Nick looks at Mickey as he checks his clip.

"Y'know, if you need more ammo, I know a russian guy who can get you a lot. He could probably get you some bigger guns, too. Where do you think I got my stockpile from?"

"More ammunition would be good," Mickey says calmly. "Especially some of the better ammo. I fear I haven't enough for a new gun yet. I'll just have to wait a couple of weeks, I guess." He sits down and takes off his leather jacket and starts to brush it off. After getting all the dust and stuff off of it, he puts it back on after admiring it.

Yellow lookes up from the difficult task of reloading the street-sweeper one-handed. She has a blank look for a second, almost as if she has no idea what you're talking about. "I'd say I ain't got no money. So unless you wanna trade sex for an arm, I can't pay."

Skag's this time of day is fairly empty. There are only about a dozen people here, and the fences for the fights aren't even up. The bartender, a relativly new guy, Amerind and fairly large, mans the bar, and hands drinks with names like 'Shut the Fuck up and Drink it.' Overhead fans lazily churn damp air. On the way here, it's started raining again. There are about 5 guys here right now, all of them extremely tough looking. There are three trolls along the bar, one with a purple mohawk and burn marks on his hands, all the way up his forarms, one in leathers with a cigar and a nose that's obviously been broken many times before, and what you would normall mistake for a squatter, except that he's only wearing a tattered muscle shirt right now, and the exposed parts of his back clearly show several bullet wounds.

Over in the corner, conversing very seriously over some chicken wings are a dwarf and a human, both of whom look like construction workers of some kind. The dwarf has tape on his hands.

Mickey gives Yellow that have vacant stare and says, "You're an Edger. We look after our own. We happenned to aquire a cyberarm that I do not believe has sold yet. If it fits, it's yours."

He checks over what Teng had. He looks at the credstick and grins. "not bad, Nick. 4 K on this thing. If the jewelry is real, then we got quite a haul. I may be able to get a gun yet, if there's any money left after getting Yellow her arm." He splits it 3 ways...1500 nuyen for Nick and Mickey each, the remaining thousand for the gang. He checks out the Taurus to make sure it works, going so far as to take out the bullets, "fire" it blank several times to check the cylinder's rotation, then reloading it. He pockets it to give to one of the boys on "strollwatch." Then he hands the jewelry over to Nick. "Let things cool down for a few days, then see if you can fence this stuff."

"Now, what more can you ladies tell us about Mickey? Just so Nick and I know what we're getting into before we run in to deal with the situation. I want to know what he can do and where he lives and the layout of the place. What weapons he owns and what friends might come to help him."

Next, he gives a call to Dr. Karl Mallus, his contact, and querys him.

"Good day Karl. I have a question for you. How much does it cost to attatch a cyberarm to a patient, assuming one allready has the arm, then rehab her so that it works naturally?"

Karl, abviously having just gotten up from another hard night of surgery (read: drinking) awnsers the phone and replies, in a gravelly voice. "I guess it'd probably be about 200 . I'm pretty hard up for cash, though. You figure I could borrow a hundred on top of that? You'd get it back. I just need to keep some guys who run a little craps game off my back."

"Yous got da lead fer dis one, Blitz. I ain't know nobody 'ere."

Mickey smiles as he answers Karl. "Dr. Mallus, I will pay you five hundred nuyen, but I'll not loan you a single one. However, I want your best effort for this. The young lady involved has earned a break. I'll get back to you about an appointment."

Once biz is taken care of, he looks at Yellow and says, "Come with me. I'm going to take you to see if that arm is suitable." He gestures for her to follow and looks at Nick. "Stay here, Nick. See what the girls can tell you about this Mickey fellow...and what they know about the drug and chip scene around here."

He brings Yellow back to Bleeding Edge HQ, enters the place and looks for Ghost. "GHOST! I need to talk to you, chummer."

Ghost is nowhere to be found. You check the livingroom, kitchen, bathroom, all the bedrooms, the barracks, hell, even the closet that Junkie is holed up in. There's no sign of him anywhere.

"That's odd." Mickey takes out his cellphone and dials up Ghost's number. waiting for a response.

"Yeah, sure. I'll stay here. You go on ahead. I'll catch up. Gotta do some stuff, anyway."

After Mickey leaves, Nick pulls out his cellphone and dials up his parole officer.

"Hey, you bitch. This is Nick. I'm checking in so you can't throw my sorry ass in prison, at least for a couple more days.", Nick opens with, then stays silent waiting for a response.

There's no awnser on Ghost's cell.

The parole officer, a 400 lb guy named Hector seems more bored than annoyed. "Yeah, yeah. So, you're staying out of trouble? You aren't going drugs and havn't killed anyone? You have a home and a job?"

"Man, Hector, you know I never did any drugs. I only got arrested after I got pulled in for a few fights. Haven't killed anyone. I've been keeping it straight. I'm living with some friends. Don't have a job yet, but I'm looking. It seems no one wants to hire a highschool dropout whos well versed in Philosophy. Maybe I could start a band...", Nick starts with his usual routine, trying to end the call as quickly as possible.

Hector gets bored fairly quickly. "Yeah, whatever. Just don't get arrested. And get a job, otherwise I have *alot* of paperwork to fill out. And, as alwayse, don't leave the city."

Hector hangs up, obviously not giving a half a rats ass about anything other than avoiding actual work.

"Yeah. Will do, Hector. See you Friday.", Nick says, flipping his cell phone closed.

"Asshole.", he remarks.

"Hey, Yellow...thanks for that backup. I really appreciate it. If there were more people like you in the world, maybe I wouldn't hate everyone. So, uh, what can you tell me about the BTL and drug trade around here? Names of dealers, who, what, and where they deal. The works.", Nick asks.

After Yellow tells him what she will, Nick thanks her, and goes to Jennifer.

"Tell me everything you can about Mickey."

Mickey frowns when he gets no answer. He starts calling other Edgers...any that have a phone. He asks if they've seen Ghost anywhere or if he mentioned where he was going to be. He also checks his room...Promo's death had gotten to Ghost pretty bad...maybe he was doing something stupid...maybe he left a message somewhere.

There doesn't seem to be any kind of message anywhere. Mother says that he went to the corner store to go get smokes about three hours ago.

Blitz gives Kake and Painkiller each a meaty clap on the shoulder, and then heads on right up to the bar. This is his kind of place, and he's holding himself like he's the King 'round these parts. After all, he left on top. He walks on over to the tender and slaps a hand to the bar.

`'round of beers for me and my chummers. 'dis Herman's night off, or he 'round back somewhere?`

He lets the question hang in the air a minute, taking a look around to see if any of the faces are familiar. Anyone he'd fought before maybe.

`We'd like to talk to him, see. Been a while, I'd like to catch up on old times.`

"Hector's off 'till Monday. His old lady had a kid, so we're giving him a little bit of vacation time. You understand, his woman would kick his ass if he wasn't around. I'm sure I can help you with anything he could, though. My name's Tweeter."

He extends one hand, currently wrapped for a fight.

You don't recognize anyone you've fought before, but the dwarf in the corner has foungh plenty. He's just in a different weight class (as much as a place like this does them). He's actually a fierce SOB. Also, the guy with the burned arms has done his fair share of fighting, although he's still a bit wet behind the ears.

He reaches out a hand to shake the tender's, standard Euroshake, nothing fancy.

`Good 't meet ya Tweeter. I'll hafta drop a line Hector's way, congradulate him. Didn't know the old coot had another one in 'im.`

He laughs a hearty laugh, and nods to the dwarf before looking Tweeter in the eye.

`Jared Kreig, used to fight here. Called me Blitzkreig.`

He lets the name hang, figuring it'd still have weight 'round these parts.

"Oh, that's you. Cool. You were fairly bad-assed for a while there? Why'd you stop showing up? We could use some good solid talent like you. We lost all of our impressive guys a little while back. Some travelling fight-show picked 'em up."

Taking Mother's lead, he heads to the corner store to see if the cashier had seen him. He slid his pipe into his jacket and holstered his pistol. "Mother, I have a bad feeling about this. Would you do me a favour and call in the lieutennants? I'll be back shortly. Just visiting our friendly neighborhood corner store."

He walks the short distance, paranoidly watching for any signs of trouble, then entering the place, picking out a can of Nerps™ and a packet of Nerps™, a copy of the Daily Nerps™ and some Nerps™. As he bought them he asked if the cashier had seen his friend ealier in the day and described him.

You don't even make it to the corner store before a small cround of people catch your eye. They seem to be huddled about something cautiously.

Upon more careful inspection, you notice smatterings of blood, already black and sticky. There are shell casings sitting in some of them, silent testimonies to what happened. Telltale boots stick out from the silent knot of people.

Taking a closer look at what can only be a corpse on the ground, Mickey shoves his way through the croud, tapping the backs of people's knee with his foot if they won't move. No! As he approaches the body (of Ghost I assume) his half vacant stare goes distant, observing everything. There's no yellow tape! No crowd control! Where's the Star?

He observes the scene, taking in every detail...number of casings, placement of shots, and position in which he fell. He picks up his phone and records a message demanding "everyone get to HQ immediately! It's an emergency!" Then he sends it to all at once! Then he sends one to all the lieutennants telling them to "get to the site right fragging now! Ghost is down!" When he calls Nick, he tells him to bring in the girls, too!

Nick answers his cell, just getting ready to ask the girls what they knew of Mickey.

"Hel- What? Ghost? The fuck?! I'll try!!", Nick says.

Fuck...How'm I gonna bring all these... Maybe just Yellow...", Nick thinks.

"Yellow, come with me! Our gang leader is down!", Nick yells, running outside to his bike. When Yellow is on(assuming she comes), holding as best she can, Nick revs Dream Shredder, and takes off, accelerating to full speed.

By the time Nick arrives, a crowd has gathered. Just about everyone in the neighbourhood is here. There must be 100 people here, easy. The tenders at bars, peripheral gang memebers, even the korean guy from A-1 grocery.

They all stand in silence. Nick stops Dream Shredder just short of the corpse, as the crowd opens up for him. Yellow gets off just after Nick, and stands by his side.

"Let me through, you bastards!", Nick yells, pulling Yellow after him by her wrist. He comes to a stop next to Mickey, and looks at him, then the corpse, then Mickey again.

"Do you know what happened here?! Where's the cops? Where's the authority? What the fuck?"

It looks like he was shot once in the back, but his jacket took it. Judging by the fact that his stub baton is out, he obviously used it. There are three tight bullets in his front, two embedded in his coat, and one in his forehead.

The casings are in two different spots. One pile has about 10, and at the body there is one laying just beside him. They're both of the same kind.

As far as you can tell, the Star shouldn't be on the scene... ever. You *are* fairly deep in the barrens. Unless things start blowing up, or there's a serial killer on the loose, the star isn't going to risk it.

It's fairly obvious that you're here, and here with Ghost. Hiding isn't going to work so much.

There's no other gangs on site. Anyone with a half a brain in his head, and anything but red and silver on their jackets knows to stay the hell away from this one.

Searching the body for any other clues, you come across a three inch nail, covered in rust. There's a note wrapped around it. "This time, it really *was* us."

"Fuck...cops won't come.", Nick says, taking off his motorcycle jacket and laying it on Ghost. He stops and contemplates the Bleeding Edge symbol painted on the back, the red and silver standing out brightly against the black leather. Nick hadn't been around as long as Blitz, but he'd been a member for quite a while. The gang had been relatively benign. Now it was marked with a streak of assassinations and gangland takedowns, all in just a couple days. Fuck. Nick clears his head of those thoughts, and turns to the crowd.

"Anyone who isn't an Edger get the FUCK out of here! Fucking gawkers! Go tend to your own business!", he shouts at the top of his lungs.

"Fuck, they fucking cacked Ghost! In daylight! Outside our fucking doss! Fuck!", He shouts again, letting out anger. "First Promo, then Ghost! Who's fucking next? Are they just going to try to get us, one by one? Fuck that!", Nick continues, drawing his pistol.

He covers his face with his left hand, loosely dangling his Predator in his right. He stands there for a few seconds, then stiffens, tightens the grip on his gun, and looks up, taking the nail and note from Mickey.

"So this time we know it was the losers. I don't like this. Something ain't straight about this...Maybe we haven't been told everything from the start about this shit. The Losers weren't liars...", Nick speculates.

"'Course, my thoughts don't really change anything now. Just my predisposition for philosophy manifesting itself. We can't let this off. The rest of them must be tracked down and blown to shit.", Nick adds in, placing a Nail cigarette between his lips, and lighting it.

"Shit."

`Took up with the Bleeding Edge, been cracking skulls for them. You need fighters tho, I can come outta retirement.`

He grins a wide, toothy grin. He missed the bar, quite a bit.

`Look, the Edge, we's just taken over these here parts. Might be you heard the Losers were out. We ain't gonna lean on yous though. I've got fond memories of this place. You know anyone looking for a home, you don't be shy on sending them our way though.`

"Well, you know we alwayse did pretty good with scaring the gangs outta here. It helps when everyone is, without exception, bad-assed.

Yeah, I heard about the Losers, and I also heard that you guys took a serious beating in the process. As a matter of fact, I heard that you've been acting real fierce to cover it up, too. Word on the streets is that you guys have any more misfortune, and you'll be ripe for the picking. That ain't me, that's just what I heard."

Suddenly, a kid, couldn't be more than 14, bursts through the door, dirsty clothes and greasy hair in his eyes. "Somebody cacked that guy in charge of the Edge. Popped him real good."

The kid looks at Blitz and notices his colors. He lowers his head and mumbles, "No disrespect."

Kake spins around, no hesitation.

"What'd ya say, kid? Ya say they cacked Ghost?"

He lets out a roar and slams his fist into his thighs.

"Frag, frag, frag! Let's go!"

Kake drops into a run out the door and towards where Ghost has been shot.

Mickey pulls out his pistol and approaches the body, picking up Ghost's stun baton. Before the crowd can leave, he shouts for all to hear, "Listen everyone, spread the word. Bounty: 2000 nuyen to the person who gives us definitive information that leads us verifiably to the killer or killers, payable upon verification! You know where to reach us! NOW everyone get out!"

Mickey takes off his leather jacket and hands it to Nick. "Hold this for me." Then he hefts Ghost's body onto his shoulders in a fireman's carry. Hopefully Mother could get the bloodstains out of his clothes. "Let's go." He hauls Nick back to the doss to the pyre and sets him down gently, as if he were still alive. He positions him on his back, looking up to the sky. Then he goes to wash up and change. On return, he says to Nick, "I know this is cold, but we cannot leave the girls undefended. Would you do me a favour and take 3 more men to the stroll and guard them?" His voice is a little more...empty than usual...he's not giving a command, he's making a request and it's obvious. Then he stands there, waiting for the rest to show up.

He leans on the counter, eyeing the 'tender on the level, man to man.

`Word's not so far from the truth. But you ain't seen the Losers about, have ya?`

When the kid comes in, Blitz pushes from the bar, and his face goes to stone when the word's delivered. Anyone who's seen him fight angry knows it. Most times when he fights he's about the show, but when he's downright lethal, he's quiet as Mr. Death himself. He looks to Kake and Painkiller, then moves to the kid.

`Lead...`

He gives the kid enough of a push to get him running for the spot Ghost fell, and he's off just as quick as that kid can go.

Bad tidings, blood in the water, sharks circling. It's going to be a frenzy. This is clear. He needs to act, he needs to act fast, and he needs to act definitivly.

Painkiller shouts something best left untranslated, and rushes outside Skag's.

WTF? They're picking us one by one!

After arriving at the scene, Pain violently pushes aside any bystander in his way to Ghost's body. He checks for any vitals, and if he's truly gone, also looks for all possible bullet holes and tries to estimate time of death.

Nick nods when he hears the request.

"I know where you're coming from. I think that as a gang lieutenant I should be with Ghost, but, as a philosopher would say, the girls are alive, and need protection. Ghost needs nothing. I'll do it.", Nick says.

When everyone gathers around the Pyre, Nick kneels down next to Ghost's body.

"See you on the other side, Omae.", he whispers, laying his hand on Ghost's head. He tries to replay the scene in his head, based on the evidence he saw.

Ghost must've been walking, when two, maybe three guys came up at him. One shot him in the back, alerting him to their prescene...he probably pulled out his club, and tapped one guy with it...that would explain the usage. Yeah, he probably took out one of the three, and the other two carried him off afterwards. Guns vs Club is a no brainer. They shot him a bunch more times, mostly missing, but they managed to take him down. He was probably still gasping for breath on the ground, when one of the others popped him in the head, like some fucking rat...thats the way I'd have done it., Nick muses.

He stands up, brushing some dirt off his leather pants. Pointing to Kake, Blitz, and Painkiller, he says

"You two, and uh, new guy, come with me. We got some hookers to guard. Bring some shooters, and try to look hard. We'll take your rig, Kake. Dream Shredder's too small for all of us.", Nick says, cocking his Defiance shotgun. He puts ten more shells in his belt, then lays the gun against his shoulder.

Before anyone goes anywhere, a familiar face knocks on the door. Opening it up, the girl that was giving Blitz hell at the bar says, before anyone can react "I saw it. I know who it is."

Nick looks up and turns to her, a vaguely angry expression on his face.

"Yeah? Who was it?"

Mickey looks at the girl with his half vacant stare. "You do, do you? Hoping to collect, I assume? Well, if what you say turns out to be true, you shall have your windfall. If not...well, let's hear it." He sits down, giving her his attention and wishing he could tell when someone was lying.

"One of the Losers you didn't finish, Rusty Nail, he's grabbed everyone else who's survived and taken to the sewers and tunnels. He's worked out a deal with some chop shops and has been killing people for their organs. I saw him pop out of a manhole, kill your friend, and head back down."

She runs her fingers through her long red hair, sweaty from running over here. Her eyes shift from person to person.

"Ah, shit. You don't believe me. You're gonna kill me."

Nick looks at the girl.

"Yeah, thats the long and short of it...Nah, just kidding. We won't kill you. Unless it turns out your story is false, and you're just luring down to the sewer to harvest our precious organs and cyber, or something...So, the sewer, huh?", Nick says.

"Hey, Mickey, let's go check out that manhole. See if it's been moved recently, or any other evidence of people down there. If it has been, we can organize a team to go down and see if we can't flush 'em out. We kicked his gang's ass fair and square. This means more war."

He looks at the girl, then at Nick. "How about we wait for the rest of the Edgers to arrive? I'll bring in Yellow. I want to get her in to Dr. Mallus for that cyberarm to be attatched. Why don't you go through your sources and see if we can confirm what has been told to us? It wouldn't hurt for you to buy me some more ammo, either. I'll give you 100 nuyen for another 50 rounds from your contact. Iwould buy an SMG, too, but I put most of my money into the bounty."

"I'll loan you one of my SMGs, if you promise to replace any of the ammo you use. Shit, when's your birthday? I'll buy you one. In the meantime, you want to borrow my Beretta 70, or my Ingram? I'll go see Boris and get you some ammo, too. And I'll ask Ming if he's heard anything about these sewer rats."

"By ingram I assume you mean smartgun. That would be my choice. I'll give Dr. Mallus a call. Thank you, Nick, for the loan of your gun."

He pulls out his phone again and calls Dr. Mallus. "Good day, Doctor. I would like to make that appointment for cyberarm attatchment. I would also like to know what you know about any chop shops in the erea. The info I would like immediately, the appointment as soon as you are able. I believe we agreed on 500 nuyen. I shall have it for you when I bring the patient."

"Yeah, I'll go get it.", Nick says, heading back into the doss. A short time later, he returns with the loaded Smartgun, and four clips.

"Those two clips with yellow tape on them are regular rounds. The one with green tape is the gel rounds. And this one, with red tape, is EX rounds. Don't mix up red and green."

Nick hands the gun and ammo to Mickey, then slides his shotgun under his trenchcoat.

"Now, before any of us do anything else, I think we should decide a new leader while we're all assembled. We should do it democratically, with everyone voting for someone other than themselves. The only person I can think of to lead is Kake, as Mickey hasn't been here long enough, and Blitz, you're a little too hot headed.", Nick ventures.

OOC: (Since it seems somewhere before everyone got to the first scene, there's a pyre built, and they're at the doss?)

Blitz was later than the other's arriving back to the doss, mainly because he was composing himself. This wasn't a time to be showing fear; not that he was afraid, but others might see it as such. After donning his warpaint, he'd hung just outside the door while the redhead spilled about the <i>Loser</i> cast-off, and as he did he wrapped the heavy length of chain he always carries around his fist. He takes a moment of silence to damn himself for not finishing the job sooner. That's the past though, time to make the future. He unleashes a violent kick to knock the door the rest of the way open, his face a mask of silent rage. Where words often fail, action speaks volumes.

`You say they're in the sewers,` he levels his gaze at the woman, though none of his anger is directed to her. `Then it's time we get our feet wet.`

He sweeps his gaze over the gathered members of the gang.

`The time for talk is over. When a dog is cornered and wounded in an alley it doesn't think for too long, it fights back. We've been hit twice and hard this week, I say it's time this dog gets some fight in it.`

Nick shakes his head. Where they not listening?

"Goddammit Blitz! We can't just charge down into the sewer! This slitch could be lying, and there could be mines and booby traps, and other shit like that! Or there could be like, fifty guys down there! You think I don't want revenge? Fuck, Blitz, we all want revenge, but this is no time to act like stupid wankers! We've lost both our successive leaders! If we go down into the sewer, where we've never been, to fight some enemy that we know next to dick about, who knows the sewers much better than any of us, we're gonna suffer losses like D-Day! So keep your fucking cool! You and me'll be the first ones down there, once we know something about what and where we'll be fighting!"

Mickey nodded, allready having come to the same conclusion as Nick. "Indeed, Blitz. In fact, we don't even know which part of the sewers they are in. We'll need a map or a guide, we'll need a head count and we'll need a plan. First things first. Let's take care of Ghost's final parting. Where is everyone else? They should have gotten here by now."

He looked to the girl and pulled out 10 nuyen in scrip. "This is for a little job i want you to do for me. It's an easy job. I want you to spread a little rumor for me. Tonight, I want you to be in the erea where Ghost was killed...I want you to scream and run away...then tell everyone that you saw Ghost's ghost...and that he was crying Vengeance. Don't get too specific. Keep it simple and let the idea spread through all who hear it!" He handed her the money, assuming she would do it. He was cold through the entire thing, as if Ghost were never actually a person...but his trigger finger twitched a lot.

"Nick, I would appreciate it if you would go and protect the girls now. Shall I save you a token for a private ceremony? I don't mean to leave you out, but we must see to the living."

Basically everyone's gathered, now. Mother and Widow are both here, with the girl in between them. Mother looks much harder than she ever has, hard as Widow, even. She's wearing much more combat-ready clothes than she ever has before, and is even wearing full paint. No one has seen Mother wear full paint for a *long* time. Widow has lit up a cigar, and is contemplating the situation in her usual way. With hostility. Girl (Widow named her, just dropping the 'the') is a picture of determination. She's finally in some street clothes, the latest teeny-bopper trend, except tougher, and with spikes. She's wearing colors.

Bishop and Diablo, having barely known the man, stand to the back, quietly. They don't want to step on anyone's toes in their new home.

Yellow's in the corner nearest Nick and Mickey. She's loading a pair of street-sweepers one-handed, and has a hard look in her eye. To anyone that meets her gaze, she nods solemnly.