21:50:16 Interbay - S.D.Z.(Safehouse Demilitarized Zone)

PAN: Passive: Sony Emperor/Novatech Navi
ACC: AR Earbud - AR Shades - AR Gloves

:: Getting nothing more from the group then general silence Janie frowned with mild irritation and grabbed her sachel. Swinging the small pack over her neck and shoulder she then throws on her leather coat and hits the button on the Elevator. ::

:: Janies uses her AR Link to disengage the security alarm on the side door before slipping out. Once clear of the security measures, she reactivates the system and sulks through the shadows to her car parked about 2 blocks away. It wasn't that far to the pizza shop, but the streets were dark and regardless of her past gang activities, she knows she really isn't equipped to handle a handful of troublemaking orks. ::

:: Pulling into the small strip mall, she finds a close spot and backs into the spot. ::

Interbay
"Toothy Tony's Pizza and Rib's"

Backing up to the parking spot, the three Orks illuminated by your reverse indictor lights grimace and turn their heads to avoid the glare. Upon exiting, the the Black knit cap wearing Orks, give you a quick once over and then return to slouching on the wall and talking among themselves.

The interior is brightly lite, the whites on the white and red checkered table cloths standing out as being just a little off white on a few of the tables. Your commlink makes the slight hum noise it always does when it connects to an accounts recievable area. A gangly teenage (approximately) Ork looks up at you and then down at the register before hollering to the back." Order 63, for pick up...belongs to the smoothy here" The ork youth turns around to face you, you arent sure if he actually realizes he's insulted you or is just completely apathetic. A big bellied ork, with balding hair and clothes and apron stained by sause and a greyish color from baking powder approaches from the back carrying 4 huge pizza boxes.

The older Ork sets the boxes down before smacking the kid a glancing blow to the head. The youth covers up as he ducks out of the way."Smoothy huh? paying customer i sayzzz" Looking at you "Sorry mizzuzz, deezz yuttzz gotz no mannerz azt all. 4 largez right? Gotz em here fresh an hotz, needz anythingz elze?"

21:50:16 Interbay - "Toothy Tony's Pizza and Rib's"

PAN: Passive: Sony Emperor/Novatech Navi
ACC: AR Earbud - AR Shades - AR Gloves

:: Janie ignores the insult, seeing no malice in the word. When the pizza hits the counter, Janie spins the top box around so she can lift the lid. Eyeing the generous amount of toppings, the steamy aroma wafes up and hits her nostrils immediatly illiciting a loud growl from her really empty belly. ::

:: Grinning at the old Ork she waves off his appologies and makes nummy noises. ::

"Hot drek that smells divine! Um..lets see...probably a handful of parmesean and hot peppers, salt and pepper if ya got it. Oh! And what do you got for drinks?"

21:50
Toothy Tony's Pizza

"We'ez gotz it all, 12 oz. ferz yuz small wunz, an 40'ez fer big unz likez me. If yuz likez yuz can addz uz to your comm, ferz couponz an' specialz. Give yuz specialz price tonight since yuz bought 4 dem piez...so ka?"

Tony points you to a large sliding door refrigerator, that takes up a good part of the wall.
"Ifz yuz needz help myz son helpz yuz carry outz."
"We havez specialz onz thurzdayz nightz, 10 yenz allz yuz canz eatz. Best getz early, fillz up quick."

Name: Cadence Archtype: Rigger
21:52:32 Interbay - Safe(er)house
PAN: Passive MODEL: Fairlight Caliban OS: Novatech Navi
ACC: Cybereye imagelink; Cybereye soundlink

Nathan comes back in with Chopper and seems to have settled in a little more. Good to get my hands dirty a bit. Metaphorically. He grimaces at his grimy hands and looks with no small amount of distaste at a smear of something on his shirt front. "Dammit." He shakes his head moving off to the lavatory to see if he can rinse the spot before it stains.

Janie's exit makes the alarm system bleat a warning and he looks up at the trid where Asp has just begun his brainstorming.

<< Thanks for making the food run. I'll eat most anything. >>

He returns from the bathroom with clean hands and face, a damp spot on his shirt and a smile for Asp. He puts his hands on the back of the couch and leans forward, examining the layout that is shifting and changing as Asp works.

"Wow. Not your first rodeo, eh?" He grins, "Can I get you anything?" He stands and moves off to the kitchen. Wonder if there are any more secret passages in the joint. I guess the slingers 'll let us know. Man... I've met just a couple Awakened in my whole life and now I've met two in one day. He shakes his head and gets another beer for himself and one of whatever for Asp.

He sits down next to the ex-cop and looks at the display, "If we want to do the fast option, I can have the van ready to go in a few minutes. Just give me a quick heads up."

21:51:16 Interbay - Toothy Tony's Pizza
PAN: Passive: Sony Emperor/Novatech Navi
ACC: AR Earbud - AR Shades - AR Gloves

:: Janie pulls up the Pizza Joint's sign up form on her AR and lists it as a favorite restaurant before turning her attention to the fridge. She begins pulling out a selection that should keep the group fairly supplied for the next day or so, including both large and small sizes in almost equal proportions. ::

:: Returning to the counter she activates the accounting window and waits a moment while the final total is sent to the system before assigning the credit from her Candice Walker sin. Leaving a decent tip as well, she smiles at who she assumes must be Tony. ::

"Thanks! I could use some help with all the drinks, but I should be able to manage the pizza's."

:: She lets out a soft oof as she collects the giant pizza's in her arms and walks carefully to the door. Turning her back to it, she says her farewell before pushing the door open with her back and spinning out towards her car. ::

"See ya Thursday!"

:: Using her AR, she sends an unlock command to the car and sets the pizza's on the hood before walking around to the trunk, lifting the lid. Her attention shifts to the kid and she indicates the empty trunk. ::

"Dump those in here for me. I appreciate the help."

:: She returns to the rear door and slides the pizza's on the back seat before shutting the door. Slipping her hand in her pocket, she is grateful to have a bit of cash on hand and as the trunk is closed, she offers a neatly folded 10¥ script to the kid. ::

21:54:00 Interbay
PAN: Passive Model/OS: Custom ACC:Imagelink, Soundlink

Asp gratefully accepts the beer from Cadence. "Van. Yeah. Good thing to have. I will say I like the fast option, but the feel I'm getting from the room is that people want to eat pizza and sleep, which is only natural I guess. If you can change their minds, cool. But I'm good either way. Doing a quick data search right now, but then I'm going to post some suggested team dispositions for when we hit the street. By the way, nice work on those other cams - coming through real clear."

22:08:37 Interbay - Safehouse of DOOM
PAN: Passive: Sony Emperor/Novatech Navi
ACC: AR Earbud - AR Shades - AR Gloves

:: As the headlights of her sedan illuminate the front of the building, she uses the connections she set up through her AR to deactivate the door alarms before getting out and swinging the door open. Pulling the car into a small area still unoccupied, she reshuts the garage style door and reengages the alarm. ::

<< Food's here! Come help me get the drinks fellas >>

:: She pops the trunk and opens it wide before collecting the pizza's and bag of seasoning packets and making her way to the elevator. ::

22:09:00 Interbay safehouse
PAN: Passive Model/OS: Custom ACC: Imagelink, Soundlink


Having just finished up his data search, Blitz' words make Asp realize just how hungry he is, and pizza twice in one day is NO problem for him. He wastes no time hustling down the elevator to get the drinks for the little thief. Besides, he wants to feed as quickly as possible - eager to hit the road.

22:11:03 Interbay Safehouse
PAN: OFF

Chopper stepped out of the room where the magician were working, rubbing his eyes and trying to chase away the aching that had started just behind his forehead. Just because he could percieve astral energies didn't mean he was really up to understanding all of the patterns a trained mage could turn the energy into. Watching them weave a simple ward reminded him of watching his first instructor doing a kata years back, it seemed mighty simple when they did it but put a novice at it and it became a real chore.

He got into the main room just in time to see Janie's back retreating into the kitchen, and the woman wasn't nearly big enough to hide the stack of monstrous pizza boxes she was carrying. With a big grin he gave chase, thinking dinner would go over real well right about now.

Surveying the spread that was laid out across the counter tops and the table he realized it had to have cost a chunk of change, and then thought about the food arrangements for the next month.

"Hey, Janie what do I owe you for this? We really ought to put together a community kitty for necessities like pizza, beer, toilet paper that kind of thing so no one person gets stuck paying for all of it." He switched on his commlink and got his on line account data up.

"Once we eat, what say we go find hacker dude for the Johnson?" He asked everyone in general.

22:11:18 Interbay, Safehouse, Second Floor
PAN: Passive MODEL: Fairlight Caliban OS: Novatech Navi
ACC: Cybereye imagelink; Cybereye soundlink

"Sounds like a plan. Asp has a good outline there up on the trid. Take a look, I'm gonna go stuff my bags in a room and change." The young driver heads over to the elvator where he'd dumped all his luggage.

In a couple trips he drags all 5 tons of satchels and suitcases and cases, including two hanging bags, to one of the unclaimed rooms. He reemerges after a several minutes carrying a nyla-plast duffel bag and wearing a non-descript jumpsuit. It's the pale gray of maintenance folk the world over. For the moment his suit is open in the front and he's wearing a light armor suit underneath - in an understated urban camo that tends to the darker spectrum for night time ops. A fat linked ...chain... about the diameter of a small water hose is draped across his shoulders under the collar of his jumpsuit, it's ends are not visible. Nathan issues a command to his drone, who'd been hanging about all but unaknowledged as the driver went about figuring out what the heck he'd gotten himself in to. He still hadn't worked that out.

"Guess I should introduce you all..." he holds out his hand and the chain starts to slither, links moving steadily and rapidly as they disappears into his left sleeve, creating a low profile bulge that travels to his wrist. A small reptilian looking head appears with bright glowing eyes, the blue eyes flare and dim as the head hovers motionless over Nathan's palm while the body continues to pour steadily out of the gray sleeve, looping itself into neat coils. "This is ... well, I haven't really named her yet, but a buddy of mine calls her Sidewinder."

He holds his hand out to the counter and the little snake drone slithers down and coils up head weaving back and forth as it examines its new environment.

Nathan scarfs down some pizza, and helps himself to soda. "Thanks for getting this, Janie."

"All right. I'm gonna go get the van and the drones prepped. I'll take whoever piles in. If you guys scrub Janie's info, see if there's anything more we can get out of it. Pass it along and I'll work on the itinerary. I need 10 minutes."

He summons the elevator with an AR command and glances at the chrono on the trid. He purses his lips, "Make it 8 minutes. We should get moving." A countdown appears on the trid, blinking: 8:00.... 7:59....

Wow... do I know what I'm doing at all? This is nuts. And... I like it. He grins and strokes the drone's head with the back of a finger, it's eyes flare and dim again. "Keep an eye on this lot. Don't let 'em scarf ALL the pizza. Flame and Whizbang will want some later. And Sahara."

7:58.... 7:57.... 7:56...

The elevator chimes and he steps inside and palming the 'down' button. He sketches a salute at the others as the doors close.

22:11:13 Interbay Safehouse
PAN: Hidden Sony Emperor/Renraku Ichi
ACC: Glasses, gloves, subvocal mike

Chopper quickly swallows the last of his pizza, drops his plate into the dish washer, and follows Cadence from the room. The little snakey drone thingie is cute but he wasn't really sure how useful it would be in a fight. Shrugging he darts back to his room for his Ingram, his armored jacket and some more ammo then heads downstairs for the van.

22:11:03 Interbay - Safehouse of DOOM
PAN: Passive: Sony Emperor/Novatech Navi
ACC: AR Earbud - AR Shades - AR Gloves

:: Janie shruggs at the offer of money. ::

"Don't worry about it for now. You can get tomorrow night's grub."

:: She grins at him as she collects a huge slice of pepperoni and sausage as well as a bottle of cola, stuffing easily a third of the pizza in her mouth as she heads out of the kitchen. Checking out the trid display, she is impressed with the organization but is too busy munching to speak. ::

:: Her life had been a hard one forcing her to grow up far beyond most girls her age, but despite all that, the absolutely adorable nature of the driver's metal pet bring out the child buried deep. ::

"Oh my god! That is so cute!"

:: The tone of her voice embarasses her though and she quickly redirects her attention to the last of her pizza. Once the slice has been consumed, she grabs her own sachel and slings it over her shoulder. Grabbing another mega slice, she folds it in two to keep the toppings from spilling as she pokes her head in the room where the ward is being constructed. ::

"Pizza in the kitchen. We're headed out for a little legwork. Message us when you guys get finished."

:: Jumping into the Elevator, she takes another hungry bite of the pizza before arriving in the garage. Pointing to her own car, she mumbles through the food. ::

"Can you get out, or do I hafta move?"

22:12:01 Interbay, Safehouse, Second Floor
PAN: Passive MODEL: Fairlight Caliban OS: Novatech Navi
ACC: Cybereye imagelink; Cybereye soundlink

Nathan grins at Janie's delight and politely ignores her embarassment.

22:13:21 Interbay, Safehouse, First Floor

In the garage he nods, "Yeah, I'd like to pull in so we can load up inobtrusively."

He pulls the van in so the sliding door faces the elevator. Squeezing into the back he starts to run diagnostics on his drones, two rotodrones and one big crawler, getting them ready for deployment, checking their pilot softs and sensors.

<< Hey - can someone topside grab my briefcase? I forgot it. It should be just inside the door there. >> An AR beacon flickers for whoever goes to grab the case. << Thanks. >>

22:12:03 Interbay Safehouse
PAN: Hidden Sony Emperor/Renraku Ichi
ACC: Glasses, gloves, subvocal mike

<-I got it Cadence, be right back.->

The young Ork hopped out of the van and headed back up stairs to grab the driver's gear.

He'd watched the little man working with his toys and felt like an idiot. Back in his days running the streets he'd been considered something of a hardware man, at least competent, but he felt like he was all thumbs watching these others do their thing.

Of course, ain't none of them seen you dust it up neither. Everyone on this team is good at what they do, just check the ego at the door and learn what you can. He told himself, and then mentally shoved the green-eyed monster back into its cell and hustled for Cadence's bag, there was still a lot to learn.

22:17:01 Interbay, Safehouse, Second Floor
PAN: Passive MODEL: Fairlight Caliban OS: Novatech Navi
ACC: Cybereye imagelink; Cybereye soundlink

<< Thanks Chop. >>

With two minutes to spare on his estimate, Nathan is ready to go. He saw Chopper eyeing his work and had the ork help him out. Chopper was no Anders, but he'd do. He checks the drones over one last time and gets into the driver seat. The snake drone had slithered into the elevator in the intervening minutes and Nathan had scooped it up placing it gently in its dash cradle.

<< I'm ready. >>

He turns his head sideways to address those in the van. "All right, folks. I'm ready to head out when you are. Asp, why don't you call our shots, since you were bold enough to put this little shindig together."

He opens the garage door and pulls out, headed toward byteSIZED's last known whereabouts.

22:17:08 Interbay Safehouse
PAN: Hidden Sony Emperor/Renraku Ichi
ACC: Glasses, gloves, subvocal mike

Chopper sat himself in the back of the van and used one of Cadence's rags to wipe off his hands. Not that they were too dirty from basically just handing Cadence his tools and going "So why are you doing that?" or "Okay, what's that for?" but any little grease could effect his grip when it came to crunch time. He dropped the rag into the tiny little plastic sack beside the sliding door and grinned.

What kind of company manufactures Bags-O-Rags, little bags of pre-made rags? Every rag I ever used had seen previous duty as clothing.

Still, a little weird or not, the driver knew his gear and had some cool toys.

He heard Cadence ask Asp for suggestions and decided to drop his two cents.

"I'd say we hit the Chinese restaurant and ask around."

22:17:03 Interbay - Safehouse of DOOM
PAN: Passive: Sony Emperor/Novatech Navi
ACC: AR Earbud - AR Shades - AR Gloves

:: Hoping into the front row of the back, she buckles up and accesses her AR, pulling up her GPS program, mapping the direct route from the safehouse to the deckers last known address and then sending that data to Nathan. She assumed he'd probably modify their actual route, but that gave them a place to start. ::

"Here's the address of our little decker friend. I suppose we could just fan out there and see if we can't find the place."

22:12:00 - 22:18:00 Interbay safehouse
PAN: Passive Model/OS: Custom ACC: Imagelink, Soundlink

Asp had just finished savoring his first piece of pie when Cadence announced the eight-minute countdown. Damn, growing boy's gotta eat! he whined inwardly, but actually he was glad to see the team getting a move on after all the time they'd spent on the house.

He wrapped two more pieces of pizza in a paper towel to take with him, then went to the trid terminal. He routed his cybereyes and ears to a channel on the trid (as well as to the team network), and set the terminal to record everything - he knew Sahara was a skilled investigator, and that her eyes would be needed on site. He explained to the ex-detective that if she wanted him to focus on anything just to let him know.
Even though their exhange was friendly and professional, it set him on edge. He was going to have to learn to calm down around her.
He flashed a mail to the team - <<Okay, like before, everything I see or hear will be accessible - real-time file name Asp - you won't want to watch it all the time, but anything nasty happens I'll red-flag the icon.>>

By the time he'd done that the other three were already in the basement. He hustled downside and grabbed his Ares Alpha Combat Gun from the secret compartment in the trunk of his car and took the van's shotgun seat.

He was glad to have heard Cadence throw the leadership ball into his court, not because he wanted it particularly, but just because he wanted there to be a leader - things were so much more efficient that way - that much he'd learned in the paramilitary environment of the Star. Hopefully he could pass the reins to someone else later on. But for now....

"I'd say we hit the Chinese restaurant and ask around," suggested Chopper.

"That is definitely near the top of our list of things to do, Chop," Asp answered as he stowed the assault rifle under his seat. He half-turned his thick body to face the ork - "But we got THAT clue from the apartment. The doss is the clue-source, if you will, and I think we need to scour that place first. It'll help us confirm the Chinese place's address and maybe give us more leads. And once we have those, we can prioritize our next moves."
He turned to Cadence. "I guess you being the drone guy - and the driver - makes you outside security. Our PAN is open if you want to send us any sensor feeds off those drones. Getting there and tactically parking is on you, dude."

22:12:31 Greater Seattle Metroplex
PAN: Passive MODEL: Fairlight Caliban OS: Novatech Navi
ACC: Cybereye imagelink; Cybereye soundlink

A quick search turned up the distance to their destination. And another quick search turned up the distance between that address and the Chinese restaurant. Nathan picks several routes, consulting traffic monitors and updates their route on the fly as they go.

"All right. So apartment first, I'll stay outside and be our eye-in-the-sky. The rest of you are going in?"

About 5 minutes out Nathan , with Chopper's help, deploys the two roto-drones, they slip into the steady traffic that skims above vehicles and pedestrians. The two head out in opposite directions, flashing legit courier beacons, with itineraries that include stops in several locations. Not surprisingly a certain vanished decker's neighborhood.

Some of the easy banter in the van trickles off as go-time approaches.

22:18:08 Interbay Safehouse
PAN: Hidden Sony Emperor/Renraku Ichi
ACC: Glasses, gloves, subvocal mike

Chopper checked to be sure he had a good feed from the team's network and that his Predator IV was ready to hand as they got closer to the apartment.

"So, we're looking at doing another break in right? That's really not my gig, how about I take the time to ask some questions of the neighbors? See if anyone's seen the target around here recently." He got a slightly grim expression and continued.

"Besides, to most smoothies an Ork is an Ork, we're all big and nasty and dangerous. While I might scare some data out of a resident odds are any description will be weak at best."

22:18:09 Bellevue - Yarrow Point, Private Residence
PAN: Passive: Sony Emperor/Novatech Navi
ACC: AR Earbud - AR Shades - AR Gloves

:: Janie shakes her head. ::

"I woundn't worry about it. His place is pretty much unsecured right now, nothing but a very standard maglock I can have open in a sec. It's not so much as breaking and entering as it is Opps! it's open..might as well have a looksee."

:: She giggles softly before spotting the complex. ::

"It's that building right there, second floor, 3rd window from the right."

22:18:13 Interbay Safehouse
PAN: Hidden Sony Emperor/Renraku Ichi
ACC: Glasses, gloves, subvocal mike

Chopper squished himself low enough to look out the window of the van to try and spot Janie's window. She'd already been in the place so he'd take her word at getting in the door.

"Sokay, let's do it then. I'll take rear guard and watch the hallway, how about you and Asp enter the room and ransack the place, again."

He looked around at the others in the van.

"Are we trying to be subtle here? If we don't mind the hacker nowing we're looking for him maybe we can rattle a few cages and see what comes slinking out. I'm good at rattling." He said, flexing a bicep as large as a small man's waist.

22:18:16 ByteSIZED's place
PAN: Passive Model/OS: Custom ACC: Imagelink, Soundlink

As they prepared to debark, Asp turned around again and met Chopper's eyes with his own solid-red orbs, their glow turned down for the upcoming op. "Buddy, I need to know which it's going to be. ARE you going to have our backs while we're in there, or are you going to be rousting the neighbors and rattling cages?"

22:18:09 Bellevue - Yarrow Point, Private Residence
PAN: Passive: Sony Emperor/Novatech Navi
ACC: AR Earbud - AR Shades - AR Gloves

:: Janie feels slightly miffed that they seem to think the place needs a more thorough investigation than she already gave the place, but they were all relatively strangers and they must be assuming her youth equals less professionalism. ::

"I really don't think you'll find anything of further use in the apartment unless you're looking for forensic evidence of some sort for the mages, which of course might be a decent fall back if there's anything fresh enough. As far as leads, the place is pretty well documented."

"As far as subtlety, I have the feeling this guy is hiding as well as he can and moving as fast as he can. I doubt he'll be able to make it any more difficult even if he knows we're on his trail. From the way he left, I'd say he's assuming someones coming after him."

22:18:09 Bellevue - Yarrow Point, Private Residence
PAN: Passive MODEL: Fairlight Caliban OS: Novatech Navi
ACC: Cybereye imagelink; Cybereye soundlink

Nathan checks the AR display overlaid onto his vision. Two beacons approaching from the north and west are blinking closer and closer.

<< Rotodrones inbound. For now one of you - Asp, that's appropriate - take the snake in. Just let her ride along. I'll keep you posted on what's happening out here. >>

Asp braces Chopper. Whoa there, demon-eye, simmer. Nathan can't help the thought, though he keeps it to himself. He sends a command to the drone on the dash and it slithers down, head weaving precariously as it stretches across the gap from dashboard to shotgun toward Asp.

As the others make their way into the apartment, Nathan begins plotting the course to the Chinese restuarant while waiting for his drones to arrive. He brings up the command queue that will relay any new instructions for the drones once they get within range.

22:18:20 Yarrow Point
PAN: Passive Model/OS: Custom ACC: Imagelink, Soundlink

Asp shifted his focus from Chopper to Janie, and for a moment, a why didn't you say something earlier?! expression crossed his face, but he bit his tongue.

"Janie, I'm sorry if we got our wires crossed. Like I posted on the trid back at the house, thought you had just come here for one thing, as opposed to already having checked it over for leads." He took a deep breath and went on in a conciliatory tone, addressing both his companions in the back seat. "But since we're here now, and since you say it's a cinch to get in, well, it should only be ten minutes to take a look around, get the place more fully recorded, and maybe like you say grab some samples."
He acknowledged Cadence's comm message mentally and continued speaking as the snake-drone climbed up the leg of his jeans. "Once we do that, I'll back your play on the neighbors, Chop. Once you feel like we've exhausted that avenue, we can make for the Chinese joint or wherever. Just remember, the last thing we need is to startle some drunk gun owner or have some working mother reaching for a kitchen knife because she thinks her kids are in danger. And we definitely don't want anyone calling in the bulls. So yeah, I do think subtler is better...or at least as subtle as we can make it," he concludes, rubbing his shaved head and grinning at the buff and bearded ork.

Reaching down, he brushed his fingers against the Ares Alpha, using the skinlink - like all his weapons, the wireless capability was permanently disabled - to lock the thing up with a passcode.

As he got out of the van, he noticed that the snake was now nestled inside his heavy armored jacket. "Let's stay sharp now - if the Johnson wants this guy, someone else might, too, and they might not appreciate competition." With that he got out and headed across the street.

Once they were at the entrance to the building, he commed <<Okay, Janie, you know the layout, you take the lead. I've got a sightline right over your head.>>

22:18:23 Yarrow Point - BiteSIZED Doss
PAN: Hidden Sony Emperor/Renraku Ichi
ACC: Glasses, AR gloves, subvocal mic

Chopper returned the other Ork's red eyed gaze, all the mirth and good humor gone from his features.

"Chummer, if I'm on rear guard you can count on not being disturbed by anyone from that direction unless they come in wiping my blood off their hands, its that simple. I'll take rear guard and we'll play it by ear once we're inside."

The young Ork grinned at Asp's para-military insertion type routine. Chopper's normal 'insertion' techinque to date involved a size 19 boot placed firmly against the door next to the lock. He figured that maybe this type of thing was how professional shadow runner types actually did this. The whole working with a team thing would take some getting used to.

"Let's do this." He walked past the driver's side door and dropped a big fist onto Cadence's hesitantly extended smaller one.

"While watching out for everything, don't forget to watch your back too chummer."

He dutifully followed Janie and Asp into the building, senses alert.

22:25:31 Bellevue - Yarrow Point, Private Residence
PAN: Passive MODEL: Fairlight Caliban OS: Novatech Navi
ACC: Cybereye imagelink; Cybereye soundlink

"Right. I will. You too."

The others had been inside for a while as Nathan switched back and forth between the feed from his three active drones. The snake was inside, slithering about in hidden hard to reach places using it's ultrasound to 'see,' olfactory and signal scanning senses pinging the apartment. Given the readings the drone's high-grade olfactory senses were recording, Nathan was glad to be in the van.

<< Man, this place is ripe. If you want a real close look at that trashcan let me know - I'll send the snake in on your way out. She's got no stomach to empty. Link to overhead shots of the alley coming right up. >> At that moment, outside, one of the rotodrones flew over and snapped a few pictures of the alleyway. Some zoomed in shots of 'points of interest.'

He scanned the team's pan to see if anyone was sniffing around for them and then, when he felt like they were clean, linked the shots to the team's tight network.

Inspiration struck. Nathan fired up his MS account and searched for gamers with names something like byteSIZED. And from there executed a series of matrix searches to turn up posts on gaming nodes. If bS was the type to brag about his success or organize PAN parties, these were the places he would do it.

22:25:35 Bellevue - Yarrow Point, Private Residence
PAN: Passive: Sony Emperor/Novatech Navi
ACC: AR Earbud - AR Shades - AR Gloves

:: Janie led the group upstairs to the apartment she had earlier gained access to. It only took her a few seconds to pop the casing off the maglock and with a quick expert twist of wires, the doors locking mechanism disengaged and Janie pushed the door open. ::

:: Taking a careful look over the apartment, she makes sure she sees no evidence that anyone had been here after she had gone, checking a few of the photos she had taken for reference. Satisfied, she moved into the apartment so that the others could file in behind her and close the door. ::

"Go ahead and look around, I'll check the bathroom for anything that can be used for magic stuffs."

:: Heading into the bathroom, she begins to search for the most obvious source in her mind...a hairbrush. ::

22:39:00 Yarrow Point
PAN: Passive Model/OS: Custom ACC: Imagelink, Soundlink

While Janie gathered the ritual link stuff, Asp dutifully recorded the place for Sahara, but it didn't look as though either of them were turning up anything new.
As Janie emerged from the bathroom, he walked up to Chopper standing guard inside the door. "Looks like you guys were right, this place is pretty much of a bust. Your call now - knock on some doors or hit the Chinese joint?"

22:39:12 Yarrow Point - BiteSIZED Doss
PAN: Hidden Sony Emperor/Renraku Ichi
ACC: Glasses, AR gloves, subvocal mic


Chopper shrugged,

"I'd say lets hit the Chinese joint, and see if we can find out when the hack-head was in last, we can always come back later if that doesn't turn up much."

He gestured around the apartment.

"The guy looks like he lived off of fast food and crap. He's not likely to be doing much home cooking, so wherever he's hiding he's still ordering out. If he's ordering out then he's creating a data trail, at least in people's memories, which we can follow." The young Ork carefully noted the names on the packages of food scattered about, paying particular attention to the fast food containers. His next transmission went out over the team's network.

"Cadence can you see if you can do a quick search to find the addresses of these fast food places, and mark them on a local map to provide us a visual reference. They might give us an idea of this guy's local preferences for food."

Turning to Asp he added,

"With that data we can start to narrow the area in which to search, maybe find the place he ordered at the most or at least the most recently."

22:39:25 Yarrow Point
PAN: Passive Model/OS: Custom ACC: Imagelink, Soundlink

"That sounds real solid. Reckon we can get out of here and be headed toward the chow mein joint while Cadence works it up," agreed Asp. Thinking of leaving the building, he couldn't help dreading passing by the stench of that alley again. And then a thought struck him - he used the comm so that Cadence would be included: <<Hey everybody, I'm suddenly thinking that just to be safe, we oughtta use that snake to check out the garbage heap like Cadence suggested. Hate to run all over town looking for someone that's right under our noses...no pun intended>>

22:39:30 Yarrow Point

His mind on garbage, Asp went into the kitchen and found a Ziploc bag - dirty, he rinsed it out in the sink - and made for the shower drain. After scraping everything off the haircatch and into the baggie, he upended the bathroom wastebasket and threw everything that looked ritually useful in along with the hair. Three minutes later, he was ready to head down to the alley with the drone.

"You guys good to go?"

23:39:35 Yarrow Point - Breaking and Entering
PAN: Hidden Sony Emperor/Renraku Ichi OS
ACC: gloves, glasses, subvocal

Chopper didn't look away from the peep hole where he was stationed.

"Ready when you guys are."

22:39:38 Yarrow Point
PAN: Passive Model/OS: Custom ACC: Imagelink, Soundlink

"Great, let's go."

Asp picked up the snake carefully and they headed out down the hall and down towards the alley of stench. He held his breath, opened the door, and put the drone down. Once it was out, he closed the door. <<Okay, Cadence, this is a 'just in case' check - as in, just in case all that stink is from a body. Of course anything else you can suss out is great, too.>>

22:40:00 Yarrow Point Body Drop
PAN: Passive Model/OS: Custom ACC: Imagelink, Soundlink

Cadence puts a window up in their team network and they watch it snake its way into the garbage. Unpracticed at looking through a sensor-view this way, Asp has a tough time making heads or tails of what he sees, but after sifting through all manner of nasty rotten food and dirty diapers, a hand becomes unmistakeable, and then the snake finds the back of someone's head.

Asp groaned inwardly. Oh well. "Suppose I'll volunteer for dumpster duty, since I only managed to scarf one piece of pizza before we took off." He sincerely wished he'd brought one of the gas masks from the safehouse. He pulled one of the hard copies of the mark's photo from his pocket and refreshed his memory of ByteSIZED's face. Then, taking a deep breath and pulling his T-shirt up over his nose and mouth, he went outside and waded into the trash. Finding the form of the corpse, he hauled it up out of the depths of the refuse heap to get a look at the face.

22:40:35 Bellevue - Yarrow Point, Private Residence
PAN: Passive: Sony Emperor/Novatech Navi
ACC: AR Earbud - AR Shades - AR Gloves

:: Janie grimaced as she watched the AR link of both the snakes discovery and Asp's search. For a rare moment, she was more than happy to play the squeemish girl and keep a distance. Isolating an image of the dead ork's face, she packages it and forward it to their Hacker friend back at home base with a question asking if he could use the image to put a name to the face, including the information from all IDs recovered from the body. ::

"Ugh...lets get out of here. Last thing I want is to be anywhere near a dead body again when the Star shows their ugly mugs."

22:40:45 Yarrow Point
PAN: Passive Model/OS: Custom ACC: Imagelink, soundlink

"Yeah, Janie, <<kaff>> I'm with you on that one. Let's hit the Chinese joint," Asp says, gathering up the ork's commlink with its IDs before hastily covering it back up with garbage.

After retrieving the snake, he and his two companions headed for the van, where Cadence was waiting with the engine running.

22:42:41 Bellevue - Yarrow Point, Chinese restaurant
PAN: Passive MODEL: Fairlight Caliban OS: Novatech Navi
ACC: Cybereye imagelink; Cybereye soundlink

Nathan runs the searches as requested, plotting out for everyone's perusal the shotgun pattern of byteSIZED's eating habits. He revs the engine as the others pile in.

<< I did some looking, this guy plays a lot of MegaKill. Any of you have an account? If not, we can send that info off to James... maybe, if this guy is playing, we can use that to find him. Find out where his avatar is active, you know. Or, heck, even call him out. >>

Nathan takes the van out and onto the street. The drones ahead finish their 'business' and move on to the next courier stop. He'd seen his share of dead bodies growing up. The first at eight. It wasn't ever anything you got used to. Even when you were expecting it. It was something that you felt in your gut. Something that pulled at you. He was glad that Asp had volunteered to go in.

"Thanks for doing that," the young driver's eyes flicked to the orc, "There's some disinfectant in the glove box. Feel free. And give the drone a rub down too if you would."

All right. Take-out time. "Chopper, Asp, I guess you're our guys here? Who's taking the lead on this?"

22:42:50 Yarrow Point
PAN: Passive Model/OS: Custom ACC: Imagelink, Soundlink

Asp grabbed the disinfectant with a nod and started on his hands, as Cadence headed towards the Chinese joint five minutes away.

"Well, I thought I'd run around the back of the place and cover the rear door. Just on the off chance someone there knows something, we may spook them, or they may already have been spooked by the competition. Meanwhile, with you watching the front, I thought Janie and Chopper could make the contact - little sugar and spice. If that sounds okay to everyone..."

He started wiping down the snake. Once he finished, he also disinfected the dead guy's commlink and bagged the hair/blood sample he'd scored, and pocketed everything along with the ritual samples from the apartment for later examination back at the safehouse. Then he started digging in AR on the restaurant.

Four minutes later, as they were approaching the place, he announced - "I can't find any references to anything shady going on in this place, or troublemakers hanging out there. But don't take it to the bank."

Once Cadence parks, he said, "When you see I'm in position in back, go on in. Shouldn't take but 30 seconds." He backtracked casually half a block, headed up an alley, and worked his way around to where he could see the rear of the restaurant, where he melted into the shadows of a doorway.

22:44:00 Yarrow Point Chinese Restaurant
PAN: Hidden Model/OS: Emperor/Ichi ACC: Glasses, gloves, mic

Okay, I'm the new FACEMAN! This is something a change from my normal role.

Chopper wanted to laugh out loud, instead he checked to be certain that his Predator was loose in its leather and a round was chambered, and clambered out of the van. He looked over and Janie while he rolled his shoulders to loosen up, like a boxer between rounds to ease the stiffness from inactivity.

"So I figure you go in and ask about your pal who recommended this place for us, do all that smile and sweetness thing, while I stand behind you and look like a very large angry Ork. How's that strike you?"

22:44:35 Bellevue - Yarrow Point, Private Residence
PAN: Passive: Sony Emperor/Novatech Navi
ACC: AR Earbud - AR Shades - AR Gloves

:: Janie hops out of the car after Chopper and shrugs noncommittally. ::

"I'll do my best, but this isn't exactly in my regular job description."

:: She smiles charmingly at the big ork to show her comment was meant mostly as a jest. Turning towards the front of the shop, she leads the way and holds the door open behind her until Chopper grabs it from her. Heading into the restaurant, she smiles brightly at the old man manning the front. ::

"Hi there, how are you? I'm looking for a friend of mine, was hoping you could do us a favor and help out a girl in need."

:: The old man keeps shaking his head stubbornly at the information Janie provides, each shake of his head irritating her further until, exasperatedly, she turns to Chopper who cracks his knuckles menacingly as he takes a step closer. ::

:: Janie's bright smile returns as the old man's eyes grow a little wider and he points over his shoulder to the kitchen. ::

"You...you check with the delivery boy. He know more. He sees customers, I just take their orders."

:: Janie reaches forward causing the old man to flinch though she just pats him condescendingly on the top of his balding head. ::

"There..that wasn't so tough was it?"

:: Janie lets Chopper lead the way back into the kitchen, letting his intimidating appearance set the tone of the next stage of interrogation. An older woman ignores them completely as she stirs a batch of chow mein in a large wok, but the young kid leaning against the counter with a cigarette pinched between his lips eyes them warily. Janie steps around Chopper and comes eye to eye with the little asian. ::

"Hey there...hoping you can help me out with a bit of a situation. See, my dear brother has gone missing and Im terribly worried about him. He sure does love chinese food though, seems he ordered from you regularly. Im sure you want to help a poor girl track down a loved one, right?"

:: She can see the recognition evident on his face and when his greedy little hand comes out for a payout, her initial impulse is to have Chopper pound the information out of his greasy face. Instead, she reins in her temper and pulls out the rest of her cash on hand, 67¥. ::

"This had better be enough, or I might just have to have my buddy Rex here pay you in his own special currency. You get me?"

22:44:41 Yarrow Point Chinese Restaurant
PAN: Hidden Model/OS: Emperor/Ichi ACC: Glasses, gloves, mic

Sensing an opportunity Chopper leans forwards and grins, flexing and relaxing his arms and half closing his fists. He grins, showing fang.

22:45:12 Bellevue - Yarrow Point, Private Residence
PAN: Passive: Sony Emperor/Novatech Navi
ACC: AR Earbud - AR Shades - AR Gloves

:: Listening to the kid spout out nothing helpful, she shows her displeasure in her expression but manages to keep it out of her voice. ::

"That's an aweful lot of money you just got to tell us nothing we didn't already know. How bout you try a little harder. You ever see anyone else over there when delivering for him? Any strange personality quirks? See anything through the door that looks unusual. Overhear anything?"

:: She reaches forward and pokes him hard on the center of his forehead. ::

"Pull that brain out of retirement and think a sec, it might save you and I a bit of trouble."

Ming's Merciless Chinese
Chinese take out resturant

Visibly shaken the kid looks back and forth at the girl and the nightmare of a metahuman staring him down." He...he...he liked, I mean he likes the street girls, the real skanky ones you know. The kind with short skirts and torn stockings, messed up make up and all. I tried to get him some clean....cleanish girls but, he told me he liked them like that. That's all I know I swear."

The old man begins yelling in chinese but breaks into english every once in awhile, you do pick out these words..Go now, I call Lone Star

22:45:20 Yarrow Point Chinese Restaurant
PAN: Hidden Model/OS: Emperor/Ichi ACC: Glasses, gloves, mic

"SHUT UP! You call Lone Star and you won't be here to see their arrival old man." Chopper's terminally short temper is flaring here, it's obvious these guys are just being difficult. He turns to the kid.

"Here," he pulls out a certified credstick and key it to transfer 100 to the kid's commlink, "that's what we're paying you, period. I ain't in da mood ta screw round no more. I'm bout two seconds from busting up everything I see in dis place. When, exactly, was the last time you saw dis guy and where?"

He growls at the old man again to shut up, being very much the big hulking Ork, and decides a little more force might be in order so he swings wide and allows his coat to flare back to show the Predator IV on his belt.

"Dam dis, drek. I ain't doin' no mer skip-traces."

Ming's Mercilious Chinese


There is a chorus of voices in the small resturant, the old lady wailing out a prayer in chinese, the old man cussing you two out in chinese and trying to calm the old woman down at the same time, the phone chimes in to make itself heard and the now deathly scared kid is pleading in english and chinese in long drawn out fashion. "Two days.....gwai hy lou...maybe three......mai kwo tomki...."

Ming's Chinese Joint

"Fine, where? Which girls does he frequent, where do they hang?" He snarls, then turns to the older couple.

"Ah, shut up will you?!? No one's being hurt here, he's being paid for his time and now maybe he's attitude will be improved. Just clamp it eh?"

Ming's Mercilious Chinese



The boy whimpers out"....Just skanks you know, the cheap looking ones." The old couple now huddled together are crying, the old man continues to cuss in chinese as well as tell you "You go now, you go now."