Zed’s Salvage – ‘Since 2032’, Northeast Renton, 5.1km S of I-90
Wednesday 8/20/70 22:15:11
Cerberus - Street Samurai
PAN - Hidden

Maybe 800+ pounds was to much to climb up a vertical pile of loose metal but it sure as hell wasnt to finish bending the thin metal of the fence. Sliding the predator down the backside of his pants yet again he pulled the IWK up and into position and then hopped on the fence. It stretched and made the noise fences make when they shake as Cerberus stomped across it. With only a few footfalls he was back on dirt and walking towards the end of the wall to see how things were going and to hopefully help Rocky out.

Looking to his left as he got to the end of the wall he saw Rocky fighting with one of the mafia guys. Then Rocky's voice came over their comms, "LOUIE's DEAD! LETS BLOW THIS JOINT!". Rocky must have been fired up because the next thing Cerberus knows the guy he is fighting is layed out on the ground. As Cerberus let out a sigh and began to relax his extremely short feeling of peace was shattered by Sledge, "Sniper, trailer roof."

Cerberus quickly looks back to the semi and its trailer and then to the roof and thats where he sees a guy taking aim at Rocky with a pistol. Moving as quickly as he can he realizes its already to late but trys to warn Rocky anyways, "Rocky! Behind You!". The guy on the trailer fires and all Ceberus can hear is a body falling against the middle suv. Between the cover and the speed at which Cerberus was attempting to line up his shot his long narrow burst whiffs and flys off harmlessly into the night but not before making the sniper go flat. Fuck! Before he can turn to see had happened to Rocky he goes sprinting by towards the van.

Thinking there is some kind of glitch with his cybereyes Cerberus turns to look at the spot where it sounded like Rocky had fallen, thats he spots a guy standing at the head of the lead suv aiming right for him. Throwing himself to the side he manages to dodge the first shot but still gets tagged by a second. Another grazing shot, nothing serious. He felt like he had been through a few rounds of fighting though.

Cerberus watched the semi trailer roofline and took a peak around the corner at the guy who had tagged him and gripped his gun a little tighter. Then Rocky came over the comm again telling them about the long-haired guy behind the middle suv was taking pot shots at Sledge keeping her pinned in place. Inhaling and exhaling a breathe he quickly developed a plan. Make the guy at the head of the suv keep his head down, distracted the long haired guy with a little grenade and then hoof it for the van. Hopefully Sledge would be able to make a break for it and they could all carry out Rocky's plan of getting the hell out of their.

Zed’s Salvage – ‘Since 2032’, Northeast Renton, 5.1km S of I-90
Wednesday 8/20/70 22:15:14
Cerberus - Street Samurai
PAN - Hidden

With only one bullet left in the clip of his IWK Cerberus decided to switch to the predator. Once again he let the IWK hang from the gyro harness and pulled the predator. Not seeing any movement from the roof of the semi-trailer he began to carry out his plan. Leaning around the corner of crap he was taking cover from the guy at the head of the lead suv was moving towards his position but as soon as he saw Cerberus he began running and the shot from the predator Cerberus sent after him only made him get there faster, failing to hit the guy.

Cerberus turns to look for a spot to toss the grenade and the next thing he sees is Johnson sprinting for the lead suv. Luckily Cerberus's eyes were cyber or they would have most definately popped out of his head at the sight of this preppy kid in a suit running around in the middle of this warzone. Cerberus closed his eyes and shook his head and got back to the task at hand. But then another sight unfolds in front of him. There is Sledge running and leaping through the air off the top of a 8-10 foot tall shed. This only reinforces his need to get things moving. Reaching up he pulls another cylindrical frag grenade from his bandolier with his free hand. Giving another high arcing hook shot toss he aimed for the passenger side of the middle suv where this long haired guy was.

Not waiting to see what effect the grenade might have he takes off at a decent pace only to see Johnson following on his footsteps but Johnson's demeanor says keep on trucking so Cerberus doesnt stop. Are we going to get away with this? His thought is punctuated by the explosion of his latest frag grenade shattering glass and ripping into metal and hopefully turning the long haired guy into hamburger.

Zed’s Salvage – ‘Since 2032’, Northeast Renton, 5.1km S of I-90
Wednesday 8/20/70 22:15:14
Fortunato - Support Mage
PAN - Hidden
Astrally Projecting

Fortunato rocketed skyward through thinner and thinner layers of mana density. He felt short of breath, the pressure on his chest was enormous. Suddenly, he broke through a layer of background count and touched the sky.

A giant snake encircled the world, eating its own tail. Every color faded to black and white. He could not breathe and did not need to. His understanding was complete for a moment. Then he remembered that he was running from an elemental and that this was how astral forms died.

An instant later Fortunato screamed back towards the earth and spun to a perfect halt outside of Zed's salvage firing a salvo of magical energy at the fire spirit. He didn't kill it, but it departed for reasons which he was not privy to.

He flew around the firefight, scanning for targets and informing his team. Then set about the arduous task of erasing all the astral evidence that he had been here while periodically updating his coworkers about the men trying to kill them.

Zed's Salvage - since 2032, Northeast Renton, 5.1 km south of I-90
Wednesday 8/20/70 22:15:20
Sledge - Broken breaking
PAN - Hidden

...breathe ... !@#$%^&*())(*&%$ ...

Rolling out of the cab hadn't even registered, and before she could even think, she was running in a crouch around a small shack. After tossing the shotgun on the roof and climbing after it, everything was fine until she hauled her torso over the lip of the roof.

That's when the breathe exploded out of her and the man standing in the cab door looked right at her. More importantly, she saw the other one. Several rounds in her direction later she realized the explosions she'd heard hadn't been shots directed at her. Must have been some munitions the trog just tossed around like candy.

She squeezed off a couple shots herself, not any good, but it got their attention, somebody's attention. A couple slugs sprayed plaster up in her face, but when the word came over the net she was relieved.

She slid over into a half push up and bent her knees, paused !@#$%^&*())(*&%$

!@#$%^&*())(*&%$

Next thing she was up and flying over the fence the ground rushing up !@#$%^&*())(*&%$

On her feet, the road ahead, she kept moving

... breathe ... !@#$%^&*())(*&%$

She spotted the kid, Sugar Lips, all too cool on his bike, snarling she !@#$%^&*())(*&%$ stumbled over to him and grabbed him !@#$%^&*())(*&%$
"bike..." !@#$%^&*())(*&%$

If every run ended this way, she was going to ask for a lot more nuyen.

Zed’s Salvage – ‘Since 2032’, Northeast Renton, 5.1km S of I-90
Wednesday 8/20/70 22:15:20
Rocky - Physical Adept
PAN - Hidden

The evening had been a blur, it started with the team waiting for its shot at Louie to the chaos of a full fledged gun battle in some random junk yard on the outside of town. The run in behind the semi had gone as planned, but then Rocky found he was out at the front of the fight by himself with a lot of bad guys just on the other side of a pair of SUV's. Wondering what he had gotten himself into Rocky stalled for a moment trying to figure out a way to help and not get killed. So he pulled his pistol and opened the back door of the SUV he had been using for cover. Much to his surprise he found what he guessed was Louie's hacker all by himself. Then the far door opens and he's getting shot at again, which seemed to be happening alot lately. Some how the SUV started and jumped forward a little, but Rocky held on while the goon across the way fell. With a quick shot the hacker was no more, and then the goon was back and shooting again, this time hitting once, grazing his arm.

The next thing Rocky knew grenades were rolling around and it was time to leave, stopping half a second to crack some goon in the face, breaking his nose. Some how he knew that Louie was in the next SUV over and by himself. Seeing it was time to get the job done Rocky moved to the lead SUV, this time going for the driver's door. Surprised to find it unlocked, he was greeted with the target that had brought all of them here. One Louie "Fishbreath" Finnigan, Rocky wasted no time and took his shot, but some how that slippery so of a bitch dodged at 1 foot away. But his luck was short lived as Rocky lined up and put two bullets in to his brain, spreading it across the passenger's side of the SUV.

With the job done it was time to go, but it had taken time to take the shot and now he was primary target for the goons that seemed to be coming from everywhere. The bullets were really starting to fly and Rocky wound have sworn he was not going to make it out of this junkyard tonight, but he had to try. As he started forward he heard warnings coming from all over. IF ever asked later how he did it he couldn't really answer but some how Rocky launched him self up and backwards out of the path of way to many bullets, landing on the roof of Louie's SUV and rolling over to the other side. The side that before had been where he didn't want to go now provided the cover he needed to make his run for it. A few seconds latter he found himself in the back of the teams van. He was beat up, had been shot three or four times, but he was alive and Louie was dead.

Cerberus - Street Samurai
PAN - Hidden

Cerberus ran the rest of the way to the van and climbed into the rear. Rocky was waiting for him when he got there and closed the rear door after he climbed in. Cerberus braced himself for whatever sudden movements when come from the van and then began stripping down his gear and tossing it into storage box's under the seats. Setting the predator on the floor he quickly unhooked the IWK from the gyro harness and placed it in thb ottom of the storage locker. Then came the bandolier of grenades now a few grenades lighter. Finally he removed the gyro harness and placed it in the box.

Spending a few seconds Cerberus disassembled the IWK and stuff it back into the bag Johnson had deliever it to him in. He then stuffed the grenades and harness into the bag. Zipping up the bag he then closed the storage locker and grabbed his predator and took his seat facing Rocky. He looked like he had taken a few shots.

Thankfully he had come through the fight mostly uninjured. He had been tagged a bunch of times but the shots had either hit his jacket or been grazing wounds. Maybe he could play doctor on Rocky and return the favor from the clinic. Yanking out the medkit he began trying to figure out what he had to do to fix some of their more minor injuries..

Zed's Salvage, Astral Plane
Wednesday 8/20/70 22:15:20
Fortunato - Support Mage
PAN - Hidden (Contacts, Earbuds, Smartlink)
Astrally Projecting

Fortunato plucked apart the final remaining piece of astral signature like one would pull apart a cotton ball; spreading the mana thinner and thinner until it was indistinguishable from the astral ebb and flow behind it. As he finished the task his aura swam with yellow relief. His job here seemed done, the firefight seemed to have subdued and everyone was reconvening at the van. It was high time he did as well.

He floated gently into his body and prepared to ...

"MotherFucker! Shit" He convulsed. His shirt had worked its way into the heatless burns that appeared on his chest. He clawed at the injuries. "Goddamn, Fuck!" The front of his shirt came away with a layer of charred skin and fat. "Shit...Shit" He was calmer now.

Turning to the back of the van he took stock of who had arrived. Someone needed to coordinate the escape. He typed quickly while his watcher took an exaggerated breath and said "My boss wants you to know 'MotherFucker! Shit ...'"

<<@Team: We've got trolls, Angel and Me. Are Sledge and Johnson mounted?>>

He received rapid confirmation while he silenced the spirit as it finished echoing his stream of profanity. He typed again.

<<@Angel: Time to get rolling kid. Drive us out of here.>>

Zed’s Salvage – ‘Since 2032’, Northeast Renton, 5.1km S of I-90
Wednesday 8/20/70 22:15:20
Smith - Anxious to Call it a Night
PAN - Hidden

Smith waited for the right opportunity, but before that came, his gut told him to go so he did. As he sprinted across the battlefield, he didn't have time to think about how crazy what he was doing was. Somewhere to his right gunshots when off, but he didn't hear any of the tell-wale 'whizzing' noises that would indicate he was their target.

Boom. He collided with the SUV, and pressed against it for cover quickly before maneuvering into the open door. He saw Louie's dead body laying there. What was left of his face was looking up at him.

Okay, I'm convinced. Step one, complete.

He quickly patted down the ex-mobster, hoping to find a commlink, but knowing that was like finding a needle in a haystack. More bullets fired. It was time to go. Smith removed his hand from Louie's jacket pocket, where he had found a wad of money. With his other hand, he finished popping the ring off of his finger.

He wasn't sure that he would need these things, but the cash would certainly come in handy. The ring... well, in the movies, Smith would have taken Louie's finger. This wasn't the movies, and Smith didn't really want to carry around a bloody finger all night. The ring would do, if it needed to do anything.

More chatter on the team network triggered Smith's retreat. He wasn't even sure what was being said - only that the rest of the team would have already responded to it. Sure enough, as he sprinted back towards the van, he was behind Cerberus. By the time he got on his bike, though, he realized Sledge was the last one out, and he could see her charging towards him. He got on his bike with just enough time to glance back at her and hear her snarl before getting on with him.

Smith's bike wasn't built for two, but he managed to make it down the street as far as Sledge's bike without crashing. The move probably shaved a second or two off of her escape, but Smith doubted anyone else would notice. In fact, the van was already pulling away. Given Sledge a second to hop on her bike, Smith and Sledge rode north after the van.

he finally had a moment to think about the network noise, which, at that moment, was being replaced by someone else's network chatter. Someone sounding very professional, and very concerned about the recent disturbance.

<<@Team:: "Great work everyone. Keep your eyes peeled, and stick together.">>

Zed's Salvage, Astral Plane
Wednesday 8/20/70 22:15:25
Fortunato - Support Mage
PAN - Hidden (Contacts, Earbuds, Smartlink)
Astrally Inactive

Fortunato had calmed down for a split second after asking Angel to drive them to freedom, but his relief was short lived. Moments after he had given the order, communications from someone's security channel started streaming into his comm.

"...eyes on. Action looks limited to Niners Delta and Charlie."
"Central: lock down and wait for Lonely Hearts. Redirect MODs to north and south exfil routes."
"Scrambling on that - runners moving north now."
"Lonely Hearts ETA?"
"Looks like...90 for the bird...ghost should be on site already."
"That wraps us up except for battening down the hatches. Open channels two and three for data streams from the MODs to Lonely Hearts. Keep this channel clear for necessary traffic."

"Shit."

He quickly typed a message:

<<@Team: Whatever secuirty we're dealing with has drones inbound (that's MODs). They've also probably got astral presence at our exit point (that's ghosts). I'll do what I can to get us out of here, but I'm in bad shape. I'm going to need someone to keep an eye on me with a medkit.>>

He typed the last line grimly. This was a dangerous escape and he was already injured and tired. He had considered not telling the team about the spirits so that he wouldn't have to put his neck on the line. But it was his own skin he was saving here; injured or not, his back was against the wall and they'd need to see him break out of this.

He relaxed his mind and called to the air as he'd done so many times in the past few days. The same angry, whirling astral vortex descended and enveloped the van and the two bikes and the team shot off towards their destination.

Fortunato leaned back in his chair and prepared to project.

Driver's seat of concealed and magically accelerated Love Machine
Wednesday 8/20/70 22:15:26

As he relaxed himself, Fortunato heard the spirit's voice breeze through his consciousness - A policeman descended upon me from my sky and strove to impede my service. Thus, I have dissuaded him.

Tripping the Light Fantastic above the Love Machine
Wednesday 8/20/70 22:15:27

Freed from the confines of his mortal shell, the essence of Gregory Blaine bounded up and out of the speeding van, through the dual substance of his spirit servant, and into the industrial night air.

The Love Machine, concealed to all but himself and his teammates, hurtled along ahead, but he wasn't worried, knowing that with the slightest exertion he could catch up to it.

Looking around, he saw no obvious signs of pursuit on any plane open to his perception, but if he'd learn one thing in Christians in Action, it was that the most dangerous threats were the least obvious.

Halfway to the Freeway
Wednesday 8/20/70 22:15:32


<<Dammit - they've gone dark. We are eyes off. Repeat, eyes off.>>
<<Concentrate all MOD assets on chokepoints Bravo and Charlie and record at high speed on all spectrums. Take sensors from target acquisition to zone coverage and get some meat brains in there.>>
<<White Spider Three making the jump now.>>

Listening to the sec chatter, Angel opened her mind to the inputs from the Love Machine's impressive sensor array, straining to pick up the signatures of these drones Fort had warned her about. But she really had no clue what she was looking for, and failed to pick anything up.

The CIA mage himself, meanwhile, had just leapfrogged himself a few hundred meters ahead of the mystically speeding vehicle, and taking another look around, saw what he'd been waiting for - two more astral figures zoomed in over the horizon, split up, and started running up and down the road. They were looking for him and his teammates, who under normal circumstances would have stuck out plain as day on the empty access road. The auras of the two figures were clearly marked as Lone Star officers - Fortunato had known that the moment the first cop had woken up screaming in his bed and tearing at his IVs to go hide in the bathroom that the situation's threat level would be upgraded and they'd have more company - the Star knew local rentacops were filming everything, and they couldn't afford to look bad during the current contract renegotiations.

It was only a matter of time before the two magecops found the Concealed runners...

Halfway to the Freeway
Wednesday 8/20/70 22:15:33

...and Fortunato's response was textbook - preparing himself to ward off spells, he mentally directed his Air Servant to give the two newcomers the same treatment the first responder had received.
Within half a second the two officers were gone...though whether they had fled in terror or simply ducked out of sight was impossible to tell.

Highway to Hell, south of I-90
Wednesday 8/20/70 22:15:33
Sledge - Breaking Away
PAN - Hidden

!@#$%^&*())(*&%$

In a spike of clarity she noticed the white stone lodged in the thread pattern of her front tire. It was going to have to be removed so that the rubber wouldn't warp around it and cause a ridge that would make the tires vibrate arythmically and give her a little bump during a high speed turn. Especially on the front tire, losing traction there meant you lost all control, the rear tire could get a little sloppy, and there wasn't any real problem, but the front one would leave you at the mercy of your last physical vector. And it had none.

!@#$%^&*())(*&%$

Another bump, the bike caught some air, but she wrestled it straight, the torso twist lifting her cold wet shirt off her side and a rush of cold air washed icily over her frigid skin. The landing was smooth and yet another block flashed by in a blur as she blinked in response to the touchdown.

!@#$%^&*())(*&%$

The pavement grooves screamed, her sticky wet shirt boiled on her skin, her back prickled in the heat, her pants were now soaking from the top down, the leather seat becoming slick and slippery, not absorbing and providing friction as she tried to grip the slithering bike thumping beneath her.

...breathe... keep going...

<<@team:: kill ... sensors ... eyes ...>>

Hands on the grips, tucked over the tank of ice, slick with slush, pink moisture streaming away along her side in the slipstream that cooled her shivering frigid body, her frozen face locked tight against the gelid air slamming against her. Sledge kept her eyes locked on the spinning tube of vulcanized rubber propelling Sugar Lips crotch rocket ahead of her at impossible speeds.

Halfway to the Freeway
Wednesday 8/20/70 22:15:33
Cerberus - Street Samurai
PAN: Hidden

By the time Cerberus had pulled the medkit out of storage and started opening it up they had already began to haul ass out of there and then before he could concentrate of trying to fix his own wounds or ask Rocky for help Angel was feeding some unidentified comm's chatter through to the team. Apparently they were attempting to capture the team. Were they the FBI goons from before?? If so he was sick of running into them.

Then Cerberus lurched backwards as if the van had fired off some massive rockets attached to the sides fueled by nitrous oxide. He regained his balance and then dug around in the medkit for something to close some of his gashes with. he was about to grab a needle and thread but the medkit flashed some lights around what looked like a gun. It was a staple gun used for suchering.

Forgetting to take something for the pain he began stapling shut one of the longer gashes in his arm.......

Highway to Hell, south of I-90
Wednesday 8/20/70 22:15:34


Caittie Natome's head was spinning. She was a sharp girl, and the stakes they were playing were not lost on her - there were drones she couldn't see trying to take pictures of them, and they'd probably already had their pictures taken back at the dump. She knew she should be doing something about all that, something about the drones, or the chatter, or whatever a Lonely Hearts was, but she just didn't know anything about how all this corporate security stuff was organized - she didn't know where to start working.

And now Sledge was telling her to kill her sensors? Or the bad - the good? - the other guys' sensors?

Using the virtuality of her voice to hide the stress her meat vocal cords would certainly have betrayed, she said simply <<On it.>> and redoubled her search for these damned "MODs."

Highway to Hell, south of I-90
Wednesday 8/20/70 22:15:36
Sledge - Breaking Away
PAN - Hidden

!@#$%^&*())(*&%$

The streak of spinning rubber ahead of her jerked into the lower field of her vision, the AR overlay of the Love Machine flashed from the background into her foreground view. Surrounding the wire frame view a series of specifications and status symbols flashed.

... do something ...

<<@team kill ... >>

Her left thigh slipped back, her lower back complained as her right leg took all the strain as she straightened the wheel. She could see her hands on the grips, but couldn't feel them anymore.

<<@team ... power !@#$%^&*())(*&%$ >>

Her hand moved, sliding the throttle a bit, she had to watch it to know when to stop, she flicked her eyes down to see if she had her foot above or below the gear shift.

<<@team grid ... >>

Left hand a claw of ice, her right a flaming torch, she steadied the handle bars, everything in between a slick damp haze.

<<@team MOD ... sparkle >>

Eyes closed, the spinning tires and vehicles ahead of her flashed in ARO that primarily squawked about the impossible numbers, Sledge ignored them all and concentrated on the important details.

<<@team ammo bin ... sensors !@#$%^&*())(*&%$ >>

The disturbing part really was that she wasn't hearing anything at all, not even the wind in her hair.

Highway to Hell, approaching onramps
Wednesday 8/20/70 22:15:37


Competing with Sledge's tortured voice was an ongoing stream of chatter from the industrial parks' security forces.

<<Got anything?>>
<<Negative, we are still eyes off.>>
<<White Spider Three?>>
<<Nothing, electronic or opt...what the fuck?>>
<<Uplink with Blue Crew online. They are routing to Lonely Hearts.>>
<<Bill? You okay?>>
<<It doesn't feel like an agent...>>
<<Bill?>>

Ahead of them the onramps were coming up fast.

Highway to Hell, approaching onramps
Wednesday 8/20/70 22:15:37
Cerberus - Street Samurai
PAN - Hidden

Cerberus took some gauss out of the medkit and wrapped it around the wound he had just stapled shut. "Hey Rocky rip this end in half and then tie it", he held one end of the gauss bandage out to Rocky and held the rest of the bandage in place on his arm.

Rocky, "Uh sure.." Rocky tore the one end of the bandage down the middle to make two smaller pieces that could be tied together to hold the bandage in place and then wraped them around Cebrerus's arm and tied it. Cerberus grimaced as he tightened it but it was better than having a loose bandage.

"Ok your turn bro, let me see the worst of it.." Rocky opened his jacket and pulled it back from the shoulder exposing a gash...

Cerberus grabbed a scanner and ran it over the gash. The medkit beeped and flashed green to show that there were no bullet fragments inside. Grabbing the staple gun he had use on himself Cerberus reached out to close the wound when Rocky grabbed his wrist. "Hey! What are you doing? Im not like you, I'm not into that invasive stuff, dont you got anything less severe? I heal quick.."

Cerberus's neon green eyes didnt really show any acknowledgement but he shrugged and put the stapler back into the medkit and punched away at the keys. Another tray lit up and Cerberus grabbed a small packet while reading one of the display. "The kit says this stuff should help and is totally natural, just hold still". Ripping the package along one edge he poured the fine powdery granuals into the gash which made them go from white to red. Dropping the packet to the floor of the van he grabbed a tube of some clear liquid and squirted some along the gash to. With a small plastic thingy he pulled from the same place he got the tube he smoothed out the liquid and cleaned up the access.

"That clear liquid is some quick drying glue that is suppose to hold just as well as stitches. Ok now we just have to bandage it up and you will be good to go...". Cerberus put the gluetube and plastic thingy back and grabbed some gause.......

Westbound on I-90, Renton-Redmond line
Wednesday 8/20/70 22:15:45

As the Love Machine rocketed under the freeway, Fortunato ordered his spirit to cut its power of Movement Through Air - gently. Everyone's stomach lurched as they decelerated from hyper-speed, but the Astral Being took care to steady the bikes, having no wish to inadvertently harm its master's companions. Once again feeling the grip of the van's tires on the asphalt, Angel instructed the vehicle's thoroughly bewildered Pilot to take the westbound onramp and head them toward Northgate. The bikes followed suit, one of Fortunato's watchers making the rounds to remind everyone to watch traffic, because traffic wouldn't be watching them.

The sec chatter continued.

<<Da...dam-m-m-mit....pull it...plug.>>
<<White Spider Three has been taken offline. Initiating Pilot.>>
<<Imagery?>>
<<Nothing obvious. We'll break down the...shit! MOD down. MOD down.>>
<<Central, Blue Crew saying everything we're sending is corrupted. Lonely Hearts seventy out.>>
<<Too slow. Tell them to get ground units on all our approaches, and get whatever imagery we got at Zed's into cold storage.>>

Angel smiled with satisfaction as she ordered the Pilot to slow to a legal speed and focus on collision avoidance.

Westbound on I-90, Renton-Redmond line
Wednesday 8/20/70 22:15:47
Rocky - physical adept
PAN: Hidden

Rocky was still in a bit of shock from the events of the evening as he sat in the back of the van working with Cerberus on patching up himself and the team.

Now that Louie was dead he could move on and try this whole Shadowrunner thing again. It seemed like he had found some people that he could work with and that his melee skills complmented, but he needed to change his look or he was going to have his past catching up to him and bringing even more heat. From what he heard on the comm, not that much of it made any sense to him they had gotten some attention, but may have slipped away for the moment.

Maybe Johnson or Cerberus would know someone that could do some work on his face to make him dissappear in to a crowd.

With no skills or understnding of exactly what was going on, oce he had finshed helping with the first aide he closed his eyes and tried to relax a little as the van made its way to the teams next stop, where ever that was.

Westbound on I-90, Renton-Redmond line
Wednesday 8/20/70 22:15:50
Smith - Johnson
PAN: Hidden

It was all Smith could do to keep his crotch-rocket from literally blasting out from under him while it was under the spirit's influence. There was a lot of information racing through his commlink, but he didn't have the attention to spare processing it until they had made it to the freeway. It seemed like someone else felt the same way, because that was when the spirit began to gently ease Smith and his bike down to reasonable speeds. Assuming their persuers had lost visual contact, changing their speed would throw off any predictions about where they might be, or when they might end up somewhere. It also seemed like Angel was leading them somewhere, but Smith wasn't sure exactly where - since they hadn't set up a rendezvous-point, beforehand.

Smith made a note to himself - another pebble on the mountain of things he wanted to try doing differently the next time Franco put him in charge of something like this.

<<@Team:: "Okay, team, what's everyone's status? We need to find a place to debrief, settle-up, and figure out what you guys need to get back on your feet.">>

Westbound on I-90, Renton-Redmond line
Wednesday 8/20/70 22:16:10
Sledge - Bleeding Edge
PAN - Hidden

!@#$%^&*())(*&%$

All she could see was the rapidly spinning tire in front, and a small patch of crumbling recycled cement road it was traveling on. Everything else around the edge of her vision was dark. It was like looking at the world through a pinhole, or down the barrel of a gun. The hot flashes had stopped, everything was now icily numb. And sticky.

One hand on the wheel, mental command to the accelerator to match speeds with the vehicle ahead of her, she reached her right hand across and started feeling for the damage.

!@#$%^&*())(*&%$ breathe exploded out

!@#$%^&*())(*&%$ tooth cracked

!@#$%^&*())(*&%$ ....

<<@team:: Shock !@#$%^&*())(*&%$ short 5 units Type O ... 2 rounds ... upper right front 7 and 8 ribs shattered punctured lung ... left lower abdomen round through ...!@#$%^&*())(*&%$ ... right shoulder never mind ... !@#$%^&*())(*&%$ ... getaway clean and clear? >>

... BREATHE ... keep breathing ...

Westbound on I-90, Renton-Redmond Line, Astral Plane
Wednesday 8/20/70 22:15:46
Fortunato - Support Mage
PAN - Hidden (Contacts, Earbuds, Smartlink)
Astrally Projecting

Fortunato was having the fit of panic that accompanied a recent escape. Had he been a better trained spy, or had he come into his employment through more standard channels, he would have had training to deal with it. However, instead he was jumping at shadows and assuming that every flash of light was a pursuing mage-cop.

It was this state of hyper awareness that drew him to the two snakes circling in the air, each eating the tail of the other. The two spun in a lazy circle and Gregory Blaine was drawn towards them and sucked into the center of the doubled ouroboros.

An undefined place
Time unknown

Fortunato sat on a rock in an empty, blasted plain. Cracked earth stretched to a perfectly flat horizon, like that seen on an ocean. The sky was perfectly blue, even though there was no sun. The world was swelteringly hot.

He had been sitting here forever.

Two snakes slithered towards him. They seemed familiar. One was a cruel looking krait, spade headed and covered in obsidian scales. The other a python, the color of dirt.

They spoke in unison.

"You will come to understand through shadowed half truths.
The hidden shield is impenetrable and none shall escape the well informed sword"

The first spoke saying

'Quick strikes and strong venom to scatter your enemies
Sharp eyes and sharper mind to cut them to ribbons"

The second said

"Long patience, slow pressure to confuse and ensare.
Invisible, resilient, you will prevail."

Fortunato dimly remembered years spent studying hermetic mysticism, endless streams of useless formulae. Teachers pounding their heads in frustration at his inability to understand the numbers, the science of magic. None of it seemed particularly relevant here.

Again they spoke in unison

"Learn your lessons, break the cipher, solve the puzzle, find the clue."

The serpents' shapes oscillated, the krait becoming a cobra and the python a sidewinder. The cobra a rattlesnake and the sidewinder a meek garter snake. Each snake stared at Fortunato in turn. He could not meet their eyes. They saw through him, but they appeared inscruatable and alien. What did he understand of their lives, their world. What did he even know of his. He hung his head in shame.

Westbound on I-90, Renton-Redmond Line, Astral Plane
Wednesday 8/20/70 22:15:46

Fortunato became aware of the astral plane and he was sailing parallel to the freeway watching for astral threats that might be pursing the fleeing love machine. He was sure something important had just happened and desperately wanted to stop, to spend some time thinking. But the night wore on and the chase was far from over. The love machine needed to be free of this mess and it needed to be free soon.

He thought at the van's watcher "Get off the freeway at the first exit. Then we can switch disguises."

Westbound on I-90, Renton-Redmond line
Wednesday 8/20/70 22:16:15
Cerberus - Street Samurai/Doc
PAN - Hidden

Cerberus finished tieing off Rocky's bandages. Judging from the way they were still bleeding it didnt look like he did such a good job but it was the best he could do in this situation. Giving Rocky a pat on his uninjured shoulder to let him know he was done he grabbed a biometer from the medkit and stuffed himself into the front of the cab as best he could to check out Fortunato's wounds and turned the medkit towards Rocky. "Can you hand me the stuff I ask for?". Rocky looked like his mind was somewhere else but he answered, "Uhh sure."

Fortunato looked like he had been set on fire. Patches of skin were melted and wrinkly and raw. He didnt know in the hell he could have got these wounds since he had been in the van the whole time but it probably had something to do with magic. If this was the price you paid Cerberus was glad only his genetics had been touched by magic. Cerberus remembered about Fortunato's watcher and tried to speak to it and think it, "Uhh Fort?? We are starting treatment for your wounds let us know if it hurts or something."

Taking a deep breathe before starting was a mistake it smelled like cooked meat in the front of the van. Cerberus checked the biometer, "Ok uhh see what it says to do for 2nd degree burns..". Rocky punched buttons and stuff in the medkit lit up. Grabbing a tube he handed it to Cerberus, "It says to DAB this stuff on the area's but do not rub it on". Cerberus squirted some of the contents of the tube into his hand which was some thick goop. He took his time and dabbed it on slowly but Fortunato wasnt even around to say if it hurt or not. "Ok what next?".

Cerberus handed the tube back to Rocky who put it back where he had gotten it. Taking a fresh roll of bandages out he handed it up to Cerberus. "It says to wrap the area's up with that gauze firmly but not to tight". Cerberus wrapped the first wound and then asked for Rocky's help tieing it and then he moved on to the next and the next until they were done. Having finished he thought he would update Fortunato, "Rocky and I just bandaged up your burn wounds, as soon as you can you should check em out."

He put the left over gauze back into the medkit and cleaned it up and straightened as best he could before closing it and then climbed back to his seat in the back and begin to rest when Sledge reported back on her injuries. Broken ribs, a through and through and a busted tooth??

Good! Freaking backstabber deserves it! was the first thought that ran through his head. They had all shown up at the clinic to save his butt though so he figured he still owed her. <<@team:: "Those sound like some nasty wounds, if you want we could probably pull over and you could ride in the van while i drive your bike until we find a place to stop and get you fixed up....">>

Westbound on I-90, Renton-Redmond line
Wednesday 8/20/70 22:16:20
Sledge - Bleeding Edge
PAN - Hidden

<<@team:: Clean away? MODs down for good? Ground units?>>

The tunnel vision affected her balance, Sledge flipped up the balance ball ARO and centered it in her vision field, she was going to have to concentrate on the level indicator instead of the complete absence of sensory feedback from her legs and lower body.

Westbound on I-90, Renton-Redmond line
Wednesday 8/20/70 22:16:25
Rocky - physical adept
PAN: Hidden

Rocky heard the call come over the comm from Johnson as he helped Cerberus work on everyone's wounds.

@Team:: "Okay, team, what's everyone's status? We need to find a place to debrief, settle-up, and figure out what you guys need to get back on your feet."

<<@Team:: "I'm a bit shot up but I'm good for a while. I can drive the bike if needed as well, that way Cerb can work on Sledge while we are still on the road. By the way, where are we headed now?">>

Westbound I-90, Issaquah Area
Wednesday 8/20/70 22:16:34
Caittie – Technomancer – Hidden
PAN: Hidden

Caittie had a lot of things on her mind, each pushing for the forefront trying to be the most important in the list of inner demons and issues to be dealt with. One by one, the girl had pushed them aside to keep focused on the truly most important thing at hand, finishing the group’s escape.
Listening to the chatter on the team’s commlines, the elven girl knew that pretty much everyone was injured. Even she was feeling the strain of pushing her will on the intangible fabric between the Matrix everyone knew about and the hidden world that truly made the Matrix what it was. Even while her mind was fully immersed in the virtual reality state inherent to the fast speeds she needed, Caittie still felt the dull throbbing of a severe headache setting in along with a general fatigued feeling throughout her being.

"I think I took care of whatever was following us. We should be safe for a while, unless something else comes up or we start a commotion again�, the technomancer mentally spoke out to the team. “As for where we’re going, I think Cerberus is right. We need to stop somewhere. Give me a minute to try and find a place.�
She figured that they though she was going to look something up over the Matrix. To be truthful, she didn’t have the first clue on what exactly to search for. No keywords, no search strings… any idea. The girl was just looking out into the surrounding area for something that looked good to her mind’s eye.

Indeed, looking out through the van’s camera, it only took a little bit of the highway passing by to see a building off to the south which screamed ‘I’m safe’ to her mind. Seeing that, she plotted a course in the van’s dog-brain and threw an icon on the team’s map. “I think I’ve found a place. We should be able to stop here for a little while to check ourselves out.�


Parking Garage, Newport Way, Issaquah Area
Wednesday 8/20/70 22:19:57

It only took a few minutes for the caravan to get off the highway and make it to its temporary destination; a rather tall parking garage. Passing through the toll gate, they went through the slow spiral of parking spaces up to the fifth floor, where the amount of empty spaces greatly outnumbered the full.
Parking in a large group of empty spaces, Caittie felt the weight of reality envelope her as she shifted from VR to normal speeds. She could still feel the matrix around her still, but she knew that this was the true world. ‘The real world hurts…’, the elf told herself as she rubbed her temples.

Popping the door open, she jumped down to the cement ground and raised her arms above her head in a deep stretch. A slight groan of discomfort escaped her before she relaxed enough to look around at the rest of the group.

Adam was off his bike already, trying to straighten his windswept hair into place along with his cloths. Other than looking annoyed and dirty, he seemed fine to Caittie. What really caught her attention was when she looked over to Sledge.
The technomancer knew that the woman would be hurt from the comm traffic, but Sledge had blood soaking through her jacket and was leaning forward against her handlebars breathing heavily. It seemed like she could barely keep the giant motorcycle upright, and less likely to get off the beast without falling.

“Oh my god! Are you ok?�, the redhead cried out the stupid question as she moved over to the older woman. Caittie didn’t know what she should do, but at least try and help her steady the bike to keep the ork upright seemed reasonable.

Parking Garage, Newport Way, Issaquah Area
Wednesday 8/20/70 22:20:20
Smith - Johnson
PAN - Hidden

Smith parked his bike and released the death-grip he had forgotten about on the handle-bars. His fingers were a little sore and numb from the getaway, and his heart was pounding in his chest. That was awesome. He hoped that whatever magic was concealing them from the other drivers also concealed them from the street's security cameras - but he half-wished he could get a copy of that ride for himself.

His fingers began to tingle as life returned to them. He ran them through his hair and looked upwards, searching for security cameras in the parking structure. He couldn't imagine a parking lot that didn't have some sort of security-system. They might have made it away, but Adam was still worried. Everyone else was in the clear - their problems were solved - but if any of this lead back to him, his problems were just beginning.

His attention was taken from his quick survey when he heard Angel's voice screaming. That was when he noticed Sledge. She had said something about being shot, but she was in bad shape. Adam was reminded of their first run together - but stitching up claw wounds and fishing out a bullet were totally different things. If anyone else on this team had any experience - Smith would let them handle things.

Walking quickly over to Sledge's bike, he was ready to offer help where he could. <<@Team:: "Angel, anything you can do about this place's security?">> He wasn't even sure, himself, that there was anything. Maybe Angel picked this spot because it was clear. Maybe she had already taken the necessary precautions. <<@Team:: "We may have lost them, but if this place picks up our vehicles, they'll be right on us again.">>

Parking Garage, Newport Way, Issaquah Area
Wednesday 8/20/70 22:20:40
Fortunato - Support Mage
PAN - Hidden

After casting about for astral pursuers one last time, Fortunato settled into his body, wincing with the anticipation of the burns on his skin, but he was pleasantly surprised to find them bandaged and not painful.

He was unpleasantly surprised to see people outside of their vehicles.

Spirit, I trust that your concealment extends to my companions and their posessions regardless of whether they are on their vehicles.

Fortunato expected to argue this point stringently, but the eager to please spirit simply said Yes, master.

Gathering his thoughts, he typed:

<<@Team: Don't go too far away from the vehicles or my magic will break down.

This isn't a full blown stop, we've got to move fast. Everyone, disguises off and into the back of the van, we'll get rid of them later.>>

Noticing that the team's young hacker was gawking at the bleeding orc, Fort added.

<<@Angel: Caittie, I need you in the van working on the garage's security right now.>>

He had climbed out of the car by the time the message was finished and had made his way to Sledge at about the same time as the hulking troll with the comically small medkit.

He held up a hand to stop Cerberus and then he suffered from a moment of panic. There was too much to do. These people didn't seem to know how to do it. His minimal exposure to cloak and dagger games was the best they had, and it wasn't very good at all. He took two heavy, ragged breaths, then started speaking in a tone that brooked no argument.

"Johnson, I need you back on your bike. We're rolling soon. Send us a message about getting paid and pick a good, secure rendezvous point."

"Cerberus, stay here for a second, keep everyone else where they are."

More gently, he said:

"Sledge, we don't have the time to patch you up right now. Can you still drive?"

His mind raced through the necessary astral precautions as he waited for Sledge to respond.

Parking Garage, Newport Way, Issaquah Area
Wednesday 8/20/70 22:21:07
Rocky - physical adept
PAN: Hidden

As the van pulled to a stop Rocky picked up his revolver from the bench and moved over to the door. Opening the door he took a quick look around and then stepped out, stretching out to his full height. His body complained a little but he worked past it, like he always had in the past.

He slipped the pistol, which was starting to feel a little more comfortable after using it to killing two people at less than a meter away, in to it holster at his back.

<<@Team: Don't go too far away from the vehicles or my magic will break down. This isn't a full blown stop, we've got to move fast. Everyone, disguises off and into the back of the van, we'll get rid of them later.>>

Rocky nodded to him self and started pulling of the remains of his disguise, parts of it having been torn away during the fight.

Catching movement out of the corner of his eye he turned to see Cattie moving toward Sledge where she was barely holding here huge hog up. As he approached Fort and Cerberus approached as well. He got close enough to catch some of what Fort was saying.

"Sledge, we don't have the time to patch you up right now. Can you still drive?"

Not waiting for Sledge to reply Rocky added his thoughts to the conversation. "Hey, I'm pretty sure Cerberus or I can drive the bike and the other can work on Sledge in the van so we can keep this show on the road."

Highway to Hell, south of I-90
Wednesday 8/20/70 22:21:17
Sledge - Breaking Away
PAN - Hidden

"Sledge, we don't have the time to patch you up right now. Can you still drive?"

!@#$%^&*())(*&%$

"Hey, I'm pretty sure Cerberus or I can drive the bike and the other can work on Sledge in the van so we can keep this show on the road."

!@#$%^&*())(*&%$

Ribs shifted, something oozed out of her chest and tickled as it streamed down her side. The horizon on the ARO stayed rock steady despite all the disctractions.

It was too late now, she was committed. Monica was just going to have to deal with it. The secondary ARO countdown timer she had been transmitting to the team flickered and reset to zero, then faded out, with only 20 minutes remaining. Freedom, trust, safety and independence, and maybe her life, not easy things to give up, but otherwise she couldn't live, not and be herself. Her littermate would ask who she was doing this for, thinking it was about the Crew. That was Monica always thinking it was about someone else and what someone else wanted or needed. The Crew was raw, management was a college kid, the vet was a burn out, the Talent was untested , and a typical pair of mindless trogs to round it out, the job sucked, the plan didn't even exist, things were rolling faster then they could handle, and she was going to have to wash all the blood out of her leather seat. Sledge couldn't live any other way.

"Still bleeding, can drive."

!@#$%^&*())(*&%$

"no names ..."

!@#$%^&*())(*&%$

With a vicious tug and grimace accompanied by a silent snarl she ripped out the padding from her disguise and placed it on the scorpions tank for someone to get rid of.

!@#$%^&*())(*&%$

"shirt ..."

Parking Garage, Newport Way, Issaquah Area
Wednesday 8/20/70 22:21:25
Cerberus - Street Samurai
PAN - Hidden

Cerberus was still amped up even after having taken time to patch up the others carefully. While people started planning what to do next he listened and watched out the front window as they turned off the freeway and went a few blocks and then went into a tall parking garage. He didnt think this was such a good idea as there would doubtlessly be tons of security camera's all over the place but he wasnt in charge and they didnt really have time to be picky.

Angel had hopped out of the van and Rocky was climbing out the back so Cerberus followed with his medkit in tow and stretched out to his full height and more as he stretched his arms up into the air as much as he could. He then started walking towards Sledge concerned for how badly she was injured and to help get her back to the van if need be.

<<@Team: Don't go too far away from the vehicles or my magic will break down. This isn't a full blown stop, we've got to move fast. Everyone, disguises off and into the back of the van, we'll get rid of them later.>>

Fortunately Cerberus had already stripped off most of his disguise while he was fixing himself up. His mask was still on though so after looking around nervously for camera's or people he pulled it free and tossed it into the back of the van pretty accurately. Fortunato was walking toward everyone at this point having also vacated the van. He held a hand up to Cerberus as he got closer, and spoke again.

"Johnson, I need you back on your bike. We're rolling soon. Send us a message about getting paid and pick a good, secure rendezvous point."

"Cerberus, stay here for a second, keep everyone else where they are."

More gently, he said:

"Sledge, we don't have the time to patch you up right now. Can you still drive?"

Then Rocky added his thoughts:

"Hey, I'm pretty sure Cerberus or I can drive the bike and the other can work on Sledge in the van so we can keep this show on the road."

Cerberus just stood there and let the others figure out what to do. It didnt matter to him whether he drove Sledge's bike or helped try to fix her up in the van. It would probably feel heavenly to ride a bike about now though. It was very calming to get on a bike and just go, everything else in the world just seemed to disappear and he could definately go for some of that. Was he always going to have this sense of dred worrying about whether or not something he had done in the past was going to catch up with him? So far everything he had experienced said not only should he worry about it, it will probably happen to.

Sledge looked like shit and she still wanted to go on?? Cerberus was amazed. Shrugging he grabbed the pieces of her disguise from her bike. He would have offered her his shirt but he didnt have one on either. He walked back to the van and tossed the garbage into the van and put the medkit back and then walked back to Fortunato and waited for him to say what he wanted Cerberus to do.

Parking Garage, Newport Way, Issaquah Area
Wednesday 8/20/70 22:21:30
Smith - Johnson
PAN - Hidden

Despite being caught off-guard by Fortunato's sudden take-charge attitude, Smith was glad he wasn't the only one still worried about the mission being far from over. With one last appologetic glance at Sledge, he headed back to his bike.

<<@Team:: "Alright, good luck. Head towards....">> Something Sledge had said gave him another idea.Smith paused for a minute, reconsidering what he was about to say, then he resumed in a much more obfuscated manner, <<@Team:: "Rendezvous where I last offered to settle our tab.">>

The extra caution was probably unnecessary. Still, on the off-chance that the security team or Lone Star had infiltrated their network, it was best to change the route, and to not say out loud where it was they were headed. Smith was fairly certain they could figure out where he wanted them to go. If not, once he had established that the coast was clear, he could always remind them.

He also rather liked the idea of finishing buisness where he had begun it - and it seemed like the cloak-and-dagger sort of thing that Runner movies were full of.

With that, he pulled his bike around and headed out of the structure - no longer following the Love Machine - and not even heading in remotely the right direction.

Parking Garage, Newport Way, Issaquah Area
Wednesday 8/20/70 22:21:07
Rocky - physical adept
PAN: Hidden

Since things seemed to be under control and his help was not needed Rocky made his way to the van, adding the remains of his disguise to the pile on the of the van. Then he pulled out his duffel bag that he had be living out of for what seemed like a year but was only a couple weeks and pulled out a shirt. Throwing it over his shoulder he closed the bag up and slipped it back in to it spot out of the way.

He trotted over to the ork and handed her the shirt, "Here you go. Need anything else?"

Parking Garage, Newport Way, Issaquah Area
Wednesday 8/20/70 22:21:13
Sledge - Breaking Up
PAN - Hidden

"andy..."

She shook her head ground her teeth as she slipped on the shirt over the coagulating blood.

"never mind ... we need a hole ... my ticket ... no good .... missed bus ..."

Sledge shut her eyes and concentrated holding her breathe.

<<@team:: Can tour the coffins if close the loophole Louie used to track Angel, otherwise need another safehouse for a day till Sugar Lips checks the streets. If we are clean we can split up and never see each other again. Normally we split up right now, but planned hidey hole just went over the border and most of us are fresh meat and don't have holes to hide in so we need to cover each others backs for a bit.

Keep rolling till we find out the word on the street or we find a hidey hole.>>

"@(*&#&!@!!%$#%"

Her legs were on fire as hammer blows punched her in the chest, she bit her teeth together over her shredded tongue and sucked in another agonizing lungful of air.

Parking Garage, Newport Way, Issaquah Area
Wednesday 8/20/70 22:21:16
Fortunato - Support Mage
PAN - Hidden (Contacts, Earbuds, Smartlink)
Astrally Inactive

Fortunato immediately worried about Johnson skipping out on his bill. These people were criminals after all. He dismissed his watchers and summoned a fresh batch of them, one for Sledge, one for Johnson and one for the van.

The conversation evolved around him as he started tugging on the mana in the area, peeling sheets of it and molding them into disguises.

Sledge was first. They couldn't have a bleeding ork woman on a hog. A few moments later she was a korean motorcyclist. Looking more like she was a programmer out for a joyride than a professional criminal.

The love machine was next. It turned into a black panel van without any graffiti, bullet holes or armor plating making it stand out.

Johnson was still somehow uninjured and non-descript. Fortunato was surprised.

His signatures were blurry and faded, they blended into the background in a way that they normally would not have. He found he got a headache trying to focus on them. Odd behavior aside, they still needed to be cleaned and he pulled them apart, with more ease than expected.

Breathing heavily he looked at his handiwork. He was fooled; it was time to see if everyone else was.

<<@Team: Alright, magical disguises up on Love Machine and Sledge. Check them out, let me know if you see through them. We need to start moving. Once we're on the street I'll ditch the spirit concealment.>>

He looked at Sledge. "Your call letting one of the big guys ride your bike. But you're right, we need to start moving now."

He climbed back into the passenger's seat and then started thinking again.

<<@Team: Did anyone leave blood at the firefight? If you did, then you need to get behind a ward in the next few hours. They can track us otherwise.>>

Parking Garage, Newport Way, Issaquah Area
Wednesday 8/20/70 22:21:19
Rocky - physical adept
PAN: Hidden

Rocky was walking back to the van as the message came across from Fort, and had to struggle to not laugh out loud.

<<@Team: Did anyone leave blood at the firefight? If you did, then you need to get behind a ward in the next few hours. They can track us otherwise.>>

Once he had fought down the impulse to laugh he responded. <<@Team: I'm sure my blood is all over the ground in a few places and the top of that SUV I landed on. So I guess I'm sticking with you for a while.>>

As he finished the message Rocky climbed back in the van and waited for the show to once again get on the road.

Parking Garage, Newport Way, Issaquah Area
Wednesday 8/20/70 22:22:10
Cerberus - Street Samurai
PAN- Hidden

Cerberus watched Fortunato wave his arms around and then once he was done and directed by Fortunato to look at the van he was supprised to see that it looked totally different than what it had a few seconds ago.

Keeping up with Rocky and Fort he walked back to the van and climbed back into his spot in the rear and closed the doors. As he cleaned up the crap from the disguises and piled it all up in a corner Fort came back over the comm's, <<@Team: Did anyone leave blood at the firefight? If you did, then you need to get behind a ward in the next few hours. They can track us otherwise.>>.

Then Rocky answered, <<@Team: I'm sure my blood is all over the ground in a few places and the top of that SUV I landed on. So I guess I'm sticking with you for a while.>>

Cerberus followed suit, <<@Team: Uhh I get hit several times but im not really sure if i left any blood, better safe than sorry in my opinion.>> Then cerberus switched channels and sent a message to Angel, <<@Angel: Hey are you done with your hacking stuff? I could use your help. I want to know what is the status of my apartment, did the cops take everything? Most importantly what about my bike? And do you know how to trasfer money off of criminal SINS or something or is the money in my bank account gone/locked up forever?>>

Parking Garage, Newport Way, Issaquah Area
Wednesday 8/20/70 22:21:13
Sledge - Bloody and Broken
PAN - Hidden

<<@team:: about 2 units ... space for ward?>>

She registered the engine starting through the vibration in her skull, and breathing in shallow gasps started the scorpion rolling downhill.

damned trogs treat bullets like hail ...

Parking Garage, Newport Way, Issaquah Area
Wednesday 8/20/70 22:23:21
Caittie - Technomancer - Hidden
PAN - Hidden

The van drove out of the parking garage's gates just as easily as it had gotten in. Caittie almost shook her head at the unmaintained programing the node was using. Course she guessed the operators of the garage never expected someone like her to ever want or need to hack the gates to get in. Still, it was just another thing on the long list of illegal activities she performed this neverending day.

Looking into the sideview mirror, the elven girl, now demasked and with hair in a relaxed ponytail, could see an asian woman following the van out the gates on Sledge's bike. It seemed a bit odd to see a prim and upperclass buisness woman riding where the bloody and dirty down to earth ork was just a few minutes ago. Truthfully, it amazed the younger female that Sledge was even able to ride the bike, let alone be upright.
It was only the slight confusion of having Johnson and Fort giving orders at the same time that kept Caittie from jumping in to try and help the older woman. All things considered, though, it was probably better that she did just go back to the van with just a concerned look.

Then there was the barrage of spam sent across the team's network that she had to sort through. 'Security in the garage, done... at least done enough', she guessed. Then the message from Johnson about where to meet. That had a big questionmark above the girl's head for a second before she remembered the truck stop they met up at before the chaos mission started... if she didnt consider this entire couple of days an elaberate mission of chaotic disaster.

<<Hey are you done with your hacking stuff? I could use your help. I want to know what is the status of my apartment, did the cops take everything? Most importantly what about my bike? And do you know how to trasfer money off of criminal SINS or something or is the money in my bank account gone/locked up forever?>>

The message blobed itself into a transparent window hanging in the technomancer's AR field of view, half blocking the view of Asian Sledge breaking off from the van. Letting out a mental sigh, Caittie brushed an errant pink hair from out infront of her face. "I'll look into it later, but for now I'd guess you should just count everything as a loss.", she sent back mentally. "Right now we need to get to where we are going and figure out what to do next..."
The only thing keeping the four of them from the meeting point was a long stretch of road and maybe all of LoneStar... With another sigh, Caittie started on the one of the two she could work on, transversing the roads to get to the once visited truck stop without drawing too much attention...

Truck stop on Snohomish Monroe Highway
Wednesday 8/20/70 23:54:54

The caravan of exhausted would-be shadowrunners pulled into the truck stop a hair before the witching hour. Sledge had stayed in view of the Love Machine the whole way, and Johnson had pulled alongside her from another branch of Interstate 9 just a few klicks shy of their destination.

There was a huge United Oil filling station for the big rigs that hauled produce south into the city from the collection centers that served the surrounding agri-concerns. A smaller bank of rechargers for electric cars.

The diner was well-lit - inside the place looked over half-full with truckers and wait staff. A McHughs franchise was attached to one end of the more traditional sit-down facilities, and a Stuffer Shack was on the other side. Plastiboard signs and AROs directed truckers to facilities out back for showers or a few hours in a real bed. A wash of light and sounds from a boom box spilled out from behind a dumpster, the shrill giggles and agitated shrieks of worn-out women sounding like jungle birds but reminding everyone that the beds need not be slept in alone.

Truck stop on Snohomish Monroe Highway
Wednesday 8/20/70 23:56:14
Smith - Johnson
PAN - Hidden

Smith got off of his bike and rolled his head around, stretching out his neck and shoulders, before removing his helmet. Hooking it onto the back of his bike, he began working the restraints on his briefcases.

<<@Team:: "Glad to see that everyone made it. Money's getting cold, but let's do the medic-thing first.">> He glanced in the direction of the restaurants, and added, <<@Team:: "You guys have anywhere to go tonight?">>

Truck stop on Snohomish Monroe Highway
Wednesday 8/20/70 23:56:23
Cerberus - Street Samurai
PAN - Hidden

Cerberus didnt wait for anyone else to answer, <<@team: As of now I am homeless and my SIN is either wanted or criminal. Fortunato also said it would be a good idea if we all went someplace that could be warded...I sure as hell dont want to become no shedim or something like that...

Hey Boss what would you like done with all the hardware? Should we leave it in the van or pack it up? >>

Looking out of the front window of the van at all the resteraunts Cerberus's stomach began to grumble. He was going to have to start bringing energy bars and shit to work so he could keep his body fed. It takes alot of fuel to run his giant muscles. He started having flash backs of hanging out with his friends from doc wagon and how they would make fun of how much he could eat but he did his best to stop thinking of them. Now was not the time to grieve. Loui may be dead but they didnt know whether or not they were in the clear.

Truck stop on Snohomish Monroe Highway
Wednesday 8/20/70 23:57:48
Smith - Johnson
PAN - Hidden

<<@Team:: "That van is a vault compared to anywhere else you'd be going. So, take whatever you want for personal protection - but anything you wouldn't want to be seen with should probably stay there.">> Smith made his way over towards Sledge to assist with anything. He assumed the plan was to load her into the van and operate there - but maybe the team would need more room. He didn't like the idea of smearing their DNA anywhere where it wasn't already thick, but it wouldn't hurt to offer. <<@Team:: "I could probably score some rooms here for a couple of days if you guys want to stay while things blow over. Otherwise, after we patch everyone up and get squared away, you can look for someplace more secure.">>

Truck stop on Snohomish Monroe Highway
Wednesday 8/20/70 23:58:02
Rocky - physical adept
PAN: Hidden

The ride out to the truck stop had given Rocky some time to relax and reflect on the evenings events. He had even started to doze off some as the van came to a stop.

He popped the back door as Cerberus was asking about storage and stuff, just to get some fresh air in to the back of the van. When it looked like they were getting out he pushed the door the rest of the way open and climbed out, once again stretching out after being in the van for another 90 minutes. Looking around things seemed quite, at least for the moment. Then he reached back in a grabbed what appeared to be left of his worldly possessions that were in the duffel bag he had been carrying around the last few days.

Johnson started talking about options for what to do next and the possibility of staying here. At this point Rocky didn't really care where they stayed as long as it was safe, if anything was really going to be safe anymore and allow the mage to do his ward thing.

<<@Team: I'm good with staying here or where ever, just as long as the magic man can do his thing to keep us under wraps. But a shower and some food would be great so I'm not walking around covered in blood with my stomach growling and scaring people.>>

Rocky smiled to himself at his little joke and was glad he had remembered to not use names on the comm.

Truck stop on Snohomish Monroe Highway
Wednesday 8/20/70 23:58:02
Fortunato - Support Mage
PAN: Hidden

Exhausted, Fortunato climbed out of the passenger side door of the van. Much of the team had been napping on the trip back from the parking garage. Focusing on the masks had prevented Fortunato from joining them. He was past the zone where he desired to sleep and was running on a ragged razor's edge of adrenaline and deprivation. He was perfectly aware that if he stopped focusing for a second he was liable to crash, but staying awake for just an hour more would make him that much safer.

He was overjoyed that Johnson had actually come to the rendezvous. Chasing him wouldn't have been fun. He was not pleased that Johnson's rendezvous was in public. He was pleased that they were parked in the darkest backwater of an already poorly lit parking lot.

He walked to Sledge's bike and offered an arm to support the inexplicably sagging Korean. Her concealed weight nearly crushed Greg as she eased off the bike which reverted to a bloody hog as she got off. Grunting, he did his best to carry her to the van, but wound up being more of a crutch than actual help.

He let her illusion slip out of his consciousness as she sat down in the back of the Love Machine. Glancing around he spoke aloud, "Anyone good at doing the medic thing?"

He stretched his hands. The manaburnt skin on his right one shifted around painfully, but he had at least one more spell to cast before the day was out. He focused on the flow of healing energy in the area and started to massage it, his hands glowing a faint green in the process.

Truck stop on Snohomish Monroe Highway
Thursday 8/21/70 00:02:47
Caittie – Technomancer – Hidden
PAN – Hidden

The red and pink haired matrix specialist stretched out her rested body. The long drive allowed her to relax for a bit and just empty her mind. The ride smooth taken care of by the van’s dog brain. The last bit of the ride, though, was taken up with thoughts about what Caittie needed to do after the team arrived at its destination.
Even as the van pulled up into the far reaches of the dark parking lot and rolled to a stop, the young technomancer was working. Out of the fabric of the matrix, she called a machine sprite to help make sure she would be able to complete her self-assigned task. “I need to you help me out by making sure this works properly. Can you do that?�, she asked it while mentally indicating the device, to which it replied in the affirmative.

As she felt the van finally stop, the girl retied her hair into a makeshift bun on her head to keep it out of the way before moving to the back of the van. Looking at the two trolls, she asked, “Can you two help Sledge get in here? The way she looked before, I think she’d need the help.�
The two fighters just looked from the girl to each other to have a moment of question. With a shrug, they went outside as she heard the passenger side door close as Fortunato did the same, though of his own accord. As everyone left the van, leaving Caittie to herself temporarily, she took advantage of the silence to gather her thoughts and put on some latex gloves from the medkit.
She barely had time to finish putting her gloves on before she saw Fortunato struggling to help Sledge into the back of the van. Looking past the mage, Caittie could see Rocky and Cerberus locked in conversation with Johnson. Her attention was immediately brought back to the more important issue at hand as the older male elf asked, “Anyone good at doing the medic thing?�
“I’m already on it. I just need you to keep yourself and the rest of the guys outside for a bit.�, the youngest member of the team replied as she closed the door of the van. Before fully closing it, she added, “Let Sledge have some privacy. She’s still a woman.�

Within the privacy of the closed and tinted van, Caittie helped the elder woman take off her cloths until the girl could see the source of the bleeding. It looked to be a pair of holes, one in front and one in back of Sledge’s muscled stomach. The girl cringed a bit at the sight due to the implications of the extent of damage there could be, but made sure to do it behind the ork’s back.
“Give me a minute to let the diagnostics run. It will help out with any treatment.�, she explained as the elf put the electrodes over the indicated spots for a stomach injury. While the medkit did it’s initial check, Caittie continued working by rubbing iodine around the punctures to reduce the chance of infection. By the time she was finished, she could see the readout from the medkit.
Looking at it for a few seconds, she understood she couldn’t make out half of what the jargon meant, but the most important information was clear. “Wow… looks like you’re pretty lucky, Sledge. This says it passed through without hitting anything. Other than the holes it left, and some blood loss, your fine.�, Caittie said to the wounded woman. The look she got back was one of pain and something else which made the girl continue with, “Um… right. Here’s some painkillers to help with that while I sew you up.“ With that, she injected the ork with a syringe of painblockers from the medkit and went to work with a needle and medical thread.

Truck stop on Snohomish Monroe Highway
Thursday 8/21/70 00:05:15
Smith - Johnson
PAN - Hidden

After being locked outside of the van with the other males, Smith smirked and began nonchalantly walking towards the back where the signs indicated rooms could be found. <<@Team:: "Alright, if I am not needed here, I'm gonna go talk to someone about a couple of rooms for the night. Any objections? Speak up sooner rather than later.">>

Truck Stop in Snohomish, Monroe Highway
Thursday 8/21/70 00:6:02
Fortunato - Support Mage
PAN - Hidden (Contacts, Earbuds, Smartlink)
Astrally Inactive

It was getting impossible to focus, between the mana coursing through his hands, the AR overlay of the conversation, the buzzing in his sleep deprived skull and the attention paid the van's mask. After performing a cursory check to ensure that no bystanders were nearby, he dropped the van's mask.

Glancing over at Smith he said "I think we can find a better safehouse than this, but I'm ready to settle for it if we can get rooms. I've only got the juice to ward one room before I fall asleep standing up, so we ought to put the bleeders in there."

"We've also got to decide what to do with the Love Machine, I can't keep it concealed forever and we've ..."

He was interrupted by the van's door cracking open and Caittie poking her head out. She said, "I've done everything I can."

He felt energy whirling around his hands as he walked to the door. He was surprised she had the stomach for first aid and even more surprised that Sledge had a row of neat stitches which would make trauma surgeons envious. Casting a sidelong glance at Caittie he asked "Where the hell did you learn to do first aid like that?"

Not waiting for the younger elf's answer, he slowly ran his hands across Sledge's wounds, redirecting her flesh so that the flow of mana across her skin was unperturbed. The van's interior glowed green while he worked and his face was cast in an eerie half shadow. Her skin was well sealed before he started, it was an easy healing job. Again, he was silently awestruck by Caittie's skill.

Beating a hasty retreat from Sledge's glare and Caittie's self proclaimed women's quarters he grasped at the rapidly dissipating astral echo of the van's mask and reapplied it. It was a shoddy hack, but it would serve for now.

He ignored the conversation and stared into space to clean his signatures.

Truck stop on Snohomish Monroe Highway
Thursday 8/21/70 00:06:26
Caittie – Technomancer – Hidden
PAN – Hidden

As Fortunato performed his magical feat of further healing on Sledge, the girl on the other side of the van let a sleep derived yawn escape before rubbing her eyes. ‘I’ve got to keep my mind busy or I’m going to fall asleep on my feet…’, she confided to herself as she let her hair back down. In an act to keep herself busy, she proceeded to braid it into a long three strand braid; finishing long before the mage was done with his activity.

Breathing out a slight sigh, Caittie set her mind on a more mental task, though menial. Her persona jumped from commlink to commlink inside the team’s network, at least the ones she had access to, and scrambled the commcode of each one to keep the matrix tracking of any one of them down. It took a bit of time just using her AR to do, but it allowed Fort time to finish his task as well.
As the green glow faded, the elder elf seemed to run his hand over the spot where there were stitches before, but now nothing but lighter colored skin than the surrounding area. He seemed to nod to himself, but stiffened some as he looked up from Sledge’s naked stomach to her face. The glare she seemed to have since Caittie first saw her at the parking garage was still strong as ever, only this time it was directed at the male elf in front of her.

The red haired girl was just glad she was able to suppress the giggles she knew were coming, from the look Fort had, long enough for him to vacate the van. Though, Caittie had to cough them down quickly as Sledge now had only one target to focus on now. After a quick cough, the girl stood and started to pull off the armored jacket she was wearing, “Um… here. This thing is huge on me and I think it should fit you fine. At least it’s clean and you can wear it inside where you can get some new cloths.� At this point she afforded herself a small smile towards the ork, “I doubt you want to walk in just wearing your bra…�