As the van pulls away, the gunmen open another salvo of fire. The pistol roars out first, than the blast of the shotgun. Rounds connect with the concrete sidewalk and brick buidling behind Sin as he dives. The SMG chews up a line of sidewalk as the shooter tracks the line of fire up the walk, and into Sin's leg. The van peels away, the rest of the gun fire hitting the buidlings around Sin.

SHOT TO HELL SCENE (VERY DRAMATIC)



God damn it...Who the frag was that.......Dante'....

Sin drops to one knee hold his stomach.

No...Its not supposed to be this way.....Sirene.....Im sorry..

Sin's eyes begin to close under the weight. He collapses to the ground, with the thoughts of his late wife, and children run through his mind.

Lucky is going to be pissed...

Sin first hears the quiet sounds of voices. It's cold. Something smells weird.Everything seems to hurt. He tastes salt in his mouth. Nothing feels quite right. His limbs don't respond properly.

......

There's a damn annoying light in his face.

It seems to take forever to open his eyes.

Standing over him is a tall man with black skin. Human... no one familiar. He's wearing a comfortable button up shirt .... dark blue .....he's smiling....

Looks like your patient is coming around Doc. Sin ... pleasure tto meet you. Sorry it couldn't be under better circumstances. My name is Marco, I'm a friend of your friend SnakeSkin, and of your ... other associates.

Marco gives a quick wink. His words seem to echo in Sinn's head. Associates? Huh?

Sinn, let me introduce you to Dr. Tell. The good doctor often helps with some of our people . People that can't go to standard medical facilities for .. various reasons. People such as your self. You were bleeding out Sin. In fact, you'd be dead right now if it wasn't for a very large blood transfusion I managed to have sent your way. You're lucky your budy Skin knew who to call. Hell, lucky I knew your name and was clsoe enough to take care of one of our new Associates. We've got you taken care of for the moment. Here, I'll let you rest. I've got some calls to make, and I'm sure the doctor will want to go over everything with you.

Marco walks off, and is soon replaced by an dwarf man, probably in his fifties. He's wearing a white lab coat, no beard, short cut blond hair with some gray showing, and AR glasses. They look expensive. he might acutally be a real doctor.

Well you're very lucky to be alive today Me .... Sin? My name is Dr Tell, as Marco may have mentioned. I know you're probably still feeling the effects of the morphine and blood loss, so I'll keep this simple for you. I pulled 7 bullets out of your body, and an awful lot of shot. You had three rounds in your left leg, three in your torso, and one in your shoulder. Not to mention all the damage that shotgun did to you. I've managed to stop all of the internal bleeding, and replaced quite a lto of your blood. I was also to take care of your leg enough to be able to safely pass on the cybernetic option. With some care, you should be able to regain full use of it.

Now, I don't know how you handle this sort of thing. My .. arrangement with Mr Marco only covers emergency situations. But I can recommend a good physical therapist. I 'll leave some information for you. You're in a ... street clinic at the moment. I believe your associate is taking care of the bills at this point. Ill be leaving. Do you have any questiosn for me before I go?

Do you have any questions before I go?
The Voice seemed so far away.

Dante'....where is my son...?

I don't know where your son is. Was he with you when you were shot? Only you were brought in.

For the first time, Dr Tell's face takes on a look of concern.

...Give me....my com-link. Now....

Dr Tell hands Sinn the commlink. Remarkably it hasn't been hit. Only a little banged up from the dive.

Sinn cheks his commlink... it's 4 hours later....

he puts through the call to the sitter... nothing happens...

marco enters the room again, smiling a bit to himself.
Soory 'bou that, I forgot to warn you. This place is shielded. this is an underground clinic after all. I can get you a land line if you need. I work under Mr. Spinelli, who was able to get in contact with Mancuso for you. He's made the arrangements for your son. Something about an apartment he'd already arranged. No need to worry about that. I can get you a land line if you need though. It's a little slow, but you can get through.

I want to speak to my son.....then I want to speak to Mancusso....get me through to them

Sin Attempts to sit up, but is quickly subdued by the pain.

Marco hands over a small phone ,an actual phone, with a short antenna. He puts in Mancuso's number ,since only he has the nuber for where Dante is.

The phone rings and connects as he hands it to Sin. Mancuso's face comes up on the AR.
Sin, how are you?

I just got a shotgun blast to the chest Julian. How well could I possibly be. When does this, "Better security" thing start? Thats not what I called for, is Dante' ok?

Your son is in apartment housing that we sometimes use for important associates. We also have his enrollment in a private school taken care of. Both of which will help to ensure his security.

We both know that our line of work is dangerous. I'm sorry aobut this incident. What do you know about the gun men?

Nothing, the cowards stayed in the van. Luckily I was outside instead of in the bar, could've gotten someone else hurt. Let Lucky know where I am. And let Dante know Ill be home shortly. Thanks Julian.
Hangs up the phone and calls SnakeSkin.

Julian's face looks annoyed when he realizes Sin is hanging up.

SnakeSkin comes up on the AR next. He looks suprised and relieved.
Sin! Damn man, you sure you ain't a cat shaman or somethin'!?

Smiles and responds:
Hey Snake. Callin to ask if you got anything on the cowards who shot me from a van. Also, I wanted to say....thanks. You saved my life snake.

yeah, no problem man. But I didn't see anything. I heard shots and stated ducking. Didn't realize you were even involved until we all came out when the car peeled out. Sorry man.

Its alright. We all know I got enemies. Just thought I took care of the worst ones is all. All be by to see you later once me and Lucky have had a chance to discuss our deal, you dig?

After saying goodbye to Snake, Sin hangs up and attempts to get out of bed once more.

Getting out of bed is possible, just extremely painful. Sinn is still swathed in bandages, but the IVshave been disconnected. The salt taste from the saline is still there as well. Marco, tall and thin, is still stading there, leaning against a wall.

I sent you your new address to your commlink, from Mancuso. You sure you're alright to be up and walking around? You look like shit.

Ive had worse....
Sin climbs of bed and begins putting on his clothes, keeping the bandages on. After being dressed and gathering his things, Walks to the door, as he's leaving he says:

And Ive felt like shit for the past 6 months

Finds the door to the exit, gets oustide and to his Hover truck, puts it on auto Pilot. Heads for home

....or whatever you call it.

Gets outside the apartment.

Looks Nice. Sin thinks

Walks inside and follows the address on his com. Gets into the apartment, he doesnt see Dante, but hears the ever familar, Daddy!
Dante runs towards him as Sin Picks him up.

Hey little man! You like our new home?

The "apartment" is mroe like a loft. It's on the top floor of a ten sroty building, that you can actually see the coast form ... in the disctance. It has wide spaces, not a lot of walls, three bdrooms, light gray carpeting... a very nice kitchen space with an island and tile, the kind of place you'd expect an executive to live in.

It's great Daddy! We get all the channels!

The AR is currently on, showing Disney cartoons 10 feet tall. Thank Ghede for high ceilings.

All the channels you say? Well, you've been here longer than me, why dont you give me a tour, huh?

For the first time that week, Sin smiled, and it was real. Dante seems to be the only one who can do that.

The ifrst thing he shows Sin is the trideo. It's everything he promised and more, and really does have all the channels, even the PPV. The kitchen has an excellent auto chef and a large refrigerator, as well as a number of local restaurants that deliver on speed dial. The couches and chairs vibrate and heat up. So does the bed. The bathroom has a tub large enough to accomodate thre, as well as the nubmers for a few loca lescort services programmed in.

Take the number for the escort service and toss's them into the garbage. After playing with Dante' and watching the trideo with him until he falls asleep he lays Dante' down in his bed.

Hittin the sack early tonight, eh little man?

Better call Julian, tell him the place is great, Lucky too.

Finally leaving the Lucky Strike around 3 a.m. Lucky pulls out a cigarette, noticing as she does that the "message waiting" light on her comm is beeping. Pulling it out she reads the text from Sinn.
Did I write down my speech. Cute, Sinn. Bastard is lucky I'm in a good mood... He made the deal without talking it through with me?! Goddammit Sinn!...Sorry, Lord.
The next message is from Mancuso.
Lucky, it's Julian. Sinn's been shot. He's at the clinic. Apparently, it was a drive-by outside of Snake's place. We've set him up with an apartment, his son is there now. Let me know if this is going to affect our arrangements.
Lucky's heart stopped in her chest before going on to beat double-time. Taking a few deep breaths, Lucky steadied herself on the side of her truck.
Aw, Goddammit all to Hell!Lucky quickly made the sign of the cross.Who would have...?Okay, wrong question. His list of enemies is longer then mine. I want to know who did this and I want to know right fucking now!
Lighting her cigarette, Lucky swung up into the truck. She was taken by surprise when the passenger door swung open and a figure crawled inside. In seconds, her gun was out and trained on the stranger before she realized it was Bennett.
Bennet,...goddammit!
Lucky holstered the weapon, still glaring at Bennett, who in turn was simply looking impassive. Lucky, to her credit, quickly regained her cool.
The other member of my team,... our team..., Sinn, was just shot in a drive-by. He's in a clinic right now. I need to find out what the hell is going on.
Lucky put the truck in reverse, gunning it out of the parking lot and onto the open road. Easing the truck back down to a closer-to-legal speed, Lucky headed towards Snake's club. Someone was about to give her some answers.

Bennet sits quietly most of the time, window down, smoking a djarm. His calm mood can aparently be extremely frustrating to anyone in a hurry, but after a while, the icey calm seems to rub off, cooling the nerves a bit.

After a short drive, Lucky arrives at the Ace in the Hole, the missed named pool hall that Snake Skin works out of. The front of the brick building is indeed all shot up. One of the windows has been replaced by a sheet of plywood on the inside. Bullet holes have chewed up the case of the buidling, as well as one missing chunk that looks like it took a shot gun blast. There's the remnants of police tape. Apparently in this neighborhood, the police collect the evidence then get the hell out of the way for the people what are going to do something about it.

None of the usual hangers ons and lay abouts are around the area. There's chalk where apparently someone else was killed in the gunfire aimed at Sin. Besides that, nothing much has changed here. There's still people playing pool and buyin drugs in side. Life goes on. Except for that unlucky stiff that was in the chalk at least.

After putting Dante' to bed, gets on his com.
Id better send a text to Julian, the call with Lucky may take awhile.

Hey Mancusso, the place is great. Dante' loves it. Ill be sure to check out the school tommorow, I expect its equally as impressive? Anyway, thanks again Julian. Send my regards to Mairiam and Oz. Rock too.

Breathes a deep breathe

Alright, here goes. Time to call my own personal Lady Luck.

Dials Lucky

Lucky parks out front. Eyeing the damage, Lucky lets out a long slow whistle.
That boy's either part cat or he's got some kind of guardian angel.Lucky swallows hard when the thought brings an image of Sirene to mind.Not now, Luck, pull it together.
Bennett, watch my back. The last time I was here... well, things went south quickly....they might remember.
Walking inside, Lucky's eyes scan the smoke darkened interior for Snake. As usual, he's in the back by the corner table. His head is bent down and he seems to be inhaling something.
Sampling your own product, Snake?
Making a beeline for the table, the look on Lucky's face is all business. With the thumping bass of the music, and the dull roar of the club Lucky never even hears her phone ring.

From the look on the bartender's facee, he certainly remembers Lucky. Out of the corner of her eye, Lucky sees him reach under the counter for something , then stop as the business end of a Colt Manhunter held by Bennet pushes up on the bottom of his nose. Pushes until the man is up on his tip toe.

Snakeskin looks up just in time to see Lucky approaching. Heya there doll face, where ya' at?

Frag...

Sin thinks for a minute. He knew he needed to have some more renforcements. Knowing the New Orleans mob has got your back is comforting, but it still wasnt enough.

Jake old buddy, you need to make some new friends....

Saying his name out loud sounded strange. No ones called him that since Serenes death.

Flipped his com open dialed a number, and puts it to his ear.

Hey Jules. Its me, Sin...

Sinn

Jules, the massive troll ,grins back thorugh the AR display.
'Sup there little Sin-ner. Where you at man? Been hearing all kidns a noise 'bout you the last week. So wassup?

Lucky doesn't smile back.
Tell me what you know of what went down. I want to know what you heard and what the street is saying...and I want to know ten minutes ago. Make it worth my while and I'll make it worth yours.
Normally, Lucky would use seduction and smiles with Snake to get her way, but she was irritated, hot and emotionally muddled. This was as good as it was gonna get.

Plan B-DO NOT READ

Lucky
Skin looks taken a back. Whoa, easy there lady, no need to get hostile. I ain't heard much of anything yet, 'cept there's no shortage a' people that were glad o' it. Our man Sin ain't real popular in certain circles, ya know. But I ain't heard who claimed it yet. I ain't been telling people he lived yet though. Figured they'd talk a bit more freely that way, ya know?

He pauses for a momnet to see how she abosorbs his words, then goes on.
I sent a thing of stuff for you over with the man, but I guess you didn't get it, what with what happened. But I got some good stuff here for ya' if ya' want it. Take some a' the edge off ya know?

Sinn

Skin's offer is tempting, sorely tempting. Lucky risks a look back over her shoulder and into the cold, chromed eyes of Bennett.
Too many risks for one day, Lucky m'girl.
Thanks, but no. I need the edge right now. It's keeping me alive. You keep your ears open, let people talk. You find out anything, you let me know. Here's some change to help things along.
Lucky pulls out her money clip, and slips a grand off the roll. She tucks it into Snake's vest with a smile.
Lucky nods and turns. She flashes a brilliant smile at the sweating bartender and walks out the door. Once outside, she allows herself a cigarette. She's lighting it when Bennett walks out.
Thanks.
Lucky takes a closer look at the outside of the Ace. Damn. Someone likes that boy.
Feeling the edge more then she'd like to admit, Lucky makes her way to her truck. Her hand slides into her pocket for her keys, and for a moment she's confused. Pulling her hand out, she finds herself holding a pair of cherry red dice. Rolling them around in her hand, she smiles.

Willpower Test

Bennet stands there, looking voer the area for a minute, while Lucky lights her cigarette. It looks like the vehilce was over there, parked. You cna tell because of the way the tire makrs peel away from the corner. A standard drive by and they would be in the middle of the street. The shooters knew their target was inside, and waited for him to come out.

These hits here Bennet points along the traced fire along the wall look like 9mm, so an SMG, probably an uzi. That one's obviously a shot gun, flechette looks like, a tight choke. So not a combat shotgun, but modified civilian. And that's obviously higher calibur, probably a heavy pistol, like a Predator. Those things are some damn common down here half the devil rats have them.

This was some gang shooting or some other type of low life. If this was more professional, they would have used EX-EX for a hit on a mage, instead of just hollow points. They also would have had a mage. If they'd had one, they would have used one, and your friend wouldn't be alove right now. They were probably worried about either being ID'd , or that they might not kill him, or they would have stuck around a bit more to make sure the job was done. So they're either respectful of what he can do ,or afraid of him. Maybe both.

Impressed, Lucky follows Bennett's eyes, absorbing everything he tells her. Now looking at the bullet holes, she can see what he's talking about.
Good eye, Bennett. The information makes sense. It also narrows the playing field. I have a pretty good idea of where to look. There's quite a few ork gangers around here that don't take kindly to Sinn's idea of racial purity.
Either way, I've got a lot to do tomorrow and a lot more to get finished up tonight. Can I drop you somewhere? The Strike?

If you're working I'm working, remember? Where to?

*sigh*, I guess heading back to my place is out. The Strike it is.
We're headed back to the Strike. There's a room made up for me in the back. You can crash there if you need to.
Seated in the truck, Lucky entered the coordinates for the Strike on the cities Grid Sec system. She was going to need to concentrate on a few other things for the drive over.
Making sure Bennett was seated and ready to go, Lucky hit the "Engage" option. Pulling out her commlink, Lucky pulled up a file titled "Taste of Osaka". She reviewed the information it contained and then made a few adjustments. I'm going to have to step up the pressure on the dancers. I'll need to contact the Meat Market and have them send over some muscle.Lucky made the note on her comm and moved on. It looks like the termites did their job, excellent. They've called in an exterminator. Just need to get ahold of their guy before he does the job, pay him a few hundred to lay down sugar water instead of pesticide. Shouldn't be hard. Those guys get paid crap anyway. That got noted as well. Let's see, what's next. Ahh, right. The health inspector. What do we have? Minor gambling addiction, eh. A favorite escort... could use that. He is married according to the file. If we can get her to blow a couple grand at the tables, we can leverage him into closing the resteraunt. Of course, with the termite infestation and future black ant problem, it might not need to come to that. I'll look into it just in case.
According to the matrix ratings, Osaka is standing at a low 5. That's good. Could be lower though. Still have to decide on the drug angle. We'll let this play out, see how it goes. No need to spend more money if the simple things take it out.
Noting the file, Lucky finally closes it. Glancing up, Lucky sees that they still have about 15 more minutes to hit the Strike.
Lucky quickly texts a message to Sinn.
Hey. It's me. Heard about what went down. I've got a few leads when you're up and ready to knock some heads. Hit me up when you're concious. I'll be at the Strike.
That taken care of, Lucky drops a quick message to Krux at the Meat Market. He preferred to deal in a blind drop box ever since the Lone Star sting a few months back. Lucky chuckled as she remembered the code theme Krux had dreamed up.
Need two clowns for daughter's birthday. Prefer Bozo and Bonkers.
Will pay going rates, extra for balloon characters and a pie-in-the face.
Oh, dear God, this business is getting weird.
Finally pulling up to the Strike, Lucky slid out of the seat. The sun was beginning to peek over the trees, and the heat was already starting to stifle. Making her way into the Strike, Lucky grabbed a bottle of water and the bin of orange and cherry slices off the bar.
Smiling at Bennett, Lucky held them up. Breakfast of champions.Pointing down the hall,
The door at the end of the hall is where the staff crash when they need to. There is a shower, a bed and a trid system. Help yourself. I'll be in my office.

Sin Hangs up the phone. Just as quick as he does, it beeps again. The text from Lucky appears.

Hmm...She always was quick to retalaite. Why she's so quick for me? Wonder what I did that was great..

Send a text back to Lucky
Hey Lady Luck arrives. I cant go with you tonight. I got somethin else goin on. Call me at 7 am if you're awake.

Seated comfortably in her office, Lucky brings up the information from the hacker on the trid screen in front of her. Munching on the cherries and oranges, Lucky looks it over.
Hmmm, maybe I was wrong. This one, this Rupert. He looks pretty plum. He's already done what we're asking him to do, his brother is in the state pen. We've got some people on the inside. Maybe we make his brother's life on the inside a little easier in exchange for his help.
Scribbling a quick note: Talk to Vinny. His cousin, Domino, is on the inside. Find out about this Thom brother. Possibly rough him up a little before hand. Get him scared. Then go to the brother.
Want photo's on this Emily Meyers chica. Need to find someone discrete.
Lucky noted that as well. Rubbing her eyes, she leaned back in the chair. Fatigue was beginning to leave it's mark. She hadn't slept at all since the previous night...and truth be told, she didn't get much sleep that night either.
Just a few more things to do... Lucky brought up the application screen for St. Mary's Community College. Using her fake I.D. (Rating 3) and a certified cred stick Lucky registered under the name "Lucy Santos". Scrolling through the online class list, Lucky selected: Accounting, Business Law, and Criminal Law. Reading through the sylabus, Lucky noted that of all three classes, the Criminal Law class was the only class that required two in-class sessions. She could ditch those or disguise herself easily enough.
Looking at the clock, she realized that her next point of business would have to wait till a more respectable hour. Still, a text wouldn't hurt.
Hey Scotch. I know we met under pretty brutal circumstances last time, but I was wondering if you were still in town and up to a meet?
Lucky sent the text and stretched. Turning the comm off for the time being she slid it into a drawer. The drawer closed with a pneumatic hiss. It was locked with a magnetic pressure lock. It could only be opened with a biometric scanner. Lucky loved her little gadgets.
Closing her eyes, Lucky put her feet up on the desk. She'd just take a quick nap and then be ready to hit the streets again.

Lucky
Waking some hours later, still seated at her desk, Lucky checks the comm, 0634. Not quite four hours of sleep. Then she sees what woke her... message from Scotch.

Yeah I'm still around, same shop. Drop me a line for when/where.
Apparently not a lot of people sleep in this town. But did they really have to get up so damn early?!

There's also an e-mail with class schedule confirmations. Classes start in a few weeks.

Also a message from Brian, her man at Underground 5. Apparently there's a short list of people that are a little behind on their debts. No names that really jump off the screen, but not something she should really leave sitting.

Sinn

Wiping the sleep from her eyes, Lucky quickly shoots a response back to Scotch.
Good to hear. Let's say 11 a.m., your place?
Noting the waiting message on her commlink, Lucky checks it. It's Sinn. He's got business? Great. I'll deal. I'll start the legwork. He can play catch up later.
Tossing the commlink back onto her desk, Lucky steps into the attached bathroom. Ugh, I need a shower.Lucky takes her time in the shower, letting the heat attempt to melt the tension in her shoulders. Of course, it doesn't, but it does give her some alone time.
Stepping out and toweling herself off, Lucky remembers that she needed to call Gumbo.
Twerp still owes me big.Once she's dressed, Lucky reviews the list of debtors sent over by Brian. I'll give Rock a call, see if he's feelin' bored.Lucky laughs.
Dressed and feeling more like her self, Lucky strides out of the room towards the kitchen. I wonder if Bennett stuck around?... I wonder if he's going to charge Julian for last night?The thought makes Lucky laugh.
Reaching into her pocket, Lucky rolls her lucky dice around in her hand.

Lucky
Bennet is sitting at the bar sipping at a whiskey when Lucky comes wandering out. He throws it back and stands in one motion. Where to?

Later that morning....

Having eaten, and reviewed the morning news Lucky tackles the call to Gumbo.
Boy had better be awake.
The phone rings...

Lucky
By the look of his face, the commlink wakes Gumbo, but at least he's awake.
Uh , oh hey, hey ther eLcuky. What's up? To his credit , Gumbo at least seems to be making some effort to wake up and look professional.

Rough night, Gumbo? Oh, nevermind... listen, I have some work for you. You available?The look on Lucky's face tells him that his answer better be yes.