19:08:23 Saturday, 13 January 2063 - Capitol Hill Terrace 1404 E. 14th Ave. Capitol Hill, Seattle, UCAS

"No, thanks, I think we should probably just go and get this over with." Reign flashed a smile at Tony, which faded into a tense and uneasy expression.

"I've got my friend's passkey. As long as his car is gone, we should be able to just get in, grab some stuff for her, and get out. I know where she keeps her clothes and stuff, it won't take me but five minutes. You wanna drive?"

06:11:51 January 2063 - 2290 North Point Drive, Reston, Virginia, UCAS

Gerry snaked an arm out from beneath the warmth of the comforter to snooze the alarm again, wishing once again that he didn't have to get out of bed. Trisha murmured sleepily to him, and he curled his arms around her, nestling his head in her hair. Almost unconsciously, he slid his hand down to caress the soft curve of her belly. He knew she wouldn't be showing this early, they were barely into her first trimester. But he liked to think that he could feel the faint swelling, the life stirring within her. He kissed her neck again, and she sighed in pleasure. It was quiet morning moments like this that he treasured most.

"I love you, baby," he whispered, turning to get up from bed.

"Mmmm, don't go," whined Trisha, holding onto his arm. Her right hand pulled at his boxers.

"You're going to make me late again," he laughed softly, not helping her but not stopping her either. She rolled over in his arms, hair tousled from sleep, her hands warm and ticklish as they trailed over his ribs.

"So be late. Doug can handle MAE for a little while by himself." She gave up trying to get his shorts off and simply rolled him on top of her, locking her legs around his waist. Gerry shook his head, smoothing her hair out of her eyes and kissing her.

"The things I do for love."

Trisha smiled, working her own nightshirt up and over her head. She wiggled her hips back and forth.

"That's right, daddy, do your thing for love."

Gerry laughed again, wrapping his arms around her.

19:08:44 Saturday, 13 January 2063 - Capitol Hill Terrace 1404 E. 14th Ave. Capitol Hill, Seattle, UCAS

"Sure, I don't mind driving. Take my car?" Tony said, feeling for the keys in his pocket.

Noticing Reign's apparent uneasyness, he added "Don't worry if he's there or not. We'll get what you're going for," a slight, joking smile pulling at his face.

19:10:05 Saturday, 13 January 2063 - Capitol Hill Terrace 1404 E. 14th Ave. Capitol Hill, Seattle, UCAS

Reign nods, waiting as Tony locks up his apartment before following him down to the parking garage. The air is chill and biting, the harsh west wind cutting through their heavy coats with ease. Tony dials up the heat in the car as Reign directs him north on the crosstown. No playful banter fills the darkened cabin of the vehicle this trip. Reign stares out the passenger side window, seemingly lost in thought. Her voice, quiet and subdued, sounds only to give Tony directions. Off the freeway, they navigate deeper though the maze of streets comprising the West Woodland neighborhood north of Downtown.

"That's the one." Reign gestures towards the Riverrun Apartments, a twelve story building sited in a shallow arc of four other large apartment complexes. The maglock passkey she gives Tony admits them to the underground parking garage, and he parks in the visitor spot nearest the elevators.

Once inside the elevator, Reign punches the button for the eigth floor, her cheeks pale from the chill and her eyes cold and tense. The elevator car, and more so the hallway they step out into, reminds Tony of a hundred other anonymous apartment buildings he's been in. The walls are a uniform drab color, the tiled floors soiled and matte, the overall appearance being one of wear and tiredness. It was the kind of exhaustion that only desperate humans could endow a building with, a feeling that could never be washed away no matter how much bleach and polish were used, could never be painted over no matter how garish the colors. Reign gestured down the hall.

"8F."

19:10:30 Saturday, 13 January 2063 - Riverrun Apartments, 8th Floor, Woodland Hills, North of Downtown, Seattle, UCAS

Whatever smiling good humor that Tony had was long gone by the time that the elevator door creaked and slammed open onto the hallway of whatever building he was in. Reign's uncommunicative and withdrawn mood on the way over had slowly leeched it out of him, and the...mood of the building drowned the rest out. It was worse than his doss over in Bellevue; Tony had only been joking when he said that Bluefish didn't have a soul, but this place sure didn't. It's soul had been torn out long ago, and its residents as well. He briefly wondered why people would willingly live in such a place.

They don't have anywhere else to go he realized, bleakly.

Stepping into the dirty hallway, he just wanted to get this done and get out of here. Reign gestured down the hall to her friend's apartment. "8F," she said.

Tony started moving down the hallway, stopping a couple of steps down and turning around to ask "Did you see his car?"

22:59:17 Wednesday, 10 January 2063 - Raincrest Apartments, East Tacoma, UCAS

Waiting almost an hour for an opportunity gave Litany time to think. The cold wasn't too bad, the scooter engine helping to keep her legs warm. Her upper body was suffering a bit, but keeping in motion helped with all that. A night like this did make her regret losing her last maglock passkey card. A good one ran over ten grand, but right here it would have saved her an hour, assuming it worked as advertised, which never did seem to be the case for Litany. That was one of the reasons she liked working with a Team. Someone else always knew how to work with all the hardware much better then she did. Despite her best efforts, things went wrong often enough whenever she tried that she knew it was much safer simply for her not to try on a run.

Cab. Slowing. Go go go.

Pull onto curb.
Look around like I'm lost.
Ah there's the street sign.
Okay, park, drop stand
Kill engine
Check lock
Grab Pizza box
Pretend to push button 523

"It's Delivery! Pizza!"

Nod in answer
Turn to go in
Oh here is the nice person holding building door open for you.... smile... no wedding ring, maybe he's not married?

19:10:30 Saturday, 13 January 2063 - Riverrun Apartments, 3508 Poplar Street, Woodland Hills, Seattle, UCAS

Reign, apparently distracted, bumps into Tony as he turns to ask the question.

"No, no I didn't see his car downstairs."

She glances down the hall towards apartment 8F, once more fidgeting by rubbing her hands together in the odd way Tony noticed the first night they'd met.

23:00:46 Wednesday, 10 January 2063 - Raincrest Apartments, East Tacoma, UCAS

The young man holding the door for Litany gestures impatiently.

"Well? Come on!"

He waits until she's passed through before following, joining his companion who waits in the narrow tiled foyer.

"Fraggin' idiot," he mutters, sotto voce, before continuing the conversation they'd been sharing outside.

"Anyway, it doesn't matter what Vizcano says, they can adjust the values, the timing, even the throughput metrics. They're just not going to see the kind of return that we did two or three years ago."

His companion, a dark haired man of median age, dressed in a dark blue suit, nodded in agreement.

"It's the same way across the board. Cross, PacRim, they're all reeling from the Chiba imports. Prices are down on everything, and everybody's scrambling for the new Sapphire that'll pull them out of the red."

"Frag Chiba. Frag Cross." The disgust was obvious in the first speaker's voice. "Hey, what floor does she live on?"

"Four. Take the stairs."

The two of them turned left at the bank of elevators, mounting the winding square staircase that would take them to their anonymous appointment. Their voices continued to drift down to Litany, words indistinct in the cool, dry air.

23:01:08 Wednesday, 10 January 2063 - Raincrest Apartments, East Tacoma, UCAS

Separating herself by staying at the elevators made sense, at least in terms of reducing memorable contact. Litany was well aware of some of the possibilities attendant on knocking on some targets door. But first there was this elevator. Stephen always claimed to be an expert on both being shafted and shafting people, and her own experience bore this out as well, he never liked elevators, even if they tended to be well greased. Nothing get's a runner team shafted then actually using an elevator. Hanging coffins was just one of the terms Flipper had come up with during the last Crazy Times. Litany used the elevator everyday several times form her apartment, but there's was always something different when actually on a job. Litany carefully prepared her taser under the cover of the pizza box, an example of something she didn't normally do at home.

stop thinking about that last jump in the arcology central elevator core, no rope, nothing except just hoping the rebel team has emplaced the foam on time despite all the jamming and messed up communications...

Step out
scan,
deploy iBall
find door
scan
knock
then...

this girl might get lucky tonight...

23:02:29 Wednesday, 10 January 2063 - Raincrest Apartments, East Tacoma, UCAS

The hallways of the Raincrest Apartment building are painted in a neutral biege with hints of texture at the base and fading to a solid color near the ceiling. The atrium area near the elevators and fire stair entrance on each floor has a faux wooden table with an artfully arranged plastic plant set in the center. Each hall is surveilled by a pair of cameras, one at either end, which provide complete coverage. The air is stale and dry, smelling slightly of ozone. In contrast to the buildings she's been in where the despair of humanity had sucked the life and soul from them, these apartments were constructed without a soul, to be nothing more than anonymous boxes where strangers could hide themselves away.

19:10:45 Saturday, 13 January 2063 - Riverrun Apartments, 3508 Poplar Street, Woodland Hills, Seattle, UCAS

"Oops, sorry. Are you sure that you want to do this?" Tony said after Reign rebounded off of him.

Sure she didn't see his car. I could have parked next to a Juggernaught and she wouldn't have seen it, he thought, some hairs starting to raise on his neck.

19:11:32 Saturday, 13 January 2063 - Riverrun Apartments, 3508 Poplar Street, Woodland Hills, Seattle, UCAS

Reign takes a deep breath, exhaling quietly before nodding.

"Yeah. I'm fine."

19:11:53 Saturday, 13 January 2063 - Riverrun Apartments, 3508 Poplar Street, Woodland Hills, Seattle, UCAS

"Ok, then," Tony said, moving toward the door. She's really worked up about this. Maybe I should be as well he thought.

Coming to 8F, he pulled the Browning out of its holster and screwed on the silencer. "Better safe than sorry. You open the door, I'll go in first in case something happens" he said, flicking off the safety and chambering a round.

19:12:38 Saturday, 13 January 2063 - Riverrun Apartments, 3508 Poplar Street, Woodland Hills, Seattle, UCAS

Reign nods, tight lipped. Wordlessly she slides the maglock passkey through the cardreader. A tense second slides by as the electronic handshake is processed before the lock disengages with an audible 'click'. Reign gives the door a push, swinging it open to reveal a narrow hallway into the apartment. Visible on the left is a half open closet with several coats and jackets hanging inside. None of the interior lights appear to be on.

23:02:50 Wednesday, 10 January 2063 - Raincrest Apartments, East Tacoma, UCAS

Scanning the hallway and picking up the cameras forced a delay in dropping the iBall till she was front of the apartment door. Litany wasn't sure she could cover the small drone moving down the hall along with her, so it was safer to drop it at her feet when standing at the door itself. The motion of lifting the pizza box and checking the address on the label, along with a little slip and rebalance should be enough to let the device drop between her feet without being obvious.

//Mosquito:: Update and Report.

It's always so strange that killing someone seems so easy compared to what I might need to do next. Lord help me, it's certainly less work then lying and stealing.

She hit the buzzer.

19:12:42 Saturday, 13 January 2063 - Riverrun Apartments, 3508 Poplar Street, Woodland Hills, Seattle, UCAS

Nice and dark. Perfect Tony thought to himself, raising the gun up to functional level as he bladed his body just inside the door, scanning for anything. Nobody seemed to be in the apartment, no sounds of breath or shuffles of feet to greet their entry, just the darkness.

Spotting the lightswitch by the half open closet, he straightened his body out and flicked the switch on with his unoccupied hand.

11:32:31Wednesday, 10 January 2063 - Outside Racer X

If the man seems at all fazed by Lana's sharp tone, he doesn't show it. Instead he simply stares at her with a tired expression, but razor sharp eyes. "Svetlana Tasya Prevlov." The tone of his voice made it clear it was not a question.

"I would like to speak with you." He glances over at Kat, a brief, dismissive look that does not show even a hint of the usual sexual interest that is almost automatic in nearly all men who lay eyes on her. Turning back to Lana, he states flatly, "Alone."

19:12:48 Saturday, 13 January 2063 - Riverrun Apartments, 3508 Poplar Street, Woodland Hills, Seattle, UCAS

The hall revealed is as plain in structure as the one outside the door, but adorned with more personal touches. A large iDisplay is mounted on the left hand side, the slowly morphing pictures drawn from a tour through Cascade National Park at the height of autumn. A low table on the right hand side sports several pictures as well as an ashtray overflowing with change and trinkets and a stack of hardcopy. At the end of the hall is a window closed by dark red draperies, and a pair of open doorways, one to the left and one to the right. Reign slips into the apartment behind Tony.

"The bedrooms are on the left, while the living room and kitchen are on the right," she whispers.

19:12:52 Saturday, 13 January 2063 - Riverrun Apartments, 3508 Poplar Street, Woodland Hills, Seattle, UCAS

"Where's the stuff you need to get?" Tony asked.

19:12:58 Saturday, 13 January 2063 - Riverrun Apartments, 3508 Poplar Street, Woodland Hills, Seattle, UCAS

"Bedroom," Reign gestures with her hand.

19:13:06 Saturday, 13 January 2063 - Riverrun Apartments, 3508 Poplar Street, Woodland Hills, Seattle, UCAS

Tony nodded, lightly shutting the door behind them before moving quietly down the hallway on the opposite side of the bedroom door. He held the pistol low enough not to get in the way, but high enough to raise quickly if needed, and gestured for Reign to stay behind him.

Outwardly, he remained calm under a professional exterior; inside, he was just a little nervous. A brief image of someone doing this in his apartment flashed before his mind before he blinked it away. Breath, move, listen. You've done this before he thought.

Coming to where he could see in the bedroom, he looked in.

19:13:12 Saturday, 13 January 2063 - Riverrun Apartments, 3508 Poplar Street, Woodland Hills, Seattle, UCAS

The doorway to the left opened on to another hall about five meters long. On the left was a door opening into the bathroom, while the hall ended at the door to the bedroom. Light filtering through the open curtains illuminates half of an unmade queen sized bed, as well as a nightstand and lamp.

11:32:47 Wednesday, 10 January 2063 - Outside Racer X

Lana's jawline tightened at the mention of her full name by this stranger, she didn't like people having lots of info on her especially people she didn't know. Outside she kept her composure and an unwavering gaze upon the man. Inside however, she went cold. She glanced back over her shoulder towards Kat for some type of recognition from her of the guy before them. When none really came she stood her ground and stared at the guy.

"What about?"

23:03:47 Wednesday, 10 January 2063 - Raincrest Apartments, East Tacoma, UCAS

Litany sighed, buzzing a couple more times didn't get a response. The video feed window in the top left displaying the exterior hadn't changed either. She tilted up the pizza box, peering at the label as she peeled it off, then compared it with the door number. oops, I'm so clumsy the pizza box slid slightly, briefly unbalanced, and she did a short squat to catch it, masking her picking up her iBall.

Shrugging she headed back to the elevators, stopping and placing the pizza box at rest on the faux wood table and waited for the elevator. Under the table, using the sticky label as tape she attached the iBall.

I need to pick up some more cameras and mikes to bug the others Vaughn, Legion, and North

19:13:18 Saturday, 13 January 2063 - Riverrun Apartments, 3508 Poplar Street, Woodland Hills, Seattle, UCAS

Frag, no lightswitch, Tony thought to himself, kneeling down just inside the doorway to the bedroom. Switching the gun to his other hand and keeping it at a downward 45 degree angle, he reached for the lamp, trying to find the switch to turn the light on.

19:13:41 Saturday, 13 January 2063 - Riverrun Apartments, 3508 Poplar Street, Woodland Hills, Seattle, UCAS

Pale light illuminates the small room when Tony flips the lamp switch on, revealing an unmade bed, a dresser with a layer of clothes over top of it, and a closet overflowing with stuff. Reign eases past, into the room, and makes her way to the closet. After rummaging through the pile for a moment she shakes out a duffle bag and begins to select clothes from the hangers, folding them rapidly and stuffing them in the bag.

19:14:40 Saturday, 13 January 2063 - Riverrun Apartments, 3508 Poplar Street, Woodland Hills, Seattle, UCAS

Tony began to relax, standing up and re-holstering his pistol for the moment. The added length of the silencer caused the Browning to ride half out of the padded pocket, but with the safety on he didn't deem it much of a risk. Reign continued to work quickly at her task, and he stayed out of her way in the doorway.

He'd no sooner gotten the pistol balanced when he heard a scratching sound at the door. I knew that this was going too well he thought upon recognizing the sound as a passkey being inserted in the lock, yanking the Browning out of its carefully balanced position under his armpit and quickly forming a plan of action. Catching Reign's attention, he motioned for her to get behind the bedroom door. Quickly switching off the lamp, he moved as silently as he could back down the hall towards the door. Just give me a second he thought as cold sweat began to bead on his back, trying to make it to the gap between the wall and the door in order to hide, then pop out after whoever it was had passed the door.

19:14:46 Saturday, 13 January 2063 - Riverrun Apartments, 3508 Poplar Street, Woodland Hills, Seattle, UCAS

The door swings open, light from the hall outside spilling into the darkened entry way. Silhouetted against the open door was a man of average height and weight, humming softly to himself. His keys clinked against the wooden top of the hall table. He froze when Tony socketed the barrel of his silencer against the back of his neck, though.

"What the frag are you doing in my house?"

19:15:02 Saturday, 13 January 2063 - Riverrun Apartments, 3508 Poplar Street, Woodland Hills, Seattle, UCAS

"Re-arraiging your closet. Don't worry, you'll have more room after we're done, and we're not taking any of your stuff," Tony deadpanned, shutting the door to the apartment and turning on the hallway light with his free hand.

"Oh, and that is exactly what you think it is," Tony drawled to the man, lightly pushing the silencer into the base of the man's skull. "Do what I tell you when I tell you, and you may not even have a headache after this. Don't, and you're gonna be broken down for spare parts. Understand?" Tony said in a conversational tone.

01:00:03 Wednesday, 10 January, 2063 – A Warehouse in the Barrens

ETG shakes his head as one of his targets takes it upon himself to stand up again.

Tsk tsk, you should know better than that.
And he squeezes off another burst to put him down permanently.

Having noting the spontaneous burst of force that rendered Scrapheap's bold actions more life threatening than desired, ETG lamented his inability to directly pick out the magician, that most coveted of targets.

...

He got over it by gunning down another badguy holding a gun.

23:06:28 Wednesday, 10 January 2063 - East Tacoma, UCAS

After an uneventful elevator ride down, Litany double checked the feed from her iBall before riding her scooter to a different data term out of sight of the Raincrest. She jacked in.

at least three possible targets, minimum of two bugs each, 6, maybe a dozen bugs.

3 Low light
3 Thermo
3 Audio
1 Low Light, Mag, Enhancement
1 Thermo, Mag, Enhancement
1 Directional with Enhancement

Add them to a kit.

//@Flipper:: Can I get a quote on the <<bug list>>?

//@Gabriel:: You did get addresses for those known associates of the target?

She tossed the pizza box into the recycler, but folded and put away the cap for later.

19:15:08 Saturday, 13 January 2063 - Riverrun Apartments, 3508 Poplar Street, Woodland Hills, Seattle, UCAS

"What?" The man sounds genuinely confused, at least about the first part of Tony's statement. Reign choses that moment to emerge into the hallway, a small duffle bag slung over her shoulder. She stops in surprise at the tableau, glancing at Tony. The man stiffens at her appearance, though.

"You!" he snarls, clawing for the weapon holstered at his hip.

11:33:02 Wednesday, 10 January 2063 - Outside Racer X

The man looks over at Kat, then back at Lana. "I don't think you want to talk about it in front of your friend. In fact, I'm almost sure you don't."

He shrugs. "Last chance to talk alone. Otherwise I'll say what I have to say in front of your friend and let you sort out the damage later."

23:09:11 Wednesday, 10 January 2063 - East Tacoma, UCAS

Flipper peruses the list with a critical eye.

"I'm assuming that you want to go as small as possible? RFID tags equipped low-light or thermo cameras will run you 210 nuyen. You've got enough space to record twenty minutes of video or one hundred still images. RFID tags with a microphone are only 50 nuyen and have enough room to record sixty minutes of audio. Low-light and thermo tags with vision enhancement rating II and vision magnification are going to be 510 nuyen. By directional I assume you mean a directional microphone. An RFID so equipped will cost 250 nuyen. I can have the kit ready for you in thirty six hours."

Nodding in response to Flipper's details, Litany spared a glance to the digital message from her agent, grimacing as she did so.

No addresses available.

19:15:09 Saturday, 13 January 2063 - Riverrun Apartments, 3508 Poplar Street, Woodland Hills, Seattle, UCAS

The sudden jerk of movement, and the fact that the man would consider resistance at all with Tony's pistol socketed in the base of his skull all combined to catch Tony offguard for precious seconds. Reign shouted in surprise, throwing herself backwards into the hall as the man took a step forward, firing two rounds from his Colt Manhunter. The gunshots are loud in the silence of the apartment, overpressure ringing down the narrow confines of the hallway.

19:15:09 Saturday, 13 January 2063 - Riverrun Apartments, 3508 Poplar Street, Woodland Hills, Seattle, UCAS

Tony hadn't thought that he'd met a genuinely suicidal person before. However, he couldn't come up with a rational reason that a normal person would, upon seeing Reign walk out of the bedroom, try to draw a gun and shoot while a gun is being held to the back of their head. It was enough to give the guy a couple of shots, hopefully not hitting anything.

The first shot's booming announcement took Tony from a state of surprise to an area beyond conscious thought. Reacting, relying on training and a growing sense that, if he didn’t end this quickly things were really going to get out of hand, Tony shot twice. The gun was still held at the same angle, and the Browning’s silencer wheezed the gel rounds out, the reverbing blasts masking the sound almost completely.

19:15:11 Saturday, 13 January 2063 - Riverrun Apartments, 3508 Poplar Street, Woodland Hills, Seattle, UCAS

Both projectiles deform on impact, flowing with superelastic properties and transferring their kinetic energy over a broad area rather than a point source. The impacts are enough to kick the man face down, sending him sprawling to the floor. His Colt clatters along the tile flooring of the hallway, coming to a rest halfway down. He doesn't move.

19:15:18 Saturday, 13 January 2063 - Riverrun Apartments, 3508 Poplar Street, Woodland Hills, Seattle, UCAS

"Reign, he's down. You ok?" Tony said, striding over to the man's apparently unconcious figure. Kicking the pistol farther out of his reach, Tony looked into the bedroom, keeping one eye on the prone figure betwen them and the door.

19:15:26 Saturday, 13 January 2063 - Riverrun Apartments, 3508 Poplar Street, Woodland Hills, Seattle, UCAS

Reign nods, her face pale. She takes a deep breath, leaning against the wall to steady herself.

"Yeah, I'm okay. Let's get out of here."

She doesn't look at the figure lying prone on the hallway floor.

19:15:40 Saturday, 13 January 2063 - Riverrun Apartments, 3508 Poplar Street, Woodland Hills, Seattle, UCAS

“Hold up a sec,” Tony drawled softly, walking over and kneeling by the prone would-be suicide victim. “I don’t want this maniac coming back down the stairs with something like that hand cannon,” he said, gently patting the man down for firearms, knives, a one-hitter of Cram or Kamikaze or whatever this guy was on to make him yank a gun out and start shooting when he had a gun to his head.

You’re a lucky bastard that I had gels loaded Tony thought, going thru the man’s pockets.

11:33:15 Wednesday, 10 January 2063 - Outside Racer X

"Oh christ, fine. Whatever. And just where am I suppose to follow you to talk?" She raised a brow at the guy but made no move to really leave the space she occupied. She glanced back over her shoulder at Kat with a look that said "If I'm not back in 10 minutes... come find me." She then returned her attention entirely to the short man before her.

"Well? It's now or never." With her irritation rising, the more pronounced her Russian accent became.

19:16:10 Saturday, 13 January 2063 - Riverrun Apartments, 3508 Poplar Street, Woodland Hills, Seattle, UCAS

That’s odd Tony thought, only having found a pack of smokes, a lighter, some gum, an odd oversized what-looked-like-a-psec, and a pocket knife. No popper, no one-hitter or anything else. Other than the Colt Manhunter that lay at the far end of the hallway, there was nothing remotely violent about this guy. That and the holes in the wall Tony thought, noting the splintered plastic trim and wallboard.

Walking over to the gun, Tony ejected and pocketed the clip, and ratcheted the live round from the barrel. “No sense him taking a shot at us. Let’s get out of here,” Tony said, opening the door to the hallway.

01:00:02 Wednesday, 10 January, 2063 – A Warehouse in the Barrens

“RUN! GET OUT OF HERE!” Cao yelled, barely heard over the fray. Some of the people saw his gesturing arms, and they began to move toward him.

He’d no sooner gotten the words out of his mouth than something hit him. Not a bullet: he was familiar with how those felt, and only the strongest rounds could have knocked him flat on the floor, much less broken the shelf behind him and threatened to tip it over onto him. For a long second, consciousness floated somewhere in orbit around his head. It took most of his will to get back up a limb at a time, mouth and nose streaming blood and what felt like some broken ribs that sliced pain from his gasping breathing.

The sight he saw as he rose stopped the pain in his chest, but only because it stopped him from breathing. The people he was trying to help, the people that he was responsible for, they were dead. He saw an old man that had just came in this evening cut down by gunfire from the Triad bastards right before his eyes, and he joined a dozen others on the floor. Cao’s security was outgunned and about to be overrun; several of the gangers were dead, and they weren’t much of a match for the heavily armed and determined soldiers anyway.

Got to...get out he thought, hearing the rapid pounding of a heavy weapon from his right. The troll that accompanied the man in red laid down covering fire from a position an exit to the building. Prying his eyes away from the carnage in front of him, Cao began to move low toward the troll.

19:16:29 Saturday, 13 January 2063 - Riverrun Apartments, 3508 Poplar Street, Woodland Hills, Seattle, UCAS

Reign nods, slipping past Tony and out the door into the hallway. She glances left and right, waiting for him to close the door and follow her to the elevator.

"That was a little more exciting than I expected," she says quietly.

19:17:04 Saturday, 13 January 2063 - Riverrun Apartments, 3508 Poplar Street, Woodland Hills, Seattle, UCAS

Tony smiled to releave the tension. The shaking he could feel coming on he tried to dissipate by removing the silencer from the Browning.

"Just a bit of excitement, luckly not much more,"he said, trying to cheer Reign up a bit and to keep himself from visably shaking with the overflow of adrenaline. "Tell me," he added, trying to take her mind off of being shot at, "did any of that seem odd to you?"

19:17:55 Saturday, 13 January 2063 - Riverrun Apartments, 3508 Poplar Street, Woodland Hills, Seattle, UCAS

Reign tilts her head to the side and looks at Tony for a moment before giggling.

"No, it seemed perfectly normal. I break into people's apartments every day and get shot at by irate homeowners."

She rubs her hands together as if they were cold, glancing down at the floor.

19:18:24 Saturday, 13 January 2063 - Riverrun Apartments, 3508 Poplar Street, Woodland Hills, Seattle, UCAS

Tony smiled a bit at Reign's giggling, happy that she was at least being less taciturn and more like the person he'd known over the past two days. Hold that thought till we get in the car he thought, not completing the question he'd formed and instead stowing the silencer in a pocket and replacing the pistol in its holster. Now, other than carrying a big fraggin sword on your side, you look like a law abiding member of the populace.

Idlely for a moment, he wondered if the Star was already on its way, and what time it would take for them to get here. Or even if they were called; this didn't look or feel like a real community minded building. We'll be out before they get here he thought. Luckly, most of the shakes seemed to have bled off.

"You must have really torqued that guy off at some point," Tony said, waiting for the elevator to get to the lobby.

23:09:20 Wednesday, 10 January 2063 - East Tacoma, UCAS

//@Gabriel:: Not even in the Books of Judgement?
//Gabriel:: That resource is not available online.

Lord I would hope not!

More work for Flipper though.

"Friday's a bit long to wait. But I've just found out I need more information on one of the items you tracked down for me earlier, number two in the last data package. I need locations. Gabriel isn't very good at tracking them down."

"He should be good, I should run some diagnostics on him."

"Poor Gabriel is only the Right Hand of God, not the Lord himself."

"Gabriel is just an Agent, but a good one." and is not the Host nothing but a swarm of the Lord's agents on Earth?

"Yes, but he's not as good as you."

"Of course, but I'm also more expensive."

"Speaking of such matters. If you can get me locations on that item number two, and whatever you have of the kit done as soon as that data is ready, I'll pay the entire amount I owe you... and I'll bring over some mixings for a Ceasar Salad and some Lobster and Crab for the boiler, and a pint of real butter. it'll be an excuse to toss all the pizza boxes out as well. 78 boxes last time, and only one was veggie pizza.

11:33:32 Wednesday, 10 January 2063 - Outside Racer X

If the man is at all bothered by her obvious annoyance, he shows no signs of it. He simply replies, "Is the McHugh's in the food court acceptable to you?"

He smiles thinly at her. "Your friend can watch us from a distance if it makes you feel safer."

19:18:43 Saturday, 13 January 2063 - Riverrun Apartments, 3508 Poplar Street, Woodland Hills, Seattle, UCAS

The sly grin is back on Reign's face as the elevator bumps to a stop on the ground floor.

"Yeah, I do seem to provoke an emotional response in people. I don't know what it is, maybe I'm just cursed."