IC: A Short Victorius War, A Living in the Shadows Game Options

[Cedric Rolfsson]

02:10:09 Monday January 8, 2063 - Abandoned Warehouse - Puyallup

Erebus popped open the trunk and began rifling through his duffle bag, immediately pulling out the microtransceiver unit and getting the ear piece and mimentic throat mic in place. He took the main unit and attached it to his belt at the back, quickly dialing in the frequency Dragon had given him.

His next priority was getting his AK readied for unwelcome guests. He eased the rifle out of his bag and gave it a quick check. It seemed undamaged by the hurried pack and move, and considering the AK's rep it should be, so he slapped in a clip of hollow points and dropped two spare clips into the pocket of his jacket.

He could feel the weight of all his weaponry now, he was wearing two pistols, and a rifle plus all his armor and ammo, and it was getting to be a load. Quickly he pulled all the non-essential equipment out and dumped it in his duffle. He kept 25,000 :nuyen: in certified credsticks but put the rest in his duffel along with the spare phones and other extras. Still loaded down, he zipped the duffle and closed the trunk, carrying the rifle as discretely as he could by his side.

"Comm check, Erebus."

He knew he was broadcasting in the clear, totally unencrypted, but that couldn't be helped. He headed for the main doors to the warehouse, hoping to meet the intruders at the door.

[Tiredronin]

02:10:16 Monday January 8, 2063 - Abandoned Warehouse - Puyallup

Roger Erebus read you loud and clear. ETA 30 seconds for the shakes, ah, cars. D are you or Erebus on point for phoenix.

Daedalus felt his adrenaline pumping as he gives Icarus orders to continue monitoring the situation and alert him of any other vehicles, flying or on the ground, moving in the vicinity. He jumps into Talos to begin a stealthy pursuit of the 2 cars now ahead of him approaching the warehouse.

[WinterRat1]

02:10:25 Monday January 8, 2063 - Abandoned Warehouse - Puyallup

Switching to D&D V3's private communication frequency, Dragon said, "Team, maintain threat assessment level, operational, and target code security and communicate with it only on this channel, designated Channel Alpha. We will give out our name identifiers to the other two and communicate with them only on the secondary open channel, designated Channel Beta."

Returning to the comm channel he'd given to Erebus and Tenmou, channel Beta, he responds, "OK people listen up. This channel is Beta channel. I am D, Daedalus is S, Virgil is V, Erebus is now E, and Tenmou is U. Our aircover is I for the surveillance drone and T for the combat drone."

"U, I want our escape vehicle and exit point prepped and ready, you secure our way out of the warehouse. S and V you have your orders, keep our surveillance up and our magical and air cover ready to go. E, you handle the talking with the incoming group, on the off chance they want to talk. I'm moving up to the front to support you."

Glancing at the prisoner writhing in pain on the chair, Dragon concludes, "I've got a name and a location, and time is getting short. Are we done with him here or is there any last bit of info anyone wants me to try to get in the next ten seconds or so?"

[Tiredronin]

02:10:30 Monday January 8, 2063 - Abandoned Warehouse - Puyallup

Daedalus whips his mind away from the cars outside for just an instant to consider Dragon's question. Then transmits to him at the speed of thought on channel alpha:

I'm still curious about how these people keep finding us. Though I doubt you have time to go through an in depth discussion about that.

We are holding at orange.

He keeps Talos far enough away to be difficult to detect yet close enough to come speeding in guns blazing, if necessary. His finger itches at the virtual trigger to Talos' machine gun.

[bclements]

02:10:32 Monday January 8, 2063 - Abandoned Warehouse - Puyallup

Doc runs up to the door of the room, panting from sprinting the fifty meters from his office, making it before any of the other gangers.

"What the hell do you think your doing to this guy? What's going on?" he asks Dragon in between breaths.

[WinterRat1]

02:10:35 Monday January 8, 2063 - Abandoned Warehouse - Puyallup

Dragon looks up calmly at Doc as he rushes in and dips his head slightly in apology. "My apologies for the disturbance Doctor. Things have gotten a little out of hand. We originally intended to simply question this man, who was involved in first framing your friend and his teammate, then later trying to assassinate all of us when the frame job didn't go according to plan. However he demonstrated unusual capabilities and managed to briefly escape and attack us, so we had to ensure he couldn't do it again, so as not to put everyone here in danger. Simply put, time was getting short, we needed answers, and he was the only source of answers available to us. So we took steps to expedite the process of question and answer. Does that answer your question?"

As he waited to see what Doc would say, Dragon moved to channel Beta with the speed of thought. "E, didn't the Doc give you that device for us to use? Is his problem with our methods or the fact that our methods have inadvertantly leaked out? He's your chummer so I definitely don't want things to go badly here. Can we count on the gangers stalling the incoming people? If so, maybe you could come back and talk to him yourself, if you deem it necessary. If not, then I'll handle Doc. Oh, you wouldn't happen to know if he ever dabbles in organlegging, would you?"

Dragon pauses for a moment, then decides he'd better clarify. "And when I say 'handle', I mean address his concerns and smooth his feathers. Not the permanent kind of handling."

[bclements]

02:10:40 Monday January 8, 2063 - Abandoned Warehouse - Puyallup

“Listen,” Doc says, still catching his breath after sprinting to warehouse’s abandoned office. He stops as he hears more feet pounding. Quickly shutting the door to the torture room, he runs back down the hall, intercepting the ganger running to see what all the screaming was about.

“’s up Doc?” the lead ganger yells, brandishing an old, scarred submachine gun. Bluing had worn off to revel well worn bare steel in the usual places, but the clip looked new to Dragon. He didn’t remember this guy on his way in.

“Nothin’, Mando. Just a,” deep breath to try to gain some oxygen from this hellhole, “misunderstanding. Get your guys,” another deep breath, calm down, “out front. People coming, and they may not be the delivery boys,” Doc said, as Mando yelled out to the rest of the reluctant gangers to move outside, trying to bring his breathing back under control. Bear tended to lethargy sometimes, and this sudden cold snap didn’t make him want to run unless he had to. Erebus had helped him in the past, and that was enough to make him run.

“Listen,” Doc began again, after taking a few long strides back so that he could talk low to Dragon. This guy’s aura had the cold, blotched look as he drew himself up next to the shorter samurai. Fleetingly, he wondered why someone would willingly cut themselves up in such a drastic way. “I told you to keep the gag on. These guys, they’re just hired help, and they work with the Yak’s, pushin’ chips half the time. What did you do to him?”

At the same time as Doc spoke, Daedalus broke through the comm net. Shakes in 5 seconds, T in line.

[Cedric Rolfsson]

02:10:41 Monday January 8, 2063 - Abandoned Warehouse - Puyallup

Erebus softly banged his head off the corrogated steel wall one last time then took a deep breath and depressed the throat mic.

"Dragon, remind Doc that this is the same fragger who used a rocket on a bar in Tacoma a couple hours ago and then stop with the questioning and just waste the fragger. I have no idea how these guy will react to torture but I'm positive they'll understand the concept of revenge."

Mentally Erebus allocated :nuyen: 2,000 to Doc to help smooth things over. The shaman would use the money to improve the clinic and help people really in need, which was his true calling, and maybe that and an apology would be enough to patch up any hurt feelings.

Trying hard to put concern's about Doc and the prisoner out of his mind he stepped to the man sized door next to the extra large truck door they entered and tried real hard to remember if there was a light of some kind outside the door.

[WinterRat1]

02:10:46 Monday January 8, 2063 - Abandoned Warehouse - Puyallup

Shifting to channel Beta, Dragon replied, "Understood E. Please maintain ID security on this channel, I do not believe it is secured yet. I've got a situation here that needs to be resolved. S, you're in charge until I come back."

Returning his focus to Doc, Dragon answered in a similarly low voice, "Sir, I apologize for not keeping the gag in his mouth. When the situation outside developed, time became a serious issue in getting our answers and some shortcuts were taken. However, it may interest you to know that only a few hours ago he was part of a hit team responsible for deliberately firing an anti-personnel rocket into a crowded bar. We didn't have time to stand around and count the casualties, but I am certain there were quite a few."

Turning towards the prisoner, in one smooth motion Dragon drew his combat knife from its sheath and drove it into the man's temple, piercing the brain instantly. Twisting the knife for thoroughness, Dragon made sure the goon was dead before pulling the knife out, wiping the blood and assorted brain matter off, and resheathing it.

"Erebus told me to tell you he'd talk to you more about this later, but for now, consider this justice served. I am very sorry things got out of hand, we will make amends for any difficulties we caused you in the process. Now I have one question for you. Do you deal in the processing of unconfirmed organ donors or shall we dispose of the body ourselves?"

[Shadowrunner13]

02:10:25 Monday January 8, 2063 - Abandoned Warehouse - Puyallup

"Copy, D."

02:10:52 Monday January 8, 2063 - Abandoned Warehouse - Puyallup

Tenmou burst into the office where he had been laying down and ran to where his weapons were. He was pretty sure any healing efforts that had been done had been undone by his physical exertion. He clutched his injuries, as he unzipped his bag and fetched his katana. He tied the scabbard to his belt and fetched his SMG. He propped himself in the doorway and chambered the first round in the weapon as he prepared for the unknown intruders.

[Tiredronin]

02:10:47 Monday January 8, 2063 - Abandoned Warehouse - Puyallup

"Roger D."

"E: T will fire when I confirm hostiles or if you fire, or I see you fired on. Otherwise, its your show."

Daedalus took a quick scan of the area from Icarus one last time before steadying his breath as Talos's camera focused on the cars slowing down in front of the building.

Seeing the warehouse door open and Erebus step out, he made sure to climb in altitude enough to minimize the risk of his suppression fire going past the cars and into his allies.

[bclements]

02:10:52 Monday January 8, 2063 - Inside the Abandoned Warehouse - Puyallup

Doc looked at the grim scene with a dispassion that he didn’t really feel. Unless this Dragon guy was very good, he wasn’t lying, and he was at least apologetic. The fact that this guy apparently killed an entire dive bar to try to get this group didn’t mean that having a dead yak solder or worse here was going to help his relationship with the Princes.

Thinking quickly while trying not to hear the sputtering, gasping last breaths of the mangled thug, he came to the conclusion that this chromed-up monster’s hinted plan had a better chance of success than anything he could come up with. With some luck and a few calls, none of the gangers would ever be the wiser. That the money would help him brought a grim smile to his face.

“Yeah, I know some people that would be interested in this guy. And while I think you’re telling the truth, you’d better get out of here as soon as it’s safe to do so for both our sakes. Now, what’s going on out front?”

02:10:52 Monday January 8, 2063 - Outside the Abandoned Warehouse - Puyallup

The feed coming in from Talos showed the scene in better detail but without the wide area dispersal that Icarus had. Daedalus had them side by side, just in case. Most of the sober, unchipped gangers had come out into a wide semicircle around the main entrance of the warehouse, breath catching on the cold night air and radiating heat. None of the team were visiable on the overhead or close in shots.

The front car’s driver door opened, and out came a large box, radiating heat from it. Pizza? Daedalus thought, tension leaving him while zooming in on someone wearing the Prince’s colors holding several Joe’s Soyizza boxes. The second car door opened, and another ganger emerged, dragging large boxes of cheap soybeer. On closer inspection, both cars had the driver’s windows down or broken.

The ganger’s gathered outside began to cheer, as much for the food and beer as for the chance at some money from the cars.

[Tiredronin]

02:10:54 Monday January 8, 2063 - Inside the Abandoned Warehouse - Puyallup

The appearance of the pizza and beer as well as the apparent recognition shown by the rest of the gangers to the drivers of the two cars should have indicated that this situation should no longer be considered a threat.

However, Daedalus still in awe of the cunning of the opposition displayed thus far, is not ready to rest just yet.

"It appears that the cars were being driven by the ganger delivery boys. V, can you check to make sure there are no other passengers? I'll check thermo. Maintain orange until we get a result."

Daedalus not wanting to take any chances flips Talos's sensors to view the thermgraphic spectrum with a mental command to see if there are any other people in the cars.

[Cedric Rolfsson]

02:11:05 Monday January 8, 2063 - Inside the Abandoned Warehouse - Puyallup

Seeing nothing that looked particular dangerous Erebus stepped out of the door and approached the vehicles, the AK held easily at his side creating enough space for him to approach the delivery boys.

"Hoi fellas. Got any with extra pepperoni?"

He shot the gangers a wide grin and searched the coolers in vain for a bottle of mineral water and settled on snatching a pizza box instead. To one of the delivery boys he pulled out the remaining hardcopy cred he was carrying, about twenty bucks, and handed the driver the money.

"Thanks chummers, you did good. I don't think I need the battery anymore but you were fast and did exactly like I asked, that means something in my book. You got a handle you want me to use and maybe a place I can leave you a message in case I got other jobs I can send your way? Sometimes when I'm runnin I need some extra muscle I can trust at my back."

The young Elven gangers probably wouldn't be worth the time it took to call him but Amanda had taught him the folly of judging people by first impressions. After all, he started out as nothing different than one of these kids running the streets of Berlin.

[bclements]

02:14:20 Monday January 8, 2063 - Inside the Abandoned Warehouse - Puyallup

The ganger smiled wide, happy to have the chance to earn some extra nuyen if the occasion warrented. "Sure chummer, name's Barty, dat's Tomer over there goofin' off. Thanks about the battery, by the way. Didn't want to have to rig one of these pigmobiles for tow over to da chopshop," Bardy said, taking a large swig of soybeer and handing a slice of pizza over to Erebus from a passing box and rattleing off an LTG number.

"Didn't know we'd have a welcoming committee back for us. Y'all expectin' us?"

[Cedric Rolfsson]

02:14:25 Monday January 8, 2063 - Inside the Abandoned Warehouse - Puyallup

Erebus laughed a took a big bite of the rubbery pizza, ignoring the fact that it tasted like microwaved cardboard with celophane topping.

"Hey chummer, you know how it is in this line of work. Its not a matter of being paranoid, its a question of being paranoid enough. I'm always expecting trouble."

He dropped a fist onto the ganger's own, and headed back into the warehouse.

"All clear, friendlies, E is returning."

He headed back inside, connecting a data cable to his psec to allow him program the two ganger's into the storage file he kept in his headware memory for contact data. He stopped at the vehicle to drop a couple of guns and his assault rifle back into the trunk and offer Daedalus some pizza.

"Hoi, here's something that almost resembles food. The kids brought some beer too but I didn't grab one, if you want I'll have them bring a couple over. I didn't think to tell them to grab something non-alcoholic to drink went I sent them on the grocery run."

At least sending the gangers acted as good cover. None of the locals would connect the Princes gangers pizza and beer run with the runners involved in the destruction of the Tacoma bar. These kids probably lived off this kind of menu.

[Tiredronin]

02:14:28 Monday January 8, 2063 - Inside the Abandoned Warehouse - Puyallup

Daedalus maneuvers Talos back to the cover of the rooftops. Not wanting to tear his mind away from his vigil outside he speaks to Erebus through the intercom on his arm:

"Thanks Erebus, I'll be ok without the drink." He concentrates to push past his simsense reality to make eye contact with his ally and forces his hand up to recieve the pizza slice. "Never can be too careful though."

Daedalus simply holds the pizza as he mentally goes back to his survey of the local cityscape.

Then over channel beta:
"Alright, lets scale back to yellow. I'll keep watch in case anyone followed them.

[Tiredronin]

02:15:30 Monday January 8, 2063 - Inside the Abandoned Warehouse - Puyallup

Not seeing anything showing up on his scanners, Daedalus slowly begins to relax, his heart rate slowing down as he finally backs away from the brink of combat.

Looking through his own eyes he sees that Erebus has left the car and the the slice of pizza in his hand in all its unappetizing glory.

Well, gotta eat something... maybe I won't notice the taste as much if I'm still in Talos.

He then, very carefully, directs the muscles in his mouth to chew and swallow the pizza while keeping his view on the street outside.

[WinterRat1]

02:11:15 Monday January 8, 2063 - Inside the Abandoned Warehouse - Puyallup

Dragon nods at Doc's words. "I understand Doc. I appreciate you letting us rest here a while and patching up our guy. I know it's biz, but nonetheless, thanks." Glancing over at the body, he added, "Do you want to get started working on this guy? I'll work on getting my team ready to get out of here."

Before Doc could respond, Dragon paused and held up a finger for silence as he listened to the updates on what was happening outside from Daedalus and Erebus.

After several minutes and updates, he replied over channel beta, "OK team, confirm situational assessment yellow. We'll be leaving as soon as we can, so get ready to roll out of here. U, is our transport ready? S, do we have a clear line of exit here?"

Turning back to the Doc after giving out the update to the team, Dragon said, "It appears everything is ok, the commotion out front was the gangers returning with some pizza. We're just about ready to be out of here. As soon as I get a confirmation it's clear for us to leave we're gone. Will you be ok handling the body then?"

[bclements]

02:18:44 Monday January 8, 2063 - Inside the Abandoned Warehouse - Puyallup

"The people I'm going to call like to do everything themselves. We just need to wrap him up. Hand me that sheet of plastic over there, and give me a hand wrapping him up. Don't want the guys out front to see this," Doc said, pointing toward a large sheet of opaque plastic draping a chair and a desk.

After rolling the dead Yak up and hiding him behind the desk, Doc said, " I've got to make some phone calls. It'll take about 20 minutes. Be out of here by the time I'm done." With that, he walked out of the office, pulling out a small, disposable cell phone.

[WinterRat1]

02:21:16 Monday January 8, 2063 - Inside the Abandoned Warehouse - Puyallup

Watching Doc leave the room, Dragon sighed inwardly. He hoped this wasn't going to cost Erebus too much and create another debt the team had to pay, even if it was 'only' one of honor. After all, sometimes those were the hardest to pay off.

Accessing channel beta, Dragon radioed the team. "OK team, I just received our cue to exit, stage left. Everyone meet back at the vehicle, we're out of here in 10 minutes, tops. E, you want to grab us a pizza or two for the road? We'll discuss what needs to be done to compensate our host face to face. S, maintain surveillance outside but get back to the car first. V, I want an update on your condition and an estimate on your capabilities when I see you. U, you're driving. OK everyone, grab your stuff and let's go, we're leaving no traces behind. See you all at the car in 10."

With that Dragon cut the comm, taking his own advice and grabbing his gear, as well as cleaning up the 'interrogation' room of any evidence that torture had ever been used there. After he was satisfied that there was nothing to tie them or their activities to this place, he headed over to the car to meet the others.

[Cedric Rolfsson]

02:22:25 Monday January 8, 2063 - Inside the Abandoned Warehouse - Puyallup

"Roger D. I'm on it, don't worry about Doc I'll work with him."

Erebus turned, took two steps back to the car, and dropped the pizzas onto the back seat.

That mission accomplished he headed towards the back room where Doc was working. He knew that Dragon wanted to talk about the cost of compensation but Doc was his responsiblity, and he'd make things right with Doc and then discuss it with the team. He had the nuyen now and it didn't make sense to get iced cause he was too tight fisted with it.

Finding the Bear shaman just disconnecting from a call he pulled up and started talking before the shaman could speak. He wanted to head off Doc before he could get his dander up.

"Hoi, Doc sorry about the mess. You know this isn't my preferred method of working and I certainly didn't want to bring trouble down on your head. Besides the money I'll owe you one." The young Elf pulled out a certified credstick.

"Speaking of money, I want to square us there before I leave. I'm in it deep, eyeballs and sinking chummer, so I want to make sure that you're taken care of financially before I leave in case I don't catch up to you again. What's the bill?"

He knew Doc usually charged pretty low rates for those who couldn't afford it but Erebus had always made it a point to pay up front and well to help the shaman work for those who couldn't afford it.

[bclements]

02:26:44 Monday January 8, 2063 - Inside the Abandoned Warehouse - Puyallup

Doc slid the phone into his pants pocket before answering Erebus, in a continually rising voice. "You know how it is with these guy's," Doc said, motioning the runner to follow him toward his office. "They're twitchy at the best of times, and anything influencing their nuyen makes them nervous. Nervious makes 'em scared, and scared makes them want to not want to help me around here. That doesn't make me happy, especially with what your shamen friend is telling me about some disease going 'round next door."

Doc takes a deep breath before speaking next, in lower tones "I don't mind helping you or most of your friends, not that I really did much in the first place. That new friend of your's back there is a fragging psychopath, though. My advice is to ditch him as soon as possible. At least, he ain't wanted 'round here."

"Money? 2000 nuyen," Doc said, standing in the doorway of his office, using his body to shield the door closed. "That'll be enough for a bit, along with the guy you brought in. No offence omae, but next time you bring friends, have ones that listen better. I've got some call's to make, clear out of here quick," Doc said, closing the office door.

[Cedric Rolfsson]

02:27:00 Monday January 8, 2063 - Inside the Abandoned Warehouse - Puyallup

Erebus sighs and checks to make sure that he had 2K on the certified credstick then hesitated and added an additional 500. He set the credstick down on the table next to the door and called through the door.

"Okay, Doc I'll just leave the credstick here."

No bothering to wait for a reply he heads back to the car and his bike, determined to get the crew out of here before things get worse.

Great fragging job ditbrain, you've just slotted off your best street doc. Nice start at being the big time shadow runner. Still, Doc ought to know that things sometimes go haywire, he'll get over it once he stops freaking about what could have happened.

Erebus nods and exchanges polite good byes with some of the gangers who seem to be enjoying the pizza and beer. The polite good byes involve some anatomically impossible suggestions and banging fists togeter but eventually the young Elf makes it back to his bike and the car.

"This is E, we're ready and invited to roll."

He transmits the message to make sure that everyone gets it then walks his bike over towards the car to check in physically.

[Cedric Rolfsson]

02:28:45 Monday January 8, 2063 - Inside the Abandoned Warehouse - Puyallup

The entire team met back up by the battered car. Almost immediately Dragon took charge.

"Okay, people time to saddle up, we've worn out our welcome here."

Erebus watched the other warrior for signs of the stress they were all feeling, for signs of any type of emotional response to being in this hoop-fragged situation, but saw nothing. The smaller man's voice was cool enough to frost a beer mug with and his body language betrayed nothing other than calm. It was almost unnerving.

The rest of team was looking a little the worse for wear, everyone showing signs of injuries of fatigue except for the rigger who looked like he'd swallowed half a dozen "what-me-worry" pills. Erebus had seen riggers work before so he knew the other man's brain was occupied.

No one complained or bitched or kibtzed about the quick exit, just efficiently gathered up anything that would suggest they'd ever been here, business as usual it would seem. Virgil and Tenmou policed the area around the car for blood sign from any of the Japanese runner's wounds while everyone else verified that everything they came with was accounted for in some way. Erebus' respect for this crew went up another notch, they'd all responded well to an unknown threat. His old gang would've blown half the street to hell and back at the mere suggestion of hostilities.

He realized that Dragon was waiting for some kind of acknowledgment from him so he quickly grabbed his helmet and spoke up.

"Right, lets head over to my doss and we'll set up shop. I'm warning you its pretty primative but it'll give us some place to crash while we figure this out."

It took only a few seconds to deliver directions and everyone piled into the car again while Erebus mounted his Harley. With a loud rumble and a raised hand he lead the team out of the warehouse and into the night.