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Oracle
BBO takes a deep drag from his cigarette and nods slowly. "Me too."
HeySparky
"So," Fade looks at the few straggling cigarettes in 'Bird's pack and refrains from asking for another. She shifts her eyes to the disappointingly normal looking Johnson, "How much is our per diem?"
nick012000
"So," Razorblade says, leaning forward, "how about some more pay?"
TinkerGnome
After a few minutes of discussion with Razorblade, the Johnson finally conceeds to 3k up front and an additional 12k on completion. "So, you in or out now? And any more questions?"
Silo
"Still in."
HeySparky
Fade follows Razorblade's negotiations with interest. Two-fifty cred more a day...? And 2k on top of that. Frag. Just frag.She looks over the Johnson, trying to gauge if the negotiations have soured him any. His face was inscrutable, maybe a bit impatient to get the proceedings done with.

She nods, "Okay. Give us everything you have on this guy."

After any briefing on their target, Fade is itching to go. There's a bet she'd really like to place. A sure thing.

And a growling stomach to feed. She hadn't eaten all day.
nick012000
"Yes, that is fine."
Oracle
Possibly Popov would be glad to get a small hint on all this... A brief smile finds its way on BBO's face.
gobogen
"Yes, that's fine."
Oracle
"Well, I already told you that I'm in. Could you supply us with some additional information on our target? A schedule for the team? Personal relationships? Religious believes? Unusual interests? Some gossip about him? Any weaknesses we could use?"

BBO takes another sip from his beer and waits for an answer.
TinkerGnome
The Johnson pulls a data chip from inside his suit and places it on the table. "This is the info we have on him, there's not too much besides a physical profile. The rest you can find on the Matrix easily enough. There's also a schedule for the team for the rest of the week and the three hotels where they are staying. If you have any questions you think I can answer, there's a commcode on the chip that goes to a blind drop. Leave your question there and I'll make contact with you."

When there are no more questions, he unkeys the privacy features of the booth and takes his leave after adding one last warning. "Oh, and one little piece of advice. I don't think it'd be in your best interests to go placing bets on this game. There are certain folks who are going to be upset about things like that in the near future, and you probably don't want them upset at you."
Silo
Freebird eyes the chip on the table and dismisses it.

He grabs his pack of smokes and puts them away in his jacket pocket leaving his hand in with it.

“My name’s Freebird. Where to now?”

He looks around the table at each of the other runners trying to surmise which one is going to take the lead.
HeySparky
Wednesday, January 22, 2070

The Sports Bar, 21:14:44

The Johnson switches off his gear and Fade feels a welling of relief as the AR environs bleed back into existence. She relaxes as the everpresent and oddly comforting cascade of information resumes - the timer on her locker - the weather ticker - the camera on the curb outside.

She opens a new display for her bank account. Her sadly, pathetically, hopelessly empty bank account.

Fade eyes the lousy little chip. She detaches her commlink from behind a curving horn and puts the chip in a small compartment. Her huge dark hands are calloused and rough, not at all cut out for handling delicate electronics. In a blink the chip is gone and the commlink as well.

"Fade," she says. She bunches her shoulders, tensing them and rolling them back. Loosening up. She looks around the table at the crew, sizing them up. The late-comer is another troll. Two orks, an elf and a human. She takes a deep breath and - in - tries to imagine them all as extensions of one another - out - of herself. In - they are a single mind - out - a single body.

Who am I kidding? A couple of tuskers, a breeder and an 'eater. A mismatched fragging mess. What a picnic. She grits her teeth. Damn, I'm hungry. She looks around the table. We gotta get together. Sort out the pecking order.

"Alright... we should put our heads together," she looks around the table, hoping someone has a place to offer, she certainly doesn't, unless the heating grate at Columbia and 9th counted. "I'm gonna try to line us up a place. Unless someone has a place in mind?" She raises her eyebrows and looks around.

With a flick of thought, she sends an encrypted, secured message to Chok at a pre-arranged address. <<Thanks for the hook up. I need a place for me and 5 of my friends to crash for a week or so. Pronto. Message me with the details.>> She adds a flag to the message that signals some urgency that will, she hopes, cut through some of Chok's filtering.
Silo
Freebird stands up from the table, looks at Fade, "Contact me. I got something to do."

He nods to the other assembled runners and leaves the bar.
Oracle
BBO seems to be absent minded for a second. After that brief period the whole team gets a subscription request from what is, according to the sent signature, his commlink.
HeySparky
Fade's commlink was waiting for the request and automatically accepts the incoming commcode from BBO, offering hers in return. Her commlink flickers through a flurry of commcode requests and acquisitions.
Silo
Wednesday, January 22, 2070

Freebird’s Apartment, 21:54:20

After leaving THE Sports Bar, Freebird grabbed a train back to his pad. He figured that getting his stuff in order while the others settled on a place to do some planning would speed things up. He picked out a black bag from his storage bin and began loading it up with whatever gear he thought he might need: shotgun, change of clothes, sub machine gun, toiletries, extra clips, tranq and trauma patches, a couple of snacks from the kitchen, boxes of ammo for his selection of guns, his chameleon suit…the usual fare really.

He threw his armored jacket on top and changed in to his old Actioneer suit. It was a classic style, so it still fit in even though it wasn’t the latest cut, and it provided ample room for his gun arm slides, which he put his Manhunters in to.

Looking at himself in the mirror, he smiled, Feels good to be prepping for a job, better than I thought it would. He adjusts his tie and picked up his bag and his lined coat as he walks out the door. Once down in the foyer, he pauses. Where to now?, he thought.

He pulled up his HUD and sent a one word message for that troll, Fade: <<Location?>>.

He sent another to Chok: <<Thanks.>>.

He walked out in to the drizzle and hailed a cab.
gobogen
The Priest introduces himself quickly and agrees that the team needs a place of their own to crash for the week. "I'll also see what I can do about a safe house of some kind for the team." She goes on to exchange commlink permissions with the rest of the team.

"Let's meet later tonight in what will be the most secure place we could find. We should then choose leadership, determine the team's capabilities and start to elaborate plans of action. We can keep in touch by comm."

Since there isn't much more to do for now, the Priest leaves The Sports BAR and walks back to his apartment.

This job is going to be a piece of soycake.
HeySparky
Wednesday, January 22, 2070

THE Sports Bar, Seattle, 21:16:12
Fade nods as the commcodes come in. She touches a hand to her brow, sketching a mock salute, "Later 'Bird. I'll call you."

She watches his back as he edges through the crowd. Never one for niceties. She looks over the remainder at the table and reconsiders. Me neither. She stands, pushing her chair back in one motion.

"Let me know if you turn anything up..." Fade says, addressing the human, "Priest." She squints at him, eyes peering at his neck. What? He'd wear a collar? She shakes her head and nods at BBO and Razorblade, "Good to meet all you."

She shoulders her way through the bar and squeezes past the toughs that had been eyeing her earlier. She climbs the stairs and makes her way out onto the sleet. An AR notification chimes as the money comes through and she feels a weight lift from her shoulders. She checks the timer on the U-Lock-It and considers getting a bus. What the hell?

U-Lock-It , Seattle, 21:44:20
After picking up her gear she heads out onto the street, hitching the bulky pack up onto her shoulders. She grabs a bite to eat at a by-the-slice pizza join with a decent take on soy cheese. She wipes her mouth, savoring the hot food and looks up. Fade's mouth goes dry.

Across the street there's a bar. Just a drink. One to settle my nerves. She stands there, sleet ticking all around her. She grits her teeth. A bus pulls up, blocking her view of the place. The doors open and a few passengers step off, jostling past her. She blinks and without thinking steps onto the bus. The transit company debits her account.

Wage slaves and poor folk edge away from her as she makes her way to the back. She stands as the bus makes its way across town. She gets a message from Freebird. << No location yet. Will keep you posted. >> She looks out the window and watches the gray city go by.

AR Meeting, Seattle, 22:16:55
After Chok comes through Fade opens an AR channel with the team. << I have a line on a place. nuyen.gif 1,000. I'm going to take it unless someone has something better. >>

After a brief discussion they agree to take the place. Fade wires Chok the payment and a message. << We'll take it. Now what? >> When she has her instructions she wires the address to the others and gets a bus to Everett.

Somewhere north and west of the city center, Everett, 22:48:43
She walks up the street, noting the location of stuffer shacks and other conveniences, the routes of surveillance drones. She grabs a couple of packs of cigarettes for Freebird, and some munchies.

She stops at the flophouse and steps into the alley. Man, a thousand cred doesn't go very far. She chuckles at herself and skips down the steps, uses the passcode to unlock the door and goes inside. It's musty inside. An apartment. Her heart flutters. The place is hers for a week. If nothing else came of the job, there was at least this. Even if she had to share it. She locks the door behind herself and flips on the light looking around, wondering if she's the first to arrive or not.

That sneaky elf could be right in front of me. A stab of paranoia flickers and she switches off the dampers on her reflexes. Everyone always said running wired was like the world going into slow motion all of a sudden. Fade never thought that. Her mind never felt accelerated, more like her like her body caught up to it, responding to the slightest thought. She switched off the light, eyes glimmering in the dim light, cyber compensating for the dim. She pokes her head through the various doors, into closets and finally the bathroom. Hmmm... seems clear. Guess I'll go over this chip.

She unfolds herself onto the couch dumping the chips contents onto her image link and opening her Everett mapsoft. Now... Where are we...? She smiled to herself, it was just like studying up for a game. Only illegal.
nick012000
Razorblade sends her commcode to the rest of the team, and popping on her AR display, she reviews the odds on the team, and makes a 1000 nuyen.gif bet on the Seattle team. She'll then take the drink she ordered earlier, and informs the bar staff that she'll be going VR for the next few minutes, and for them to not evict her in the meantime.

She then spends the next several minutes searching the Matrix in HotSim VR for information on the player they're after; marital status, contracts; poor personal habits (drugs, BTLs, anything tied into organised crime)... basically, anything that she could possibly contort into blackmail material.

She'll then go and start partying a bit, buying some more drinks (and some water along with it to minimize a hangover), and going for the most attractive person in the bar to seduce until she gets a message from Fade, at which point she'll get his or her commcode before staggering down to a bus, and catching a ride to the safehouse.
Silo
Wednesday, January 22, 2070

In a cab, Seattle, 22:22:01

The AR meeting was quick and Freebird only spoke once during the conversation with his agreement on the place. He received the address from Fade and quickly accessed a cached satellite image of the place. The front entrance, alleyway, surrounding flats, and a couple of store fronts were all noted and filed away. He saved the image for speeder access later, embedding a couple of points of interest on it as he did.

Freebird knuckled the glass separating the cabbie from him. The static from the speaker indicated the cabbie was listening. Freebird gave an intersection near the safe house.

He leaned back in his seat and started running background searches on the runners he had met tonight.

Somewhere north and west of the city center, Everett, 22:53:25

The cab pulled the fare from Freebird’s account and he quickly moved out of the light from the streetlamp and in to the shadows. He moved briskly to the alleyway and began making his way down to the safe house, keeping an eye out for anything out of place. Whatever he sees, he notes, and continues on as if he saw nothing.

At the safe house, he walks right up to the door and knocks twice.
HeySparky
Wednesday, January 22, 2070

Safehouse, Everett, 22:53:25

Fade has all of five minutes to herself before a knock comes at the door. She's on her feet in an instant, reflex wires humming. She pulls the shotgun from her pack, cracking it and thumbing in shells.

She pings the PAN standing outside the door and when it bounces back as Freebird she relaxes. She leans the shotgun in a corner and tells the door to open. She watches as light slants into the darkness from outside, hand on the shotgun barrel, waiting for the shadow to resolve itself into friend or foe.
Silo
Wednesday, January 22, 2070

Safehouse, Everett, 22:53:34

Freebird steps into the safehouse, pushing the door closed with his bag. "Fade," he says. As he looks around the room he takes a few more steps in.

"Alone?," he seemingly asks.

Without waiting for a reply he moves over to the chair facing the door and sets down his bag on the floor. He tosses his coat on top of it,pulls out a cigarette from his pack and lights up.

"Nice place." He pauses briefly for a drag before continuing, "Data?"
nick012000
Wednesday, January 22 2070
Bus, Everett, 22:51:23

Razorblade sits on the bus, summoning up the windows of her AR system, and sends Datastream a message.

Hey, could you find me info on [whatever the player's brother's name is]? He seems to have dropped off of the map after '64. Might have lost his identity after the Crash, I dunno. There will be cred in it for you. Here's what I've found so far.

Attached to the text is a datafile containing all of the information she found on him so far.

Safehouse, Everett, 22:53:36
A few seconds after Freebird starts talking to Fade, Razorblade will stagger up to the door from the bus stop, and knocks on the door.

"Hello... anybody home?"
Oracle
Wednesday, January 22, 2070, 22:45:16
THE Sports Bar, Seattle

After spending one and a half hour with another 4 glasses of beer BBO decides to pay his appartment a visit to get some stuff. He pays his drinks and leaves.


Wednesday, January 22, 2070, 23:48:05
BBO's apartment, worst area of Tacoma, Seattle

BBO grabs the large traveling bag with his basic equipment from its hiding place in the kitchen. He hesitates for a moment and then reaches for a large bottle of whisky and adds it to the content of his bag. With a sad smile BBO activates his comlink and calls a cab to a location a block away. From under his bed he fetches a very long package wrapped in coloured paper, looking like a gift. I definitely need one of those Ranger Arms Rifles...I hate looking like the ugly brother of Santa Clause while carrying that thing around...

Not five minutes after arriving the huge orc slams the door shut behind himself and leaves again...
Silo
Wednesday, January 22, 2070
Safehouse, Everett, 22:53:37

Freebird looks at Fade and nods as a pistol slips into his hand from underneath the sleeve of his suit.

Frag, did someone follow me.

He pops his neck and keeps his gun arm loose.
gobogen
Wednesday, January 22, 2070
Fredo's Apartment

The Priest takes a moment to meditate and discuss with his mentor spirit, Archangel Gabriel. He always does this prior to most run to make sure that he's got the approval and support of his mentor. It prepares his mind and heart for the tasks ahead.
- You know Son, this might not be as easy as you think. The target is more machine than man and seems to be well guarded. Don't underestimate the mission.
- With the help of God, nothing will prevent me from completing it.
- Perhaps, but only if you use your gift wisely.
- I shall be careful and level-headed, my holy friend. My fear of God can overcome most difficulties I can ever encounter.

Wednesday, January 22, 2070
Safehouse, Everett, 22:57:04

The Priest arrives at the safehouse that Fade had got for the group, and gets confortable.

"This is a very nice place, and it's supposedly close to our target's location. Good work, chummer.

I see that only Eddy isn't here yet. I guess we'll have to wait for him before we discuss in more depth what our plan of action will be. We'll first have to determine a leader, than probably decide on what's our best way to gather enough information, then think of possible ways to complete our run. Right?"
nick012000
Razorblade leans against the door and shouts, "You guys in there?"
TinkerGnome
Thursday, January 23, 2070, 00:05 hours
The Safehouse

By midnight, the team had arrived at the safe house and settled in. The place looked a little run down and aged, but otherwise it was pretty nice for the money. There were a pair of bedrooms, each with a full sized bed and a main room and kitchen. The back door lead to an alleyway which proved an ideal covert entrance.

The team settled in and then it was time to plan the rest of the job.
Oracle
Thursday, January 23, 2070, 00:05 hours
The Safehouse

BBO takes a seat in one of the armchairs in the main room, a large cup of SoyCoffee in his hand.
He sighs silently.

"Okay everyone. How do we proceed from here?"

He looks into the faces of the rest of the team.
nick012000
Razorblade sits down next to Fade, and starts telling the crew about what she's learned, and her ideas about using the family as hostages for blackmail.
Oracle
"Isn't blackmailing a bit risky? After all we do not know exactly how our target will react. Possibly he will just call LoneStar...or he recruits another Runnerteam to hunt us down..." BBO does not appear to be convinced of Razorblade's idea.
nick012000
Razorblade cuddles up against Fade as she answers BBO.

"And this is why we have a backup plan if it fails. A bigger problem might be increased security if it does fail."
Silo
"The death of his mother may devastate him," says Freebird. "Something like that could look unrelated to the game," he pauses for a long drag of his smoke, "especially if her neighborhood were to experience something bad."

"If it didn't stop him from playing, perhaps it would get him back in DC for the funeral. And, away from security."
Oracle
Disdain shows up in BBO's face. "I don't know...killing old women? What is next? Raping his children? That's not the way I usually work...and it's not what we are being payed for."
gobogen
The Priest is standing in the room with a diet soda. He looks very concerned and worried.

"The most straightforward way to do this job is to find a way to seriously injure the guy, so that he doesn't make it to the game healty. We must prepare to do this in case all else fails. It must be our backup plan no matter what. It might turn out to be easier than blackmail, too. Blackmailing is risky business, and potentially makes it easier to find us afterwards.

We need to think about how to evade being hunted down after this job, by the way, because I can imagine that the other team would want to find us and get rid of us. On the topic of having our asses covered, we should investigate more on our johnson. What if he's planning to expose us after the job, to take the blame away from him, who knows. Maybe we should get ready for that too, just in case."

The priest has been running the shadows for a while and worrying like this is second nature to him, as it should be.
Silo
"He has kids?," Freebird asks with a smile. He holds his hand up to disway an answer. "That was a joke."

"The preacher speaks true," Freebird nods his way, "we need to both take out, um, incapacitate the quarterback as well as be prepared to do the same with the Johnson."

"Regardless of what avenue we decide to go down, when do we strike? Time is a luxury we do not have, and the lack of it may dictate our course of action."

Freebird lets out a long sigh. What is getting in to me...shutup for a minute you dumb ox.
nick012000
"Well... I suppose I could seduce him in the hotel, spend the night with him, and slash his neck with my cyberspur once he goes to sleep."
HeySparky
Earlier...

As 'Bird lights up Fade's eyes focus, "I picked up some smokes. Thanks for earlier." She tosses the pack to the ork. "When Priest gets here we should take this outside."

"We seem to have a lot of opportunities for us to get at this guy." She squints. In time the others show up. All except Eddy. Fade grinds her teeth. Man, I want to cut that guy loose. Late for the meeting. Not showing up now. Trouble.

When discussions begin...
As Razorblade cozies up to Fade on the sofa, the troll responds with an incredulous-don't-fraggin'-touch-me look, "What? Are we girlfriends?"

"For the record, I think blackmail is a bad idea." She fishes the smokes out of her pocket and looks at them, her bright blue eyes flicker to Priest and back before she puts them away. "Not only did the, uh, Johnson steer us away from it, it's complicated. I want to keep this as simple as possible."

She looks over at 'Bird, "To me that means a direct, physical attack." She fans the info on the chip out to the team. "But as you can see there. He's cybered out the wazoo." She pauses, considering her words, "I'd bet even money that his wazoo is cybered too."

At Razorblade's last suggestion...

Fade's eyebrows climb, "Whoa, that sounds an awful lot like murder. We're not being paid to kill."

Fade blinks at Priest's contingency plans on his contingency plans. I've got a lot to learn here.

"Yeah, you're right, we should have an exit stratgey too. BBO, you got anything?"
Oracle
"My suggestion is to do some more legwork concerning our target's personal habits. Possibly he has some private acivities between officially scheduled appointments. When we have got his full personal schedule we should look for a good place and time to get a clean shot on him, with a safe escape route for our team. A single flechette round from a sniper rifle to his shoulder should be more than enough to stop him from playing...and the risks are much easier calculated than those of a blackmailing operation."

He raises an eyebrow and seems to wait for other opinions.
Silo
Freebird nods in agreement with the other ork. "The Johnson noted that an injury sustained on Friday night or Saturday would be unlikely healed. Our target timeframe should focus there."
nick012000
Razorblade smirks at Fades incredulous question.

"A flechette round doesn't seem all that effective. Why not a gel round impregnated with something like VITAS? A guy like him would probably be able to fight it off, but not for a while."

As she throws out ideas, Razorblade continues cuddling up against Fade, letting her pheremones and magic go to work.
Oracle
BBO listens carefully to what Razorblade says, he seems to be a bit shocked by her suggestions...

"Keep in mind that we are not trying to kill that man. And we are also not trying to infect half of Seattle with a deadly virus. Flechette is best for this job, because it causes massive tissue damage without penetrating too deep. It also reduces the risk of injuring bystanders, because the shrapnel will not make it through his body. It doesn't work too good against heavy armor, but much better than most people expect. Besides: I don't have any VITAS soaked gelrounds. And I really hope you haven't got any..."

Damn! Is that elven hottie serious? Using biowarfare agents? Not with me chummer...
gobogen
This woman is the Devil. A deamon sent to us to tempt us and make us sin. The evil Seductress. Her ideas are all sick and twisted, yet I do not doubt that she could get into anyone's bed. Even mine... especially mine.

Is she trying to get it on with this ... trog?


The Priest, shocked by Razorblade's behavior, waves off his thoughts and tries to move the discussion forward, also ignoring the comment on viral weaponry, which is so ridiculous that it doesn't deserve to go on about it.

"About the idea of spending a night with the guy, I doubt that it would actually work unless we're very careful. He might be under strict surveillance, and it's also likely that they will follow you afterwards, whether you've injured him or not. That's probably where we'd have to come in anyways. We could also plan to launch an attack while you're with him and no one would suspect that you're part of the threat. Beforehand, if I had a chance to mind probe our target, we could get very useful information, in particular about deep sexual desires he might have. That and potentially other information that we could exploit.

On a separate line, we need to agree as to what kind of injury we should inflict, and that depends on the time of the attack. Earlier means greater injury. If we're close to him, cutting off or blowing away a finger from his throwing hand should do the trick."
Silo
"The team should have a PR guy on staff. He'd know all the schedules." Freebird looks to Razorblade, "You think you could get close enough to him...or her...and get a full schedule for the QB?"
gobogen
"Good idea. We could also double-check with a hacker. Anyone has a good data searching contact?
nick012000
Razorblade looks at Freebird.

"Sure."
Silo
Thursday, January 23, 2070, 00:35 hours
The Safehouse

Freebird taps a big finger on the side of his head, "Fade, do you by chance have a contact that can get you in to the practice facility to see a practice?"

He stands up and starts pacing around a bit. "It'd be great to scope that area out."

He stops, looking over at Priest, "How about we get you in to a press conference with fake credentials? Would that be enough time and the right environement to get a read on him?"

Looking back to everyone, "Anyone have a hookup on getting those credentials by morning?"

"Razorblade. You're still here? Go seduce someone with information. Surely there is some lacky with the team that will be hanging out at one of the hotel bars expensing some good drink. If he doesn't have what you need, get him to mention who would."

"BBO, what do you say about doing some scouting at the stadium? Maybe there is a good spot for a shot."

Freebird smirks a bit, "It might not be the best, but it'll get us moving. I'll start investigating our employer."

Wondering off in to the kitchen, Freebird pops a quick message to Chok:

<<I need whatever you have and are willing to part with on the man you introduced me to earlier. I'll take scraps; anything to get me started.>>
nick012000
When Freebird asks her why she's still here, Razorblade replies, "The next bus doesn't come for another half an hour."
Oracle
BBO nods. "Of course. I'll do that. But I am pretty sure that there is no such location and I don't think that the stadium would be a good place for an attempt to shoot him. Way too much security. Does anybody have a car I could use?"
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