Paloma Drive, Meredith, Renton (in the back of the Love Machine)
Tuesday 8/19/70 08:15:05
Cerberus - street samurai
PAN - Hidden (eyes, earbuds)


Cerberus watched Fortunato wake Caittie which promptly made her duck her head out the back of the van and proceed to vomit onto the ground with the usual splat sound. He thought about helping her out but honestly he didnt care. It was taking all of his focus just to keep from passing out, he was in no position to help out anyone else.

The communications between some of the new people he had met helped wake him up occasionally but the view from the drone helped out the most. It was like watching tv late at night, your tired and want to goto bed but you also wanna see what happens next. He couldnt get over how cool it was what his new eyes were cable of. He tried to think what people would be called who watched AR feeds all the time but without a couch.

Remembering hearing something about fastening your seatbelts made Cerberus look around for his. It was only a single belt that went over your waist. He was positive it would probably snap if he did need it but it should help him from being bumped around to much.

Cerberus continued to try and fight off sleep and unconscienous.

Paloma Drive, Meredith, Renton (in the back of the Love Machine)
Tuesday 8/19/70 08:15:06
Rocky - physical adept
PAN: Hidden

Rocky sat quietly waiting to see what would happen next. Hopping that things would calm down for a few hours so they could get some sleep and come up with a plan to take care of Louie.

He nods quietly as Cattie asks him to keep hold of her. As she leans into him he curls his large arm around her to keep her secure incase the ride gets rough.

Having been brought out of his thoughts by Cattie's request Rocky catches up with the plan thats been coming through on his glasses. Seeing that they may be taking a shot a Angelo's SUV Rocky decides to put the provided seat belt on him self and then secures Cattie, putting his arm back around her to make sure she doesn't move around.

Paloma Drive, Meredith, Renton
Tuesday 8/19/70 08:15:07
Angel – Technomancer - Hidden
PAN – Hidden

The multi winged angel avatar kept moving her attention from window to window. This had dual purpose to keep her informed of everything going on with the systems, but mainly Caittie kept switching her attention to keep focused and stave off the fatigue that kept assaulting her. Through her view of the drone, she saw a large black vehicle down the road and unconsciously had the drone automatically focus on it.
While she was performing her tasks on monitoring everything a text message appeared on her communication’s window. As she sped over it, she first felt good at Sledge’s first sentence, then confused when she got to the sports metaphors. ‘Why does she…’, Caittie started to think, then froze as she read the last bit of the message.
‘Pull the trigger.’, she read it over again to make sure she wasn’t making it up. The pink haired avatar floated there, unmoving, like her brain had suffered a critical error. As it tried to sort through it, her voice could be heard through the team’s commlink channel… Weak, stuttering, confused, conflicted… It ran the gambit of them all with just one simple one letter word, <<@Team :: “I…">>

‘I can’t do that? And why is that?’, she felt something inside her ask with what could best be described as a condescending tone. ‘Because it’s wrong!’, another part of her screamed in response. In her mind, the two differing factions started to battle it out, the ultimate question in her mind at the moment and the answer would determine the lasting effect on her morals.
‘Why is it wrong?! That bastard just killed your family not a week ago!’, the more aggressive side fired over. ‘It doesn’t make it right! Besides, it’s not in us…’, the defensive side replied. The first voice responded with no hesitation, ‘Not in us?! Why not?! All we have to do is…’
<<@Team :: …fire…>>

Paloma Drive, Meredith, Renton
Tuesday 8/19/70 08:15:08
Mr. Smith - Face
PAN - Hidden

As he was cruising along, his attention was mostly focused on getting up to speed quickly, and monitoring the movement of the enemy SUVs. When Sledge's transmission started to go into one of her cryptic shadowrunning metaphores, he mostly tuned it out, since it was directed at Angel - until the last bit. "Pull the trigger."

Angel seemed to hesitate, but she was still faster than he was in the Matrix. She grudgingly acknowledged the command while he was still forming the thought of his response - He just hoped he got his response out in time.

<<@Team:: No! Hold Fire.>>
He decided to follow it up with an explanation.
<<@Team:: We don't know that the SUVs won't let us pass. Francesca gave us her blessing. If they know what's good for them, they'll get out of our way. But if we shoot at them first, we're the aggressors and they can retaliate in kind.>>

Paloma Drive, Meredith, Renton
Tuesday 8/19/70 08:15:10
Angel – Technomancer - Hidden
PAN – Hidden

For those who could hear Caittie’s low voice, they could plainly hear the vengeful and hate filled tone in which she said it. One side of her psyche had won out over the other and played it’s hand for the world to see. This wasn’t the young girl that had let her friends die not so long ago… No, this was a woman who had hell thrown at her and she now had the power to throw it right back where it came.
<<"No! Hold…">>, Johnson’s voice started up before it was muted greatly by the sounds of heavy booming. Each round resounded with a slow explosion as the gunpowder inside the casing drove the bullet out of the long rifled barrel. Caittie could still hear Johnson’s voice, but it mattered not to her, fore she was no longer there. This wasn’t real anymore; it was just like a trid movie that she would have watched with her father or friends.

On the window that displayed the drone’s vision, she saw the flashes of fire as each round left the barrel. She even saw the bullets as they traveled the great distance to slam into the armored SUV. She could see the first few just dent the metal plating, but as each bullet fired into it, they started to break through. ‘The hero’s win again…’, she thought as her mind only saw the latest action movie playing on the screen.
Just as she thought that, bright red was thrown across the windows from the inside. With each bullet, more was sprayed around until one couldn’t see through the tinted windows. ‘Wow… They're getting really realistic with this stuff…’, she thought as the booming continued with each bullet fired. She could still hear Johnson saying something in the background of her mind, but unlike a second ago, she tried to hear what he had to say.

<<"…if we shoot at them first…">>
Caittie’s mind froze for the second time in just seconds. She just watched as bullets kept slamming into the stationary SUV. ‘Heh… These are good special effects…’, her mind tried to continue, but it didn’t feel right anymore. Something was wrong… Really wrong with what she saw before her.
<<"…we’re the aggressors…">>
Before he could continue on, an explosion blew through the black vehicle. In slow motion before her eyes, she could see bits and pieces of it flying into the air. A couple of the windows blew out with the scraps of the vehicle, leaving her with a close up view of the innards. ‘Oh my god…’, was all Caittie's mind could come up with after seeing the mangled and burning corpses of what were live meta-humans.
Even though the wreck burned and she could see that no one could have survived it, the explosions continued on as the drone spewed forth it’s payload. ‘No…’, Angel cried through her mind, as her avatar brought both hands in front of her mouth. ‘No… Stop…’, her mind continued, trying to sort it out. ‘I did…’, it finally figured out.

<<@Team :: "…stop…”>>, her voice eeked out over the network, though it was radicly different than before. Instead of hate, there was fear; instead of vengeance, only insecurity. <<@Team :: “Stop! Stop firing!”>>, her voice cried out again, only this time with more urgency as the drone continued to spit forth it’s metal projectiles.

Paloma Drive, Meredith, Renton
Tuesday 8/19/70 08:15:10
Mr. Smith - Face
PAN - Hidden

The thunderous fire of automatic weaponry above the van registered as little more than a few faint pops to the low-range microphones situated near the door handles. Even having connected his psyche directly to the vehicle, and consciously looking for signs that his order came too late, Johnson didn't notice the first bullets being fired - and, rather ineffectually, continued on with his explaination.

It wasn't until the distant SUV exploded that he realised those pops were the gunfire that Sledge had ordered. A quick glance at the feed from the drone confirmed it.

So much for diplomatic immunity.

Warning systems drew his attention to the high heat signature in the distance, but had been disabled from wrenching control away from the pilot - who maintained his collision course with the burning wreckage. His intention was to try to squeeze past it, or push it aside once he got close enough.

<< "...stop..." >>

The voice belonged to Angel, but seemed different somehow. Since they were sharing the van's node, it still sounded as though it were coming from right behind him (in a creepy, breathing-down-his-neck sort of way), but there seemed to be some distortion in the voice - like an echo or an unnatural waver in the pitch, that seemed like glitchy software. Having her occupy the same node that was connected directly to his brain made Johnson feel a little bit uncomfortable - especially with the idea that there might be something wrong with her commlink.

Stop? What for?

Johnson was about to ask when she spoke again.

<< “Stop! Stop firing!” >>

What? I'm not! I thought you were!

Johnson's digital pulse quickened as his mind was flooded with a dozen possible scenarios - all of them bad. Was the drone hacked by someone else? Did Sledge pull the trigger without telling anyone? Was this a set-up? Which of their enemies would have anything to gain by firing on Angelo's SUV? Francesca?

Luckily, in virtual reality, it only took half of his attention to operate the vehicle, because the other half was franticly attempting to transmit his thoughts to the technomancer. Urgency required that he not bother to run it through the usual transformations into human speech, and he didn't bother to send it to everyone on the team. The message she got was plain-text.

<<@Angel:: I didn't fire. Regain control of the drone, or disable it.>>

Paloma Drive, Meredith, Renton
Tuesday 8/19/70 08:15:11


But lost in the virtual world, he had no idea that behind him in the van, belted up and locked in Rocky's iron embrace, Angel had finally been overcome by the stress of the day, rocking back and forth holding her knees, muttering incoherently.

At the same moment, on her bike behind the van, something bright caught Sledge's eye, and she glanced back up at the drone - which had only just stopped firing - in time to see a fiery form materialize on the machine's flank. Even as she opened her mouth to update the team, the spirit lunged itself forward, engulfing the blindsided drone and igniting its fuel and ammo stores. Inside the speeding van, everyone but Smith heard a second terrific explosion as a 60 centimeter rifled steel tube pinwheeled its way toward Sledge. Reflexes enhanced, she ducked and it missed her head by a hair's breadth.

<<Fireball just took out drone.>> she announced over the network.

Responding to the arcane threat, Fortunato stuck his head out the passenger window of the cab, craning his neck up and back - there it was, high and the sky and rapidly receding as the van sped forward at a breakneck pace - one nasty-looking fire elemental looking right back at him.

Paloma Drive, Meredith, Renton
Tuesday 8/19/70 8:15:15
Fortunato - Support Mage
PAN - Hidden

The spirit hovered in the air staring back at Fortunato.

It's not chasing us, it's not doing any harm where it was and it might not consider us a threat.

He knew It really depended on what the spirit was being told. Wind whipped past his head as he stared at the beast. It was looking good, the thing would likely hang out their looking for more drones. Fort started to take a breath ...

... as the spirit went to astral

Shit, shit, shit ...

His eyes followed it as fast as they could, letting the entire universe of astral space slam simultaneously into his eye sockets. Still reeling from the disorientation of switching planes he saw a flash of fire and caugth a whiff of sulfer as the spirit blasted past the van at astral speeds. Meanwhile, a starry robed wizard was shouting orders.

He was outnumbered and probably outgunned on this plane. Time to bring his backup into play.

He shouted "Get the mage and ..." and a spiraling, red-eyed vortex erupted through the astral wall of the van and an inferno appeared, hurtling towards it "... watch the elemental!"

Paloma Drive, Meredith, Renton
Tuesday 8/19/70 08:15:18
Mr. Smith - Get-a-way Driver
PAN - Hidden

"... watch the elemental!"

Johnson heard Fortuanto's voice in one of the voice-recognition sensors outside his window, but the warning was just a little too late. Luckily, he was already moving to the side before he really realised he was doing it. Whoosh! The van's thermal sensors went red-hot as he flew passed the flaming being, quickly correcting his trajectory after the last-minute evasive maneuver.

The scene was really starting to get exciting - but that was a close call. Johnson knew his luck wouldn't hold out against magic forever. In fact, he had no sooner passed the elemental and his sensors went from high-alert to dead-silence. The elemental was gone.

Up ahead, he picked up the signatures of two more SUVs closing on his position at the intersection near the flaming wreckage of Angelo's car. Without wasting a moment to consider his options, rather than slowing down to carefully maneuver around the vehicle, Johnson sped forward - hoping to pass through the intersection before the other SUVs could get there.

If he had wanted to apply the brakes, he would have needed to do so, then. Instead, he chose an opening along the on-ramp's shoulder and applied the gas. As he passed the point of no return, he picked up the manifesting spirit again dangerously close to his chosen route.

If I miss this, at least there won't be enough left to identify me....

Paloma Drive, Meredith, Renton
Tuesday 8/19/70 08:15:18
Sledge - Riding Drag
PAN - Hidden

She was remembering why she never liked football. With her moves she got handed the ball, and dutifully followed the blocking fullback through the hole. Next thing would be the pile. Four or five hulking tuskers and trogs doing their best to move their center of gravity to a point somewhere on the other side of her smaller tusker body. She might have stood for the huge compression wave, but after one too many pokes with unsanitary chipped ork tusks or trog nodules uncovered by expensive protective gear she switched right out to something else. Where she could use her skills and attack.

Sledge weaved and tracked the Love Machine's moves, easily keeping pace, and cycled quickly through the map overlay once more to verify the layout and positions.

Somewhere around here was an opening, and she was going to attack it.

The best way to deal with a fireball pitcher was to knock it right back in their face.

... breathe ... need a target...

Paloma Drive, Meredith, Renton
Tuesday 8/19/70 8:15:18
Fortunato - Support Mage
PAN - Hidden

"... Watch the elemental!"

Fortunato spun towards the front of the van grabbing a cascading chunk of mana to hurl at the fire spirit but he turned too late. The firestorm was grabbing for them and he thought, This is it you des ...

Fortunato grabbed the window as Johnson's swerve nearly threw him out of it. He braced himself as his face whipped through a periphery of one of the elemental's arms and came out lightly singed. No sooner than he'd caught his grip than the elemental sped past the van to line up for another run. The mana was still lying charged in his hand and he tossed it at the passing beast, but the spell flew wide.

The fire spirit settled on the astral shadow of the freeway eyeing the van carefully. Fortunato leaned carefully out the window, two fingers pointed at the spirit. Mana started coursing down his already burnt arm.

Only got one shot at this ...

Paloma Drive, Meredith, Renton
Tuesday 8/19/70 08:15:19
Mr. Smith - Get-a-way Driver
PAN - Hidden

As the oversized vehicle flew down the road at a dangerous speed, Johnson knew he was taking a dangerous gamble with everyone of his Shadowrunners' lives. At the same time, he felt, in his gut, that this was everyone's best bet for getting the team out of here, and onto their mission. And, for the first time, in a long time, he felt the freedom to go with his gut - consequences or not. At the moment, his thoughts wern't even really on his payment for this job, and whether or not it was worth it. They were on the trio of challenges that lay before him and the road to freedom.

The other two vehicles seemed to have been expecting him to slow down for his maneuver around the wreckage - and as Johnson blew past them, he hoped that Sledge wouldn't have trouble keeping up. He spared an instant of attention on the rear camera feeds to see if he saw her mangled corpse flying up over the two SUVs, but, seeing nothing of the sort, his attention was drawn back to the front when he hit the shoulder and his tires began to throw up debris in protest of the second-rate driving surface they were being forced to endure.

He successfully avoided the wreckage of Angelo's vehicle, but, for an instant, Johnson could feel his traction slipping away. As the van skidded and fishtailed towards the guard-rail, it didn't lose nearly as much speed as one would have suspected, and the virtual driver managed to shift its wheels and weight back into position just in time to regain control.

Flooded with confidence, Johnson turned his attention to the third of his concearns - the flaming elemental screaming its way closer on his thermographic sensors. The creature was moving forward quickly - away from Angelo's vehicle, and onto the shoulder as well. As he had planned, he was luring it towards the side of the onramp, hoping to make enough room to quickly change direction and maneuver around it, again. But he barely had time to assess the situation before the thing disappeared again - with the usual accompanying sensor silence.

Huh? Is it coming around again?

Johnson wasn't about to waste time finding out - he had a clear shot to his goal, and he was going to take it. With only a minor adjustment to his trajectory, he continued up the ramp to the highway at full merging speed. Behind him, he looked for signs that Sledge was following him up the ramp.

<<@Team:: Sorry for the bumpy ride. Everyone okay? We're not clear yet. Still need directions....>>

Paloma Drive, Meredith, Renton (in the back of the Love Machine)
Tuesday 8/19/70 08:15:22
Cerberus - street samurai
PAN - Hidden (eyes, earbuds)

Cerberus had been watching the feed from the drone that apparently Caittie was driving or controlling he wasnt sure which. It had started firing, which he could tell from the bright muzzle flashes and bullets being spit out, at a suv. Almost as quickly as it had started Johnson ordered her to stop but it was to late. The occupants of the van had turned to paint and the van had caught fire shortly after.

Then before he knew it flames invaded the periphery of the drones vision and then the feed cut out. Canceling the window he had been using to watch the feed he leaned toward the center of the van to try and see out the front window. There was the van on fire and pretty shot up, and a freeway ramp that he guessed they were heading for. In the next instant more confusion came as a giant fireball with what looked like eyes materialized out of thin air and came charging straight at them.

He was about to say something but Fortunato was already doing "something" and the van was also lurching to one side as Johnson tried to swerve to miss the fireball. Cerberus tightened his grip and leaned back into his seat on the bench. All he wanted at this very moment in time was to be fully healed, rested, and a LMG with lots of belts of ammo and he would frag everything in a 10 block radius. It seemed like he would never escape from this fracked up night and it was making him angry.

Then his earbuds came to life. <<@Team:: Sorry for the bumpy ride. Everyone okay? We're not clear yet. Still need directions....>>

Cerberus looked around and then started subvocalizing his response into the mic he had found. <<@team:: Kyle is fine and I have not sustained any new injuries. What do you mean you still need directions? Didnt you come to save us all from an immedeate attack and to strike back at Loui? Dont you already have a place for us? I found around 6,000 nuyen on one of those guys back at the clinic, can we use some of that to get a place>>

Paloma Drive, Meredith, Renton
Tuesday 8/19/70 8:15:22
Fortunato - Support Mage
PAN - Hidden

The magic coursed down his hand and poured into the elemental punching a neat bowling ball sized hole through its astral form. Its eyes narrowed as it closed in on itself and spread its arms wide to grab the van. Fortunato clenched his teeth and breathed his last breath ...

Then, without warning, the spirit left the plane. The swirling tornado he'd sent after the enemy mage pulled alongside the window. Good work, we'll need you in the physical soon. Stick around just a bit longer. It assented without a sound.

Fortunato sat heavily back down and started rolling up the window. He gave the astral plane one more cursory check then let his eyes slide back to reality. He hadn't noticed the rushing wind on the astral plane until he sat back down. The removal of the physical influence of the feelings of urgency left the van strikingly quiet compared to its magical counterpart.

He hammered out a message:

<<@Team: Fire elemental is taken care of. I'm going to get us out of here fast, be aware that we're going to be moving in just a second.>>

Paloma Drive, Meredith, Renton
Tuesday 8/19/70 08:16:39
Mr. Smith - Get-a-way Driver
PAN - Hidden

As Johnson climbed the on-ramp, he noticed Sledge had managed to keep on his tail. In fact, she was doing a better job of it than the mobsters - which was a good sign (both, for their getaway, and as a display of Sledge's skill behind the wheel). As his lane merged onto the highway, he faintly heard someone honking, to his left, but whoever was to his left got out of the way of the large armored van as it recklessly merged into the heavy morning traffic.

Suddenly, the vehicles speed started to increase on its own - it felt as though he were in a different (almost impossible) gear. He moved dangerously close to the vehicle in front of him but managed to slow and switch lanes almost in place. Whatever was going on, seemed to effect the overall responsiveness of the controls.

After following traffic towards Seattle, Johnson had definatly lost sight of the SUVs - and without the drone's overhead surveillance he doubted he would be able to find them. He was sure they were left in the dust somewhere.

<<@Team:: "Okay, I think we've lost them. Any suggestions on where we go to lick our wounds? I don't think we'll have a lot of time, but we're not really in any shape to complete this mission, right now. Fort? Sledge? Either of you know where we can find a place to hide out?">>

Paloma Drive, Meredith, Renton
Tuesday 8/19/70 08:15:20
Sledge - Riding Drag
PAN - Hidden

250 cm long, 300 kilos dry weight, 42 cm wheels, 1600 cc air cooled twin cam engine, a total 400 kilos of steel, chrome, rubber, leather and other accessories moving along at a steady 80 klicks an hour. The total kinetic energy involved greater then in hail of bullets, and bound to completely crush any metahuman that got in the way.

It bounces like a pinball in a pachinko machine when it encountered the bullet riddled burning wreck.

The vector change took Sledge by surprise. Before she could react the bike slammed sideways into the side of another moving vehicle. The crash guard bent with a sickening noise, but did it's job, the titanium blended steel absorbing the impact and protecting her leg in a cage. Wheels spinning out of synch, the bike tottering over to her left. She started twisting the bars, preparing to go into a safety slide, when the looming front fender of yet another converging SUV came straight at her from the left.

She kicked her leg out hard and strained at lifting the handle bars, and pulled the throttle.

The harley straightened out, chirped as the tires gripped, wobbled twice, then accelerated after The Love Machine.

Then things got weird.

Paloma Drive, Meredith, Renton
Tuesday 8/19/70 08:16:41
Sledge - Riding Drag
PAN - Hidden

It was just like the example of warping to light speed Sledge had seen as part of her basic physics course. The gaps all narrowed, but the building heights all stayed the same. She throttled down, the motor thumping almost in idle as she cruised at almost 150 kilometers an hour.

<<@team:: Too hot to take any of you UG. Clean The Love Machine, park it in the woods, or run it as a rolling road trip. How long you guys need to rest up? I'm going to miss my softball game, zut>>

Paloma Drive, Meredith, Renton
Tuesday 8/19/70 08:16:46
Mr. Smith - Get-a-way Driver
PAN - Hidden

This wasn't getting anywhere. Now that Johnson believed he had lost his persuers, and no longer needed (or wanted) to speed down the highway and draw more undue attention to himself, he got the vehicle to a good coasting speed following the flow of surrounding traffic and gently left VR. As he pulled the trodes from his head and keep one eye on the road he looked at the rest of the team in the back through his rear-view mirror.

"Hey Rosso, it looks like we made it. While we plan our next move, why don't you tell me where you want me to drop you off." His eyes glanced to some of the other passengers in the car, lingering on Angel's rocking frame. For the moment, he forgot about where he was going with his offer to Rosso, as concearn for Angel showed on his face.

"Is she okay? My driving wasn't that bad."

Northbound - I-167
Tuesday 8/19/70 08:16:48

Rosso tried to mumble something, but no one paid much attention as eyes turned to Angel. The girl had been holding her knees and muttering incoherently to herself since they'd lost the drone, rocking back and forth in the crook of Rocky's elbow. She did not react to Smith's general query.

Northbound - I-167(in the back of the Love Machine)
Tuesday 8/19/70 08:16:51
Rocky - physical adept
PAN: Hidden

Rocky looks down at the little girl rocking in his arm, frowning slightly. "I think the last few hours has been to much for her. Hopefully some sleep will give here a chance to straighten things out a little."

He looks up at the others, making sure to active his mic so the ork, Sledge he thinks her name was. can hear too.

"Well unless this mornings events have changed things, Louie will not be at the resturant for atleast a few hours, maybe more. So we sure no one is tracking this guy?" pointing his free hand at the guy moaning on the floor.

Northbound - I-167
Tuesday 8/19/70 08:16:53
Mr. Smith - Get-a-way Driver
PAN - Hidden

Smith couldn't understand Rosso's mumblings, and doubted that Fortunato was still reading his thoughts, and as Rocky explained things he turned his attention from Cattie, in the back, to Fortunato, who was sitting beside him, anyways.

Exnay on the Esturantray, Rocky

Rosso couldn't speak, but he could hear just fine - and aside from not wanting to admit he failed at a job he didn't have a lot of reasons not to send any information he had back to Louie when his men came looking for him. Something gave him the impression that Louie wasn't the kind of guy who liked to leave loose-ends hanging. Unfortunatly, it couldn't be helped. Rosso was dead weight, as he was, and Adam didn't want it on his conscience if he died while he was under his care. He wanted to give the guy a second chance, not make him a hostage.

He didn't let his concearn show when addressing Fortunato. "Don't suppose you caught where he wanted to go? I think we've got plenty of time to make sure he gets home safe, while we figure out how to get ourselves out of this mess."

"That'll give Angel a break, too."

Northbound, I-167
Tuesday 8/19/70 8:16:58
Fortunato - Angry Support Mage
PAN - Hidden

His teeth were grinding. They wanted him to talk to that godforsaken mercerenary one more time when he had already pushed himself to the limit for the team. They expected him to keep reading those thoughts, and maintain spell defense and ...

Calm Down

The familiar voice in his brain exerted control. This wasn't any different from any other operation. He was the mage and resident "conversationalist," he was always overwhelmed.

Just imagine that it's Reston driving and Tim bleeding in the back.

He relaxed the death grip on the arm rests. "Sorry Johnson, I missed it. I dropped the spell to handle the spirit, I can pick it up again, but I'd rather rest up for whatever comes next, we can just rifle through the commlink and find someplace to drop off Rosso."

Looking over his shoulder to assess the damage he felt his jaw tighten up again. It wasn't Tim back there, it was a pair of bleeding behemoths who probably couldn't spell covert, it wasn't Reston at the wheel, it was an up-jumped college kid and when he went home Ana wouldn't be there and someone who knew her killer intimately was lying quietly on the floor.

Local mana seethed and rushed against his skin as he stared at the mumbling fighter

Snap out of it. The kid's hurt.

The other side of his brain stepped in, and Caittie did look like she could use some help. He breathed out. He needed the crew-cut out of the car, couldn't focus when every time he looked over his shoulder he had to hold back violence.

"I'd really rather drop him off Johnson, I don't want to have to worry about him for any reason."

Northbound - I-167
Tuesday 8/19/70 08:17:05
Mr. Smith - Get-a-way Driver
PAN - Hidden

"Agreed. You've still got his commlink, right? Lemme know if you find anything like an address on there."

Till then... I'll just.. you know... joy ride...

Glancing back up at his rear-view mirror. "Rocky. Cerberus. You two know what we're getting into better than anyone else. If there is anything else you can remember that might help, feel free to speak up on our secure channel. Otherwise, get some rest."

Northbound, I-167
Tuesday 8/19/70 8:17:09
Fortunato - Support Mage
PAN - Hidden

He waved off the proffered commlink.

"I'm not so good with the commlinks, you may want to let someone else give it a shot. I'm going to get my act together for a bit more spellslinging, if you don't mind."

And with that he did his best to meditate. He wasn't really flexible enough to assume the more traditional lotus position, especially crammed in the front of a combat van, but he could align his spine and control his breathing. The technique was good for a quick half-nap.

Northbound - I-167
Tuesday 8/19/70 08:18:20
Sledge - Outrider
PAN - Hidden

Motor barely ticking over, flowing down the highway, burnt hydrocarbon fumes and ozone washing away in the air rushing past, cocooned in a pocket of something boosting her along, it reminded of some of the best Sunday morning rides. Except.

burning plastic and flesh, the tang of blood and fire, twisted steel, sharp edges, lax bodies, crunch of bone...

realization of what the warm wet feeling was...

Morris, the fool, her brother, lost, loser, one or the other, still her brother...

Sledge shook her head to clear it. She had work to do, this shift wasn't over yet.

<<@team:: Need to get off the highway, Grid map ARO hooked to a random pattern generator, use it. Pull over somewhere for a few, run scan for tags. Supplies? Bandages? Stuffer run, I shop, you roll. Anything else?>>

The tears streaming down her cheeks dried up and blew away in the slipstream behind her.

Northbound - I-167
Tuesday 8/19/70 08:17:23
Mr. Smith - Hacker
PAN - Hidden

Johnson took the commlink when Fortunato waved it around (Angel was in no shape to use it), but just laid it in his lap, since it still took a good deal of attention to drive. Punching a few buttons in AR the van's autopilot program took over, following the casual flow of traffic down the highway.

Johnson began connecting his commlink to Rosso's and attaching trodes to his head. In one window, he saw the output of the van's displays, in another, the boot-screen for Rosso's commlink asking him for a password. Holding the commlink, fold-out keypad forward, back towards Rosso, he asked "Think you can fat-finger your password?"

Otherwise, I'll have to try to hack my way past it....

Northbound I-167
Tuesday 8/19/70 08:20:00
Angel – Technomancer - Hidden
PAN – Hidden

As the minutes past, Angel’s comparatively small body in Rocky’s secure embrace slowed its compulsive rocking along with the unintelligible mumblings until it ceased altogether. The elf girl still hugged her knees to her chest as her troubled mind slowly gave way to the encroaching weariness that such a chaotic day had left her with. Slowly closing her eyes, her breathing started to carry a rhythmic beat of one who was relaxed, but it was just an illusion her body let on in its release to the weariness it felt.
Her mind still filled with doubt, insecurity, fear and self loathing; Caittie continued to ‘hear’ the two sides of her psyche bicker over the actions she herself had done not minutes ago. Back and forth, circling the other, each trying to gain the advantage in the struggle over her conscience while her conscience assaulted her none the less. Still, even this too was dulled by the succumbing of her body to the specter of rest, though not completely quelled.

Northbound - I-167
Tuesday 8/19/70 08:20:00
Mr. Smith - Hacker
PAN - Hidden

With an unsteady hand, Rosso was able to gain entry to his own commlink. In AR, Johnson spent a minute or to looking around, and calling various queries on Rosso's contact database from his own commlink. He eventually said, "What about 'Gabs'?" He said the name hesitantly, as if he wasn't sure he was saying it correctly.

Rosso also seemed to hesitate, as if this wasn't the place he wanted to go, but eventually gave in to his desire and nodded slowly. It looked, to Johnson as though the Runner wasn't going to be awake a whole lot longer - so he was glad that the details of his drop-off had been taken care of.

A few more finger-motions in mid-air, and the van's autopilot acknowledged the new destination. Before it deviated from the Sledge's randomized pattern, Johnson figured he should warn her.

<<@Team:: "Okay, we're headed out to drop off Rosso. Sledge, here are the coordinates, if you want to follow - otherwise you could scout out Rudolpho's. That should give us some time to rest up and come up with a plan. Please use this channel if you have anything mission-oriented to discuss - I'd prefer if Rosso knew as little as possible about our goal.">>

Confident enough to take his eyes off the road, he glanced back at his passengers and spoke silently into his subvocal microphone. <<@Team:: "Seriously... is Angel okay? I was hoping she could do a once-over of Rosso's cyberware....">> He noticed her eyes were closed. <<@Team:: "... guess not...">>

42398 Rural Route 11, Everett
Tuesday 8/19/70 09:42:00

It had been a long drive to the northernmost reaches of the 'Plex, the better half taken up fighting traffic headed downtown to start the workday. I-5/99 had cleared right up once they were past the core, once they'd left the Space Needle and the Pyramid behind them.

Still on I-5/99 as they entered Everett, the navicon had suggested a shortcut across Lynnwood to 194th, which had then turned NE, becoming Seattle Hill Road, the demarcator with Snohomish. As they approached the Snohomish River, things became much less built up - lots of empty fields where the water table too high to suffer the construction of anything too substantial. Taking a series of go-nowhere roads through rolling, mist-covered hills, they'd come to an old-fashioned mailbox at the end of a long muddy drive. The numbers on the box matched the address they had for "Gabs" - and a hundred meters of so up the drive was a nice looking two-story house, with a barn out back.

As the Love Machine and the Harley slowed, the distant barking of dogs sounded over the intervening pastureland.

In the back, Rosso snored on the floor.

42398 Rural Route 11, Everett
Tuesday 8/19/70 09:43:04
Mr. Smith - Delivery Man
PAN - Hidden

At least the snoring meant Rosso was alive. After the beating he had taken, being kept conscious on Stims, alone, was likely to do more damage than good - and Johnson was a little worried that their package would be DOA, after the drugs had worn off.

Still, despite his relief that Rosso was alive, there was no way he was going to be able to lift this guy. He was bigger than Adam was, naturally, and the chrome wouldn't help. "Alright, Cerberus, Rocky. Either of you guys feeling okay enough to help me drop this guy off? I can't carry him."

In the distance, the dogs barked again. "It might not hurt to have a little backup, either."

God knows who or what 'Gabs' is.

Without really waiting for their response, Johnson opened up his door, steped out and stretched after the long drive, and lazily made his way around the back of the van. There had been some chatter on the way over reguarding the plan - but it was mostly discussion about whether or not the team would survive long enough to lick their wounds. Adam was of the impression that they wouldn't be able to find anyplace secluded enough that Louie's eyes and ears wouldn't track them down.

As he made his way around the rear of hte van, he took in the scenery, and nodded at Sledge . It appears he might have been wrong. Somehow, he couldn't see the Mob's influence being too strong out near some old-fashioned Farm. Heck, the dogs barking were as good of an alarm that strangers had arrived as Angel's drone had been.

Having made his way around to the side-door, he opened it up - and helped get Rosso's body out of the van. "If you guys want, I can see if 'Gabs' wouldn't mind having some company for a while. I imagine that anyone that lives in a place like this must really value their privacy - but, who knows?"

I'd still rather get this done sooner rather than later... but rushing in with damaged goods, and botching the whole thing up isn't going to get me any more work. I'm only going to get one shot at this - and people are counting on me.

42398 Rural Route 11, Everett
Tuesday 8/19/70 09:43:12


Rocky hopped out into the mud, while Kyle and Cerberus dragged Rosso's inert form over to him. The ex-prize fighter couldn't help but notice how bad off his former partner was - the mage had done his magical healing bit on the green-skinned troll not twenty minutes ago, but he didn't look much better. But then the mage was looking pretty out of it himself.

Once Rocky had hefted the weight of the big human that had almost killed him a couple of hours ago, Kyle jumped out as well. Turning to his best friend, he held out a hand. "Looks like you got it from here, brau. You're up to your green gills in some nasty stuff - and it's just not my scene. These guys you've fallen in with, though, they're an impressive bunch - in more ways than one." He took a deep breath. "Damn, haven't smelled air like this in years - gotta get up here once in a while. Call me when you get this mess sorted out, and we'll come up here for some hiking."

42398 Rural Route 11, Everett
Tuesday 8/19/70 09:45:53
Mr. Smith - Delivery Man
PAN - Hidden

Seeing that one of the troll's was willing to carry the injured human, Johnson thumbed backwards towards the farm. "I say we approach on foot. No obvious weapons. No signs of hostility - and make sure that anyone looking can see Rosso."

His smile got rather large. "Eventually someone's going to come to see who's here, and I'll do some talking. We're basically here to drop Rosso off, so I can't imagine they'll be too upset with us once they realise we're friends." The amusement he seemed to find from this statement didn't inspire confidence, but Johnson definatly had a way of making things sound like they wouldn't be so bad.

Once the plan was explained, he started to head down the long driveway - making sure it was clear he was in the lead of this parade of criminals. Sledge and Rocky brought up the rear, bringing along Rosso's unconscious body.

42398 Rural Route 11, Everett
Tuesday 8/19/70 09:45:53
Cerberus: Street Samurai
PAN - Hidden (eyes,earbuds)

Cerberus eyes were as heavy as cement but when Johnson had said his name they popped open again but were threatening to close until movement caught his eye. The door to the van slid open and Rocky had climbed out and had pointed at Rosso's form while looking at Cerberus and told him to help move him. Kyle and Cerberus had both got a handhold of Rosso's sleeping body and dragged him over to the door.

Cerberus was about to hop out of the van and help Rocky with whatever it was he was doing but Kyle had got in his way and said he was leaving. He looked on as Johnson, Rocky, Rosso, and Sledge started up a muddy road towards a solitary 2 story house.

Kyle, "These guys you've fallen in with, though, they're an impressive bunch - in more ways than one." He took a deep breath. "Damn, haven't smelled air like this in years - gotta get up here once in a while. Call me when you get this mess sorted out, and we'll come up here for some hiking."

Cerberus, "Wait your leaving? Man I feel like my life has come full circle. You found me as a punk kid who was nothing but trouble and then you helped straighten me out and now im right back where i started getting involved with the mob and getting you into trouble. I am greatful for the things you have showed me though and I think I will be able to make it out of this alive. Your right about this group of people, they all seem to have amazing abilities and I hope I can hold up my end. But Kyle this guy who is after us, he is pretty good at tracking people down so please keep your head low or go on vacation or something. I would like to come back up here with you sometime. I will let you know when its all over. Goodbye my friend." Cerberus clasps Kyle's hand and pulls into a hug.

Kyle says his goodbye and then steps back and shuts the door to the van. Cerberus looks around the van to see Fortunato and Angel mostly out of it, he continues to search and finds what he was looking for. Pulling the assault rifle off the rack he begins to check it over and see how it works. Cerberus didnt know if it was his little cat nap or something Fortunato had done but some of the pain and soreness around his bulletholes were feeling alot better now. It still felt like he had been shot but the pain was becoming bearable.

I guess im on gaurd duty till the others get back.

42398 Rural Route 11, Everett
Tuesday 8/19/70 09:46:09


The moment they crossed the cattle guard, the barking of the dogs doubled, and three huge wolf-looking breeds started bounding down the road toward the trio, while two more stayed at the house, where they bayed and howled and scraped at the front door.

A few seconds after the small pack took off toward the shadowrunners, two things happened. First, the animals paused, sniffed at the air, and then as one catapulted themselves down the road with redoubled speed, their calamitous barking now turned to viciously throaty growls. Second, an old model Microskimmer, about the size of a garbage can lid, shot out of some sort of port in the wall of the house and headed after the dogs.

But it was clear the dogs would reach the team first...

42398 Rural Route 11, Everett
Tuesday 8/19/70 09:46:09

Sledge - Puppy Chow Salesperson
PAN - Hidden

Sledge was convinced. Johnson... Sugar Lips was not at all taking into account the fundamental nature of metahumanity.

It's a dog eat dog world.

She eased up on her share of the load, shook free an arm, and readied the shocker. With a wink, where the young collegian couldn't see it, to the troll on the other end of their burden she set her feet.

With a slight push at the barely living human between them, "Puppies want chew toy real bad!"

... breathe... at least it's not a Idensitech doggies...

42398 Rural Route 11, Everett
Tuesday 8/19/70 09:46:13


Standing ankle-deep in mud, Rocky helped Sledge out further by throwing Rosso completely over one shoulder, leaving the ork free, and even opening up his own right hand.

The three dogs bounded in, alternately snarling deep in their throats and whining in confusion. They skidded to stops in front of the team - pack animals to the core, they had fanned out across the road. They were clearly upset and at a loss as to what to do - and ALL their attention was on the troll.

The dogs quivered - clearly on the edge of action - but what? It seemed that even the animals were not sure...

42398 Rural Route 11, Everett
Tuesday 8/19/70 09:46:14
Rocky - physical adept
PAN: Hidden

As the dogs come to a stop focused on him Rocky smiles and tries to stay as still and non-threatening as possible, watching for the first sign that the dogs are going to pounce, knowing that when they do all will come at once.

Keeping an eye on the dogs he speaks quietly to the others, “Lets hope who ever is controlling that drone will see Russo and call the dogs off. If not, lets try not to kill them I have enough enemies for now.”

42398 Rural Route 11, Everett
Tuesday 8/19/70 09:46:15
Mr. Smith - Delivery Man
PAN - Hidden

Johnson considered his options in the seconds that passed while the dogs ran forward. He stood about no chance of outrunning those dogs, but maybe the others could get back to the van - without Rosso's dead weight. If Adam wanted to save Rosso, he'd have to buy them time.

He briefly considered ordering his team back and acting as a distraction, but wasn't sure even his luck would see him out of that situation.

His indecision cost him. In moments the pack of dogs was on the team, but rather than jumping in and tearing out their throats they seemed to surround them and seemed to be waiting for something. Adam was somewhat surprised at his appraisal of the situation. A few months ago, he would have been pretty piss-scared, and would have run screaming for the van - but being surrounded by angry wolves and being surrounded by angry underworld-types wasn't all that different. Adam was aware of this.

The main difference is that the underworld-types knew enough to let him live, after beating the hell out of him... and that he was armed then.

When Rocky spoke up, Johnson nodded slowely. "Yeah, make sure it can get a good look at him. These arn't wild dogs. They're somebodies pets. Let's hope they are well-trained." He tried not to move. He felt like even backing away could cause the dogs to pounce before he got anywhere.

It was just like with his dealings with Franco's "associates". Look tough, look confident, and try not to give them a reason to kill you. Unfortunatly, his charming wit, and silver tongue wern't going to do him any good against these things. He had to wait for their master to act.

It took a lot of restraint to not reach for his commlink to try to contact him, first.

42398 Rural Route 11, Everett
Tuesday 8/19/70 09:46:21


After several tense seconds of stand-off between the pack and the runners, the drone finally arrived on the scene. Hovering behind the dogs, its obsolete camera array panned across the trio of would-be assassins, and then the device darted toward Rocky - or rather, toward Rocky's burden. After a few moments of close examination, the drone pulled up above their heads and hovered, and a woman clad in coveralls and a plaid flannel shirt came running out the front door of the house, the other two dogs at her heels. She raced up the road toward the group, wiping her hands with a dishtowel as she came.

Meanwhile, the first three animals continued to snarl and whine.

42398 Rural Route 11, Everett
Tuesday 8/19/70 09:46:29
Mr. Smith - Delivery Man
PAN - Hidden

Looks like we got someone's attention at least.

Looking up slowly at the woman making her way down the long driveway, he decided that shouting to her at that distance would probably upset th dogs. At least, until she called them off, Adam was going to keep his voice soft - which meant there was no use in trying to communicate yet.

Likewise, waving was completely out of the question.

Returning his attention to the dogs, he kept the same confidant expression and thought over and over in his head. ... good dog... good doggie... He was impressed that Rocky who had the unfortunate luck to be the focus of their attention, had kept his cool, so well. Of course, in general, he didn't suspect that trolls had much to fear from dogs - even wolves.

Sledge, on the other hand, had her taser ready, and seemed to be ready to take control of the situation. He had seen that she can handle herself against crazy animals before - he was just glad it hadn't come to that. Still, it was good to know that she was ready to act if it did.

They've gotten off to a rather bumpy start, but, all in all, Franco seemed to have handed him a really good team. His desire to oversee every aspect of this mission had gone down quite a bit as the morning had passed - right then, other than being the only one who probably cared if Rosso lived or died, Johnson would have felt pretty confident letting his team handle the mission and just report back for payment. At least, that's how he thought this relationship was supposed to go. Of course, it didn't hurt to have an extra pair of hands around, for when the hacker went into shock, or when something should be handled with some amount of tact.

Plus, he got to drive pimped out cars really really fast.

42398 Rural Route 11, Everett
Tuesday 8/19/70 09:47:00


She ran toward the three strangers without any apparent trace of fear, but seemed to gain some control of her senses when she came abreast of her dogs. She gave them a command in a harsh sounding language none of the runners recognized, and they went silent, but remained tense, bristled, watching the interlopers unblinkingly.

She swallowed hard, eyes locked on the figure over Rocky's shoulder. It was hard to tell whether her words were question, assertion, or statement - "He's not dead."

42398 Rural Route 11, Everett
Tuesday 8/19/70 09:47:06
Mr. Smith - Delivery Man
PAN - Hidden

"No. He isn't." Johnson answered just as matter-of-factly, as he tried to gadge Gabs's responses. Clearly she was about as thrilled to see him here as he was to hear that this was where he was going. "He took on a job that turned out to be a little more than he bargained for, and, well, it didn't go so well. Your number showed up most often on his commlink, so I suggested bringing him here. He was barely conscious, but indicated that it would be alright."

Gesturing at her dogs, Johnson added, "I'm sorry about not calling ahead to warn you - but there are some people involved that you really don't want knowing we brought Rosso here."

Pausing for a moment, he turned his hands upwards in a shrug. "So... we cool?"

42398 Rural Route 11, Everett
Tuesday 8/19/70 09:47:09


Indecision played across the woman's face for the briefest of moments. "Yes. Yes, of course. Quick - bring him inside." She gave another unintelligible order to the dogs, and they stopped their growling. A couple bounded toward Rocky and got up to try and lick Rosso's face, but the woman sternly called them off.

For her own part, the woman looked as though she wanted to do as the animals had - she looked at the inert form of the huge human sammie with obvious concern, but concentrated on ushering the trio on down the road. "These people that you don't think should find Rosso, will they recognize that van? Would you like to put it in the barn?"

42398 Rural Route 11, Everett
Tuesday 8/19/70 09:47:12
Mr. Smith - Delivery Man
PAN - Hidden

"If it isn't too much of an inconvenience, it wouldn't hurt."

"Also, my team could use some time to regroup and I would like to stick around and make sure Rosso is alright. If you don't mind, of course, I would very much like to talk to him when he comes around." It wasn't all a ruse. Johnson did recognise Rosso's potential usefulness, but was suggesting it for another reason entirely. He suspected it would take a few hours before Rosso slept off his wounds and the side-effects of the drugs, which was the same amount of time he suspected it would take his team to get back to a reasonable state. While the idea of letting a bunch of Shadowrunners crash at her place would probably not be too appealing, Gabs would certainly be more open to the idea of the man who saved Rosso's life wanting to talk to him before he left - and that, incidentally, could take hours.

Of course, Rosso was also probably the most experienced Shadowrunner for miles, now, and Johnson wanted very much to make sure he left him with some contact information.

When he paused, giving Gabs time to respond, Johnson typed up a message to the team, suspecting that no one would be awake to recieve it.

<<@Team:: Contact made. Moving the van into the barn for safety.>>

And then he began sending the commands to bring the van up remotely - watching its progress in AR while talking with Gabs and leading the others down the long driveway.

42398 Rural Route 11, Everett
Tuesday 8/19/70 09:50:25
Cerberus: Street Samurai
PAN - Hidden (eyes,earbuds)

Cerberus heard the message in his ears and saw the message scroll across the AR window in his field of view and steadied himself for the vans movement but without Rocky here to hold up Caittie she began to slide along the wall of the van and towards the seat of the bench she was sitting on. Cerberus deftly grabbed the assault rifle he had been examining with his off hand and quickly moved across to the opposite bench and prevented Caittie from falling like a sack of potatos into the seat of the bench.

Setting the ssault rifle down and adjusted Caittie position. If they are moving the van up I freaking hope that means we are staying and that I can finally get some sleep. I feel like i could sleep for 24 hours or more.

42398 Rural Route 11, Everett
Tuesday 8/19/70 09:51:00


The van had caught up to the people on foot and trundled along through the rutted track behind them as they walked to the house, the dogs whining after the fallen Russo incessantly.

Gabs paced along quickly, a strong sense of urgency in her step. She did not lead, but stayed alongside Rocky, all her attention on Russo. She examined his injuries even as she made her way through the mud, occasionally drawing breath sharply between her teeth as she realized the extent of the beating he'd taken.

Arriving at the front of the house, she'd pointed out where to put the barn. Even as she entered the dwelling, she was calling back to them - "I'll get those big doors open for it. Bring Rosso in here, we need to get him cleaned up and into bed."

42398 Rural Route 11, Everett
Tuesday 8/19/70 09:51:03
Mr. Smith - Delivery Man
PAN - Hidden

Johnson helped everyone along, but Rocky was doing most of the heavy lifting. Johnson's attention was more on the van and on their new host, Gabs. "Do you know the proper people to contact? He mentioned having a wife...." He didn't want to be so rude as to ask their relation, but Johnson sure was curious as to who Gabs was.

42398 Rural Route 11, Everett
Tuesday 8/19/70 09:51:01
Rocky - physical adept
PAN: Hidden

Rocky followed Gabs instructions up to the house, stopping at the door using the mat there to try and get the worse of the mud off his large feet. He then slipped inside and followed here to the room she wanted the runner in. He removed him from his shoulder carefully and then laid him out.

Once Russo was safely on the bed Rocky looked at Gabs, "Thanks for not sending the dogs after us." and then slips out of the room to stay out of the way. He moves back to the front of the house, going out on the porch to see what the plan was from here.

42398 Rural Route 11, Everett
Tuesday 8/19/70 09:51:05


At first it didn't seem as though the woman had even heard the young man that had showed up on her doorstep with his motley entourage in tow, the man she loved slung over the shoulder of a huge troll.

"I'm going to have to biopoxy his jaw back to..." she was saying to herself, and then, several seconds after the erstwhile college student's trailing question, she looked up at him with a start. "I'm his wife," she said, nodding at a wedding picture on a nightstand. "So I'm who to contact...I know what my husband does for a living, but I have no idea who he works with....It's not you?"

42398 Rural Route 11, Everett
Tuesday 8/19/70 09:52:38
Mr. Smith - Delivery Man
PAN - Hidden

"Not at the moment." Johnson felt it wasn't necessary to mention the fact that his team was, in fact, the people who did this to her husband. "... I just happened to be in the right place at the right time."

"I'm pretty sure the rest of his team didn't make it. They didn't really know what they were getting themselves into. Your husband is a fighter, though. He really wanted to see you again. I'm just glad I was able to help."

"I don't know how this whole mess is going to change how he feels about... what he does... but if he's still interested, I might be able to help get him back on his feet, in touch with a new team, and maybe get him some new work to help lighten the blow to his rep." Johnson sympathised for the woman, and couldn't really imagine that she would want him going back to a job where he came home like this - or where he might not come home at all. He wasn't sure he could guess as to why Rosso would want to go back either. He seemed to have a nice home, a loving wife, and didn't really seem to need the money. Still, something made him choose this lifestyle - and getting his ass kicked probably didn't change anything.