Bubbles cruises into the street on her Growler, driving with smooth confidence, already knowing the way to the place to meet the others. Rounding corners she reaches back one hand to make sure her passenger is still attached.

*pop* "I went by earlier today"

Dual began to fumble around in his pocket and asked, "Do you take cash?" He then produced the wad of Ares corp script that Angelique provided him earlier that eavening. He knew that the weekly rate was 250 (the motel's node was broadcasting the information), but he kept starting counting out twenties and didn't stop until he hit 300 . "As for IDs, I was hoping we could arrange something...."

Dual and Snapp

The Room

Dual took a look around the room and, although he wasn't particularly surprised with its condition, he still felt a little bad about what his money had gotten him. At least the view outside was nice. He took one look at Ida's building before turning his attention back to the room. This won't do at all.

"Well, what next?" He said verbally, "Everyone else on their way?" Asking the question reminded him about Codger. He wasn't as concearned about loosing him as he was about why. Codger was the most experienced of all of them on the team - and if he knew something they didn't, and it was bad enough to make him bail on a job (terrible for your reputation in the Shadows), Dual wanted to know what that something was.

As he looked around the room, he set his ultrasound sensors to start forming 3-D models of the objects in the room. He had to pace around a little, examining things from multiple angles, but the Edit program he had was pretty high end, and it wasn't long before he was redecorating the room in AR.

This smell is the first thing to go....

Dual
After some detailed scans, you have some basic material to start with. The smell is a bit tricky – though you have a whole library to work with for new smells, getting rid of the old one first is a bit more subtle. In the end, you manage to reduce it to the point of being hardly noticeable, and bring in some new, cleaner smells to mask what is left.

With the smell taken care of, you make quick work of the sound – what you can manage of it anyway. The sputtering air conditioning / heating unit is the only sound constant enough to edit out. Any sudden shouting matches or “other” noises from the occupants of this somewhat thin-walled complex will just have to be handled as they come up.

With those global variables taken care of, you move on to the more specific contents of the room. The walls are simple – There is only the one window, so taking care to keep it clear of overlays (as it is the whole reason you are here), you are able to replace the walls with any of a wide number of types, from open sky, jungle, or Victorian décor. After trying a few dozen in rapid succession, you settle on the one that seems to fit the best, and begin making the rest of the furniture match.

Changing the look and style is easy enough, and in very little time you have it matching your chosen wall replacements. The oversized furniture still makes you feel. . . small, though. You try for several minutes to improve this, changing the perspective and touch in an attempt to make the furniture “feel” smaller than it actually is. This involves sitting in the large chair, and standing again, several times – no doubt Snapp is wondering just what is wrong with you. In the end, though, the subjectiveness of it eludes your meager artistic talents, and you have to abandon the attempt. The oversized furniture will just have to stay.

The lavatory door that doesn’t latch properly is a problem. You could add some AR privacy blinds, but. . . who would trust AR with such a task? You’ll have to find some more traditional way around that problem.

The lighting, which you save for last, is by far the easiest – owing to how bad it is currently. Your advanced edit program has no difficulty handling the real-time radiosity calculations as you add, move, and test out various lighting schemes. In the end, this one change adds the most to the overall effect, giving the whole room a much more cohesive and pleasant feel.

Finally satisfied with the result (and just in time, Bubbles and Spook should be arriving shortly), you save and apply the changes you’ve made, and offer them up to the others. Overall, it’s mostly stock replacements from your standard libraries, but the composition suits you much better than the “original.”

During the half-hour that Dual takes to suitably alter the reality he's going to have to experience for the next few days, he makes idle converstaion with Snapp.

"So, why do you call yourself 'snapp'?"

Snapp accepts the incoming request from Dual and is very appreciative of the result.

"I'll have to introduce you to Gracey some time. Got my name from her. Nice touch with the decorating." After a little pause Snapp decides to ask his own question, "I guess 'Dual' has to do with you being here and in the matrix." Well it was almost a question.

Dual shrugs, "Among other reasons." At first he keeps it to that. One of the first rules in the Shadowrunning manual is not to give out unecessary information about yourself. However, after a moment of reconsideration, Dual comes to the conclusion that a Shadowrunning "handle" is there for the sole purpose of being known and understood by other Runners. That, and Snapp didn't really answer his question - and answering his might prompt him to give a more complete response.

After his short pause, he continues gesturing at the self-composed reality surrounding him "I like to think of myself as digitally dual-natured...." He draws two Hammerli 640S light pistols from concealed holsters under his coat. "...good with both hands...." He points at his eyes, "... sharing my body with an agent program, or two..." At this point he starts to grin, "... at least half machine... used to move twice as fast as a normal person - now its closer to 3 times." He sheaths his pistols, in one clean motion using both hands, "... and this is sort of my second life. The old me died off with the old Matrix. This," he says, gesturing at himself again, "is me 2.0"

"Plus, I just think the number 2 is cool."

When Dual pulls his pistols, Snapp casually readjusts his hand ever so slightly to make it easier to draw his own pistol. He only half listens to the rest of what Dual has to say.

"Hmm, interesting. A word of advice though. Don't pull your pistols on someone unless you intend to use them because it can make some people nervous. When people get nervous, bad things can happen." Does he even realize how close he came to dying just now?

Fealing a little underequiped Snapp says, "I'm going to head back to my place to pick up some equipment, so I'm ready for anything when Ida moves out. I should be back in about 30 minutes."

Dual cocked his head when Snapp mentioned drawing your pistols on a stranger, and then nodded his head as though he understood. "Understood. Didn't mean to spook ya, chummer." He put up one hand as a sign of peace.

"...unless you intend to use them..."
Well, I had no intention of using them...
That was probably his point, I guess.
I suppose I wouldn't like it if some green runner got the draw on me either.

Before he knew it, Snapp was heading out the door to get some equipment. ...another gun, perhaps? Dual was reminded that his really top-notch gear was sitting uselessly in his apartment, and that he was without wheels. For a moment he considered asking Snapp to drop him off somewhere - but figured someone should watch the apartment and he seemed to have upset Snapp with the whole gun thing, so he let him go without saying as much.

You'd think no one's ever drawn a gun in front of him before... Dual smirked after Snapp left, thinking to himself. Of course, given the level of experience this group seems to have - that's more likely than not. He also had to remind himself that the rest of the team didn't already scan one another for weapons and cyberware - so wouldn't quite know what to expect. He probably didn't think much of it because, in the back of his mind, he knew he had Snapp out-gunned and out-chromed.

Of course, Snapp didn't know that - it could have gone very badly. It was a newbie mistake, and Dual was a little embarrased that it happened. At the same time, it made him curious.
... actually, I wonder how badly that could have gone.

In AR, on a feed that he wasn't broadcasting to the team, Dual plays out the scenario a few times, using his "miracle shooter" program and loading up some custom mods he built that took advantage of his databases on realistic weapons capabilities. This was somewhat out of morbid curiosity, somewhat to keep himself entertained while everyone is away, and somewhat to prove to himself that if the drek ahd hit the fan, he would have been the one to walk away.

He placed a not-so-bad 3D model of Snapp where he was standing at the time, and replayed the action of drawing virtual Hammerlis just like he did before. Set on a random timer, at some point, the virtual-Snapp would reach for his pistol and Dual would twist his hand and fire off a few rounds into the elf's body. The sound of gunfire was realisticly loud, as was the feel of the guns recoiling in his hand, but Dual knew that he didn't have to worry about the neighbors overhearing any of it.

Of course, the simulation was far from accurate - as he didn't have any of Snapp's combat data to code into it, and was expecting an attack - but the result was uniformly the same. Virtual Snapp, programmed to move at normal unaugmented elven speeds, fell in a bloody heap on the floor after Dual (whose mind and body were moving about 3 times as fast) got off a (virtually augmented) shot with each gun before the elf had brought his to bear.

The game was surprisingly effective at releaving some of the day's stress, and made Dual forget about his embarrasment about drawing out guns in a non-combative situation - but it wasn't very fun.

After a couple of minutes, he returned his attention to the window, which overlooked Ida's apartment complex. He tried to judge the distance and compared that to his databases of ranged on various models of guns and ammunition-types (specifically, cross referencing the weapons he saw on the group earlier) to see if they'd be able to take drastic action if the Doc showed up unexpectedly.

He considered firing a few shots from his virtual pistols to test it out - but reconsidered in case anyone saw him doing it. Even without a gun in his hand, it would look suspicious and noteworthy if someone was 'pretending' to fire a weapon across the street at the entrance door to another building.

Fuck I'm bored. How long has Snapp been gone? Dual looked at his virtual clock. 10 minutes? Damn. He decided now would be a good time to get some Matrix-time in while the group was away - but he did it in AR so that he could keep an eye out the window. A handful of windows appeared in the virtual space around him, luring his attention away from the task at hand...

He spent the remainder fo the half-hour idley chatting with the dancer from the club, and some of his friends from various online MMORPGs - declining various invitations to meet them in VR for some game-play, much to Dual's dismay.

Bubbles turns into the Motel lot, quietly parking the growler. After ensuring her passenger is off, she heads for the room carrying a couple of bags.

*pop* "What's the word of the day?"

Spook slowly uncurls himself from off the bike.

He pauses for a moment, considering, and says "Hold on a second... I just have to appreciate being on steady ground for a bit..."

After a few breaths he says, "Thanks for the ride... now then, where did they say they were? I suppose we'd best head up to the room."

He then quickly checks his gear to make sure none came off and adds "Oh yeah... and didn't you specifically promise no wheelies? I swear I felt gravity pulling me off the bike."

Bubbles grins.

*pop* "Those were left and right turns? When you come out of the turn it can feel like your flying off. Didn't they say which room they got?"

*pop* "We could ask the desk if a couple of guys rented a room to themselves recently. Say we are joining the party or something."

"We could do that. but then they might want to charge us too. I propose we just ask Dual and Snapp which room we should be headed for."

Spook quickly opens an AR chat window again and sends a message to Dual and Snapp

"Right then, off we go."

Spook eyes the burritos Bubbles has with some uncertainty, remembering the earlier slushie incident.

Glad i brought some of my own. Not sure i trust her taste in food.

"Oh, and Dual says we should probably turn on our AR. Naturally, the place isn't all that nice."

Once upstairs, Bubbles and Spook will find Dual sitting next to the window staring out of it with a bored, glazed-over look in his eyes. If they have the gear to accept the various simsense tracks that Dual is broadcasting they will see the room has been redesigned to not look and smell so much like the kind of motel one would go to to kill a hooker. Instead, it looks more like a room from an expensive bed and breakfast, with a number of "staple" AR entertainment devices emulated (wall-sized trideo display, aquarium, massage-chair, etc) to make the place more interesting.

He turns to greet the two of them with a slightly over-excited look washing over his face. "One of you mind keeping an eye on the apartment? Snapp went to pick up some gear, and I've been keeping watch on the place. Going a little stir-crazy."

He stands up and stretches his neck, "... and I should probably pick up some of my gear too - it'll take a few hours though, since i'll have to grab a bus, or something. Is there anything I can bring back with me?"

Entering the room Bubbles wrinkles her forehead and sniffs before answering.

*pop* "Air freshener?" *pop* *pop* "Maybe some salsa."
*pop* *pop* "Knuckles better not find out I'm spending the night hanging out with three men in a cheap motel that I met while with Dirty Jimmy."

Bubbles grins and winks, before moving over to the bed and sitting and bouncing on it. *pop*

The bed squeeks.

Dual sniffs the air, "No smell-ware? Does your commlink have a sim-module? Accept the AR and I've tried to cancel out the smell, and replace it with something better." He shrugs, "Its not the best edit job, but I don't really notice the smell anymore."

Spook reaches into the bag he brought with him.

"Ha. Way ahead of you on that one, Bubbles. Here you go."

He tosses her a can of Mountain Fresh air freshener, even as he sets his sim module to replace the smell of the room with the AR feed.

"I think I'm fine with what i brought, anyways. So i guess i'll be staying by the window to keep an eye on things."

Spook moves over to the window and activates his perception-enhancing gear, and settles down for what looks to be a boring evening.

Dual looks back at them as he heads out the door. "Thanks. I'll keep the chat open while I'm gone."

After a longer than average trip home to pick up his gear, Snapp hops off his scoot in the motel parking lot, and grumbles, "I hate Seattle traffic." Snapp walks up to the room and walks in. "Hi everyone, any activity across the street?" After a pause he says "Where did Dual go?"

Bubbles looks up from her work on the dismantled motel room door lock mechanism.

*pop* "Said he was getting some tools." *pop* "And for some reason he wanted to ride the bus."
*pop* "Think it was a -short- bus ride..."

Parts from various motel room devices are strewn all over the bed. The trid is still working though in mute mode. The color display cycling through various wire frame and block diagramm schematics of devices. Prominently displayed on the trid is the brand name of the lock in Bubbles hand.

After placing the lock onto a mount, Bubbles, pauses briefly, then unpalms some tools, moves her hands over the lock, masking the activity. A moment later she moves her hand away. The lock mechanism pops, but a red light on her meter blinks.

*pop* "Opened, but the sensor tripped."

The bus ride home was rather long and uneventful. Dual kept himself entertained by accessing a number of matrix diversions and overlaying them on the backs of the seats in front of him. He kept checking in on Castor and Pollux's progress, but the radial progress bars where not even a quarter-filled yet.

In one window, he saw an image of two teams of Shadowrunners spread out chaoticly trying to break the perimeter of some secure compound. He would have prefered to have programmed them to work together a little more effectivly, but the presense of even one well-organised constantly communicating team of agents might have raised more alarms than it avoided. This way, he figured, would be safest. Most of them wouldn't make it inside, but a couple of lucky ones would have found the right weaknesses - and would report the information back to him.

He called his girlfriend and let her know that he would be home soon, and went through the meaningless social babble that she was programmed to insist upon. Dual didn't really mind. She asked about his day, his new job, if he wanted her to prepare anything to eat - that one caught Dual a little off-guard (although he should have known she was capable of accessing his kitchen's programs) and brought his attention back to the conversation. "Food" was sounding pretty good about now.

"Yes, I could really go for some steak, if it's not too much trouble," he responded. At home, his kitchen's utilities began preparing some cheap and tasteless (though sustaining) soy, while his home's commlink began generating the simsense feed that had become the most important part of Dual's diet.