Saturday March 1st, 2070; 23:38:39; Max Club, North 30th Street, Tacoma District

The blond smiles for a moment, a practiced motion. Either she wasn't paying attention to the actual words, or didn't understand. Once he speaks to the other woman, they both understand his intent and pull back in shock. The dark woman stutters, "I.. um... that's not on the menu here."

Saturday March 1st, 2070; 23:38:41; Max Club, North 30th Street, Tacoma District

"I had been told the club catered to every taste, apparently they were mistaken. My apologies for wasting your time."

Rising up from the seat, Carter nods to each woman. They had done their job and it was not their fault that he pushed the edge of what is talked about in an establishment like this. With one last surveying glance at the two women, Carter memorizes the face of the man sitting behind them in the booth.

When he hits the street, he walks down the length of the building and leans against the wall.

[@Team [Carter] Check the building for back doors. Those enforcers were going somewhere in a hurry and it was likely in search of our man.]

Saturday March 1st, 2070; 23:38:41; Max Club, North 30th Street, Tacoma District

<@Carter [Jake] Fly is on the way.>

Saturday March 1st, 2070; 23:40; Max Club, North 30th Street, Tacoma District

@Carter
Carter makes his way out of the club and down the street. He is fairly confident that he is not being pursued or followed. This time of night, the streets are fairly deserted of foot traffic and the rating of the neighborhood does provide for reasonable street light.

@Jake
Jake had hustled out of the bar, out of the various smells (perfumes, sweat, smoke, food & and drink..) and into the street and the smells of the city and the smell of the bay gently blowing in. Jake's fly follows the pair of bruisers through the bar and into the alley. There, a car is awaiting them with another pair already in the vehicle.

@Rex & Tigger
The video feed from Jake's drone tells you that the team may be ramping up for some action.

@Whisper
As the spell begins to take form, your magic begins to extend spidery tentacles of your consciousness into the astral seeking Spencer.

Saturday March 1st, 2070; 23:40; Max Club, North 30th Street, Tacoma District

Jake immediately opens group channel for everyone to see, zooming first on the licence plates and then on the crew inside, taking screenshots of each of them.
"@Carter [Jake]: I can trail them from distance. Can you handle bar on your own or do you want me to wait for you?"

finally something to do beside sit here. So who are these guys an whats the plan?

Saturday March 1st, 2070; 23:40; Max Club, North 30th Street, Tacoma District

To Rex: "Apparently, they are Russians seeking Spencer. As for the plan, I just tagged them and we are going to find out where they are heading."

Saturday March 1st, 2070; 23:43; North 30th Street, Tacoma District

Jake's fly-spy lands on the rear window of car just as it begins moving forward. The car exits the alley and circles around the block heading directly for the van. For several minutes the team is tense as it seems they have been found out, but as the car passes and heads south the team breaths a collective sigh of relief.

Jake & Carter have both make it to the van moments later. With the signal strength of the drones at a rating of two, Carter will need to keep within a hundred meters to keep from losing signal.

@Jake

Saturday March 1st, 2070; 24:32; 45th Ave E, Loveland, Puyallup District

Nearly an hour later the team finds themselves back where the excitement of the evening started. Back at Spencer's apartment building. Jake was able to successfully shadow the Russian gangsters through the Tacoma District, down the highway into the Puyallup District and into Loveland.

The car slowly rolls slowly into the neighborhood. The parking lot is empty of teens and thugs this time and mostly dark. At this point, Jake's van is a block away.

Saturday March 1st, 2070; 24:32; 45th Ave E, Loveland, Puyallup District

For a moment Jake contemplates simply driving the van over the goons once they exit the car, but then he remembers that it would be rather messy, not to mention all the germs that would gather on his precious vehicle. Slowing down, he looks at the others.
"What now?"
[@Whisper{Jake}: How are you progressing?]

Saturday March 1st, 2070; 24:32; 45th Ave E, Loveland, Puyallup District

There is no reply from Whisper, but at this point she is still expected to be deep in her magic till nearly 5am. Tigger however has a stupid grin on his face and you realize he is drugged out of his mind. Carter says, "We can hang on them for a while just watching to see what they do... We can engage them and see if they know more, which I doubt... Or perhaps one of you guys have a third option..?"

Saturday March 1st, 2070; 24:32; 45th Ave E, Loveland, Puyallup District

"Well, they are going to see bullet holes and crashed window in Spencers apartment. They are sure to report that. On the other hand, if we clash with them that would be the second russian team missing. In either case they'll figure out that other parties are looking for Spencer too. I say we just wait to see what they do. I can send a fly to spy on them andw e can always corner them with my van once they get out. Unless they are eager to become mushy bloodstain on the concrete."

Sunday March 2nd, 2070; 01:00; 45th Ave E, Loveland, Puyallup District

The team sits about a block away watching the Russians via Jake's trio of fly-spies. Two of the Russians immediately went inside while two stayed with the car. After finding the scene inside the apartment the two returned to the car where the four discussed the situation for several minutes.

The foursome climbed back into the car and waited for some time. Eventually, two of them emerged again and walked up the block. There they walked right into a trio of youths, grabbing one. The other two expressed their displeasure and got a beat down for opening their mouths. The duo is now in progress of escorting the youth back to the car, presumably for further conversation.

Sunday March 2nd, 2070; 01:00; 45th Ave E, Loveland, Puyallup District

Now fully transfering his conscinues into the fly jake navigates near the gorillas, keeping the drone out of visual range (near their feet) and will try to listen to the conversation.

Sunday March 2nd, 2070; 01:02; 45th Ave E, Loveland, Puyallup District

Jake's drone is able to move around in the darkness, the goons oblivious of its presence. They get the punk over to the car where they do begin their interrogation. "V'where's Spencer? V'what about our comrade?"

His replies are pretty much as expected. "I don't know. Who?" A few solid blows to the abdomen later his responses are the same, if not now accompanied by a few gasps and a lot less breath.

"Running outa chances boy." One of them produces a knife and begins waving it in his face.

"Listen, Spencer ain't been here all night. There was some kinda freak on the roof. He jumped from roof top to roof top, run-" Another shot to the stomach ends his tale.

"You need to be telling us something that gives us reason to keep you alive..."

Sunday March 2nd, 2070; 01:02; 45th Ave E, Loveland, Puyallup District

Jake continues to listen to the conversation, though it seems to him that they are wasting time here...
"Carter, Rex, what can you do to slow these guys down? Permanently if possible."

Sunday March 2nd, 2070; 01:02; 45th Ave E, Loveland, Puyallup District

Rex pats the battle ax, "I can make one hell of a sloppy mess... Just say the word and I'll slip in and start chopping trees." His enthusiasm is either unsettling.. or addictive, depending upon your perspective.

Sunday March 2nd, 2070; 01:02; 45th Ave E, Loveland, Puyallup District

"Beyond critiquing their interrogation techniques, my permanent options fall in line with Rex. If one of you has a rifle, I can distract them for a second or two to get them out of the car."

Pulling out the pack where he put his armor before entering the club, Carter begins to re-gear.

Sunday March 2nd, 2070; 01:02; 45th Ave E, Loveland, Puyallup District

"I can deploy my drones. Carter, get into position and do your magic on my signal. I want to hear a bit more about what are they going to ask guys in the car."

Sunday March 2nd, 2070; 01:02; 45th Ave E, Loveland, Puyallup District

Rex reaches under his feet and pulls out his AK-97, the stock currently folded. He then pulls out two magazines, "Gel or hard ball?"

Sunday March 2nd, 2070; 01:02; 45th Ave E, Loveland, Puyallup District

"Whichever attracts less attention. Not that we won't cause some..."

Sunday March 2nd, 2070; 01:03; 45th Ave E, Loveland, Puyallup District

"Six of one... Half dozen of another.." He snorts, "I'm thinking we don't want any eye-witnesses." He slaps in a clip, dropping the other back into the pack. He passes the weapon to Carter and looks back to Jake. "Ok, its about a block and a half. I imagine we're hoofing it into splatting range?"

Sunday March 2nd, 2070; 01:03; 45th Ave E, Loveland, Puyallup District

"I'm ready. Hold on to the rifle Rex. I'll get their attention, if you can put a few rounds into the wheels to keep them from leaving. When you target people, aim for kneecaps."

Stepping out of the van, he checks the ammo count and deactivates the safety on his Savalette. Carter slides the pistol into his back holster. With a nod to the others, he begins walking towards the Russians.

Sunday March 2nd, 2070; 01:03; 45th Ave E, Loveland, Puyallup District

Jake deploys his drones and waits for Carters signal.

Sunday March 2nd, 2070; 01:04; 45th Ave E, Loveland, Puyallup District

Rex simply smiles before heading out. To the relief of the team, Rex does appear to be reasonably skilled at moving stealthfully. He crosses the block through the yards and between the apartment buildings closing in on his objective. He stops some 30m from the car and takes up a position.

Meanwhile at the car, the thugs have passed the point of getting any information from the punk. He appears to have answered all of what he knows -which is next to nothing- about the Russians the team dealt with earlier. The foursome are now just beating him for good measure and cursing at him in Russian.

Sunday March 2nd, 2070; 01:04; 45th Ave E, Loveland, Puyallup District

With an effort to keep his features covered by the shadows of the alleyway, Carter approaches the scene. The Vory are vicious brutes, watching their "interrogation" techniques just drives the point home. Likely the teenager would bleed out on the pavement, or if he was lucky he'd be able to crawl back to his friends before dying on a streetdoc's table.

"ДрузьÑ?, ждут момент. I'd like to talk to him while he still has teeth. After I'm done, you can finish."

Careful to not block Rex's line of fire, Carter stops about ten meters from the Russians and their chewtoy of a streetrat.

"I need to find a man named Spencer, he owes my boss some information. Last I heard, he lived around here though it seems the rat skipped town."

Sunday March 2nd, 2070; 01:04; 45th Ave E, Loveland, Puyallup District

Carter realizes they noticed his approach, they didn't seem to expect his dialog however. One of them occupies himself holding up the unfortunate youth while a second levels a very large Russian made hand cannon. A third slowly pulls out his own pistol. The one doing the majority of the verbal portion of the interrogation addresses Carter.

"ДрузьÑ??" He looks hard for a moment, but they decide to parley with Carter. "цена приÑ?тельÑ?тва выÑ?ока. Who is your boss?"

Rex pipes in over coms.
<<@Team [Rex] Just cough and I start taking heads.>>

Sunday March 2nd, 2070; 01:04; 45th Ave E, Loveland, Puyallup District

Meanwhile, Jake will submerege his concinuess into one of the drones and try to obtain as good aim as he can on one of the Russians-preferably, one that is holding the weapon.

Sunday March 2nd, 2070; 01:05; 45th Ave E, Loveland, Puyallup District

"Hopefully, the price is not too high. My boss goes by the name of Mr. Johnson. If Spencer isn't here, can you tell me when the last time you gentlemen saw him? I'll pay you for the information and we part friends."

He had faced down thugs before, there was a razor's edge of sureness without arrogance that he had to walk. Unsure and they kill you as prey. Arrogant and they kill you to show they are just as big as you are. Hopefully, Carter is still balancing.

Sunday March 2nd, 2070; 01:06; 45th Ave E, Loveland, Puyallup District

The apparent leader of the group seems almost pained as he takes a moment to analyze Carter's statement. Eventually, he motions guns down to the others and takes a step forward. He takes a few more moments to scan the darkness behind Carter, the opposite direction of Rex. Once he finally seems satisfied, he speaks. "Tell me vhat he owes your boss and once ve deal vith Spencer, ve'll sell it to you."

Sunday March 2nd, 2070; 01:06; 45th Ave E, Loveland, Puyallup District

"My boss needs to know whether he has skipped town first, and if he's still in town a few passwords for accounts."

Carter looks at the thugs and dying teenager before turning back to their leader.

"Can you sell me the first part now, and the rest of it after you deal with him?"

Sunday March 2nd, 2070; 01:06:45; 45th Ave E, Loveland, Puyallup District

The Russian snickers and gives Carter a look of righteous indignation, "I give virst for free... Vould ve be here if ve thought he took a powder? He is vith that bitch Yavanna..."

Sunday March 2nd, 2070; 01:07:05; 45th Ave E, Loveland, Puyallup District

"Yavanna? Should I know who that is? If she's not street walking scum like me-I won't know her."

Coughing into his hand, he continues.

"Can we work together to find the bitch?"

As Carter starts to speak after coughing, there is an explosion of blood as the burst fire from Rex's assault rifle takes out the lead speaker. The subsequent burst fire from the pair of dobermans knocks down two others. The one remaining Russian who is standing is the one who is holding the punk. No being totally stupid, he freezes and replies quite energetically "Yes. Yes, I can help you find her.

Sunday March 2nd, 2070; 01:10:05; 45th Ave E, Loveland, Puyallup District

[Jake {@Carter}: Kick the deaders out of the car and drive away with Rex. I'll follow you. We can question him along the way.]
Jake sends mesage to Rex to join Carter and retreats the drones.


Rex heads for the car, pushes the dead bodies away and sits by the remaining Russian grining wickedly. " 'ello meatpie."

Sunday March 2nd, 2070; 01:10:07; 45th Ave E, Loveland, Puyallup District

Stepping forward to the car, Carter stops at the lead Russian. He runs his hands over the body, to find a commlink and any credsticks the man may have. Not wanting to waste time he takes what he can find in the first three seconds and continues over to the car.

"Alright, we're going to take a drive. You'll tell us what we need. You can either end up back with your boss in an hour or at the bottom of a hole so deep in Glow City no one will ever find you."

Sunday March 2nd, 2070; 01:10:07; 45th Ave E, Loveland, Puyallup District

Rex:
"Wha' ? Me don't git to play wit' lil' human? Again?"

Sunday March 2nd, 2070; 01:10:09; 45th Ave E, Loveland, Puyallup District

"Not if he cooperates."

With the Russian's admin codes, Carter backs up all the data from the commlink to his own link. Using a gun from one of the fallen thugs, he puts two rounds into Russian's 'link. Hopefully that would stop data recovery and cover his tracks.

As long as Ricky or one of the boys from the lab don't find it...

Without the link it should also be harder for their lone survivor to sell them out as they drove. Getting into the car, Carter puts it in gear and starts to reverse.

"Out kid. Call your doc, get help, but if you mention anything about us, you'll wish I let them kill you."

Turning the car around, he leaves the alley and begins to put distance between his team and the site of automatic gunfire.

Sunday March 2nd, 2070; 01:11:00; 45th Ave E, Loveland, Puyallup District

The kid hobbles away from the scene, avoiding eye contact. Carter drives the car out onto the cross street with Rex and the single remaining mobster in the back seat while Jake remotely loads his drones into his van and makes ready.

Sunday March 2nd, 2070; 01:11:00; 45th Ave E, Loveland, Puyallup District

Jake will follow after Carter once the drones are loaded and flies are back.
Rex will cast an occasional 'I want to hurt you' look at the mobster and let Carter do what he does best.

Sunday March 2nd, 2070; ~01:13; 45th Ave E, Loveland, Puyallup District

Minutes later the team finds out why the Russians are after Spencer: Yavanna is.... was Vlad's woman. Yesterday, Vlad found out she was warming Spencer's bed as well.

Timing being what it is, Whisper coms in about that time.
<<@Team [Whisper] Hey! You guys still working this job?>>

Sunday March 2nd, 2070; 01:14; 45th Ave E, Loveland, Puyallup District

[Jake [@Whisper]:Yes.What news.]

Sunday March 2nd, 2070; 01:14; 45th Ave E, Loveland, Puyallup District

<<@Team [Whisper] So I, like, decided to take a short cut and cut down the force of the spell. Like you all would know what that means... Anyway. I found him. Spencer. I used a remote viewing spell. He's with a woman, holed up in some seedy motel on the Fort Lewis border-
A GPS ARO pops up at that time.
- I, like, cross referenced the address based upon my observations of street signs and such.>>

The address is ten minutes west and north of where you are now.

Sunday March 2nd, 2070; 01:15; 45th Ave E, Loveland, Puyallup District

<<@Whisper [Carter] Thanks for the update. We should be there in ten. Keep an eye on him until we show up please.>>

Directing his gaze to the Russian via the rear view mirror, Carter asks a question.

"Are you to kill him or just spook him out of Yavanna's bed?"

His answer would change how and when Carter dealt with him.

Sunday March 2nd, 2070; 01:15; 45th Ave E, Loveland, Puyallup District

The russian, crammed against the door next to Rex who is taking up most of the back seat, replies, "I vas tinking dat I am in the wrong line of work. Live and let live, ya? Spencer and Yavanna deserve to be happy..... I hear Veapon's World is hiring door greeters...." He tries tentatively to force a smile, weighing the reaction of his escorts to his reply.

Sunday March 2nd, 2070; 01:15; 45th Ave E, Loveland, Puyallup District

Jake is about to head to motel, but then he thinks better. He will turn the van to auto-drive and deploy roto-drone, making sure they aren't tailed. Better to be on a safe side.

Sunday March 2nd, 2070; 01:15; 45th Ave E, Loveland, Puyallup District

Whisper's call put an end to the usefulness of their hostage.

"Live and let live worked for the kid. Can you abide by the same arrangement?"

Stopping the car along the side of the road, Carter scans the street to make sure there weren't any LoneStar around. Once he is sure that the cops aren't lurking around the corner, he stops the engine.

<<@Jake [Carter] You get two shots, make them count.>>

"Don't come looking for me or mine."

Sunday March 2nd, 2070; 01:15; 45th Ave E, Loveland, Puyallup District

Rex shoots the mobster. He is not trying to be nice with him.

Sunday March 2nd, 2070; 01:16; 45th Ave E, Loveland, Puyallup District

The Russian looks to the duo as Carter stops the car. He tentatively climbs out. After Carter speaks he replies, "No. I am done. I quit this li-" The moment of dawning comes painfully across his face as the rounds from Rex's weapon pierce his body. He clutches his gut as he falls to his knees, the word "Why" forming on his lips but no sound comes out as he passes into unconsciousness. He slumps over, dead or dying.

Sunday March 2nd, 2070; 01:16; 45th Ave E, Loveland, Puyallup District

"As you left the kid, find a doc or die here."

Starting the engine back up and puts the car in gear. Once Rex is back in the back seat, he begins to drive away. Their next destination would be the motel. With luck, their wayward sheep was just hiding out with his girlfriend. If something more sinister was going on...well that was a problem for later.