Tanya grins in the darkness as the Troll appears. Not able to talk to her companions, she simply steps in a bit and flicks her wrist in the direction of the small mountain.

The whip flickered into the still falling debris, but instead of the expected "splorch" sound she expected there was the fine "sirring" sound of a single string vibrating across hardened steal.
The Troll in it's full body armor lowered the riot shield a fraction, allowing Tanya to see her own face and her vanishing grin in the mirrored helmet...

Glo
Monday, 25 November, 2340; Approach to construction site behind Sam What's bar, Seattle Metroplex

Glo was in two minds about whether she should interfere with this attack on the runners…she didn’t hold them any particular loyalty and this could get ugly fast, on the other hand they could prove to be useful allies and there may be intel, however unlikely, from the attackers themselves…

Once more practically nude she stashed her clothes, wafted some odour neutraliser over herself (she could listen too) and slipped outside to be greeted by the sound of gunfire…so things were going that way already clearly…

Moving slowly and cautiously she headed towards the sound of the fight, her intention being to come up behind the people pursuing the runners…

Monday, 25 November, 2340; Construction site behind Sam What's bar, Seattle Metroplex


If the Troll, or anyone else for that matter, had expected Tanya to panic or give way to the unexpected result of her whip attack, they were wrong. Her grin falters for only a moment as she recognizes a potential real threat. In her mind, the fight suddenly moved from the commonplace to something much more thrilling. She had half expected whoever had fired at the thugs to take a shot at the massive Troll as it stood in the hole it had made in the wall, but does not dwell on the possible reasons why that does not happen. As her huge opponent turns to face the only threat it can see at this time, she laughs. "Coming out to play with me?"

The Troll gives a mighty roar and moves forward, sweeping a huge hand at the woman who has attacked him. This is not his first rodeo, though, and he can certainly respect a monomilament whip, which can be dangerous in anyone's hands but lethal in the hands of someone who knows how to use it, and his opponent appears to be quite skilled with the weapon. He decides to go for the woman's feet to try to sweep her legs from under her and put her prone which would reduce her effectiveness a bit.

Tanya has often been glad of her love for gymnastics when she was in school. It had been one of the few things she had been really good at. Well, that and breaking into locked offices.....and stealing things.......and sex.....and, well, alright, there had been several things she had excelled at in school and they have all stood her in good stead in her career as a professional thief, but right now, it was her gymnastics training that helps her. She laughs out loud as she nimbly dodges the Troll's attack and prepares her own response.

John
Monday, 25 November, 23:40 pm; Construction Site behind Sam What's bar, Seattle Metroplex #168

John had returned just in time to see Al take on three goons by himself that seemed to have flanked them. His sensors recognized the two other goons sprinting forward to assist their buddies. John switched from suppressor to gas vent and brought the Alpha up in position. "Hello and goodbye."

A full salvo of military grade armor piercing bullets found the two goons, ripped through their bodies and let them fall to the ground like puppets with cut strings.
Somewhere close to the bar shots were fired, followed shortly by an exploding brickwall.
'Shit. Time to get the high ground.'
With another hydraulic jack assisted jump he gained height and began to climb upwards like a spider on one of the unfinished structures.
From there he expected to be able to get a better field of fire.
<<Glo, if you are still there, could you do us a favor and geek the support of this runner team? As far as I could see the rigger and the mage are back at their car.>>

Jan
Monday, 25 November, 23:40 pm; Construction Site behind Sam What's bar, Seattle Metroplex

Jan took a look at the troll, then a look down at the compact MP in his hand, then back at the troll. He took one last sqig from a drink on his tray before setting it down and heading off in the direction of the site office. He'd seen a digger that'd come in real handy about now and could have a fair guess where the keys were...

Monday, 25 November, 23:40 pm; Construction Site behind Sam What's bar, Seattle Metroplex


Tanya continues her gymnastics roll after dodging the Troll's fist then twirls to get some momentum behind her wrist and sends the single strand of razor sharp wire back at the mountain near her. The resulting scream of whip slashing against metal armor tells her that the blow is a solid one and she waits to see the effect.

Monday, 25 November, 23:40 pm; Construction Site behind Sam What's bar, Seattle Metroplex

The monowhip coiled around the troll's buttocks and cleanly cut a disk shaped piece of muscle and armor away. Blood gushed from the wound and with a small cry of agony, the troll fell to the ground.

Meanwhile, Glo was able to see the runner's base camp - aka their armored GMC Bulldog. The Dwarf rigger seemed to be unconscious in VR, secure inside his vehicle, while the elf seemed to be busy to cast spells on the human. There was no trace of the black clad ork to be found. Above the elf's shoulder the form of a translucent Samurai warrior was floating, casting spells of it's own.
The scream of the troll made them stop whatever they did and both the Samurai and the street sam started to move, while from the back of the car a Steel Lynx combat drone began to unload.

Jan
Monday, 25 November, 23:40 pm; Construction Site behind Sam What's bar, Seattle Metroplex

Jan stopped in his tracks at the troll's scream, turned and started to laugh. "Damn chick, that thing's dangerous! I was thinking we'd need a machine to end that fokker." He ran over to where the troll now lay unconscious, hefted up the shield and kicked off the guy's helmet with the heel of his boot. "Not your lucky day fella." Jan leveled his MP at the troll's plate-thick forehead before tracking down a little to the softer eye-nose region. His finger twitches over the trigger. Runners didn't tend to do this sort of thing in the UCAS, executing fellow runners, but Jan wasn't from the UCAS. He was from an altogether harder environment, one where if you didn't kill a troll-mountain today then tomorrow you'd wake up to him stabbing you in the face. He'd learnt. Things like this had to be done.

Monday, 25 November, 23:40 pm; Construction Site behind Sam What's bar, Seattle Metroplex


Tanya watches the Troll drop with a sense of pleasure at a job well done, then watches with much less pleasure as Jan runs over from somewhere and takes the shield away then kneels at the head of the Troll as he begins to remove its helmet. Something about the way the man is doing this disturbs her. She steps forward a bit to get a better look. "If you are planning on killing the Troll, you should know that I am VERY much against you doing that and I would ask that you reconsider. The fight might be long over before he wakes up and he might be able to give us some information on who sent them. Besides, he has friends out here that are already on the way and perhaps we should be preparing for them."

Glo
Monday, 25 November, 2340; Parking Lot, Sam What's bar, Seattle Metroplex

With a caution bred on the streets and honed by a vicious Aztech training programme, Glo stalked through the dark, hunting her prey. She was suitably cautious of the drone and its lethal payload but it seemed likely that it was headed away from her towards the tumult on the other side of the bar…now, if she could get between the mage and the safety of the van she could potentially remove the threat of the spirit and the drone, assuming the rigger’s meat was indeed inside…

Scuttling, almost on all fours, she ensured there were cars between her and the runner’s vehicle for as long as possible…whilst she had a reasonable reliance on her skin maintaining her cover to normal sight, she was more than aware of the possibility of acoustic monitoring, ultrasound movement sensors and radar detection that most gearheads arrayed over their babies and she wanted to be a surprise…

Monday, 25 November, 23:41 pm; Construction Site behind Sam What's bar, Seattle Metroplex

As the Steel Lynx moved past the elf mage, she began to move towards the interior of the car, yet still looked worriedly in the direction where the troll's scream had come from. She was visibly upset - in addition to the strain of concentrating on several spells at once, her steps were less than graceful and a bit faltering.

Using the distraction, Glo had no problem to quickly move across the open space towards the open doors of the car. Even though the rigger might have drones watching his meat, his attention had to be with the large combat drone that now moved with increasing speed towards the gap in the wall.

The black human had moved out of sight, accompanied by the samurai spirit. Whoever had fought the troll would shortly find themselves confronted by spirit, man and machine - unless of course Glo cut the strings of the two puppeteers.

It would be only a second or two before one of the countless sensors around and inside the car would catch her and warn the dwarf... Which meant Glo had a small eternity to work with.


On the other side of the alley, Tanya and Jan became aware of the steady rumbling of the large drone, navigating swiftly past and over debris and the bodies of the fallen. Whatever debate they wanted to have, it would have to be a short one...

Monday, 25 November, 23:41 pm; Construction Site behind Sam What's bar, Seattle Metroplex

Al was hurtling towards his car when he noticed a silent movement out of the corner of his eyes. A black clad figure just had jumped over the tall fence and intended to land with it's two extended nightsticks directly in Al's face. The face of his foe was hidden behind the helmet of a night black full body armor with a mirrored visor. To his own amazement, Al could see the tiny electrical discharge at the end of the batons reflected in his eyes which were in turn reflected in the visor - despite the originals getting closer with frightening speed (funny how in situations like this you can notice such minute details).

There was a crash as the black clad attacker hit the earth, immediately followed by an amazingly loud burst of gunfire from somewhere above them. When it stopped, the attacker was lying flat on the ground, bleeding from several holes in it's very expensive armor...

Glo
Monday, 25 November, 2340; Parking Lot, Sam What's bar, Seattle Metroplex

As Glo paused momentarily on the dropped ramp to the rigger’s domain she, almost nonchalantly, flicked the rapidly spooling whip out towards the oblivious mage. With a gentle flick of her wrist and fine servo controls in her fingers she sent it out in an arc to settle around the shoulders of her foe. With a tug she pulled it free and was about to turn towards the rigger when, to her surprise, the mage grabbed at an amulet and with a gesture flung lightening towards Glo, only then beginning to collapse to her knees as blood loss suddenly became a very real problem…

Whether it was Glo’s skin or the combat reflexes drummed in to her she leant back out from the spell that ionised the air where she had been moments before…the heat was intense but Glo didn’t really feel heat any more than she did cold…

Ducking in to a crouch she coiled out the whip once more towards the stubborn woman…

Monday, 25 November, 23:41 pm; Construction Site behind Sam What's bar, Seattle Metroplex


Tanya and Jan note the arrival of fresh enemies and Tanya grins at the sight of the large drone as it enters the yard through the hole in the wall. "We have company. Let's argue about this later, eh. Can you get the guy on the wall?"

She moves with the grace of a gymnast and lashes out with her whip.

Monday, 25 November, 23:41 pm; Construction Site behind Sam What's bar, Seattle Metroplex
The drone didn't have a chance: Once the monowire cut through the hard exterior armor there was nothing inside that had even a remote chance of stopping the weapon's devastating effect.

Bisected the turret part slid of the rest as the drone died. The dark skinned mercenary that had appeared above the remnants of the wall didn't hesitate. In his hands appeared a whirling disk that at closer inspection would have turned out to be two flashbang grenades connected with a short wire, but almost as soon as he had pulled it up he had thrown it to the ground between Jan and Tanya and dropped out of sight.
In a earsplitting bang and a flash hat could be seen to the other end of the construction site the double pack of 'nades exploded.

Al
Monday, 25 November, 2341; Construction site behind Sam What's bar, Seattle Metroplex

The twin shock-sticks traced an admirably intricate web in front of Al, but after the Triad goons' machine pistol fire, the trajectories of the much-slower batons were easy to anticipate. Al and his pipe were just spotting a hole in the pattern to strike through when, in response to the short man's muttered invocation of the voodoo gods, his attacker was struck down from on high.

Al was not surprised.

The guy was pretty big, and the now-multiply-perforated armor looked like it was once expensive. One of the bullet holes bubbled pink as the guy struggled for breath, so Al kicked him hard in the helmet just to be safe and rolled him over. Yup, there were his cuffs, right in the small of the back where the rollers kept theirs. The guy's black-clad arms were about triple the thickness of Al's and not exactly compliant, but a finger in a bullet hole tended to get a person's attention. "Ya don't want more o' that, El Blackamundo, you'll make like a river an' go with the flow." Al tightened the cuffs behind the guy's back until they bit hard into flesh, then gripped the chain and hauled the guy to his feet. He was bleeding out rapidly, and when Al pulled the helmet off, the ork's bald, scarred head and face were deathly pale. His eyes were defiant, though, which Al admitted to himself was sort of cute and endearing. So he decided not to do anything about the murderer-for-hire's wounds, at least give him a fighting chance to exsanguinate instead of face Jan and Johnny in a dark room.

He helped himself to the tusker's high-end medkit and nifty Narco patches, and was about to let Jan and Johnny know he'd bagged himself another one when a sharp crash lit up his little corner of the construction site, sending the shadows into a microsecond of sharp relief.

<<Y'all takin' care o' bizness, I hope? Got me another one fer a chat, don't reckon we need no more alive. Hate ta leave this one though - looks a little cagey - but I'll kill 'im an' come lend a hand if'n y'all need it.>>

Monday, 25 November, 2341; Construction site behind Sam What's bar, Seattle Metroplex


Tanya watches the drone implode and spares a thought for the rigger that must have been controlling it. But just a thought as she picks up the arc of the tossed grenade. Her sensors also pick up that Jan might not have seen the device headed for them and she whirls to run at him, calling out "Grenade!" as she does. She reaches out to grab his arm and tries to move him with her away from the expected blast area.

Monday, 25 November, 23:41 pm; Construction Site behind Sam What's bar, Seattle Metroplex

With the explosion on the ground, the spirit had floated upwards and out of reach of the mono whip and looked intently at Tanya.
Suddenly a thought occurred to her: Jan had betrayed her - it had to be all his doing, he was the reason she was in this mess. If she could take him out all her other problems would go away...

Jan
Monday, 25 November, 23:41 pm; Construction Site behind Sam What's bar, Seattle Metroplex

As the explosion rang in Jan's ears he was already heading off after the grenade thrower. The guy was hiding. He wasn't having that. Shield up, he headed for the hole the troll had kindly created.

Monday, 25 November, 23:41 pm; Construction Site behind Sam What's bar, Seattle Metroplex

Jan saw the street sam getting slowly back on his feet, balancing precariously on the metal dumpster. The man was armored and held an AK 97 in his left hand. His armor looked heavy enough to deal with small caliber weapon fire. Jan had to act fast...

Monday, 25 November, 23:41 pm; Construction Site behind Sam What's bar, Seattle Metroplex


Tanya's arm meets granite-like resistance from Jan as she tries to drag him to safety. Her movement carries her past him but her mind tries to tell her that it is all his fault in the first place. Maybe more than his fault. After all, he had been the last to arrive, right? Perhaps he had tipped off the 88s about the meeting and had betrayed them all. A flick of the wrist would be enough to wipe that smug look from his face.

As she glides out of danger, her hand is already moving, but her mind snaps back to reality and she stops its progress. Looking around and up, she sees the spirit manifested in the air above her, well beyond reach of her weapon. Grimacing, she watches as Jan goes out through the hole, presumable after the man who had tossed the grenade and follows him.

Jan
Monday, 25 November, 23:41 pm; Construction Site behind Sam What's bar, Seattle Metroplex

Using the momentum he'd built up in chase, Jan launched forwards and swung at the man as he was getting up. The rock solid arm struck the sam across the chest, knocking the wind out of him and clearing him off the bin onto the floor in front of Jan. He heard the man gasp as he scrabbled around on the floor.

Monday, 25 November, 23:41 pm; Construction Site behind Sam What's bar, Seattle Metroplex

The man was gasping for air but was already rolling around trying to bring his sidearm into play within the close confines of the alley, while still lying on his back. At this moment it seemed as if a shimmer crossed through the air and the movements of the man became just a bit slower than before.

Consequently, the shot from the Ruger was more than sloppy, allowing Jan ample time to get out of the way or block his gun hand.

Jan
Monday, 25 November, 23:41 pm; Construction Site behind Sam What's bar, Seattle Metroplex

As the man raised his Ruger, Jan stamped down hard on his arm sending it sideways and the shot pinging off the dumpster. "Heh. Not today ya fokker..." Jan grinned at the wannabe assailant as he stood over his soon-to-be corpse.

Monday, 25 November, 23:41 pm; Construction Site behind Sam What's bar, Seattle Metroplex


Tanya walks over to where Jan is standing above the unconscious man. "My sensors indicate that there are no attackers in our area. Are you in contact with the others to ask them? I know that there was a van where I would assume the rigger and mage were. Perhaps we should go see if we can take care of them as well?"

Al
Monday, 25 November, 2341; Construction Site behind Sam What's bar, Seattle Metroplex

The flashbang was followed by sporadic gunfire, but nothing too heavy. Stalemate? One side winning? Either way, Al's message to Jan and Johnny had gotten no response. He dragged the bleeding, staggering ork in a vicious come-along in the direction of the fight - figured he'd at least consolidated his winnings. Halfway back he stopped at the outhouse where his first trophy was hanging head-down in the shithole, opened the door and pushed the ork in. He chuckled at the thought of the septic air swirling around the guy's open wounds. He didn't close the door, though, but kept one hand firmly around the chain connecting the titanium cuffs that secured the ork's hands behind his back. In his other hand, he'd traded his lead pipe for one of the tusker's shock sticks. Decided to wait a few, see if he got a sit-rep.

Monday, 25 November, 2341; Construction Site behind Sam What's bar, Seattle Metroplex


Tanya watches Jan as he looks at the man on the ground beneath him and remembers how he had looked at the troll. She shakes her head as she turns to go to the van, fairly certain of the fate of the two wounded and unconscious foes. She has never understood this level of violence once the fight is over."I am headed to the van."

John
Monday, 25 November, 23:41 pm; Construction Site behind Sam What's bar, Seattle Metroplex #169

John jumped down from the girder and landed beside Al. "Nice work. Tough little fragger to survive that hail of bullets. Let's take a look at the van. I asked Glo to take care of the occupants. I assume slasher girl will have dissected them by now. You need a hand dragging one of those guys along?
I know a Ghoul with a chop shop that can take care of all the bodies and the hardware giving us in return a nice finders fee."

With that, John accompanied Al back to the others.

Jan
Monday, 25 November, 23:41; Construction Site behind Sam What's bar, Seattle Metroplex

"Bring it around would you, chick? We need some way to transport these poor fucks and I'd hate to get Al's van dirty." Jan said, laughing at his own joke. He scooped up the man's AK in his right hand and used his left to drag him back into the site near the troll, lining them up next to each other. <<@Al&John: Quiet over here. 2 down. Tanya chasing their support. I have gin>>

He checked the rifle for integrity, took a quick swig from a carefully placed drink and walked in the direction Tanya had headed.

Al
Monday, 25 November, 2341; Construction Site behind Sam What's bar, Seattle Metroplex

With Jan's message, Al and John picked up the pace with their prisoners. Sirens were closing in from multiple directions. The runners had chosen their battleground well - it was a spot without as much panopticon coverage, and he was guessing they'd blacked out what there was. But the Pawns' drones would be on the scene even sooner than the cars...

They shoved their prisoners to their knees beside the lined-up and prostrate forms of the human and troll. "Time ta didi-mau, people, less'n we wanna chat with the rollers..."

And then he noticed that the two forms on the ground were still breathing. "Shee-it, done told y'all I bagged enough fer talkin' to. This here ain't good security no how." Al had seen more than one good man get shot in the back by 'dead' foes, and these guys looked like the sort with lots of sneaky tricks and failsafes up their sleeves. He moved to apply his shock stick to the troll. Looking at the beast, he didn't figure it'd take much more....

On his knees, the shot-up ork spoke, his voice wet, more blood dribbling from the corner of his mouth. "Don't be an asshole, man. They're obviously done. It was just business."

"Heh-heh. Suddenly ol' Al's glad it was you won the quiet-time-with-Jan lottery. I'm s'posed ta be okay with y'all tryin' ta kill me jist cuz ya done it fer money an' not passion? Murderin' folks, that's more okay the less cause ya got? Reckon I'll jist let ya go on ta make some more orphans, it bein' jist business an' all. Lemme tell ya somethin', boy...aw, never mind, time's a'wastin'."

He stuffed the tip of the stun baton down the troll's throat and moved his thumb to the switch.

Glo
Monday, 25 November, 2340; Rigger’s Van, Parking Lot, Sam What's bar, Seattle Metroplex

With the mage dispatched to whatever hells had spawned her, Glo turned inside to deal with the rigger and his death toys…he appeared to be stirring, groaning and rubbing at his head so Glo did what she did best, in this case unholstering his sidearm, pressing it to his temple and decorating the inside of his cabin with rigger brains…

Monday, 25 November, 2342; Construction Site behind Sam What's bar, Seattle Metroplex

The wounded ork spat out a glob of blood and... other stuff before speaking: "We weren't sent to kill you. If we wanted you dead, I'd have used my swords and Tiny would have just used a grenade launcher."
He coughed some more. "Check the magazines, it's gel and SnS."

John shrugged at that with an expressive "eh-so-what" shrug no.2: "Eh, so what? We'd be dead anyway if we got brought to the Triads. By slaughtering you it will be a lot more expensive for them to get good hunters - or they'll send more bad ones. From my perspective that's a win."

Al
Monday, 25 November, 2341; Construction Site behind Sam What's bar, Seattle Metroplex

"Lord o' lightnin', baldy," Al remarked as the troll's throat started to tie itself in knots on sustained contact with five milliamps, "Now yer jist splittin' hairs. Ya take my freedom, ya done took my life. Rationalize 'er how ya like."

Monday, 25 November, 2343; Construction Site behind Sam What's bar, Seattle Metroplex


At Jan's words, Tanya keeps walking but calls out over her shoulder. "I am not your chick, but go ahead and call me something demeaning if it satisfies some need of yours."

Tanya walks carefully towards the van. As she approaches it, her sensors tell her that there is someone on the ground outside the rear of the van. She supposes that the other two must have come this way and calls out to them. "John? Al? Are you here?"

Al
Monday, 25 November, 2341; Construction Site behind Sam What's bar, Seattle Metroplex

Al heard the Triad Queen call out to him and Johnny about the time someone painted the inside of the van's windshield with brains. He figured that might have been the NIC, but there was no real way to be sure. Strange bedfellows and all that. He figured in the interest of clearing some of war's fog, he ought to yell something back. Then decided, screw her, damned Triad lackey. Then changed his mind again as the approaching sirens inspired him to do whatever needed doing to streamline, precipitate, and expedite their timely departure.

"Yeah, right here. Gittin' ready ta exit stage left forthwith."

John 1
Monday, 25 November, 2342; Construction Site behind Sam What's bar, Seattle Metroplex #171

John reached the others and tossed the unconscious triad in the van:
"Alright, no time to waste. Collect the bodies and their gear and secure the cars. Sam doesn't want to answer questions about what happened hear - and neither do the guests. Blood but no bodies makes this a whole other story.
I can take care of the cars, but need a minute or two for that. So if you matrix cracks could just hot wire them this would be a great help. Let's get all that stuff away from here.
Here's an address where we can get rid of the stuff and get paid for it. That is if no-one of you guys needs some troll cyber arms or some such.

And yeah, you mono whip enthusiasts should pick up the pieces of your actions. Butcher's bill and all..."

Al
Monday, 25 November, 2342; Construction site behind Sam What's bar, Seattle Metroplex

After confirming that all the downed assassins would never murder anyone else, Al gave Jan and Johnny a hand getting the troll's corpse into the van, did his part tossing in a couple of other bodies, then disappeared.

Driving his truck out of the forming police cordon was a risky play. But if he left it, the fuzz would doubtless connect street footage of him entering Sam What's and backtrack it to footage of him getting out of the truck. And it wouldn't take them long to do it.

As the others sorted out their own exfil arrangements, he raced back across the construction site. Two approaching KE drones were easy to spot, and he impatiently let them pass before slithering over the top of the enclosing fence and slinking to his truck. Straight ahead down the street he saw flashing lights as the street was closed off, but he turned into a convenient alley before they were fully set up, went two blocks over, and came out onto another boulevard just as cruisers were pulling up to block that one. He drove toward them deferentially, knowing his plates and reg were golden, just one of dozens of late-night drivers in the traffic stream he'd slipped into. Officers hurriedly waved him through as they prepared their roadblock, an admirable ninety seconds from when the first shots had been fired.

Once he was well out of the cordon he morphed his plates and toggled his reg before heading to the storage unit he'd set up as their local base earlier in the day. It was best he got there before his friends, what with the snakes and all. He stopped for beers, soyritos and smokes first - he figured he had time, since they were stopping at some chop shop to loot the dead.

<<Reckon I'm clear. See y'all at the spot I told ya 'bout.>>

Jan
Monday, 25 November, 23:43; Construction Site behind Sam What's bar, Seattle Metroplex

Jan laughed out loud. "Cool it chommie. Wouldn't last 2 minutes down Azania way with that sensitive disposition of yours."

He covered Tanya with his newly-acquired rifle as she approached the van. "I got you." Jan had decided Tanya was all business. Maybe it was her Englishness; maybe she was just a bitch but he was fast deciding she wasn't his cup of tea, to coin a phrase of her homeland. He smirked as he thought it. How did people not find him hilarious?

Monday, 25 November, 23:43; Construction Site behind Sam What's bar, Seattle Metroplex


Tanya carefully approaches the van but there is no one still alive in the area. She spares a look at the decapitated mage and recognizes the work of a monowhip, storing that fact away. Peering into the van she sees the rigger still at the wheel with his brains all over the dash. Tanya sticks her head back out of the van and calls over to Jan. "No need for the cover, Chummer. Someone capped the mage and the rigger. I suspect it was the other person at the casino based on the weapon used. Can you help me get the mage here in the van?" She shakes her head. "I imagine whoever did this thought it would be cool to blow the guy's brains out, but the blood and brains everywhere sure make it ugly to drive."

As Jan approaches, Tanya begins removing her suit and when she is down to her underwear and bra, she bends over to grab the mage's body. "And you might be surprised, Chummer, at just how long I can last and where."

When they have the body inside the van, Tanya goes to the front and drags the Dwarf out of the driver's seat and removes his shirt to wipe some of the gore away before sitting down and driving the van to meet the others. Still in her underthings, she assist getting the rest of the bodies in the van.

"OK. Now what? Can I get a comm code from at least one of you guys so I can let you know what I find out? I need to get back to the hospital."

Glo
Monday, 25 November, 2341; Outside Rigger’s Van, Parking Lot, Sam What's bar, Seattle Metroplex

<<Sorry, can’t do that>> in response to Johns request to pick up her leavings <<I dealt with their support and left the scene, what you do with the remains is up to you, judging by the inbound sirens you should have sufficient time to get clear. I would like a quiet word with your visitor from the bar but it didn’t seem appropriate to hang around. She seems much more likely to have useful intel on the 88s than some hired killers. Do you have any info on who she is? She doesn’t seem like one of their typical operatives… and do you have a new rendezvous in mind where we could facilitate a conversation?>>

John
Monday, 25 November, 2343; Construction Site behind Sam What's bar, Seattle Metroplex #172

John had done what he could with the bodies and filled a plastic bag from the waste with body parts and then beat a hasty retreat to his car. Once there it was just a matter of calling in an emergency and using his paramedic credentials to escape the scene with his spoofed ID.
He answered Glo: <<Yeah thanks for the helping hand. Do you know if a mage hand can be turned into a magic object? Would be a shame if Glistening Pete snacked on something that actually might be worth money.

About the meeting: Al seems to have a place to go. I'll forward the address to you. See you soon.>>

He switched the channel and used the comm code Tanya had given out: <<Since out pow wow has been cut short we should try to meet up somewhere else. I'll sent you the address once I've gotten rid of the bodyparts.
Oh and fair warning: The other psycho with a mono whip wants to talk to you - probably to exchange cutting patterns for cardigans or how you fit into the 88s organigram. So stay tuned.>>


It was well past midnight when John arrived at Al's place, having deposed his cargo at a thankful ghoul's place.
"Honey, I'm home..."

Al
Tuesday, 26 November, 0132; storage unit under Alaska Way viaduct, Downtown, Seattle Metroplex

The large storage unit John entered was furnished with four fold-up canvas cots. Some lights had been hastily hung, and there was a microwave and soy processor in one corner. No fridge, so the three cases of beer were getting warm beside some crates of survival rations. In another corner was a shower head with a drain in the cement floor beneath it.

Al lay on his cot smoking. He had gathered his snakes into their bag before anyone had arrived, and an occasional rattle came from under his cot.

"Shalom, Westworld. Ya got my pris'ners, or they with the Janster?"

Tuesday, 26 November, 0015; Mercy General Hospital, Downtown, Seattle Metroplex


Tanya had contacted Cora Lee while she helped load the bodies and survivors into whichever vehicles were being used for that. >>Cora Lee [Tanya]: Cora Lee. There are some police cars enroute to where we were fighting. Can you send a message from a first responder that the whole thing was an exaggeration and that things are under control? That should give me time to get away. Tanks and ciao.<< After all was loaded up, she let one of the others take control of the van after removing her clothes from it. Watching them all drive off, she stood in the rain to let the blood wash away and changed her body to..................something else. Her face, hair, eyes, and breasts all changed as she was putting the suit back on, then she changed the color of the suit as well and moved off down the alleyway. >>Monique [Tanya]: Bring the bike along to the attached location and meet me. I am wearing body Caucasian number three. I need to get back to the hospital as soon as possible.<<

Monique answers immediately. >>Tanya [Monique]: Oui. I am on the way. Two minutes.<<

The two women meet up and Tanya climbs on the back of the bike and they drive away, heading back towards the hospital. On the way, she received John's message. >>John [Tanya]: Thank you. I would very much like a meeting with everyone. Please let me know when and where. I am on my way to the hospital to check on things there. Call me.<<

After arriving at the hospital, Tanya dismounted and took Song Ai's clothes from a storage bin and went inside. She exchanged pleasantries with the security guard, bemoaning the fact that she had forgotten her umbrella and the rain had drenched her. She went through the detectors with no problems and disappeared into a second floor bathroom to change her body back to that of Song Ai and put her dry clothes on before going back to the lift to return to the floor where Fu Shing was. On the way, she got in touch with Han Sing and asked him to look into some 88 activity near the bar and construction site. She made it back to the room to find that nothing had really changed and resumed her seat at Fu Shing's side.

Jan
Monday, 25 November, 23:43; Construction Site behind Sam What's bar, Seattle Metroplex

Jan bent down casually, picked the mage's head up my the hair and slung it into the back of the van. "No doubt you could survive anywhere chick. You might not find it pleasant though. It's not very 'peace and love' and the self-righteous tend to realise pretty quick they're on to a loser." Jan couldn't remember the last time he has such mixed feelings about a person. Seeing her now, nearly naked and collecting corpses, he had a little respect for her mucking in but something about the woman just didn't sit right. "I'll take care of the bodies."

The van was a state, but you couldn't see that from the outside. <<@Razor: Hey fella. Got some assets to strip. A couple are a little wiggly. Need the back room for a few hours. Be there in 10>>


Ork Sam
Tuesday, 26 November, 01:40; Razor’s place, Seattle Metroplex

When he came too the Ork was laying face down on an operating table. He was unable to move but was unsure why. He could see a pile of corpses lying in the corner, most of them triad goons but they included his former team-mates. He didn't hold out much hope that the rest had survived. He could see a burly elf wearing a surgical apron and operating on one of the goons next to him. Well, operating on was the wrong term - the goon was clearly dead. Butchering would be more appropriate. "Ooh, this is interesting" he heard the elf say as he removed one of the triad's organs. "A synthetic liver. Might fetch a nice return." He watched the elf walk across and place it into a freezer before noticing he was awake....

"Ah, you're back with us! Good, we can get started." The elf stood in front of the man's face, the gore on his apron apparent. "You've probably already noticed you can't move. That's because you're paralyzed from around the base of the neck. Don't worry about that though, you'll still feel everything that's going to happen. That's probably what you should worry about..." He'd walked away now and the Ork couldn't see him, which troubled him a little. Still though he was taking in every word. "We're going to play a little game I sometimes play with people who've really upset me. I call it 'What's Jan doing now?' The premise is simple. I'll start removing bits of 'ware from your body, and any organs still worth a damn, and from the location and level of pain you have to guess what I'm doing. Sounds fun, right? The game ends when you tell me the fokker that sent you after us, after which time you'll receive a swift and painless escape." The elf sounded calm, but his plan was sadistic. Unempathetic. He knew he'd struggle to remain calm, but he'd give it his best shot.... for his team-mates!

John
Tuesday, 26 November, 0133; storage unit under Alaska Way viaduct, Downtown, Seattle Metroplex #173

"Hiho, Cowboy. Yeah, Jan took them. Said something about extracting truth and ware. I wasn't in the mood to clean my VM so didn't care and let him have fun.
Nice hidy hole you've got here. If you don't mind I'll send your address to the two psycho mono-slasher girls...
Eh, that came out wrong.

In any case I'd say today's operation was a success - we kicked the hornets nest and found two potential allies - or at least a source of information.

What are your ideas for our next steps? Personally, I'd prefer to plant a few discreet charges and blow up that guy Tanya mentioned."

John sat down next to a power outlet and used the time to recharge. His batteries were still over half full despite the running about earlier, but being at peak power never hurt.

Al
Tuesday, 26 November, 0134; storage unit under Alaska Way viaduct, Downtown, Seattle Metroplex

Al had shrugged indifferently when asked about inviting the femaie half of their little alliance to his digs. Trust seemed to flow pretty easily here in the world of gangland warfare, and who was he to rock the boat?

Now he answered the robot's more important question as it charged itself.

"Heh heh, yer preachin' ta the choir on that one, Android Amigo. Blow this Rick Wu feller ta kingdom come an' call it a day on this here shindig. Go home ta my dog. 'Ceptin' Triad Moll wants us ta drum up some sorta evidence first, legitimize the hit or somethin' fer whatever wispy-white-bearded Fu Manchus give they blessin' ta changin's o' the guard. Sounds like a lotta extra trouble ta ol' Al, but it was you led the charge inta bed with 'er. So now we gotta do it."

He lit a cigarette. Enjoying it, he wondered if Johnny got any sort pleasure - like a person got from eating or drinking - from plugging himself into a wall like that. He contemplated, recalling the things the woman had said when she wasn't annoying him with her hypocritical rationalizations.

"Gotta get the dirt on this Wu cat. Not dirt such as folk with morals an' the Light of our Savior see 'em. Dirt such as is offensive ta the Asiatic gangster's sensibility. Any number o' ways ta git it, I s'pose, but, assumin' she ain't playin' us, which is an assumption I do not make, then we go fer his number two, Ving Sun. She seems ta think Ving's bag man, Chin Bai, is our best bet. But that don't hardly seem ambitious, an' I reckon we'd do well ta stay a little bit off her game plan."

Tuesday, 26 November, 0135; Mercy General Hospital, Downtown, Seattle Metroplex


Ai looks at the sleeping Fu Shing and shakes her head, wondering what she has got herself into this time. Settling into her chair, she accesses her 'link and pulls up the pictures she had taken of the dead Triad soldiers and notes with interest that two of them bear the finger tattoo that the followers of Ving Sun marked themselves with. The others did not have any such markings that she could see, but the photos were not the best and she had not been looking for the markings at the time she took them. Still, two is enough to convict the man in Ai's mind and she smiles to herself. She sends the photos of the two marked men to Han Sing, asking him to ask about quietly for an identification. She also sets up a schedule for having some men replace hers later in the morning. Done, she inputs the code that John had given her and sends a text.

>>John [Tanya]: Say, just wanted to thank you guys for showing a girl a good time. Too bad some assholes had to come in to try to break up the party. I have a found a very strong indicator that at least two of the thugs that tried to fill my dance card are men in Ving Sun's group. Remember that I said he is Rick Wu's favorite lieutenant? I am trying to run an ID on the thugs I managed to take photos of, but it is very possible that most were among the fairly nameless thugs that each lieutenant has access to if he needs a bit of extra muscle. In other words, I am not confident that I will be able to ID too many of them without some extensive searching.

I would like very much to get together with you guys again. I feel that I got off on the wrong foot and would like to try to square that. I will let you pick the meet location and I will bring some crisps and beer. And as much information as I can get. I am in need of a bit of rest but could easily make something happen this afternoon or later. Give it a thought and see if the others want to meet. Ta<<

After sending the text, Al sits back in the chair and relaxes, trying to get some sleep.

John
Tuesday, 26 November, 0135; storage unit under Alaska Way viaduct, Downtown, Seattle Metroplex #174

John received the message and answered: <<Interesting. We are hanging around in a little garage, waiting for the rest of our intel. Come over when you can. Most of the snakes are back in the bag.>>
He switched channels to send a message to Jan: <<Hope you are having fun. Al and me are hanging around Al's little hidey hole. Join us when you are ready. Triad Tanya is coming over too. I'll invite the other slasher too, so there might even be a little show later on.>>

Finally he also contacted Glo, texting her also the address.

"Alright, all invites have been sent. Before we go after the enforcer, we can hear out the Triad girl. We might as well hurt them where it hurts the most."

Al
Tuesday, 26 November, 0135; storage unit under Alaska Way viaduct, Downtown, Seattle Metroplex

"Well, I'll allow they's some sense in that," Al replied as he sniffed a Happy Habanero soyrito to see if it had gone bad and then tossed it into the microwave. "But they's somethin' ta be said fer goin' at 'em rabid-ass-loco - can't anticipate random, no way for 'em ta guess our pattern if'n they ain't none. But play it how ya want - I'm jist here ta spill Tong blood."