Paul says: ""OK, if we're moving out, which vehicles are we taking? I'd rather not compromise the van too much if we don't have to. My drones are pretty small so I can drag a few along if it comes to that.""

Bongo replies, "We can use my Range Rover if necessary. Doesn't have drone bays or anything, but it'll drive through a lot of drek. I hope we can park inside the building somewhere seeing as we are looking to work for Monifa."

Lenny says "Uh. I don't think Monifa has an official position that would help with parking permits. I bet I could swing something there, though over an extended period of time there might be issues with people asking too many questions about a vehicle. Well, I guess we'll just have to ask. In any case I don't have a ride. A range rover should fit everybody right? I just mentioned a convoy because it sounds safer if anything happens. But that might be the paranoia about that part of town."

Conversations threads finally catch up to him, after he processes the message from Willie and he finally registers Bongo talking about introductions.

"Oh, and I'm Lenny. Hacker working for Brewster, did a run with Willie here already. Pretty crazy stuff. Lotta action. "

Then he turns towards Selina and says "And that was Selina. "

"hi"


He turns to the chair.


"and I guess that's Angel back there? "


Angel doesn't pick up on that exactly at all and has actually started communicating with Paul over coms instead of really paying attention to the conversation. "Hey. I still have a little money left over after the run. Could I get some kinda flying drone? I've seen ones that look like little helicopters. Can drones just fly anywhere they want? I could try flying around where the helicopter was and scan for cameras actually pointed at the sky. I'm getting a bit better at working out the wireless stuff. Maybe I could trace it back that way to where it came from or where it went? Maybe they're really expensive though.... and we don't have much time. "

Lenny just looks in her direction awkwardly while she stares at Paul .

Paul looks back at Angel, but answers her vocally rather than electronically.

""You could surely get a flying drone. Plenty of off-the-shelf models in various sizes depending on your budget. What you might wanna do is get one, but leave enough in your budget so you can add a few extra sensors. I can do that for you, easy enough. Where they can fly kinda depends on size, though. The bigger they are, the more rules and regulations. If it's the size of a big insect, you're mostly good to go.""

Angel replies. This time verbally, though with the chair angled so she's facing Paul but hidden from the other guys, with her back toward Selina.

"Oh. Uh. Since you've helped out with some freebies and Brewster has been making training cheap I think I could get something like this. "

She flips Paul an AR image of a MCT-Nissan Rotor drone. Wherever she got the pic of, it's an old model. They were actually more expensive back then, but on the used market they've had to drop below the price of the new ones, which, since the picture looks new, might be what she actually wants.

Lenny is somewhat left hanging. But he starts speaking again.

"Hey. Uh. So just to get a go on things how about we let the fellow with the Rambler drive me, the guy who doesn't want to drive his van, and Selina"

"Hi" followed by another wave.

"And then Angel stays in the house, and Willie goes ahead and looks scary. He's pretty good at that. "

We can handle introductions and details in the car. Sorry, if I seem pushy I've just had to deal with a LOT of meetings what went to long and then I'm late to something. Often meetings with a scary boss in regular life too. "

While he waits for people to reply he spaces off just a little as he wonders why he managed to say that here to a bunch of people with guns, but not back at the office.

Paul waggles a hand to Angel. ""Maybe. Maybe not. If it's second-hand you should get it checked out - I can do that for you. In fact, you should get a new one checked out for unwanted tags and other goodies too. Anyway, let me get locked down and bring a bag of fun for Willie's ride out."" With that, he wanders off to lock down his van thoroughly, but not before bringing a hefty rolling case with small drones, cables and ancillary supplies.

"The Rover has an autopilot, yes? You could just have it drop us off and park in the vincinity. Maybe that would be safer, too. For the car, I mean. I could also have Fiona keep an eye on it, until it is at a safe place."

Selina chuckles lightly, when Lenny tries to point out who is who. What's a Rambler, though? Clearly, he is talking about Bongo.

"Also, what Lenny is trying to say oh so subtly is... you guys havn't introduced yourselves, yet."

Angel figure Paul is probably right. She doesn't exactly want to argue with him, but she's not used to having people hear what she says unless she hits "send" or is in full VR so anyone listening close could hear her whine to herself "But I want in noooowwww."

She also not used to having to wait for most things more than a few microseconds.

"Reality sucks" she continues to mumble as she curls up in the seat of her drone wheelchair.

Since Lenny can't see her he feels like he shouldn't reply. He also feels like he shouldn't jump in on the other conversation. At least nobody is trying to threaten him to see if he's tough. He was worried about that.

Paul, between rounds of trundling around his box of gear and locking his van up tight including the kill switches, says to Angel: ""Hey, remember that you can't hack a machine that doesn't exist. That includes all the sticky little wires and cables that make it work. If you want to get inside the machine, sometimes it helps to start by getting inside the machine.""

"Okay," says Bongo. "Autopilot it is, then. No point wasting Fiona watching a vehicle."

He looks around. "Sorry, I thought we all knew each other. I'm Bongo Slade, drummer extraordinaire and many other talents. My buddy here, Quick Willie, " Willie nods to all, including the shy, hiding one. "Is almost as good on wheels as he is with a firearm."

"Yup. Lenny knows me and has seen some," Willie adds.

Angel remains basically oblivious. There's little reason to introduce names online when your tag is generally visible over your head, and really, shouldn't everyone's AR interface do the same thing? She doesn't think this in detail, simply believes introductions mean explaining what it is that you can do, which is mostly required because shadowy types don't have proper profiles setup on their avatars or comlinks. However, she mentioned that she could fly a drone around can try to hack cameras, which is what she does, so she figures she's done.

Lenny is a bit more aware of the reality, and some social norms. At the moment this is just torment. For one he's pretty sure he called "Bongo's" Range Rover a Rambler a minute ago, and maybe he just missed the dwarf's name. He makes up his mind to get it somehow or other without pressing the issue.

Mostly just wants to get a change of scenery before he starts sweating profusely. Maybe do some useful things. Though he felt like he did some good stuff with Willie, so that might help if they start gossiping over their subvocals.

He shakes his head, and, not especially wanting to lead the conversation but not wanting to stay here says.

"Willie, does your bike have an autopilot? Where you could cruise ahead while we scope out the scene in the Rover, and then it could go off on its own while meeting Monifa? Well, unless you feel decently about any of the parking in the area as we look around. In any case it I think he seems ready." Lenny nods his head towards Paul,

"Let's get rolling. I'd like to at least get some feel for the area and Brewster said we shouldn't keep Monifa waiting too long. "


Angel is still a little pouty about not getting something right away, and doesn't care about the logistics of driving off since she has no intention of leaving.

She says to Paul, using actual words this time "How about I ask Brewster to get one? That's the sort of thing he's supposed to be good at right? Like, professionally? Maybe you could still look at it quick?"

"Yeah, yeah, my Mirage has autopilot. I can send it home when I want to. Never as much fun as burning up the streets, though." A toothy grin from Willie follows. "Sure. Let's get going. I'm itching to do something."

Bongo chimes in, "Alright. Let's pack into my Rover and enjoy the ride. The reality is we don't actually have the job till we negotiate with Monifa. I'll take point on that if it's OK with you." He points to the back door beyond which the vehicles await.

""Angel, if you're in a hurry for a 'bot of some sort, the fastest way is to go straight to Stuffer Shack and get a Bust-a-Move straight off the shelf. Cheap, quick and minimally functional. On the other hand, it's probably stuffed full of tags, and won't do much more than scoot around. Working through a third party will basically always be slower. So why don't you go get something now, let me scan and clear it, and then you can later mod it with whatever you want?""

Lenny isn't sure where the vehicles are, but he's eager enough to get going.

This has been a lot of people talking for Angel too. Sure folks had been around the place, but usually not all crowded around at once. Mostly she's pouting about the drone situation. She doesn't want a bust a move, she wants a helicopter and she wants one now. She tries to figure out how to professionally ask Brewster for one.

She sends a message with the image she sent to Paul. <<I'd like one of these, please>>

He'd mentioned the words please and thank you, though she isn't sure you should use it in a case like this.

She sinks down lower as she realizes she probably needed to send more detail <<It's for the job. I can pay as long as it isn't too much. Like, less than the last job paid.>>

Glumly she realizes this is "negotiating" and she's pretty sure that some of the others are supposed to be better about that. She makes a mental note to figure out how to ask them to do that in the future.

Out loud she mumbles "I've asked Brewster about one. Maybe you can look at it when it arrives?"

Selina is ready to move on. "Alright, let's get this on the road!"

She checks the time, always good to know when the sun goes up or down, when you are a shaman. It has quite some importance, especially when it comes to negotiating with the spirit world.

Once outside, the elf heads towards the front passenger door.

Paul turns to Angel from packing up. ""Sure thing, I gotcha. Probably a few minutes unless they got cute and embedded tags in the composites - but that's usually more work than they want.""

(Alright, I'll get this rolling. I'll leave it ambiguous where Paul jumps in the Rover or stays with Angel while the others scout. )

If Angel could get eyes on them, she'd be much more impressed with the Rover 2068 and the Mirage for a Shadowrunning team compared to Tubesnake's van. Even without extra add-ons, the Rover is a van with a spoiler. It looks blocky and tough, with its long backward swept antenna whip giving it a military look. But these made it popular enough with people who didn't want to be known as the sort of people who need a third row of seats that it doesn't stick out, except perhaps for being a little upscale. And the Mirage is slick as always.

Lenny gets in behind Bongo and gives Selina another "hi."

As the group heads out first things get nicer and more congested as they cross from their area on boarder of the east wing of the butterfly into and through the "L". The looming structures blocking out what remains of the natural sunlight this time in the afternoon, but making up for it in with artificial lighting, as much from hung LED array screens showing ads as any planned streetlights.

Soon the group on the other side, and soon there aren't any more actual skyscrapers, just uptown structures squatting on three and four story buildings, and soon that starts thinning out and you just have blocks of mostly rowhomes. Many boarded up, though, with the boards removed from where the doors should be, maybe not abandoned. The traffic is light out here, and the Baltimore Police Union does not seem to have a great deal of presence. Willie gets the feeling this is the sort of place he could really open up the throttle.

Gangers of the pedestrian and Go Ganger varieties, though primarily or entirely composed of Orcs, stare at the traffic going by, with it being hard to tell if they especially care or if they're just really board. Some metahumans lurching around like zombies seem to find everything fascinating.

(OOC: Depending on how he wants to play it, Willie should make some sort of social test, with Intimidation or etiquette being the most natural, to those in this area to avoid getting hassled. It's hard to be particularly expressive with an SUV. But either way you get to the building, this would be more applicable as you loop around.)

Sitting among these smaller structures, Harlem Tower 3 is massive, its companions off in the distance also clearly visible.

Staring at it, Lenny says "Esh. It really looks better in the materials online where its covered in greenery and flowers. It said those systems were supposed to be automatic. I wonder if they busted or if they just stopped being willing to reseed."


As he mentions, and as was partially shown in the video of the helicopter attack, the greenery is mostly dead, leaving behind the bar like black trellises. On a closer look in the daylight there are still some plants growing here and there, and in other spots the trellises have been knocked out. This is especially frequently the case in the upper floors. Most of the windows seem to be intact, though with some yellowing, if anyone zooms in, indicating being partially or wholly polymer based. Bongo's mind starts automatically filling away this information, so he'd have a pretty good idea anywhere in the building where to go depending on if he wants to find intact or missing windows or trellises.


To Fionas or Selinas senses the Tower is even worse. They've gotten to enjoy the elevators in their place at 414 Light or Mike's at the Tourmaline lifting them out of the pervasive but low level background count the downtown Baltimore generates. Maybe because of the massive number of people and their conditions the Tower is worse. At least a background count of two. Not a place a Spirit would want to stay, unless its aspect matched the local mana or more likely was straight up toxic. The flower spirit Brewster is interested in didn't look toxic, and certainly seemed to be helping a metahuman that wasn't its caster in the video. A giant glowing bat flying around the building in the astral plane, like the one from the helicopter video, has a bit more of that twisted look, and flies erratically near and sometimes dipping into the building, with the trellises and walls not impeding its astral form.

Anyone looking might note that nobody seems to be hanging out on the balconies on this beautiful day.

They also might spot an actual presence of BPU as a few cars escort busses coming to and from in front of the building.

It looks like parking might not be a problem. Spots like Harlem Inner Block Park Za 125 don't have a lot of buildings around them, and despite the nearby Harlem Tower 3, the street parking isn't filled up, or even metered, at least not by the city.

There's also still a lot of open grass one could hop up on near the thundering Franklin-Mulberry expressway just to the south, full of Road Trains hauling shipping containers out of Baltimore's crowded Harbors to the rest of the UCAS.

Folks are loitering around in the parks and sidewalks, but not by the expressway. As a nice breeze picks up, discarded foil containers from the nutrition packets the city gives out waft around in the air like low grade chaff. In the rearview mirror a ways back Bongo might spot some more BPU vehicles leading in some trucks that look like the one giving those out back at the safehouse towards the Tower.

Paul sits in the back of the Rover, next to a folded seat where he stacked his rolling cargo bins. He takes in the rich cultural ambience of Baltimore, experiencing the visual language of entropic development and liminal socio-political spaces with a connoisseur's eye to the layered applications of purpose and context over a dense tapestry of historic construction.

For now, he also sets aside his hard hat, favouring the ballcap and goggles.

As they pull up to the building, Willie guns the motor of his Mirage before he stops the bike. He looks around, projecting the image of one who has killed and is prepared to do so again. Easy to project the truth. If no challenge from the gangers in the neighbourhood materializes, he instructs the bike to go home and park in their spot.

Bongo pulls in behind Willie and parks. The background count sucks energy from him, making mana harder to access. He grimaces, and says to Selina, "Damn. This place tastes awful. Gonna be tough to be in top form inside this thing."

He steps out from the driver's seat and waits for the others to exit as well before instructing the vehicle to go home.

Willie is aware of a lot of eyes on him as that give the building a look over (OOC: Presuming they at least go around once for Bongo to get the layout) but none of them try anything.

There are loading docks on the north side of the building, but the main entrance is on the south side. There are only emergency exists on the east and west.

The south entrance is a gaping maw though., with a ramp going down to the garage in the middle and wide pedestrian access on either side. Old consoles, more fitting for the 2050s, exist on the side. (OOC: With a single hit Bongo could remember one of the young homeless adults from the park under the Tourmaline, mostly trying to get into public housing, working something out on one of the consoles while looking nervously around the place.

Most people just walk in, and a recent bus has disgorged a load of them. Though for folks presumably coming home from work they seem to mostly lack enthusiasm for arriving. Some are comfortable, but most seem on edge.

There are no guards, but plenty of cameras.

Inside you're pretty free to walk around ferrocrete floor. The central maintenance tower does have doors on this level, but they're heavily reinforced, and built to look like it. Relatively "open" cage style elevators form a ring as they go up full of partially visible people to the many floors. You can see all the way to the underside of the roof from the bottom level. Though even with the various metal walkways and elevators all being partially see through most of the time it isn't a clear view. There are a few spots where something could fall top to bottom in between all that, and someone could get pretty crazy with parkour here.

This level seems to have some cheap bars and restaurants, though it looks like most are for take away only. Possibly because it's an enclosed building, some folks are openly drinking. There are a few beggars, but not as many as one might expect. Possibly because the crowd here seems to take no interest.

Near the entrance the small is pretty decent as the building seems to suck in air from the outside, but a few unpleasant whiffs can be caught here and there.

Lenny says to the group "Well, do we want to try and look around or just go ahead and give Monifa notice we're here and to send somebody to get us up there without trouble. Also, can I wear my helmet?"

Without asking he pings Angel to let her known they've arrived. She replies back to the group. <<Aw. You're already there? Brewster hasn't gotten me my drone yet! >>

When Bongo mentions the astral taint, Selina nods in agreement. "Yes, I can feel it, too. There is a taint here, which will make it hard to do much."

While they are still outside, Selina and Fiona take their time to get a good look at that spirit and whatever else they can see from the outside. Focusing their senses on the astral, Selina mostly points out a few things she can see, but leaves the main task to Fiona, who is much more at home there, naturally.




As Lenny asks about the next steps, Selina says: "Honestly, after seeing it up close, I don't see much of a point in trying any astral reconnaissance here. And there is this spirit on patrol also, that might not like that too much. Even approaching the building astrally might set it off. So, yeah, I would say we get in touch with Monifa. We can still look around, while we get to her." She shrugs and adds. "Helmet should be fine. I brought one, too." Hers is more of a motorcycle helmet fitting with her outfit, the black bodysuit she also wore when she first arrived at the safehouse with her bike.


<< @Angel: Things just move a lot slower in real life. It is what it is. >>

Tubesnake takes a quiet moment while the others discuss the nature of things that he can't see, to flip open part of the lid of the top crate, and extract a Fly-Spy and an annelid. Then he locks the crate up again, and checks the electronics.
""Let me know what you want checked out, folks. I have options, but advance warning is better.""

Assessing the spirit carefully, Fiona determines that it's a force 5 spirit of fire. In brief moments when it looks like it's outside the area of the background count that doesn't jump up. Implying it isn't being affected the way spirits typically would. That background count, which Fiona shortly gets to experience up close and personal, or at least Selina does if Fiona holds back, is a nasty thing carrying a cocktail of negative emotions from the crowded masses stacked here. The sprit doesn't give the impression of being completely toxic. But there might well be a twisted of some sort about to be able to fit the aspect of this domain.

Another thing Fiona noticed was that the background count on the roof seemed a little different. Maybe something left over from the fight earlier. Being twisted isn't a path to ignoring the effects of every roiling of the mana in the astral. Things might be even up there. Though again, the spirit seems to be on patrol instead of any sort of attack pattern.

She also catches sight of someone stepping out on their balcony. The spirit doesn't materialize, but seems to deviate from its path to cross through the astral shadow of the ork who had stepped out. The ork doesn't seemed harmed, but they quickly take their large rolled blunt and heads back inside.

Lenny breathes a sigh of relief as he puts on his helmet. The cameras interfacing with his systems to give him an all-around AR view.

He says "Alright Bongo, I could ping her, but maybe you ought to. "

Even though he could keep looking at the actual building and the people in it. He finds himself picking around information online. Getting a thought he replies to Paul.

"Hey. So I don't know if it's anything you can use. But those trellises should be blooming. The public facing info on this place says the systems outside of the maintenance tower are supposed to only require very minor maintenance. But that's different than no maintenance. I guess I'm not exactly sure how stuff not working is helpful, but stuff might not be working. "

Angel doesn't think to reply as they pout and wonder what they might be able to do, at least Brewster indicated he'd get something to her "soon".

"Thanks, Lenny. I'll contact her. Good call on the maintenance. By the feel of the astral, there might be a magical component to the general dying of the plant life."

Bongo fires off a message to Monifa at the link Brewster provided. He copies the team members so they know what he said. <<Team from Brewster here. Ready to talk job and price.>>

""No problem, I can send up a FlySpy right now and get an assessment of what's up with the trellises. That should also get me a visual map of facilities on the outside like water delivery and telemetry. You want that now, or should I wait until we park?""

(OOC: Pbangarth is skipping to being out of the vehicles, however as I don't want to make it harder to move along, feel free to have released something prior to arriving, much as Thanee had her character and spirit assensing from the outside)

Lenny puts his hands up "I have no idea about building maintenance. Don't ask me to deal with anything that can't access the matrix. I just thought that seemed like your kind of thing. " Lenny worries that it isn't actually his thing, but everyone seems to have responded positively to his comment. He decides to follow his corporate training and not risk spoiling a good thing by keeping talking.

(OOC: Presuming Bongo at least gives a breadcrumb from his comlink so they can find him in AR.)

He gets a message back << Stay where you are on the first floor, we'll send some people down. >>

Of course, there are a fairly steady stream of people coming and going. Though at this time of day it's distinctly many more coming. Others are moving around on the elevators or stairways, their bodies visible to varying degrees though the slots in the metal.

That said, those with a feeling for etiquette (OOC: 2 hits) will notice that the team sticks out in the crowd. Even if someone doesn't notice the armored clothing or other items, the team's gear has a certain quality and state of newness or at least repair that doesn't match. There's also something of a downtrodden nature to many here. Except the gangers in charge of various levels or territories or however this place is divided up, at least presumably that's who those folks are. However they tend to spend time noticing each other.

Eventually it becomes apparent why so many people are out and about on the promenades on the different levels. Those floors are solid, but you can see people assembling on the floors on the opposite sides of the building. The food packet truck Bongo saw in the rear view mirror earlier must have unloaded its cargo. Catwalks descend like retractable bridges, connecting the maintenance tower to the many floors of the building. A small army of cargo drones roll out, and start dispensing the food packets. They seem to be willing to give out two food packets to each person. Some try to talk to them, but while the gangers seem to get first place in line, if they line up, generally everyone just shoves people forward, impatient to get their own. It looks like the crowd could carry off a drone if they wanted to, or smack one around, but they must somehow have learned not to. (OOC: You all have enough perception to also notice some dead bodies brought out, that the drones drag back into the maintenance tower. Nobody seems very bothered about that. With this many people a certain rate of death would have to just be normal, especially given Ork lifespans as at least three fourths of the people here are Ork.)

Eventually a group of five gangers with significantly better gear approach the team. All of them are Ork, looking to be in better health and with shiny leather gear and barely concealed pistols and submachineguns. (OOC: On a biomed 2 you'd be able to notice that two of them seem to still be recovering from wounds, likely bullet, though at this point only light wounds. On just perception you could notice some are hurt. )

A male Ork with a rather impressive pompador haircut matching his black leathers and black Colt Cobra takes the lead he raises his upper lip on one side of his face to give something between a smile and a sneer and wordlessly waves at the team to follow him as he turns and heads back towards the elevator they got out of.

Tubesnake elects to lie back in the Range Rover, so that he can go full AR on a FlySpy. Besides, ain't it nice to have a burglar alarm that can do more than make noises?

He sends the little cybercritter flying up, starting with a closer look at the exterior of the building to get an overview of its exterior maintenance condition. He does know that people will grow plants to somehow interfere with magic, although the details escape him, so whatever he can tell his desperate confederates about that will be on the agenda, especially if it looks as if external sabotage played a role. Then he sends the FlySpy down to hitch a ride on Bongo's shoulders into the building.

<<Bongo, I'm dropping my microdrone on your shoulders to nestle in your clothing on the way in there. Saves a little battery, and that way I can map where you are and all that too. Just don't slap it, please.>>

Inside, Tubesnake makes sure that his Remington 990 is in easy reach, rather than buried beneath cables, and loaded. No point being a burglar alarm without a noisemaker.

<<<Roger. I"ll keep the Rover here, then. Don't let them scratch her paint job.>>>

Bongo loves fluid plans. It's like jazz improvisation. At its best, magic happens even with the mundane. Sometimes you bomb.

He follows the leader. Willie takes up the rear. Weapons are holstered or shouldered. <<<You're lucky, Willie. The magic in this place tastes awful. >>>

<<<Probably the same as where I grew up.>>> Willie responds. <<<A lot of the ordinary stuff tasted bad, too. I ate it anyway.>>> He chuckles, drawing a look from the escort.

As they approach the elevator, Bongo is about to compliment the ork's hairdo, in Or'Zet, bu thinks better of it. no sense letting them know. Who knows what info might slip out?

Willie notices Bongo about to say something, then hold back. <<<What, Bongo?>>>

Bongo replies, <<<Kept to myself I can speak Or'Zet.>>>

<<<Good idea. I'll hold back too. Who knows what info might slip out?>>>

Bongo bites his lip.