20:06:32 Saturday, April 12
Street in front of Stuffer Shack
Cammy

The front door of the Stuffer Shack opened and some boisterous orks stepped out, weapons and munchies in hand. Cammy was momentarily paralyzed in confusion, were these guys starting trouble in her neighborhood? Were they finishing trouble? Cammy didn't know. They started to approach their truck, Cammy saved a picture of them in case it turned out that she needed to identify them later, but without direction she didn't know what to do.

20:07:01 Saturday, April 12

The streets exploded into bedlam as her friends proceeded to lay into the orks. Neo and Aziz charged across the street into the interlopers and bullets started flying. Some of the orks fought back, and one just ran around the car and tried to hide. What a fucking pussy. At first it was only confusion, then it snapped into focus for her: Aziz was fighting the biggest, badest looking of the ork drunkards - how brave.

Well, noone ever got anywhere with a fair fight, so Cammy came to Aziz's aid. She ran from cover, swinging her extended baton at his back. Her approach might have gone unnoticed but for her own blood curdling yell "¡Estás jodiendo cabras!", causing the man - already on the defensive - to turn towards her in time to see the club descend.

20:07:02 Saturday, April 12
Street in front of Stuffer Shack

The gang leader just managed to evade Cammy's attack. The ganger with the pistol barely evades the spell flung by Felix, as well.

The ganger with the shotgun wasted no time in blasting the spirit bearing down on him. The heavy buckshot scattered into the spirit's form.

The group's leader fell back against the side of the truck, brandishing his hand cannon. He squeezes off a shot at Aziz, but his preocupation with the weapon being waved at him and his injuries results in a clean miss. From the crater left in the side of the Stuffer Shack, it was a stoke of luck that it did.

The ganger with the Manhunter hopped inside the truck and the engine roared to life.

20:15:00 Saturday, April 12
The Meet

Houston street wasn't a long drive, and the area where Slam indicated the meet would be was bare and deserted. The chosen area was a small parking lot adjacent to and old warehouse that looked to have been abandoned for some time.

20:07:03 Saturday, April 12
Street in front of Stuffer Shack
Felix

As Aziz charged in, all hell broke loose. Felix never had been in a real life threatening fight. His breathing was fast, he could hear his hearth pounding not only in his chest but in his head. Nevertheless, Tag kept his cool and his head clear.

Seeing one of the ork's level his weapon at JJ, Felix felt a cold sweat run down the back of his neck. The shots hit home.

NO!

Without a second of hesitation, all of Felix's concentration was focused on the air around the ganger. In his mind, he pictured all the molecules and particles floating around. He imagine them moving; dancing in a motion that he imposed. Within a few seconds, a fast moving ripple tore thru the air. The power of spell, fueled by Felix's emotion, was especially strong for someone of his caliber. Unfortunately, the ganger dodged the telekinetic wave, which crashed into the Stuffer Shack's store front, cracking one of it's large windows.

"Frag..."

Felix was about to retaliate with a second mental attack when he heard to truck's engine roar to life. He knew he had to prevent that truck from getting on the move. It could easily ram one of his friends. It was time to be creative.

20:08:10, Saturday, April 12, 2070
Gang HQ
BronzeWyrm

BronzeWyrm smiles and responds.
<<C410: BronzeWyrm "Broadcast public and I'll always scan you That's what results when you share bandwith with a Wyrm .">>
She frowns as she's reminded with Jax's chan-title notice.
<<C410: Bronzewyrm "Well Jax takes all the fun out of things, sigh, End of Line.>>

She follows Shade, Slam and the others as they gather in and on vehicles, bumming a ride whith whoever has room. She remains quiet during the trip scanning the nodes ahead of them for any signs of cameras or monitoring equipment outside the regular wireless access points.

20:02:15 Saturday, April 12 2070
Thyn's Van
Thyn

"Halo can you look around and grab my stuff."
"The Ak and Formarm snap Blades should be stored under the bench, my coat is more than likely hanging in the corning, and the Pole arm is hanging over head."

20:07:02 Saturday, April 12
Street in front of Stuffer Shack

The lightning fast air spirit easily avoids the narrow spread scattershot.

20:10:15, Saturday April 12 2070
Auran's Apartment, Westwind Suites
Tao-Fighter

Before they start, Auran drawes out her smokes and takes a break.
"Deamn, I left my last cigarrette in the ashtray at the Y!" Tao curses, when she offers him more then just a drag from her´s, he denies. "My granny told me, smoking kills," He smiles sarcastically,"and I guess I already went half way down tonight." He thinks for a moment, supressing the coughing, the smoke provokes.

They take her Mitsubishi Nightsky, picking up some gangmates on the way, though 2by4 would be cramped in on the rear bench, like an addult in a babycart. She´s at the wheel, TF besids her, AK and Ingram are placed behind the drivers seat, for a fast grip. They take Bridge St. to cross the stream, then moving Pacific and Valay, down south-west again. Driving various routs to scout the area from the car. Finaly, they park the Nightsky in a alleyway, 3 blocks away from the target Parking lot, where Auran goes on, to scan the surroundings by foot.
TF asks her: "Care to take some of my RFID-Sensors or audio enhancements? You could access them with my Trodes."
As Auran leaves, Tao stays in the car to follow her in the astral.
TF: "Bronze, are you staying with me? You can check the flow from here. You can have the driver´s seat, you are probably better at the wheel, in case of an emergency!" I have a bad feeling about this. He keeps his foreboding fealing to himself, but the concern shows in his face. He considers asking for a good luck kiss, but does not, with the others watching. So he smiles in silent nostalgia.
He places his Ingram betweem his knees and the AK at his side, puting the smartgogles over his glasses and tunes in his comlink into the public encrypted chanel.

[20:13:14] <JAX is no longer AFC on C410>
[20:13:15] /Who C410
[20:13:15] <Tao-Fighter BronzeWyrm JAX ChinaDoll EndWho>

With a deep breath, slightly disturbed by suppressed coughing, he switches into a deep trance, from one second to the other.

He feels some relief from his pain, as he leaves his body behind and a world of grayed out rainbowcolors explodes in his mind. He steps through the insubstantial windshield and motorblock of the car, taking a look around the allay. He walks over to Auran´s aura and gentally strokes her cheak and nack. Then he manifests his astral form, to extend his senses into the physical plane. He apears stronger and more mature from the astral, but a bit sick, too. The idealized features of his face combined with the simple chinese robes give an angelic impression. One of the rattleheads sits on his shoulders, giving two faint klicks with a slight twist of its peanutshaped head. The other two mimic Tao and the first one, pumpkin carrying bean on his back.
TF: "Care for some backup, pal? Just like the good old days."
Tao dematerializes with his little helpers, as they scurry around into the alleyway across from the meeting spot, while she spends a bit of time observing in detail. He spreads his stubby wings, to take a flight around the area and an inside look at the warehouse and every parked car, dumpster and manhole, and to see, where the others went with his body. When he is done scouting the astral and has set his spirits on patrole in the surrounding area, he reports back to his partner, giving her a description of layout and any people in the vincinity, as well as anything else, he could discern.

20:07:03, Saturday April 12 2070
The Street Outside the Stuffer Shack

The air spirit easily evades the shotgun blasts and counters with a bolt of electricity that hits the ork, though he doesn't seem to notice it very much. Neo pauses to take a hit of deepweed, forcing his eyes open to the astral plane.

Those who can see the invisible ganger notice him do something kind of odd. Those who can see on the astral:

20:07:03, Saturday April 12 2070
The Street Outside the Stuffer Shack
Neo

Drek.

Neo, seeing the mage summoning the spirit on the astral, drops the syringe of deepweed extract he's just injected.

<<The mage just summoned a spirit! Anyone who can see him through his magic, try to geek him!>>

He then springs towards the mage, his fists lashing out in a deadly flurry.

20:02:37 Saturday, April 12 2070
Thyn's Van
Halo

"You got it boss." Halo steadies herself in the back of the van, compensating for the turns Thyn was taking at a high rate of speed. She can locate the pole arm simply enough with it being strapped to the roof of the work area. Thyn's coat is laying in a crumpled pile at the back corner by the doors and between the bench. Placing one hand on the wall of the van she lifts the bench up and without having to do too much digging, Thyn actually kept his shit organized and neat, she locates the AK and the Formarm.

She lets the bench seat drop down and places the requested gear atop them before she unleashes the polearm from the ceiling. Once that's resting on the floor for easy access she sits back down on the bench and places the AK across her lap.

"We're good to go back here, how far out are we?" If she had a better view out the front she wouldn't have to ask that question, but being back here without windows meant she had to rely on Thyn and Knives for that info.

20:10:15, Saturday April 12 2070
Auran's Apartment, Westwind Suites
Auran

Auran turns and faces Tao "Alright, that's fine, we can take the limo. Wanna play chaffeur? It gives you a reason to stay in the car!" Auran steps out into the parking lot, and gets into the limo. She stops after a second and stands outside of the limo for a second. She turns to Tao and says, "Sorry, but no smoking in the limo is my policy." She grabs a pack of her smokes out of her pocket and slowly enjoys the relaxing pulls of nicotine. Afterwards, she gets back in and heads on over to the HQ.

Once at the HQ, she pops her head up through the moonroof and says, "Hey there! Anyone need a ride? after everyone crams into the back, she sits up in the front driver's seat. She programs the car to take various routes up and down different roads surrounding the address. She keeps a mental note of amount of traffic, wide lanes vs narrow alleys, and which ones have any star. Once she's done her limo spotting, she parks it in an alleyway about 3 blocks from the address she was given. She turns to the rest of the gang and says, "Hey, I'm going to scout the area a bit. Why don't you guys go on ahead in the limo, I'll catch up." The rest of the gang watches as she gets out of the limo and puts on her white bandana over her face, the engine of the limo still running, just waiting for another driver to hop in.

Auran scurries around into the alleyways across the streets of the address given. She'll spend a bit of time observing in detail everything, from sights to sounds. She moves in a rather random way positioning herself to get better vantage points of different sections of the parking lot. She'll try to stick close to any buildings or other structures around.

20:07:40, Saturday, April 12, 2070
On the streets
China Doll

<<Agent X Scan Crash 410 Comm locations>>
<<Razor X Intercept Course BronzeWyrm>>

Let's get that edit going, and where are the maps?

<<C410: Announcement - Channel Tactical Mode Enabled

In the open 3D channel space the background shifts to a viewers perspective wire frame real time 3 dimensional map. Green and gray colored personal symbols start appearing on the map, a cluster manifesting in blinking alert patterns around the well known Stuffer Shack brand icon. A rapidly moving icon, a simple "C" and "D" superimposed over a "410", is on an intercept course with several other clusters of icons. Over time more icons flash into view.>>

20:15:45, Saturday April 12 2070
Basement Awakened Auburn
Nurse

[edit]Out of synch, don't know how to remove. Will repost info with needed alterations later in thread.[/edit]

20:09:10, Saturday, April 12 2070
Gang HQ
BronzeWyrm

The elf digs into her purse, pulling out a small chip case, she chooses the Seattle Mapsoft and slots it into her datajack's chip port. The map suddenly, rapidly, zooms down to nearly street level, covering the area of the 410's turf. She transfers the data of the map to the gang's channel, updating ChinaDoll's tactical map to show exactly where everyone is.

[20:09:30] C410: BronzeWyrm "Map updated, and broadcasting live."

20:12:15, Saturday April 12 2070
Limo

Wyrm is quiet in the limo as she focuses on using the radio signal scanner on ChinaDoll's bike to boost her perceptions on locating drones and other anomalous readings along route. Her eyes glow a faint LED colour, if you look close enough, you can almost see the flow of information, like currents of light in her pupils.

As she has no body armor, she willingly agrees to TF's suggestion of staying in the car. She responds with a coy smile. "Don't need to be in the seat to drive it, going full throttle, online only." She closes her eyes and fully immerses herself in the VR world. The metalic bronze dragon zipping along from one wireless access point to another. ChinaDoll's bike appears like a radar scope in her VR environment as it performs it's task to scan for signals.

20:03:09 Saturday, April 12
The Garage
JAX

It was dark on the streets, though darkness hadn't held any real meaning to JAX since his eyes had been installed... unless he wanted the blackness. Which he frequently did. The young tough leaned in as the the pilot program on Knives' bike indicated an upcoming turn. He wasn't a rider and he wasn't pushing the bike to go especially fast. He made the turn and felt a tug as the garage went out of sight as he cleared the corner. Keys were locked, sensors were set, cameras... he would be warned if anyone tried to break in, but he couldn't possibly get back in time. He hated leaving the garage. Especially under the circumstances. Hostile gangers on the turf and all.

He focused his thoughts forward, and looked out through his goggles. He wasn't using the vision enhancement, that tended to throw off his balance, which was precarious enough, but felt better with his 'raiding' goggs on. The straps of the gas mask he had hastily donned cut into his neck and cheek, he didn't think the seal was good, but he had worn it for effect more than anything else. Gas masks were creepy. And so were chainsaws. He'd grabbed one of those too. Whatever the Old Man had collected all that crap for JAX might never know, but it was some good, scary crap.

A beacon blinked on the HUD of his chipped mapsoft of the area - Doc Blue's clinic. JAX was next to worthless in a fight, but if anyone got hurt - JJ, hang on, JJ - Nurse would be needed. Maybe tonight will be the night. There had been talk for a while of bringing the girl in. She was really young. Scary young, but wiz with healing. And as much as magic set JAX's teeth on edge, it was invaluable. Especially that kind of magic. They should snap her up while they could before some other gang did or she went off and did something productive with her life.

JAX gritted his teeth as the pilot dragged him through the streets at safe and legal speeds. This is taking way too long. He was going to have to talk to Knives about getting one of the bit-heads to hack the pilot.

20:10:30 Saturday, April 12
Outside Awakened Auburn
JAX

The bike turned up the street that would bring him to the alley entrance of Awakened Auburn. He glanced up and down the street before turning in and messaging Nurse...

20:10:30 Saturday, April 12
Commlink Message - URGENT
JAX

<<< Nurse, there's been gunfire and fighting at the Stuffer. Get your healing goodies and let's roll. Say, can you drive a bike? -JAX >>>

20:02:42 Saturday, April 12 2070
Thyn's Van
Knives

"Not too far, but I'll bet whatever is going down will be all over before we get there." Knives pressed the button to roll down his passenger-side window. ... unless our guys were out-gunned....

20:10:07 Saturday, April 12 2070
Back room (ShadowClinic) Awakened Auburn
Nurse

Clean up of the ShadowClinic is now complete.

When Nurse's connection with TF had closed, there'd been a message from Wyrm waiting. Now that her obligations to her Dad is over for tonight she calls up the message:

<TJ, big compile session tonight, Slam requesting all persona's present. Will monitor your frequency, open your comm when your processes are idle. Wyrm>

"Okay," Nurse thinks, "Slam wants everyone on location, but.."

She opens her commlink, making herself available to Wyrm for immediate contact and wonders how to ask her best friend whether Slam actually means for Nurse to be there when she is still waiting to be officially accepted into the gang.

20:10:20 Saturday, April 12 2070
Back room (ShadowClinic) Awakened Auburn
Nurse

Nurse hurries out of the Clinic to go talk to her Mom, only to find her Mom waiting right outside the Clinic with a soft smile and a teasing exclamation of, "Well there you are!" Nurse returns her Mom's smile then informs her, "Wyrm messaged me and it looks like she needs me tonight, though I don't yet know.. "

20:10:30 Saturday, April 12 2070
Just outside Back room (ShadowClinic) Awakened Auburn
Nurse

Nurse trails off in her conversation with her Mom as a new message flashes URGENT in her imagelink. Nurse opens the connection and receives:

<<< Nurse, there's been gunfire, and fighting at the Stuffer. Get your healing goodies and let's roll. Say, can you drive a bike? -JAX >>>

Her response to JAX's query about her driving ability is a tentative, <<< Yes, why? >>> because she has this feeling he might not be referring to her own bike.

To her Mom Nurse now says, "Um, trouble. Wyrm needs my skills I think, I'll have to get with you tomorrow." She throws a, "Sorry!" to her Mom as she dashes for the stairs to her room where she gets ready to head out.

20:10:35 Saturday, April 12 2070
Apartment above Awakened Auburn - Nurse's room
Nurse

The commlink is kept open for Wyrm, but now a very brief text message is sent to the technomancer's matrix-mail account:

<Called to Stuffer with my gear. Talk later.>

Nurse strips off the outer layer of clothes she'd been wearing to help her Dad then redresses as quickly as she can into her armoured clothes. She clips her commlink onto her belt then straps her medkit onto her right forearm. Her respirator dangles around her neck like a necklace for the time being, while her goggles are worn like a headband. Glasses case with glasses inside are tucked into her right breast pocket. Knife is tucked into its sheath in her boot and pistol into its concealable holster containing a clip full of gel rounds. A second clip of gel rounds is placed into her right side pocket, while a clip containing regular rounds is placed into her left side pocket.

Nurse now heads back downstairs and toward the back alley, telling JAX through the still-open connection, <<< Alright, I'm ready and heading to get my bike. I shall head straight to the Stuffer Shack. >>>

She pauses long enough to give her Mom a hug then zips up her coat and pulls on her riding gloves on the way out.

20:15:02, Saturday, April 12 2070
The Meet at Houston
Tao-Fighter

"... So, that´s the picture from the astral. Well, as far as I percived it, that is." He says, ending his raport to Auran, only his face sticking out of the concret. Did I miss something? Doubt stars flooding his mind again.
"Watch your back, partner!" His wispered words fade away, as his astral form disintegrates from the physical plane.

Still concerned, that his perceptual abilities are impaired by his sever exhaustion, he decides to do a quick test on his, as well as his watcher´s senses. He gethers them for a short moment, to take an astral peak at Auran´s aura, which he is intimately familiar with, despit his lack of assensing practice.

Though Tao-Fighter knows very little about reding auras, he has no problem recognizing the one of his longstanding partner in crime, regardless of disguise or camouflage. She looks even more beautyfull in the astral realm, the dimmed ambient light accentuating her delicate features. To him, her aura looks faded purple, almost pink, a testament to the force of water and the energy of fire. Fire destroys me, water drains me. Why does it hold such alure to me, will I discover in time?. The faint glow of powerfull chi surging through her meridians, that betrays the awakened nature of her adept abilities is likewise easy to pick up, even without the help of his spirits, but they pointed out to him the clear signs, that her proficency in her chosen path is much greater then his. As awaited, he spots no implants and her body feels as pure and untouched by invasive surgery, as his. He can´t smell any magical signatures either and the female elf has no energy blocks hinting at adverse healthy condition, other then her allergic reaction to pollen. It was a catastrophe, when I stole this large bouquet of real flowers on her 13th birthday. Unlike him, she is not a person prwn to addiction. As he zeros in on her, he can feel her almost euphoric agitation, metters of money always made her feel this way. She was ready for combat, though as always, she would hold back a bit, when push came to shove.

After astrally scanning his partner, he quickly returns the watchers on thair patrol paterns and does another quick flyby of the area, as new concerns arise, that someone may have sneaked in, while the watchers were distracted for a second.
Then he returns to the Nightsky, to feed his observations into the communications network. His slow and flat breathing patern degrades into arhythmic coughing, barely restraigned by his breether, as the full force of physical pain hits him again. He takes a look around the car and shifts through all his sensory options, allthough the fast change from astral to AR makes him feel a bit dizzy.

Bronze Wyrm looks like she´s in the astral herself, as her mind dives through the ebb and flow of information. She looks so inocent, is she up to this?. Her relaxed and happy expression the is same as someone asleep having a wonderfull dream. To watch her, gives rise to feelings of guilt due to his own unhealthy dependance on the virtual world.

He checks the traffic in C410, requesting an update on the situation in home turf btw, then set´s up his own evaluation of the area.

[20:15:31] C410: <<<Tao-Fighter: Ok, folks, this is how I scan the situation ...>>> He describes everything, he´s told Auran before and puts up markers on the virtual map, according to his observations. <<<..., thats it, so far. I´m out, scanning again.>>>

He shifts through his sensors again and deactivates the trodes, finally he checks his weapons. Then he calms his mind, striping it of all thought. He closes his eyes, taking a deep breath, holding it. When the tingling sensation of wheightlessness overcomes him, he feels his breath sattling into a slow cycle again. He opens his eyes to the astral and stands up. normally, he prefers to walk, even outside his body, but he doesn´t take this luxury, taking another flight around the area and checking up on the rattleheads and his chummers.

20:15:10, Saturday April 12 2070
Virtual Reality - Sumner Local Network
BronzWyrm

The metalic dragon icon of BronzeWyrm's persona rides along the electric current. In her field of vision Wyrm has several things going on - nothing unusual for her.

- One small window is Nurse's commlink activation icon, which she's seen flash on and off a few times in the past 10 minutes. The icon has been quiet for a bit so she decides to peek in on her friend.
From Nurse's field of vision a small metalic dragon bounces its way across her field of vision in the distance occasionally. This is nothing new to her, as Wyrm often plays this game of 'hide-and-see you' when she's not busy. This time a pair of draconic eyes pops up over the horizon, indicating Wyrm's there rather than off in the distance. The bronze face pops up and smiles.

<"There you are buddy-sprite, you've been one busy icon tonight, is it personal, or his someone dragging your processes over to the stuffer shootout? Performing Matrix Overwatch for Slam, sent you a warning message that my bandwith would be a limmited till we finish processing this meeting."> The icon smiles appologetically, which almost looks comical. <"I haven't done Overwatch since my time with the Tribe."> Her icon shifts, looking sad at the sudden flow of memories, some better left burried.

- Another window is keeping a video feed through ChinaDolls visual and audible sensors. So that she can see what's going on street level while still safe in the car.
Various icons surrounding the feed allow her to activate the bike's various sensors, she is having fun with all these toys. She has most of the area sensors feeding directly to the tactical map, adjusting icons as visual and sensor updates pick them up. Unknown icons show up in variations yellows, oranges and reds, depending on their threat rating. Icons with no activity blink in bright red as a warning that she's lost contact with it's known position.

[20:15:35] C410: BronzeWyrm "Relaying sensor data to coordinate with TF's recon."

TF had voiced preference that she drive. So she has an icon-link to the limo's pilot system. That way she can put the car in gear and gather the gang even from her online vantage point if this meet goes south. Not that she's expecting it to, but it's best to be cautious.

20:07:04, Saturday April 12 2070
The Street Outside the Stuffer Shack

The ganger with the shotgun finds himself in dire straits as the elemental envelopes him, but he manages to fight his way free of it.

Toyrobot stabs at the driver of the vehicle, her blade shattering the glass. She connects, but not as well as she would have hoped. Between the force of shattering the class and getting through his armor, she doesn't think he even felt it.

The leader shoots Aziz, barely connecting, and jumps into the back of the truck. The ganger with the shotgun follows him in a hurry.

JJ shoots out the other window of the truck, but doesn't hit anything, just as the driver steps on the gas, sending the vehicle surging forward. His second shot manages to wing the driver, but not enough to stop him from putting the pedal to the floor.

The mage keeps running away, having his spirit materialize and carry him forward with haste.


20:20:00, Saturday April 12 2070
The Meet

For a while, it seems like the meeting place is going to be quiet and empty. After a while, however, the loud sound of a dozen motorcycles exiting the 410 and looping around to the side street can be heard. After a few seconds more, a dozen riders, all bareheaded and elven, come into view. Each one is riding a very nice piece of machinery that makes Slam's hog look pitiful by comparison. The group of riders circles the Crashers group for a moment before stopping. The apparent leader, a tall elven man, pops the stand on his bike and nods to Slam.

Slam steps forward and the two of them move together and talk fairly quietly for a few minutes. The other gangers eye the Crashers like others might eye an errant dog's leavings on the sidewalk. It was clear that they thought highly of themselves and lowly of anyone else.

20:07:04, Saturday April 12 2070
The Street Outside the Stuffer Shack
Raven

As she concentrates on the orc with the shotgun, Raven's senses slip to the astral for the blink of an eye, when she connects her spell with his aura, before she sends it on the way.

“Can you stop the truck!?” the young gangress calls out to the air spirit, she had summoned earlier, and who seemed quite busy taking down the orc, Raven had also aimed for, the one with the most dangerous-looking weapon.

The spirit turns the attention away from the orc and towards the truck...

20:15:05, Saturday, April 12 2070
Approaching Parking Lot, Houston St.
Auran


Auran had been staying silent and almost invisible up until now, but after checking the deserted area she loosens her guard a bit. She starts walking up the street to the waiting gang. As Tao gives her the report, she just nods until he exclaims "Watch your back, partner." Where she pretends to step on his face.

As Auran walks up to the Nightsky, she checks in on the rest of the gang. She synchs her commlink up with the rest of the gang, and using her glasses, earbuds, and subvocal mic, she checks the logs for anything important too. After just updating her mapsoft with the channel feed, she decides to hop online and speak a message to the channel.

[20:15:50] C410: Auran "So Bronze, night's not going quite as planned is it."

20:19:51, Saturday, April 12 2070
The Meet at Houston
Tao-Fighter

The last 5 minutes have been eventless. Auran had pretty much given up her spotting and walked down to the others at the Nightsky. It parked in line of sight, less then 50 meters away from the designated meeting spot, where Slam waited with some of the gangers for the Elves to show up.
Insecure, he had sweaped the area over and over again, sporadically returning to his body, to check on the com and his sensors, but too nervous, to stay more then a few seconds.

He thought about the I Ging, he had thrown this morning, the Hexagram the oracle had shown him was Dsin, "progress". A sign of good fortun? One of the lines had been instabel and the sign was changing to Bo, "shattering"! Will our house still stand at dawn?

He chases away the dark thoughts with a glance at Bronze Wyrm´s aura. It had a slightly metallic shine to it, the both of them had much in common.

Peanut comes racing towards him with a loud rattling head. He stops dead before his feet and bounced up and down agitated, gesturing wildly and Tao understands his little friend in an instand. He materializes at Auran´s side.

"A douzend riders aproaching fast from 410, at least 9 are elves, tell the others, I´ll take a clo..." His last words fade, as he dematerializes and zooms away, to gether his watchers.

He was catching up with the elves, before they reached the spot. Maybe he would get a jump on any mages riding with them, scaning them, before they expanded thair senses to the astral plane themselves. If not, well he was just taking a look.

He lookes for any astral forms first, that might spot him, then sizes any opotunity to assense the other gangers.

When they start circeling his comrades and the leader begins talking to Slam, he tries to listen in on the conversation and scan the elf, as long as no other guy sends him astral stares. He would not blatently evesdrop, if he knew somebody was watching.

20:19:30, Saturday, April 12 2070
Outside the Y, Electrode's Hovercraft
Electrode

Hmmm... it just won't give... don't know why i can't seem to loosen up the protection on this program. Maybe i should take a break, try again in a bit.

Electrode absently checks his commlink for messages as he stretches. He stiffens suddenly as he notices the flashing "urgent" marker on his mailbox.

Dang... missed something important, looks like. I gotta pay closer attention, not get so focused i tune everything else out. Hope i'm not too late... Slam will be ticked if i sat out something important.

quickly checking into the irc session, he checks the logs to see what's been happening.

Alright, well i guess i'm probably way too late for the stuffer shack anyways. May as well head for Houston.

Opening his eyes, he quickly hooks himself up into his medkit, settles into place, and opens his command center program.

He quickly jumps from node to node along Houston at top speed, Searching for the familiar forms of his Gangmate's personas. Finding them, he quickly instructs the hovercraft pilot to start heading as close as it can without drawing attention, travelling at legal speeds. He then instructs the rotodrone to fly overtop the area to give him a closeby node to retreat to, if needed, and to provide a physical overview of the area. He then starts up his dobermans, leaving one at the Y to keep up appearances, and having the other two stay below deck with him as he heads for the meeting area across the river.

Just in time to see the Motorcycles come rolling in.

20:20:00
The Meet at Houston, VR

Frag. This better not get ugly... I need some time to get in there.

He absent-mindedly sends a quick message around to let the rest of the gang (except Slam) know he's around now, though stealthed.

<Electrode: "Hey all. Sorry I'm late, don't tell Slam. Have I missed anything yet? I'm on my way with reinforcements if needed.>

20:20:03, Saturday April 12 2070
The Meet
Auran


Auran leans against the car to look like she's relaxing. She decides to stretch her neck a bit as she takes peaks at each and every one of these elves, looking for weapons especially. Then she'll attempt to listen in on the conversation between Slam and the lead elf.

20:16:05, Saturday, April 12 2070
Virtual Reality - Sumner Local Network
BronzWyrm

[20:16:05] C410: BronzeWyrm "Not going as planned as in we're out here rather than processing party-cycles, or that it's too quiet? I hate sit and wait games. Sensors report all clear for now."

While waiting she connects to one of her favorite nodes and does some info browsing on 3d iconography techniques.

20:19:45
Wyrm spots Electrode's icon rushing along the datapaths to their location and waves him over. She doesn't have time to dwindle on idle chatter though as some of her sensors report incomming traffic.

[20:19:45] C410: BronzeWyrm "Glad you can join us big guy, get lost in coding again? "
[20:19:47] C410: BronzeWyrm "GridLink Traffic reporting several vehicles pulling off of the 410 and heading to this location."

20:16:05, Saturday, April 12 2070
The Meet

2BY4 stretches, grateful to be out of the cramped car. With a whistle he whirls his staff around in his hands before bringing it to a rest, across the back of his neck, his arms supported along its length.

20:20:00

2BY4 leans on his staff, watching as the bikes pull up. Ignoring the elves around him he focused on the chat going on between Slam and the elven man.

20:15:36, Saturday, April 12, 2070
On the way to Houston
China Doll

<<Agent X Maintain Tactical Mode, Update cycle 5 Seconds>>

Taking a break from managing the constant data stream of the channel and the sensory load of the Ducati, China Doll returns to the reality of riding a high speed two wheeled machine through evening streets. Glancing backwards she sees the faint and fading trail the hot rubber leaves on the cooled street surfaces. A small twinge reminds her she's back in the meat world, even if the switch of perspective from the length of the Ducati to her own eyes perched on top of the simulated black leather seat wouldn't have been enough of a prompt.

Carefully she runs through her checks. A short tug and pull on each leg confirms her custom toe clips and pegs are actively tracking. A slight wrist twist loosens the tension restraints on her handle bar grips. Taking her hands of the handles, she hangs her left arm down the side and triggers the slide arm release.

Should have been at the Stuffer, missed a real shootout... but people got hurt for real.

After sliding the taser back in, she checks that she can reach the light pistol riding on her back under her jacket. Releasing the Fichetti's handle, she then reaches forward and checks the baton subtly clipped to the handle bar as a cross piece. As a final piece she checks her suits static grip patch is actively gripping the corresponding patch atop the Ducati's fuel tank.

As her hands return through the loops around the cycle grips, her perspective shifts back to that of the long low machine racing through the streets. Senses scanning automatically at full blast, China Doll brings up the detailed map and plans her orbit of the meet location.


20:20:00, Saturday, April 12, 2070
At the Meet

Having arrived slightly ahead of everyone else, China Doll, circled the area scanning until Slam arrived. Briefly from her position parked a cycle length behind Slam she looked up as the elves arrived, but quickly she dropped her head back down, using the Ducati's senses instead of her own to scan the incoming bikes.

Nice! Not just painted faces, but some real performance mods. That looks like the latest Yamaha DT50 Multi Turbine Chamber Carburetor featured in Combat Bike! April issue

20:07:04, Saturday April 12 2070
The Street Outside the Stuffer Shack

Aziz hacks at one of the truck's tires, slicing it up nicely. Neo continues running after the mage and feels like he'll get ahold of him before long at this pace.

Raven's spell catches the ork with the shotgun, and he wobbles, though he apparently fought off a fair amount of the spell.

Felix feels the spirit fight him off, though it doesn't cause him any pain in the process.

20:07:05

Raven's spirit causes a car door to suddenly pop open, right in the path of the ganger's truck. Startled, the ganger, swerves, trying to avoid it and only succeeds in crashing into a car on the other side of the street. The fender of the vehicle gets scraped but little else. The ork with the shotgun falls off the side of the truck and doesn't move. The apparent group leader slaps on the truck yelling for the driver to move it. The driver floors it again, and the vehicle surges forward once more, apparently none the worse for wear.

The mage suddenly goes into fast motion, rocketing off far faster than Neo can chase him and heading down an alleyway, away from the viewpoint of the rest of the Crashers.

20:07:08, Saturday April 12 2070
The Street Outside the Stuffer Shack
Aziz

Aziz swears as the truck screeches out of view.

"Fuck!", he shouts, kicking a rock on the pavement. "They got away!" He takes one of his hands off Kalila, checking the pain in his neck, and finding nothing but a small scratch where the bullet had grazed him. After a moment, he looks at the other members gathered.

"Everyone else alright?", he asks.

He walks over to the ork who fell off the truck and checks to see if he's still alive.

20:07:10, Saturday April 12 2070
The Street Outside the Stuffer Shack
JJ

JJ reaches a hand inside his jacket in the front and brings it back out bloody. "I'll be okay I guess. Might need to see Nurse." He smiles really big at the prospect, but the grin turns to a wince of pain.

With his gun out and his other hand held back over his wound, JJ walks over to the ork that Neo walloped and leans over him. He brings his gun out ready to fire and nudges the ork to see if he is still alive.

20:09:11, Saturday April 12 2070
The Street Outside the Stuffer Shack
Toy Robot


Toy Robot screeches like a banshee and runs after the truck, mutilating the air about her with her machete. She only stops after she's run halfway down the block, when she grunts and begins walking back towards her fellow gang members. Her step has a harsh robotic statacco as the adrenaline continues to shoot through her body. Sweat pours from her temples and she feels aggression live within her like a wild beast.

She walks over to the ork with the shotgun, still grasping her machete in a white knuckle grip. "Let's hang him...from STREETLIGHT! Teach LESSON!"

"I need a drink," she thinks to herself.

20:07:09, Saturday April 12 2070
The Street Outside the Stuffer Shack
Raven

Switching her senses to the astral plane, Raven steps outside to see where the fifth orc, who suddenly disappeared, might be.

Meanwhile, her spirit continues to stop the truck...

20:10:38 Saturday, April 12 2070
Just outside Back room (ShadowClinic) Awakened Auburn
JAX

<<< Why? >>> JAX responds, <<< So we can get to the Stuffer faster than the pilot on this thing will. >>> He doesn't elaborate more than that, but Nurse has never seen JAX hot-dogging with the other bikers. He always seems to be under the hood rather than behind the wheel. Another strange thing... JAX doesn't own a bike.

<<< Come on! >>> he urges her to move faster and is twitching with readiness to get moving. He blinks as she steps into the alley and is taken by her rough-and-ready appearance. Dayum. He whistles to himself. Guh... cut it out... she's just a kid. And JAX... all of not-quite-18. So much older. So much wiser. He hops off the bike to let Nurse get on.

His jaw clenches as he looks at her.

<<< JJ, you been quiet. You okay? >>>

20:09:35, Saturday April 12 2070
The Street Outside the Stuffer Shack
Aziz

Aziz leans down and pulls the shotgun from the ganger's hands, tossing it off to the side where it clatters noisily in the street.

"We're not going to butcher him, Robot.", Aziz says, looking back at her. "We've shown enough reason not to mess with us. Besides, I don't have any rope." He looks back at JJ, noting the blood dripping down the side of his body.

"You going to be okay for now, JJ? You wanna go lay down or something?"

When the mage rockets off, Neo reaches down to his belt and whips his SMG up, his smartgun reticle bouncing around from his stride and the retractable stock popping out from a DNI command, before firing off a pair of short, narrow busts with deadly accuracy.

20:09:36, Saturday April 12 2070
The Street Outside the Stuffer Shack
JJ

The ork beneath JJ hasn't moved yet and JJ doesn't know if he is dead or just knocked out.

To Aziz he shouts, "I'll be fine!" In a softer voice he continues, "I guess." Looking over to the ork out in the street, he calls back to Aziz, "Is that one dead? We need info! And fast!"

As the truck crashes, JJ hoops and yells, "Oh shit! Hells yeah!" He gives the ork beneath him a hard shuv with his foot to see if he is alive.

20:09:35, Saturday April 12 2070
The Street Outside the Stuffer Shack
Toy Robot


"I no say butcher. Just hang up," mutters Toy Robot sourly. She spins on her heel and starts walking towards the Stuffer Shack to get a drink. She wants to calm herself down before she snaps at someone.

20:07:05, Saturday April 12 2070
The Street Outside the Stuffer Shack
Felix

Using all the power he could muster, Felix launched a series of telepathic attack agaisn't the astral form of the conjured spirit. His eyes closed, he could picture the astral entity; swirling currents of energy pulsating with life. Opening his mind up, he reached out into the vortex for find a weak thread to pull on... something to jolt the spirits link to the physical world. Suddently, he felt the presence of something.... something else in his mind. Something cold. It started as a soft wind agaisnt his cheeks, and rapidly turned into a hurricane. The wind screamed in his ears, echoing loudly in his head.

Violently, he opened his eyes, taking a few steps back as if someone had pushed him. He stopped when his back was agaisnt the wall.

The spirit had fought him off.

Felix's senses started overloading again. Voices echoed in the distance. Bright lights burned his eyes and a throbbing pain in his head followed the same beat than his hearth. His clothes felt rough agaisnt his skin. Fighting off the sensory overload, Felix cocooned up in his head again, closing his eyes and putting both hands on his ears.

Slowly, in his imagination, a shape started to take shape. A giant blocky elemental made of stone, earth and concrete. He imagine the street, with the parked cars, with the truck speeding away.

Felix could hear but two things; the roar of the giant born of his imagination... and his rapid, hallow breathing. His closed eyes started burning up. An explosion of thoughts, emotions and voices irrupted in his head, as if he could read the minds of thousands of people.

He doubled over to his knees, his hands stopping his fall just before hitting the sidewalk. He opened his eyes back up, only to be met with a blurry vision of the asphalt floor. A small, dark red pool of blood was already forming, from the blooding dripping from his nose, eyes and ears.

His illusion spell had work, he could hear the "fake elemental's" roar.... but his mind felt like it was being ripped apart.

20:09:37, Saturday April 12 2070
The Street Outside the Stuffer Shack
Toy Robot


Toy is inside the stuffer shack pulling chilled beers out of the back. She sits down and leans on the glass door, her back breaking out in goose bumps and leaving a spot of fog.

And she begins to drink, totally missing the illusion outside.

20:20:03. Saturday, April 12 2070
The Meet, Virtual Reality
Electrode

Looking at the number of gangers in the group that shows up, Electrode decides he's going to need some help. Looking around, he catches a fleeting glimpse of movement in the node, a shadow. He smiles at the sight, knowing a friend is near... if he can find him.

Hmmm... i know he's around. Time to start searching everything. Last time he was hiding under a tree, of all places.

Searching all over, he can't seem to find his friend, although he comes close a couple of times. Finally, he spots an arm sticking out from behind a nearby car. Grinning triumphantly he shouts "Found you! Ha, i knew you couldn't hide for long." Quickly speeding over he just barely manages to get close enough to the sprite and just barely touches him...

"Tag! You're it!"

The figure he just touched steps out of the shadows... and yet is still a shadow itself, looking for all the world like a cartoon bandit, striped outfit and all.

Grinning, he adds "Stick around for a bit, will you? I think there might be some doors that need opening.

the shadowy form responds, "All right, you win. I almost had you that time though. Next time we'll see who catches who. Now then, i get to open some doors, you say?

Electrode responds, "Maybe. We'll have to wait and see. In the meanwhile, i better take a look around the meatworld here", he adds as he notices his rotodrone coming into the area.

He quickly does a scan of the area, checking for hidden people that may pose a threat, and scanning for suspicious nodes with the drone's sensors.

20:09:37, Saturday April 12 2070
The Street Outside the Stuffer Shack

Through various bursts of magic, the driver of the truck shortly finds himself aimed directly at a brick wall. The vehicle impacts, though its speed is low enough that no serious damage to the vehicle is sustained. The leader of the gang, however, summersaults over the cab of the truck and hits the wall. His jacket explodes open, showering the street with the cash he'd looted from the stuffer shack. The driver, meanwhile, crawls out of the vehicle on the far side and heads for a nearby alley, using the truck as cover.

The mage, as though using some sixth sense, easily evaded Neo's SMG fire and rapidly escaped down first one alleyway and then another.

20:22:00, Saturday April 12 2070
The Meet

Slam and the elven biker conversed quietly a bit out in front of their respective crews.


After a while, they break apart and the elf whistles. One of his fellow gangers produces a battered cardboard box, heavily wrapped in tape, and tosses it forward. The elf catches it and hands it to Slam before turning, mounting his bike, and heading out with his crew.

20:09:39, Saturday April 12 2070
The Street Outside the Stuffer Shack
Aziz

Aziz hears the screech and crash, and looks over, seeing the truck gracefully slammed into a wall. He smiles.

How lucky for us..., he thinks, and springs into action, chasing after the crash hoping to catch the driver.

20:09:45, Saturday April 12 2070
The Street Outside the Stuffer Shack
Halo

From the opposite end of the street in front of the Stuffer Shack Thyn's truck peels around the corner and speeds to a stop in front of the shack with Thyn, Halo and Knives inside. Once the van comes to almost a complete stop, Halo's popping the latch on the back door and using it for cover she peeks around the corner with the AK slung over her shoulder and the Polearm in her hand waiting for Thyn as she subvocalizes over the com.

<<ActiveX Halo has joined Crash410>>
[20:09:45] C410: Halo is now ACTIVE
[20:09:45] C410: "The calvary has arrived folks. Status? Who's ass can we kick? Or who needs Evac?"

20:09:39, Saturday April 12 2070
The Street Outside the Stuffer Shack
Felix

A part of Felix was registered that the truck had crashed, but his conscious mind was drifting somewhere else within the depth of his own brain. He tried to walk but only tripped on his own feet. Like a broken mirror, his mind was shattered... scattered about. He could hear hundreds of different voices, speaking different languages from different times, some mumbling, some screaming in agony.

Both hands holding his pounding head, Felix concentrated to close his mind back. Only a few seconds passed, but for him, it felt like an eternity. Piecing back his consciousness, like a puzzle, the young mage took back his mind and body.

The scene around him had changed. Althought rather far, he could still see the truck down the street, crashing into a brick wall. The illusion he had conjured up had already vanished, having been cut from the flow of his imagination. Not too far from him, JJ stood over a downed ork, holding a gun in a one hand, and his side in the other. Still dazed, Felix started to half stumble half walk toward his friend when his attention was caught by the screech of tires. Halo's sweet voice echoed in his ears.

As he dragged his feet over to JJ's side, Felix pressed his subvocal mic to his throat, clicking the send button of his commlink.

<<ActiveX Tag has joined Crash410>>
[20:09:47] C410: Tag is now ACTIVE
[20:09:47] C410: "No one is in a critical state. We crashed their truck down the street... I don't know if they're still conscious or not but you might want to check it out."

Using the back of his sleave, Felix wiped the blood from his eyes and nose as he approached JJ. He gave his friend a quick and tired smile before crouching down next to the ork to check his vital. Felix felt concerned about everyone, and he wanted to make damn sure no one would die... not if he could help it. The fact also was that.... he didn't want his friend to notice that he was hurt.

20:09:39, Saturday April 12 2070
The Street Outside the Stuffer Shack
Raven

“I think the other one got away. Can't see him anymore. But at least we could stop the truck.” Raven says with a pleased smile.

Then she moves out into the direction where the truck has crashed, asking her spirit to hold the attacks now, unless the orcs want to continue.

20:09:40, Saturday April 12 2070
The Street Outside the Stuffer Shack
Thyn

"Halo Hold on while I drive up to the Crash."

Thyn drives his van near the crash site and then gets out of the Van and collects his stuff from Halo

20:20:30, Saturday April 12 2070
Virtual Reality - Sumner Local Network
BronzWyrm

Wyrm watches Electrode's icon play with a Sprite he compiled. How does he not realize he calls these sprites to his service? She ponders. He doesn't seem to be paying much attention to her as he concentrates on scanning the area. She notes his drone icon and spots his vehicle off in the distance, and figures he'll speak out when he feels like it... far as she can tell he's masked the 410 global channel again.
She looks through the video feed, watching the progress of the meet betwen Slam and the Elven gang leader. They're close and speak between themselves, but the bike's audio enhancements pick up the conversation almost as if she's standing beside them.

20:23:00, Saturday April 12 2070

She watches the elven ganger get on his bike, absorbing the conversation she overheard. Does Slam realize what he may be dragging the gang into? Are they prepared to be pulled into the middle of a possible gang war? Considering she's the new kid in the group, should she bring it out, or let their leader decide what information the rest of them need to know? Best to play it cool for now and see how things develop.

She reaches out with a claw to the car's pilot program. Once the elven gang starts pulling away, she puts the car in gear, pulling up alongside the gang, then opening the door for Auran and the others. When satisfied that everyone starts getting sorted to leave, she returns to her meatbod. It's been liberating sitting in VR all this time, but it's time to get Real. She releases CD's bike sensors and opens her eyes.

20:10:01, Saturday April 12 2070
The Street Outside the Stuffer Shack
Halo

Halo hangs on tightly to the door frame as Thyn pulled forward and into what was left of the melee. Once they've come to a stop again she jumps off the back of the van and stays behind the door as Thyn grabs his gear. With barely a thought her razors extend from beneath her nails and she inches up on the truck, trying to keep as much cover between her and her target.

[20:10:01] C410: "I'm on it, someone watch my back?"

When she reaches the crashed truck, she can see the rapidly retreating form of one of the dickheads running down the alley. Before taking off after him she checks with the rest of the crew on his possible armed status.

[20:10:05] C410: "Anyone know how many of these pajeros were packing? Don't feel like chasing this prick if I"m gonna get shot."