiling smoothly at the small boy.

"I have. Now that I know this is the correct place, I will bring them to you, Kald."

Inclining her head slightly, she spun about and headed back towards her car. The handtruck itself was not heavy and she had trained with more weight than the boxes added up to, but hefting the handtruck up the three steps to the house was somewhat difficult. She maintained her smile, though, and rested the top of the cart against the doorframe.

"Now where should I put these?"

[grendel]

20:01:05 Tuesday 02 January 2063 - An Undisclosed Location, Los Angeles, CFS

Kald stands back from the door, and gestures to the livingroom.

"You can leave them in there."

He follows and stands by the rear wall, his face expressionless. As Cosmo sets the handtruck down, he nods once. Moving across to the endtable, he lifts another black dossier and offers it to her.

"This contains your next tasking."

[Morgannah]

20:01:42 Tuesday 02 January 2063 - An Undisclosed Location, Los Angeles, CFS

Wait, next tasking?

Shaking her head slightly, Cosmo kept her hands at her sides and fought down a growl at the audacity of her employer.

"I'm sorry Kald, but I'm still new to this. How many 'taskings' will there be before I'm able to meet with the person in charge, here? I'm afraid I won't be able to continue unless we're able to reach some sort of agreement, negotiate a short-term contract at least. Are you able to help me with this?"

[grendel]

20:02:02 Tuesday 02 January 2063 - An Undisclosed Location, Los Angeles, CFS

"The contract was signed when you accepted custody of the equipment provided by us. If you find the terms of employment to be unacceptable, please return all of the items provided and we will return you to the stasis chamber. Otherwise, your mission tasking will continue until we have recouped our initial investment at which time we will renegotiate your contract."

Kald trains emotionless eyes on Cosmo as he explains.

[banditf50]

15:20:55 Saturday, January 6th, 2063 - Puyallup Street Clinic

Trying his damnedest to rise to keep the cracking out of his voice that his own nausea was fighting to bring on Virgil picked his head up from between his knees, though he did not feel like attempting to stand quite yet.

"Any speculation I could make into the involvement of the ASPS in this situation would be just that at the moment, speculation. However within a few hours I may be able to provide more concrete explanations for us."

Seeing all sets of eyes in the room fall upon him, Virgil felt as if was under pressure to offer something truly enlightening.

"When I first heard the rumors concerning Julia being tossed around Shadowland I knew that this situation could easily spiral out of control and bring in some truly malevolent players, the type who also have seemingly limitless resources. If was was going to have any chance of keeping Julia out of the posession of such figures I was going to need some op-resources of my own."

Dragon nods his head slightly in understanding. He had known that Virgil was going to work on finding them backing for this search. He also knew that they had little means to grease any wheels right now.

"An associate of mine works as a researcher at the DIMR and we have worked together in the past on various projects concerning things magical. In the past we have kept an open exchange of information and he has often arranged for the financial backing that I have used to accomplish those projects. Before our meeting with Kiki he called me to say that he has arranged a meeting between me and some representatives of the ASPS whom are interested in retaining the services of me and the team that I have assembled. He couldn't go into specifics obviously but he dropped enough to let me know that the interests of the ASPS is likely related to Julia."

"The meeting is scheduled for 18:00 downtown. I was hoping to discuss this earlier but then we got blind-sided with the Kiki-situation. We might've just enough time to check out the last known whereabouts of Jonah before the time of the meet as well."

"I know that this all seems to be happening very quickly now so if you have any probing questions we should get them into the open now."

[Morgannah]

20:02:17 Tuesday 02 January 2063 - An Undisclosed Location, Los Angeles, CFS

She appraised the boy for a few long moments, wondering how such a young person could be so cold and what, exactly, his role in all of this could be. Cosmo accepted the dossier with a barely cut off growl, flipping through it's contents right there and then.

I'll kill him.

[grendel]

20:02:32 Tuesday 02 January 2063 - An Undisclosed Location, Los Angeles, CFS

The dossier contains the same high quality digital surveillance stills as before, although this time the target is AMI Networking. Again, the list of serial numbers of products, only four this time. And it ends with another lattitude and longitude.

[Morgannah]

20:02:38 Tuesday 02 January 2063 - An Undisclosed Location, Los Angeles, CFS

Of course, she fumed, closing the dossier with a resounding 'snap'. Who would care about the rights of a criminal anyway?

"This is not a contract, Kald, this is indentured servitude; let's not confuse the two." Cosmo glared, working hard to focus her anger towards her "employer" and not the strange boy that stared at her without expression. "If you would be so kind as to inform my new Master that this arrangement will only continue until I'm able to end it more permanently, I would greatly appreciate it."

Her eyes turned darker and darker until they were almost black, a stark contrast to the emotionless gaze of the 12-year old. The sheer malevolence brewing there indicated that this was no empty threat.

"Take care of yourself." Watch your back, child.

She turned abruptly, her fingertips digging painfully into the slim black folder as she stalked towards the door and out into the street, almost hoping that someone had been stupid enough to start breaking into her car. While the pistol at her hip beckoned, she imagined the 'crunch' of her fists and feet breaking bones .. and smiled.

[Sedna]

15:23:06 Saturday, January 6th, 2063 - Puyallup Street Clinic

"These past projects of yours," Tiffany says drily, "they wouldn't happen to have anything to do with Aztlán, Aztechnology, or blood mages, would they?"

Virgil opens his mouth to answer, but to his surprise it's Sybersnake who overrides him: "We can discuss that later."

The reporter frowns, but accepts it for now. Absently rubbing at the tag end of the headache Virgil shares with her (but not Dragon -- hah! seems that implant isn't only relevant for physical duress), she stands up a little too quickly and asks the two of them to let her and the priest off at the shelter, she's got a lot of legwork to get done and the rest of a story to pull together by newstime. "If they'll not spike it out of hand," she adds under her breath, and then, more normally: "If you've got any evidence that would help, Bob, now would be a good time."

The small decker considers her silently for a couple of moments, then returns his attention to the maze of cables he's been steadily sorting with his hands while another machine into which Virgil guesses he's dumped the files they've received from Kiki continues to whir softly in the background.

"Right," says Dragon, standing up as well, "we're ready to move on. After we drop you two off, we'll start from Jonah's last known location, after we talk to Cindy --"

Without looking up, Bob passes him a scrap of paper. Surprised to be interrupted, Dragon glances at it -- and then again, registering the address. "Trank has been talking with her," Juliette supplies from the doorway. "He's been trying to figure out how to deal with the cyber. She's staying here a couple of days yet ..." trailing off before anything close to reproach could enter her voice, but Virgil hears it anyway, and sighs. While she's maybe more curious than him about the world generally, the necessities demanded by the ideal of perfect intelligence prior to entering battle remain something they don't see eye to eye on.

"Right," repeats Dragon, cutting into Virgil's thoughts. "We'll start from Jonah's last known location, then pick you up, Tiffany, for the meet at 1800 --"

"You'll have to summarise it for me later," says Tiffany, and when the mercenary frowns, gently reminds him: "The story?"

"Right," says Dragon, accepting it, repeating the rest of it yet again, wishing the others could get up to speed already on this, and this time is able to make it all the way to "Any questions?"

"Clear decom first," says Galina matter-of-factly. The headache that doesn't show on her face registers in her voice.

"Right," sighs Dragon, giving up on going through it again. They all get the idea anyway. Once again through the decontamination procedure (third time now for Tiffany, which reminded Virgil that he hadn't yet seen her tape), finally out the door, in their own clothing this time (a surprising relief, that). Dragon's fishing for the electronic door-beacon for the maglock. No matter how much he'd tried to make sure the Savalettes and everything else was back in its proper place, things such as the contents of the pockets would continue to be just that little bit "off" until he could get under a roof that wasn't here and get everything back in order properly. At least the guns and armour were on-track (and Dragon smiles slightly to once again hear that soft click of the clinic's scanners picking up some part of his hidden metal, reminding him that he would always carry resources that weren't obvious on the surface).

As soon as the car responds to its beacon with a soft chirp, the five of them all quickly flee the clinic, relieved beyond what words could express to be finally out of there. It's not until Dragon reaches the driver's side door that he's free enough of what he's witnessed, back there, to realise with an uncomfortable prickling that it's somehow too quiet ...