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

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

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

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

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

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

"hi"


He turns to the chair.


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


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Hi" followed by another wave.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


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


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

There are no guards, but plenty of cameras.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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




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


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Bongo bites his lip.

(OOC: Are you keeping the Rover nearby the building or heading off somewhere? )

The flyspy doesn't need a lot of time to get a feeling for what's wrong with the plants. The watering systems are clogged. Plants wrapping around them, roots growing into them, maybe sometimes bugs or internal crud. Since some are still watering some of the plants they must not have shut off the water, it just isn't always getting out. Of course plants die for a lot of reasons if they aren't replaced, and there's probably a limit to how many Nicostick butts and trash they can handle in their planter. One might be able to criticize the design, but really it seems like it just lacks basic maintenance out here. The ad copy indicated they weren't supposed to require maintenance, but there are practical limits to that.

Inside riding with the team what Paul would notice different from the rest with the flyspy is that the signal strength stays high. Nothing blocking it at all, at least not here outside the maintenance tower. All that metal scaffolding must be counteracted by a lot of digital devices.

In the elevator the group rides in silence a moment. People heading off with their packs has led to some trouble, or perhaps there's just a regular amount of shouting and screaming when this many people are near each other if you have the sort of augmented senses the team has. If you ever feel like wandering barging into an apartment to be a hero it might not be hard to find an opportunity. The elevators slides past.

Eventually the Ork with the pompadour speaks. "I'm Jett. Let me give you some free advice. We're bringing you in to do a job, but don't go putting on airs. Nobody here, especially Monifa, got where they are by tolerating disrespect from outsiders. Get me? "

He looks around as the elevator climbs "Maybe you can mess with someone obviously not with Monifa's crew. But not us. "

The other Orks try to look casual while alternating between eyeing over members of the team, and keeping an eye out on everyone outside the elevator. Not quite as good a view as the maintenance tower has, but from the elevator you can still see most of the entryways on any gives floor and most of the promenade circling the building on each floor between the doors and the central open area with elevators, stairs, and, for a little longer, the catwalks that fold back up to the maintenance tower.

(OOC: In part because I'm out of time I'll pause here for a beat, but I can continue on with the elevator ride if folks don't want to particularly get up to anything here.)

Paul thinks to himself about the maintenance problem. The real question is, as always, how much the denizens care. If they like the fresher air and the privacy afforded by the plants being alive and well, then they might scratch together some cash for a little drone gardening - but if it failed owing to outright neglect from an advanced case of not giving a frag what happens to green things, then there's no play there. Still, a few snips and tugs from properly equipped flatworkers would be easy to arrange, and an easy payday.

Wow. A chance to frag the job even before we get to meet Ms. Johnson. Bongo replies, "It never pays to piss off the client. We get hired, we'll do our job. End of story."

He makes note of the disturbances and the opportunities they might provide.

Fiona also stays in the Rover for now, but in her astral form, that does not make much of a difference for Tubesnake, who is still inside. No reason to go into that messy area, until it is really necessary. And since the car is close enough, the ally spirit can stay within the radius of Selina, where she can help her out, if needed.



Inside the elevator, she simply nods towards the ork. "Yeah, no worries. We are not here to mess with you. Quite the opposite, in fact."

In fact, while the ride continues, Bongo gets a good look at a couple of the "incidents" they notice.

Willie tries to determine the state of the guides' armour: any damage, what quality.

Jett just nods at the replies, seemingly satisfied.

That does let Bongo focus a bit on the sounds. The one thing that sticks out as he tries to sort out disturbances and noise is that nothing too horrible is happening on any of the promenades. Though he also notices that there are prominent cameras mounted on the maintenance tower watching all those areas. Their prominence really sticking out, as there's no need to have cameras so big or bulky nor to not conceal their presence or direction under a sphere of one way glass. All the trouble seems to be happening behind closed doors. Unfortunately, they aren't yelling or screaming out informative details. However, with his spatial memory, Bongo is pretty sure he could find where things had gone down accurately.

He also notes that the "corners" which are supposed to have things like restaurants, clinics, schools, or jobsites seem to be particular sources of trouble, and have a lot of people heading back with their packs similarly to how people are going into their homes. Bongo also notices that too many people seem to be going into the apartments.

Everyone is wearing armored clothing of various types. Bongo (or others) could on inspection spot recent patches that likely indicate where a bullet would have gone. They don't stick out much on the black outfits though. Selina could have done better, but the fixes are reasonably functional and keep the armor looking new from a distance. Any blood has also been cleaned off. The exact armor type varies as some are wearing jackets and others trench coats, but fairly standard stuff, and doesn't seem to have the complex layering popular with some runners, though Jett does seem to have some sort of arm bracers or something ridged under there.

As the elevator reaches the top floor the team is ushered into one of the apartments with a gesture to the open door from Jett. However, it's immediately obvious that it isn't an apartment anymore. The walls have been knocked down allowing five apartments to function like one large room. Though structural pillars, pipes and some electrical cabling, and the five bathrooms, with the original doors intact, and attached kitchen appliances are still there.


There's a good two dozen additional gangers present here. At least they definitely aren't trying to copy the greaser look that Jett sort of has going. The common thread is black armored clothing, usually shiny and always in reasonably good repair, it would make them stand out among the more mixed fashions and relatively scuffed gear on the other floors. Some gangers get more creative with their look that others, the most common outfit is probably the armored trench coat with submachinegun and black shades and a crew cut.

Monifa sits on a large recliner, set on top of a forklift pallet to get it an extra six inches up in the air. She sticks out. Her pants match the gangs black and shiny theme, but her muscular form under a tank top makes her visually pop out from the rest. The outfit doesn't really leave much room for concealed weapons anywhere but the boots, but she has an Auto Assault 16 shotgun with its rather large ammo drum propped up against the chair.

She gives a toothy Orkish smile "Welcome, welcome. I know you negotiate in dark bars or whatever, but somebody keeps trying to geek me, so I need to keep the crew around. Grab a chair and have a seat."

She indicates the short table in front of her and a bunch of rolling office chairs off to the side. Standard black ones with armrests and a mech back. Behind her the back of the room seems to be used as storage, with all sorts of boxes piled up among assorted odds and ends or the occasional pistol or SMG.

(OOC: Could you indicate how your characters make their entrance and the gear/look they have. Actually, I think you mostly have that early if you're up for a copy paste. )

Selina is dressed in a black bodysuit, much akin to a biking outfit. She has taken off her helmet during the elevator ride. She is wearing orange sunglasses and (barely visible) earbuds.

There are no weapons, neither open nor concealed. Her only other piece of equipment is a black messenger bag, which contains some of her stuff, like her commlink, a flashlight, and some forearm and shin protectors for extra protection in case the helmet is not too appropriate; probably similar to what Jett has under his armored jacket.

She nods towards Monifa. "Oh, that's okay. We have been to all kinds of places. Looks like you and your crew could handle the heat pretty well. So, from what we understand, our job will be to figure out the who and more importantly the why more than do something about it? We could probably use a few more details here to fill in the blanks."

Willie is decked out in his full armour, mostly black and gray, with lots of metallic studs and clips and things. His main weapon, the SMG, is slung on his back; machine pistol holstered. As Selina speaks, he positions himself standing to the back and left of her, eyes on their six.

Bongo is in his Urban Explorer, a flat tan colour, but with a yellow kerchief tied around his neck, the ends tucked in his white shirt. Lots of smaller items are in the various pockets, throwing knives on a bandoleer across his chest. Predator IV pistol is holstered, and knife weapon focus is sheathed. He has a small backpack with more equipment stored there. He seats himself beside Selina, to the right, and nods slightly to support her statement. He has a view in the direction Willie is not facing. He commits the layout of the large room to memory, right down to cables and pipes.

Tubesnake sits quietly ensconced in the Rover, while his FlySpy sits as quiet as a decorative badge on Bongo's backpack. If things get crazy, it's easy to take off and buzz around.

(OOC: It isn't clear if everyone is sitting, so I'll leave that vague in this reply)

Lenny, in his black jacket, black helmet, and blue jeans, takes up a position behind Selina, putting her at the front of a diamond formation. Consequently, Monifa focuses on her.

"I like the look. You could fit in with my crew, as long as you keep the helmet on. We don't get many pointy ears so fine out here. " She brushes one of her own pointy but robust ears as she tucks a few brown strands back.

"It'd be a bad look if you just sat around while lead is flying, so that should be part of the deal. Our mutual friend said you might be better at taking people alive anyway. We've been going a little too hard. " She gives her fellows one of her smiles. Before looking back.



"We'd be willing to put up some cash if you can solve the problem too."

She thinks about that for a moment. "Don't go gunning somebody down and start asking for Nuyen while pointing fingers. If you got the proof, dealing with anybody on my turf is my business. My business. If it's one of the neighbors trying to move in, we can handle it, 'cause they wouldn't be doing all this sneaky stuff like a bitch if they had the muscle to mess with us. But if you've got the shot, you could take it, you know? "

She leans back comfortably in her recliner throne, the light finally catching a little in her chrome eyes. "If we had any good intel we wouldn't need you. Nobody recognized any of the bodies. Folks here get to know people. Every other rumble I've had somebody recognized somebody, and you know who needs a lesson. So we never needed to screw around with getting anybody alive, not that anybody wants to let me get 'em alive. These're outsiders. If they're that afraid of me, they might be letting the Nuyen do all the talking for them instead of letting them know who they're working for, even if one of them did make it.

So, yeah, I got drek all right now. We got some pics of bodies and a couple on ice.

Figuring out what the fuck is going on is what you're mostly for. With outsiders in the mix I figure it might take screwing around outside my turf, and sending my people to do any of that could start a beef with crews that got nothing to do with any of this."

She leans forward. "So I'll front a thousand each just to get into this drek. Two more when you solve it, and another one each if you take the shot to really solve it. Like you catch somebody red handed. So long as they aren't on my turf. "


Lenny has been paying attention to the conversation. Mostly. Enough. He'd have put this on double speed as a video, after being in a lot of corporate meetings with hard stops he feels like she just talks so so slow. So he's been scanning the electromagnetic spectrum for anything interesting. To his own surprise, maybe he's found something. He subvocally transmits to the team.

<<Hey, I think she's connected to that doll up on those boxes. It looks like crap, but it's transmitting. Probably running some social softs. I bet I could hack in. >>

Internally he winces that he can't just seem to say anything with full confidence.

Since they are talking, Selina just continues: "Well, that is not much to go with. We should probably take a look at the bodies then, see if we can figure out who they are. That might get us somewhere. Did they have any electronics on them? Like, communications? That might be a way to get more information as well. If we could discern how they were hired, maybe there is a way to follow that further. Heck, we might even try to get 'hired' ourselves... not to actually do that job, of course, but to get closer to those in the background. There's likely middle-men involved, too."

"And who would gain something when you would be taken out? There are other players around here, right? Like... vassals? As I understand, this whole building is your turf, so whoever is in here is following your orders. But many are not directly part of your crew. Just trying to get a full picture here."

"On the video parts you sent, there clearly is some magic showing. Who controls that spirit that is visible there? We could also see it patrolling around the building. And there were those weird flowery things somewhere. Any idea where those came from?"

If possible, without looking too weird, Selina turns to an angle, where the doll will have a less good view of her face.

"All of this is, of course, assuming that we come to an arrangement. Given the open nature of this, and the obvious tenacity and resources of whoever is pulling the strings here, I am a bit reluctant to accept your offer as is. But it's just a first offer, right? Surely you can do a bit better. How about you double all those numbers."

<<<If they still have the corpses I can do autopsies and scans on 'em to look for identifying data.>>>

Bongo is glad that he didn't speak first. Monifa seems happy to be negotiating with Selina. Maybe more than that? Lenny's comment piques his interest. <<Yeah see what you can do without triggering an alarm. Does it know about Tubesnake's drone riding my shoulder? You never know what info might slip out. >>

Ow. Selina's upsell was a bit clumsy. Bongo can see Monifa's countenance change. Maybe he can help. He stands up and nods to Selina, holding a hand to his chest over his heart. Like a team member acknowledging the boss. He steps to the side a bit and looks around. Hands out to the side, palms up. Eyes will be on him, not all of them friendly. What's he trying?

"Yes, you have an impressive team here, ma'am. At the same time, the attempts on your life have been escalating. I mean, a helicopter? Really? What will come next? That kind of money means serious intent. It's a life and death matter. And if they want you, they'll deal with anyone working for you the same way. Terminally. So, here's what seems to us to be a fair deal. There are five of us, so 1k up front for each. 2k more when we come up with a legitimate suspect. And if it comes to violence, another 3k each for danger pay. So, all told, 15k for finding out the rats looking to dig into your storehouse, and another 15k if we need to exterminate a few for you.

"How does that sound?"



He smiles that Bongo smile.

Willie thinks to himself, How many times could I get laid if I could do that?

Monifa replies to Selina "Well, you can check out whatever we kept yourself. This is Abeje and Bello. They can show you around, everybody in this tower knows not to mess with them "

She indicates a couple orks off to the side. These seem to be even more distinctly black and shiny than most in the crew, with some sort of artificial leather making up their pants, boots, and long coats. Some black plates are visible on their shirts as well. Their skin is also darker than most of the crew who are generally light skinned like Monifa, roughly tracking population demographics before goblinization back in 2021. She's got an impressively regular afro and he sports an equally neat close-cropped hair, with little paths cut in it to accommodate the temple tips of his shades.

"As for other crews, well, that's just something kids do. They want to feel connected and tough, and I ain't got time to know absolutely everybody or have introductions because some punks of the forty-seventh floor think they're tough now. So they kinda get to do their thing. But they want to do any kind of biz. ANY kind of biz. It's gotta be through me. As long as they don't get it twisted on who is in charge around here, we can have a mostly commercial partnership.

Thing is we don't let 'em get too big for their britches. Even if my whole crew was gone most would just get eaten up in the chaos. I guess Lucan has a pretty tough group down on Seven. And Bear is an asshole pervert on Sixty Nine. I don't know if anybody would tolerate his ass trying to make a play on the Penthouse up here, but he does a whole lot of biz.

The neighboring gangs are a bunch of bitches or they'd be in here already. But they aren't in my supply line, so they keep offering their asses to any big syndicate that waggles some product or Nuyen. Harlem Revival to the South always thinks they so "Cosmopolitan" or whatever, which means they'd love to suck some Yakuzza or Seoulpa dick, and maybe they found a big enough one. Or maybe the Panzers to the Northwest finally have an angle on getting an actual Panzer instead of being a bunch of posers with a stupid name."


She manages to get some smiles and laughs out of her crew as she thinks about how to answer Selina's next question.

"Don't worry about the spirit. A friend of mine summons those. She lives on Forty Four and you just want to leave her the fuck alone. I repeat, leave her the FUCK alone. She'd tell me if she knew anything and if she wanted me dead I would be. She needs me to stay alive anyway. "

She turns always around in her chair to see an Ork off in the corner. "C'mon over here Lisa. You can help them out with any mojo questions, might be good to get around a little. Just hang by Abeje or Bello and you'll be fine."

A surprisingly small female Ork comes forward out of the shadows. Struggling a little to move in her black armored jacket. Her long red hair almost a little brown from needing cleaning and conditioning.

She looks puzzled by the other request and cranes her neck to look at all the other Orks around. "Anybody know what they're going on about with the flowers. I don't mess with flowers."

Abeje answers, her voice curt and professional. "There have been a couple incidents with cloth flowers being left on bodies down on Forty Nine and Fifty Two. I put them in the file I sent you, just in case they're related. But that was a while back. I just wanted to be thorough."

Monifa waves a hand as if to disregard that, and scoffs at Selina's initial bargaining attempt.

Lenny knows he doesn't have the time he wants with the toy and doesn't want to zonk out in front of all the gangers either, but he suspects it isn't that much of a hassle, plus, he's been practicing this and has his shiny new hardware even if he stuck it in an old and scuffed casing. He wants to avoid detection so he crashes through the login protocols at a low access level, and messes with settings instead of more elaborate editing. At least he's confident he wasn't detected and gets it done while Selina is talking.

To not distract people too much, he just pings out to the team <<Got it>>

(OOC: So he cancels out the bonus Monifa would get. I give Monifa a bonus from Selina's first attempt. She rolls shockingly hot with her smaller dice pool, but Bongo still wins by two. Mostly to end on a 20% bump up, but with a couple twists).

Monifa purses her lips. "I can see there are only four of you, but I'm guessing you've got a hacker lounging on a couch somewhere yeah? I give a lot of shit for drek like that, but they might be too useful with this secrecy bullshit. "

She makes a show of rolling her eyes for the crew. "So fine, a fifth member. But I'm only giving them half up-front compared to the folks with their hoops on the line if the drek hits the fan again in here. I'll put their other half in the pot for solving the case, you can give 'em what you feel is right after.

So, OK, that's 15k for solving the case to our satisfaction. And I appreciate the eagerness to take things all the way I can come up to (OOC: 20k * 1.2 = 24 total minus 15 and a little rounding up because she doesn't like math or extra digits if she has to divide it 5 ways. ) 10k if you REALLY solve it.

Make sure to keep me in the loop on that, again, no just hucking somebody off the Seventieth floor and trying to collect."

<<<See if you can get her to tell us what's completely off-limits in terms of access to the building. If she's uncooperative, point out that so far she's had ground assault, aerial assault, magical assault, and we can't be picky about trying to solve this problem for her. I also bet she knows more than she's letting on about who, or what, wants to push her around. Attacks like this don't generally come without someone trying to be persuasive by other means first.>>>

Selina nods to Monifa and then acknowledges Abeje and Bello as well.

"Alright. I guess, that should give us something to start with."

Turning to Abeje, she says: "Love the hair! Okay, so these flowers are not actually related to the attacks then? I thought they might be, since the images were in there. But if you say, that these incidents are older, then maybe they are not. We might still look into it, just in case. It was just something that... stood out."

She also makes a mental not about Lisa's jacket and hair. Maybe she can help her with that later. Might be a way to win her over.

(OOC: Was waiting for PB who might have one of his characters relay Paul's thoughts, but it occurred to me he might just be waiting for others to go back and forth. What I will say is that just a little post is fine, or just a note in OOC to keep going lets me know to advance).

Abeje doesn't directly respond to the comment on her hair as she tries to keep her sharp professional frame (OOC: But folks looking at her face with a couple hits on perception will notice a smile form for a moment). Her manner stands out from most of the gang who are standing around loosely, Monifa positively lounges. Only Abeje and Bello maintain impeccable posture. Abeje replies to the second bit " The similarity is that we don't know who was behind those killings or why they did the thing with the flowers. But since nobody in our crew was involved, we didn't look that deep at the time, and a lot of things happen to people in this tower. It isn't that odd that nobody gets caught. It's only the flower thing that makes these stick out. There isn't much to show. There wasn't anything obvious to follow up on, and we didn't keep the bodies. Best I can do aside from the pictures is take you to where we found the bodies. There should be local crews that know more on those floors. "

Selina nods.

"Okay. Thank you! Let's keep that in mind, but for now, we should focus on the more obvious things, that are directly related with these attacks. Maybe we should start with those other bodies that were mentioned. Let's figure out who those are!"

Bongo tilts his head as if listening to something. "Our partner situated elsewhere might show up later. On a different note, is there some code or password that allows us to get around where we need to go without constantly checking in with you? We assume that since you've faced ground assault, aerial assault and magical assault, you really don't want us to leave any stone unturned.

"And, since we're talking about unturned stones, do you have recollection of any kind of negotiation or attempt at persuasion towards you recently that might be useful to explore?"

Bello replies "Alright, we can take you to the bodies. They're on the other side of the 100th. I'd suggest rearranging your equipment, so you aren't so obviously armed. We don't have any particular relationship with the maintenance tower. Never been considered worth it to try and arrange. We usually don't even think about them. They're supposed to use their gangways to charge out to anywhere crimes have occurred. A short run and they're at any door that's supposed to be in the tower. They don't tend to do that in practice, and never against a proper crew. But I've heard of precedents where gang warfare gets bad enough that they feel a threat to the tower or themselves, and they'll come out in force. Since I'm sure they don't have any idea why a helicopter was laying into the top of the building they may feel the best bet at getting back to normal with their cushy jobs is to come after us. I'd prefer not giving them reasons to start anything. "

Monfia gives a laugh to keep the mood up, but she doesn't contradict them. She does add "You've got my comcode and Abeje and Bello can share theirs, so you don't have to bother me. There's no secret handshakes or anything. Most folks recognize my crew and impersonating my crew or lying about working for me is a very bad idea as I'm going to hear about it, so just saying that you're working for me should open some doors. You can have an escort if you need, but just looking reasonably tough should get you around if you can manage it."

As for the other question she puzzles over that for a bit, and notably nobody else jumps in. Eventually she leans forward and says "Not a single bitch out of their place. I guess lucky there. I beef often enough with the other tuskers up in here that I oughta have a prime suspect. Well, maybe lucky for them as I'd come hard. It'd be nice to get into a scrap that really feels like a win. But gotta be ready for whatever drek might be next. "

She shrugs and gets up from her chair

"I think that's all I got for ya. Lisa go with 'em too so you can answer questions and shit. I gotta get to training some noobs getting moved up from lower floors to the big time. "

Monifa starts moving towards a door to the west, obviously one not installed professionally. It must lead through what should have been a side door to a hallway or bedroom in the apartment from the original construction. A number of Ork just seem to hang out in this big room, but a few including Jett follow her. Lisa shuffles over to Bello and Abeje. Bello waves you over towards the door you came in through as they start moving that way, but they aren't moving fast.

Tubesnake sighs. Time to get active. He looks around the area from inside the Rover, then prepares to head out. He closes up his armour jacket, puts his goggles firmly on then replaces his ballcap. He fetches a few things from his boxes; a shankworm and a flatworker slack over his left forearm, and a medkit in the other. His headphones go over his ears, and his endoscope goes into his work pants on the opposite side from his computing device. He flips on a shankworm in the Rover, just in case, but puts everything that he's not bringing along into his boxes. Then he exits the Rover and closes it up.

<<On my way, I'll rendezvous at the location and play cybercoroner. You can lock up the Rover, I'm walking. I have a live drone as a first line watchdog in there.>>