Sid gets in the car, and when Johnny gets in the passenger seat, he starts it back up.

"Drag's Hole is really awesome. Loud music, dark bar, cheap beer, lots of fighting on the floor.", he says while pulling into the parking lot. He steps out onto the pavement and enters the bar, pleased with the rush of music that greets him.

He steps in further, and pushes through the floor, elbowing a pierced elf sharply in the face as he goes. He finally pushes a guy aside and sits down at the bar.

"Her Drag! Gimme a beer!", he says to the bald guy behind the bar.

He gets it, pops the top and takes a swig, then spins on his stool and looks down the bar.

"HEY! GINO, WHAT UP, MAN?"

Cyril follows Sid into the bar. While he adjusts to his sternum resonating with the bass, he spots a slightly less disrutive path to the bar and picks a stool between Gino and Sid.

"I'll take a beer," he informs Drag, wondering how that name was earned.

Johnny leaves his pack in the car, and his blades. Can't be carrying them around in tight quarters. Well, they could make a weapon, but he doesn't need weapons. Johnny bellies up to the bar and calls out to the tender for a beer as well, leaning for now, not bothering to sit. He does toss Gino a nod, however. Sure they butt heads, but he doesn't hold it against the guy.

Looking into his beer as though the aswer to the problem at hand was at the bottom Jimmy speaks softly,
"So, what now? You guys at least have a education to fall back on. Me, I'm slotted; nobody wants an uneducated, angry orc on the payroll."

Johnny takes up his beer, and in frat boy tradition he drains it in good order. Not like he was a frat boy. I mean, what frat's gonna let a blue haired punk who gets all the chicks in it? He calls for another, and slaps Jimmy on the shoulder.

`Y'know, I've been thinkin' we delivered a fat lot of bikes to that warehouse today. Right good ones. We're movers, or we were... why not move 'em out...`

He accepts the other beer with a nod.

`I mean, it's a fat lot of good my education's done me so far... I say we stick it to that asshole from the showroom.`

"Hey Sid. Hey Cyril. Hey Johnny. So, everyone has decided to come here? That's nice." Thanks for letting me know... Gino thinks to himself. "Anyways, I'm so up for stealing those motorcycles. That would give us some money out of being fired from the job and, I mean, wouldn't it be exciting?"

`That's the spirit, adventure, intrigue... and nuyen baby nuyen...`

Johnny takes a swig of his new brew, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand.

`You scan the metals on those bikes, custom inlay...`

Keeping his voice low,
"One problem guys, don't you think we'd be fairly high on the suspect list? Besides, what are we gonna do with he bikes afterwards? I don't know anybody that can afford one of those things, let alone a truck load."

Cyril first speaks to Jimmy, "There isn't any interest in educated orcs either."

To everyone, "The price of goods is based on what people are willing to pay. Everything else is just advertising."

"I didn't go to college, so this was the best I could do.", Sid says. He drains the last of his beer.

"Cyril is right. We don't have to sell them for market value. That would defeat the purpose. We could probably unload them at around 10k a pop."

`Look guys, I may know a place we can hook up with a buyer, or at least a fence...`

He takes another swig of the beer, grinning ear to ear.

`I've got the skills to make it so none of us are on file at the movers, or at least the info's all wrong. I don't think Leroy's gonna be loose lipped about us or nothing, so when they go Matrix, they'll get the wrong SINs to match the name, end up raiding the wrong apartments. Hell, I could tag it so one of us has that jackass from the dealership's place. We wouldn't even need to do the beating then, just let the 'Star do it.`

He's getting right into it now, the geek in him shining through.

`I could even arange so we've got a warehouse rented through next month, nice and anonymous. Things are so automated these days, ain't no one going to question us.`

"I know a mechanic, a friend of mine, that might send over a few of his clients interested in buying those and they might want it for more than 10k. For 10k, we could sell them in separate parts too... that would be a lot more anonymous and it would still probably work, even if it takes more time. Maybe we could find other mechanics as well."

"It would be nice to see that prick get raided, but maybe we should take this hypothetical conversation elsewhere."

"Nah, the musics too loud for us to be overheard, and Drag doesn't care. Do ya, Drag?", Sid says to the burly bartender.

`Gotta love loud music, beats one of them fancy trid gadget white noise deals anyday...`

He may be a tech, but he's not a surveillance specialist.

Downing half the beer,
"So, when do we do this?"

"We should take a few days before we do this. That way, our computer guy here could go search for the stuff we need on the matrix. We need to do some planning too... What truck are we gonna use? *Burp* Certainly not a company truck .. And we don't have any definite place to put the bikes yet either. When we do the job, how can we make sure that we don't get recognized?"

"Drag, bring me another beer."

"Breathers. We could get some breathers, spray paint the masks so you can't through them."

"You know my cousin Nick? The ganger? I bet he could get us a truck. Most likely stolen, but hey, why not go the whole nine? He'd probably take a bike as payment, though...", Sid says, uncapping another beer.

"One or two days should be ETA on this."

`Breathers? Sounds right wild... I like it...`

Johnny grins as he doffs the last of his beer, calling for another.

`We've gotta move fast, either way. Those bikes can't be more than a few days in the warehouse, after that we'd be looking at a hijacking en route to Denver, and that's a whole other monster.`

He'll have to check the shipping schedule tonight, maybe see about delaying the truck.

"We could use ski masks...bit of cliche there.", Sid says. He takes a few drinks from his beer.

"I'll call up Nick tonight. See what he can do."

Sid cracks open another beer.

"Man, this is probably the longest silence we've ever had.", he observes.

"So, are we going to start the preperations, or just sit here?"

"Sooner it's done, sooner I can get to the confessional and not mention this."

"If we want to do this fast, we still need to find a truck in which to put the bikes. I could probably hot wire a truck. The main problem is to find one unattended, and ideally one which doesn't have a good anti-theft system."

Sid looks at Gino.

"You got a hearing problem, mate? I said my cousin could probably get us one."

"Sounds good Gino. How much can we trust him though?"

Sid looks at Jimmy.

"I'm Sid. Siiiiiid. Gino is over there.", he says, pointing at the dwarf.

"In any case, we can trust Nick. He's my cousin, after all..."

"Heh, sorry about that Sid. Give it a shot, what's the worst that can happen? We get caught and we go to jail, where we're fed 3 squares a day, have free trid access and a non-leaking roof over our heads. Drek, I'd almost want to get caught, if it weren't for that whole sodomy thing."

"Sorry Sid, there's so much on my mind right now.. Oh God, I hope we don't get caught, I'm so scared. But whatever, let's do what you said and contact your cousin, it's easier this way."

"Do you guys really think we're gonna get caught and put in jail?" asks Gino, momentarily scared by all this, maybe because of the mention of sodomy and prison.

"Eh, I wouldn't worry too much about Jail and Sodomy. The sentence for stealing a car would be pretty minor, and even if it does come down to that, I think we can agree Johnny would be the prime target for Surprise Sexing. Besides, Gino, you're too short for proper entry. Just don't open your mouth.", Sid says, smirking. He swigs his beer.

"And even if we do get caught, yeah, we'll get fed and sheltered. And once we get out, Johnny and I can form a band, and all the AAA zone kids will buy our albums like 'Man, they were in prison! That's mega-wiz!', or whatever crap they say.", he says. He decides not to belt down the rest of his beer, as he'd like being sober tonight.

"Sounds about right for those scags. But how do we get inside?"

`I should be able to deal with on site security, well security of the electronic variety...`

He takes a swig of his brew, and grins.

`Too many of these places think a simple alarm's enough, should be null sheen.`

"Just remember, Leroy said that about the lean times too."

"Meat security, didn't think about that. I suppose we could knock 'em on the head, or tase them, or something...", Sid says. He takes another swig of beer.

"Maybe...we could divert them...somehow.", he adds, staring off.

"I go a couple of friends that are very persuassive at convincing folks to look left and right quickly." says Jimmy, flexing his hands till the knuckles pop.

"So, our plan is: get a truck, get disguises, beat up any guards, haul the loot, and sell it for whatever we can get? Not elegant, but it follows a tried and tested pattern."

"We should have a policy of 'leave no one behind' or something. I don't want anyone trying to trick the group either, so we should also have a 'kill the traitor' policy. What do you think?"

`Whoa now... kill the traitor?`

Johnny tosses a look Gino's way, pierced eyebrow quirked.

`Don't you think that's a little extreme? I mean, yeah leave no one behind Sempre Fi and all that Marine Corps bulldrek, but kill the traitor... you ever kill a man before?`

Gino answers with the most serious look on his face. It is somewhat frightening, mostly because of the words coming out of his mouth.

"I won't answer that, but look; I can tell you that I would definitely kill the man because of whom I receive no money in the deal AND because of whom I go to prison or something. That's the way it should be in this kind of business, I believe.

This is serious crap guys, and I don't want anyone screwing up the team. Criminals have their own rules, so if we want to do this, we have to agree on this kind of rules. Now, this is not supposed to be a threat, it just means: we're a team, we don't fuck with the team and the team's plans. It also means that if someone doesn't want to be involved in this because he can't handle it, he can freely decide to leave right now."

`You're takin' things too seriously bro. Hell, we're not going hardcore criminal here, it's just one in 'n out job, and we call it cool.`

As usual, he's jovial, cocky even.

"It's a smash and grab. The worst legal punishment is a fine and a little time in prison, this is definately not the kind of thing to 'kill the traitor' over. The return on this work may be enough to keep us fed for a while, but it sure isn't enough to put one person in a nice house for years."

Cyril looks across everyone before finishing.

"I don't think any of use are crazy enough to risk four of us on his bad side for a year of soy loaf."

"Let's hope so... for him." says Gino with a dark look on his face.

Gino does take this far too seriously.

`Look, guys, I say we sack out for the night, get in contact tommorrow. I have some prep to do, you all have a little yourselves. We'll decide when to hit then, but I say sooner is better.`

Johnny slaps down some bills to bay for the night's drinks, and tosses everyone a solid nod.

"Sounds good.", Sid says. "As for all this Kill the Traitor and No Man Left Behind stuff, we're stealing bikes, not knocking over the National Treasury. A few years in Prison might do us some good anyway. Shave off some pounds, learn how to fight, build some muscle. It's all good."

He swirls to last bit of beer around in the bottom of the bottle, then downs it.

"Well, I'll go home and call up Nick. See you cats later.", he says, swinging off the stool. He edges his way back through the crowd, gets into his car, and heads home. He tromps back up the stairs to his building and heads into his loft. He finds Jill home, watching the Trid.

"Hey baby. Did you get my note? Cause I did leave one...", he says.

Jill is *fuming*. "You got fired!?! You worthless fuck! You're lucky I love you or I'd leave your fucking ass in a heartbeat. I can't cover both halves of the rent, what the fuck are we going to do!?!"

Before Sid can awnser, she provides one for him. "I'll tell you what we're going to do. I have a friend of a friend dropping by the house with a bunch of BTLs and *you're* going to make the freezing scene everyday until our bills are covered."

Nice girl, that Jill, but sometimes she just flies off the handle.

Sid puts his hands up near his head and tries talking to her.

"No, hey, its not like that. We got laid off 'cause of budget cuts! Me, Johnny, Jimmy, Cyril, Gino, we all got fired. But hey, we all made a plan. Our last job was moving custom motorcycles to a warehouse, and we're gonna steal 'em and sell them. I'm gonna call my cousin Nick, and he's gonna get us a truck to use. You know Nick, right?", he says, curling his arm around her.

"Hey, we'll be all right. Don't worry, I always come up with something.", he says softly.

That oughta calm her down..., he thinks while he strokes her hair.

"Now I'm gonna go call Nick, ok?", he says, getting his phone out. He goes and sits down at his densiplast table, and dials in Nick's number.

"Hey, Nick? This is Sid, your cousin. How're you doing?"

Elsewhere, Cyril has left the bar and is waiting for a train. If nothing interrupts him, he will go back to his place, read, sleep, read and wait for a call.

Johnny steps into his dive with a big bag of fast food in hand, balancing a drink tray along his elbow. He half expects Trixie to be there, half expects to be eating alone. Then again, when he finds she's not there he doesn't much mind. He'd rather delay telling her about his currently employment status (read, his lack of employment) until after he's at least laid the groundwork for this smash and grab.

He tosses on the trid while he moves to his wobbly old desk (found in the alley by the place, only a week ago). He drops down the drinks and food, then sluffs off his pack, sitting it beside his chair. He takes a seat, and while in between bites of soyburger and drinks of Mr. Soda, he sets up his deck.

Four items of business on the agenda for tonight, and none of them too simple:

- Slither on into the moving company's system and change the records of their adresses. Should be easy enough getting in, the system was as much his as the company's, tough part'll be tracking down Mr. Showroom's adress, and a few others in his organization;
- Scout out the Matrix presense of the warehouse where the bikes are held, if there is one, and probe for defenses;
- Arange for the rental of another warehouse, preferably a good distance from the first, under Mr. Showroom's name. Might be fun to try and pay with his accounts too; and
- Delay the truck that's coming to pick the bikes up. This one might be the simplest, as it'll just involve shifting the request time.

He considers a few minutes, and jacks in. First order of business for Jett Decklines, delay that truck.

Nicks phone rings twice before his voice mail comes on.