04-Apr-2071, 00:06:13, Puyallup, Seattle

Nuke's flesh hand closes around the heavy pistol as his metallic one touches each spare magazine he carries, mentally preparing himself.

Satisfied that the weapon is as ready as it will ever be, he resumes his electronic search.

<<Something else to look for will be a satellite uplink or the heat signature of a generator. I know it's a needle in a haystack to spot from the air, but with no local infrastructure, they'll probably have one or the other. Mind if I use the rotodrone's antenna to look for lateral emenations from a satellite uplink?>>

04-Apr-2071, 00:06:16, Puyallup, Seattle

<<Knock yerself out padre. but Keep it light. I might have to jump in there if things get crazy.>>

Jasper assesses the blockades to see if he can get past them without wiping out. He checks for side roads and sidewalks, Anything to keep the team moving until they can narrow in on their target.

04-Apr-2071, 00:06:19, Puyallup, Seattle

<<Not going to lock a man out of his own drone.>>

Nuke leaves Jasper to the task of tracking the movements of the ghouls on the ground and the various roadblocks they've constructed. Instead, he keeps his attention focused on the rotodrone's antenna controls, hunting for hidden nodes in range, then for any lateral signal spill from a satellite uplink.

04-Apr-2071, 00:06:20, Puyallup, Seattle

There are a few ways around the barrivades - but they all lead trough the heart of the area, a zone where even Nuke's sensors do not detect any sign of civilization. Even the ghouls, who seem responsible for most of the nodes, seem to avoid the area, or so it looks from the air. There's just one block there, half-collapsed.

Then Nuke catches a faint signal, a comm set on standby, but still trying to hook up to the network - from the central area.

04-Apr-2071, 00:06:23, Puyallup, Seattle

<<I feel like we is bein corraled into the slaughterhouse ya'll. But if we want to stay clear of these ghouls, we're gonna have to fly a little close to the sun>>

Jasper orders "Rosie" to scout ahead as he brings the trucks in tight to clear the barricades.

04-Apr-2071, 00:06:28, Puyallup, Seattle

Nuke stamps a quick green triangle ARO on the location he's getting a return signal from, then rises back up to AR depth and leave's the rotodrone node.

<<Got a hit. Cut it as close as you have to, and we'll manage.>>

04-Apr-2071, 00:06:29, Puyallup, Seattle

Stray tenses up, and checks the status of her shotgun twice in the next few seconds - things are heating up.

04-Apr-2071, 00:06:29, Puyallup, Seattle

Jasper put "Charlene's" paint into full camo,ordered the trucks to slow down, and jumped into "rosie" to look ahead for himself.

04-Apr-2071, 00:06:33, Puyallup, Seattle

<<Can you swing the rotodrone in closer to the signal hit I got? Want to get into mutual signal range so I can take a look at what this thing is and see whether I can get audio or video out of it.>>

04-Apr-2071, 00:06:36, Puyallup, Seattle

<<Roger that, Nuke. I'm headin fer it now>>

Jasper flies high as he can manage towards the site marked by Nuke while keeping an eye on the path the trucks are coming up on.

04-Apr-2071, 00:06:37, Puyallup, Seattle

The signal is coming from the central block. As the drone closes its growing strong enough so Nuke can hack inside the commlink. He has not much trouble - though a bit more than expected from a cheap commlink - especially here. Quite sophisticated software, there.

When he hacks into the camera the image sent to hm is even less promising. It's a bad angle, but he can make out a body on the floor - dead eyes stare at the wall. Judging by his face this is Drives-Likes-Crazy, even though he looks as if he has been beaten to death and then gnawed on by rats. But why would a body be left laying around in the middle of ghoul country?

04-Apr-2071, 00:06:45, Puyallup, Seattle

<<Fuck.>>

Nuke relays the video of the dead rigger to Jasper, focused on the blunt trauma, and the lack of any sign of being eaten by ghouls.

<<Think we might have found something a little worse than ghouls. Damned if I know what that might be, though.>>

Suddenly inspired again, Nuke begins searching for any recordings present on the commlink, or the controls for the microphone, hoping either current sound or old video will shed some light on the situation.

04-Apr-2071, 00:06:48, Puyallup, Seattle

As soon as Jasper can discern the building that houses the signal, he swoops in for a low fly by.

<<Maybe Cheryl's a real tiger in the sack. I know some women that can rip a man's dick off with no hands>>

04-Apr-2071, 00:06:49, Puyallup, Seattle

<<She'd have to be pretty talented or she wouldn't be living in a condo downtown, and getting repeat business from big time corporate lawyers. They're all sickos who like to get slapped around and spit on and shit anyway. But I'm more concerned about why the ghouls aren't eating his body.>>

04-Apr-2071, 00:06:49, Puyallup, Seattle

Stray feels like cursing - this does not look good. At least it's just a drone there, for now.

Jasper's fly-by shows no ghouls, no dead hookers, nothing around this block that moves. He spots another corpse though, one harm hanging out a window - another runner from the team they are looking for. No sign of Cheryl.

Nuke sifts through the recordings, and opens the most recent file. It's a recording of a comm call with a Mr. Johnson, a man announcing that the "package" was secured, then suddenly interrupted by screams - male screams. The visuals are unfortunately unusable - just showing the ground rapidly approaching, the impact's sound drowned in more screams and the sounds of combat. No female screams though.

04-Apr-2071, 00:06:57, Puyallup, Seattle

Jasper records the shot of dead guy number two and sends it to Stray and Nuke.

<<well guys, any thoughts?>>

He pulls back to his Captain's chair on his imaginary front porch, and orders Rosie to watch for movement and alert him. then He has the trucks move up. stopping just shy of the building.

04-Apr-2071, 00:07:17, Puyallup, Seattle

Nuke watches the recording, looking for clue, and not really finding too many.

<<Either she broke out, or she was still out cold when they got killed, or she was rescued. None of those explains why the ghouls haven't eaten them.>>

04-Apr-2071, 00:07:17, Puyallup, Seattle

"Do we go in, or send a drone in?" Stary's not too keen on going out of the car, but she doesn't want to let it show.

04-Apr-2071, 00:07:20, Puyallup, Seattle

<<My gut reaction is to send in a drone, then again, the only one I can volunteer is a microtapper.>>

04-Apr-2071, 00:07:20, Puyallup, Seattle

<<I can send in "Bud", but he might need help with doors if they can't be opened remotely.>>

04-Apr-2071, 00:07:22, Puyallup, Seattle

<<How many intact doors could this place have?>>

04-Apr-2071, 00:07:23, Puyallup, Seattle

<<Do you mean intact as in "working electronically", or intact as in "barred so the ghouls cannot get in"?>>

04-Apr-2071, 00:07:26, Puyallup, Seattle

<<If the barricades are still intact, then she's still in there. If she got out, I doubt she'd have bothered to repair the barricades and the drone can get in to look around. But if the barricades were breached, then the ghouls would have eaten their bodies. So what would have killed him like that without having to breach the barricade? Spirit maybe, but wouldn't its' controller have let her out, which would have breached the barricades?>>

04-Apr-2071, 00:07:30, Puyallup, Seattle

<<aw hell, It ain't worth writin a book about, Bud can go in and take a look around, we can see whats up, and work from there.>>

Jasper pulls out of VR for a minute to get set up. He Draws "Harry" and sets him on the dash. He cracks his knuckles and drops back on to his Virtual porch, complete with his virtual dog ,J.D. , looking out over the horizen as it analyzes the node. He sends a comand to charlene to open the side door, and orders bud to infiltrate and observe the building. Jasper brings Bud's sensor array input to center screen and scans the info bar to make sure his covert ops autosoft is runing and his chameleon paint is in full cammo mode. At least the sun isn't comming up anytime soon

04-Apr-2071, 00:10:45, Puyallup, Seattle

Bud takes a few minutes to search the building - finding the missing runner, apparently beaten to death with a blunt object, or so it looks, and finding an empty gun next to to the body before its audio sensors pick up some noise from the basement - human breathing, almost hyperventilating.

Moving down carefully the drone spots a figure, human sized, long hair, huddled in a corner. Clothes macth those of Cheryl during her kidnapping, but look torn and ripped - and dirty.

04-Apr-2071, 00:10:48, Puyallup, Seattle

Nuke watches the incoming data from the drone closely, looking for any sign of their quarry. A scrap of clothing, a few strands of hair, a smudge of makeup. Any sign of her passing will do. Then the drone finds her, and the seat belt is the only thing that stops him from jumping up, cheering, and inevitably hitting his head on the van's ceiling.

<<Any sign of the other two?>>

04-Apr-2071, 00:10:48, Puyallup, Seattle

<<you saw what I saw, Anyone want to go in and talk our girl outa that corner?>>

Jasper has "Bud" continue to search the premises. He rocks back in the virtual chair to scan the other feeds. It's always strange to see your meat body just lying there from virtual space. Jasper would say he was used to it, but it always struck a chord in the old piano, if just for a nanosecond.

04-Apr-2071, 00:15:03, Puyallup, Seattle

Apart from the bodies of the three runners and the huddled girl there's nothing else that is or was alive in the building - that Bud's sensors can pick up, at any rate. His other feeds pick up a ghoul briefly appearing at a house in the distance, but disappearing even faster back where it came from.

04-Apr-2071, 00:15:43, Puyallup, Seattle

After reviewing all the video, confirming the three runners are dead, and not spotting any lurking ghouls, Nuke unfastens his seatbelt, adjusts his body armor and turns to Stray.

"Let's go do some rescuing. This Gannings asshole better have a really, really, really good story."

04-Apr-2071, 00:15:50, Puyallup, Seattle

"Right." Stray grips her shotgun, quickly checks her gear for a last time and steps out of the van, her goggles switching to low-light vision and informing her of the gun's status. Nothing moves outside - nothing in range anyway.

"Clear."

The young adept steps to the building and starts to break down the door barring entry.

04-Apr-2071, 00:15:52, Puyallup, Seattle

As the first crack of the door resounds down the street, Nuke brings up his pistol, sweeping back and forth in search of anyone drawn to the sound. The passive light amplification of his cybernetic eyes turns night into day as the seconds tick by.

04-Apr-2071, 00:15:52, Puyallup, Seattle

Jasper orders "Bud" back to watch the girl. He starts to think about drones for door busting. Maybe a shotgun mount...

04-Apr-2071, 00:15:52, Puyallup, Seattle

The girl hasn't moved so far, might not even have noticed the drone. Stray breaks down the door with a few kicks, barely avoiding to get her foot stuck when old wood gives in unexpectedly, and the dark interiour is bckoning the runners on now. Stray swallows and steps forward, shotgun ready, pointing where she is moving. The target is two flights of stairs down in the basement.

No sign of any movement either outside or inside. No electronic traffic. On the way down the runners pass a corpse of one runner - gear is still on or around him including a commlink with a smashed casing.

04-Apr-2071, 00:15:52, Puyallup, Seattle

Nuke steps over the dead runner, muzzle trained on him the entire time, half expecting the dead body to lunge at him. The urge to put a round in each one's forehead is hard to suppress. Instead, he stays close to Stray, skulking through the detritus, constantly checking to make sure nothing is sneaking up behind them.

04-Apr-2071, 00:15:59, Puyallup, Seattle

Nothing is sneaking up behind Nuke. Nothing seems alive in the building. Not even a rat scurries away when the runners advance. Now that one mentions it - the corpses are in bad shape, but do not show signs of rats or other animals gnawing on them. All the damage seems to have been done during the killing.

04-Apr-2071, 00:16:06, Puyallup, Seattle

Boots crunch in the dirt and detritus. The big silencer tube sweeps the nooks and crannies of each room right along with Nuke's eyes as he continues down into the subbasement, switching his focus to searching for booby traps.

<<You getting all this, J? Any ideas what might keep even the rats out of this place?>>

Still almost glued to Stray's back, he listens, waiting for his augmented ears to pick up Cheryl's manic breathing.

04-Apr-2071, 00:16:09, Puyallup, Seattle

Jasper wondered for amoment if the question was a subtle way to see if he was still there,

<<Well, Rats usually split when there's a lot of comotion. Maybe they got jumped pretty recently.>>

Only after he said it, did Jasper realize how little comfort that was.

04-Apr-2071, 00:16:57, Puyallup, Seattle

One flight of stairs later Nuke's ears pick up the rapid breathing of Cheryl. A turn, another flight of stairs - like the drone-mapped route indicated - and the two runners are in the basement, making their way towards the room the callgirl is in, past the elevator, filled with debris and waste almost to the ground floor. Someone looted the building thoroughly, but a long time ago.

Then the runners catch sight of Cheryl. The girl is still huddled over, rocking while hugging her knees, but suddenly flinches, staring at them. "What? Who?" she asks in a hoarse voice. "Get away!"

04-Apr-2071, 00:17:08, Puyallup, Seattle

<<Yeah, I don't like it either.>>

As he spots the girl, Nuke holsters the big silenced pistol, and drops down to one knee.

<<Jackpot.>>

"Cheryl, I'm Nuke. Your employer sent us. We're here to get you out of here."

04-Apr-2071, 00:17:11, Puyallup, Seattle

Jasper orders "Bud" to aquire a sensor lock on the girl, but to hold his fire. Just in case the fight or flight kicks in. Then, he scans all the feeds for trouble.

<<If at all possible, lets make this quick aight?>>

04-Apr-2071, 00:17:15, Puyallup, Seattle

Cheryl tries to scoot further back, away from Nuke, but she's already in the corner. "No... get away... it's coming... it's coming..." her voice is breaking, hoarse, and her eyes wide, with red traces from burst blood vessels.

Upon closer inspection her clothes are dirty - covered with dust, dirt and what looks like dried blood. Her hands are scraped, but also covered in dirt, dust, and caked blood, but look like she tried to wipe them on the wall.

04-Apr-2071, 00:17:18, Puyallup, Seattle

<<I don't like the sound of that>>

04-Apr-2071, 00:17:22, Puyallup, Seattle

<<If you think you don't like it, try being in here.>> Nuke's tone is joking, but still stressed as he steps a little closer to Cheryl.

"All the more reason to get you out of here. What's coming?"

I don't like where this is headed...

04-Apr-2071, 00:17:25, Puyallup, Seattle

"Death... death.... blood, blood... Death is coming..." The girl is crying now, shaking, and pressed to the wall when Nuke scoots closer. She'd scamper up the wall if she could, or so i seems. "Go away... go away....it's coming"

She turns away, presses her face into the corner, and sobs. "Go away!"

04-Apr-2071, 00:17:25, Puyallup, Seattle

Nuke stops in his tracks, then backs away slightly.

"Looks like we need to leave before it gets here. How often does death come?"

04-Apr-2071, 00:17:30, Puyallup, Seattle

Cheryl stops moving, stops sobbing for a second, then turns around and looks at Nuke. A wide smile suddenly appears on her face.

"It's here."

04-Apr-2071, 00:17:36, Puyallup, Seattle

"I was really hoping you wouldn't say that."

<<How the hell do you rescue a schitzo when one of her personalities of a murderous psychopath? Clever plans? Anyone?>>

04-Apr-2071, 00:17:37, Puyallup, Seattle

Stray is about to ask if anyone got a taser ready when the girl suddenly jumps at them, hands stretched out like claws and shrieking like something inhuman - far faster than expected.

04-Apr-2071, 00:17:37, Puyallup, Seattle

Shit...