He was able to catch the van just as they passed the last Fife exit.

"okay guys," he said aloud and over the radio.

"Were gonna check the address out first then hit the club right?"

Flare absently runs a brush through her wavy blond hair, watching out the passenger window of the Saab as the scenery changes rapidly from Downtown to Tacoma.

"Sounds good to me. We might even get lucky and catch the little chica at home."

She drops the black brush back into the satchel and pulls a cigarette from a freshly-opened pack.

"The way our luck's been goin' so far t'night though, I wouldn't bet on it!"

Spider steeples his fingers together thoughtfully as they approach the address. What they find here will give him a much better idea how this run will wind up going down - either he'll get the full story, or pick up some clues as to what the big picture is. He's almost glad the Johnson was holding out on them - figuring things out is a welcome mental challenge to him.

A panel on the roof of Cipher's van opens and his Condor LDSD-41 surveillance drone lifts gracefully from it's docking cradle.

The stealthy miniblimp rapidly gains altitude and takes up position half a mile ahead of the two vehicles, scanning the road ahead for further problems.

Lightning flashed through the think clouds above, threatening rain as the team pulled off the freeway into South Tacoma. The streets here were dark, the occasional street light that hadn't been shot out providing the only illumination. The air stank from a combination of the nearby paper mill and the polluted sea water of the shipping yards.

Cipher's condor flew ahead of the team, feeding him data from the neighborhood. The address you were given is a six story apartment building that looks like its been here for a hundred years. At first glance it is constructed of concrete, but you can see where bullet holes have chipped away at the wall to reveal the ancient red bricks underneath. The condor picks up a few metahuman signatures in the alley that runs along the side and rear of the building, but as the video sends back low-light images, it is clear they are vagrants who have made a home of the alleyway for the night. Cipher sends the video feed over the radio link to Eclipse's image link.

As the team makes a left from Elm to Willow, the first drop of rain hits the windshield.

Spider leans forward a bit, addressing Cipher. "Before we charge in there, why don't you let me check it out first? I'm capable of mentally separating myself from my body, allowing me to snoop around unseen by those without psychic gifts themselves. I could check the apartment out and make sure there are no nasty surprises for us. If I do this, I will seem to fall unconscious - don't worry, it is perfectly natural. My mind will, very literally, be elsewhere.

As Eclipse guided the Saab from the freeway into the shadows of Takoma, Flare grew more and more agitated at being 'left out of the loop', and having to rely on her partner to relay any communication. She was more accustomed to working on her own, or on rarer occasions having others provide comm-gear when needed, and had always otherwise got by just fine with only her trusty DNI-adapted Telestrian Executive Assistant. She silently vowed to talk to Kitty about modifying it in some way so it can also be used for encryted radio communications.

The elf was also getting restless with her less than voluntary role as passenger. As she keeps a wary eye on the dark streets passing outside the window, Flare's hands run once more over the contents of her bag. The black satchel looks like a large rugged canvas purse, with a long sturdy strap designed so that the bag can hang across the chest but out of the way of her twin shoulder holsters. Inside, a DocWagon Custom Medpak sits in it's own compartment, which is lined with various small pockets containing the contents of a run-of-the-mill StufferShack™ survival kit. The pockets lining a second large compartment are filled with loose ammunition for her Predators, or various items of a more peroslnal and/or cosmetic nature. The compartment itself contains a carton of Virginia Real cigarettes and a Roomsweeper wrapped in a gunslinger-style leather belt.

Finished her blind inventory, Flare draws one of her pistols, absently working the chamber and ejecting and reinserting the clip. She replaces the first pistol with the other as they near their destination and starts to whisper, not quite under her breath.

"C'mon! Let's get it over with! It ain't like we're invadin' the Tir!"

"Affirmative, what’s the hold up Cipher? Has Spider returned?"

Eclipse rolls the car to a stop in front of the building. The tall elf leans forward over the wheel to gaze up at the rain soaked sky.

"This place looks deserted Flare, there could be some problems, you packing anything heavier than the pistol?"

Eclipse reaches into the back seat fir his coat. Shrugging it on in the confines of the car proved difficult but it was better than getting soaked.

"Man these broken windows suck, this is going to ruin my car."

Flare brushes a few stray pieces of glass from her leather pants as she steps from the Dynamit. She bends down and looks back in at Eclipse through the broken window.

"You wanna trade? I got a bike somewhere back there I'll give ya for it." Without waiting for a response, she continues. "What are you waitin' for? You 'fraid of gettin' a little wet?"

Flare straightens and slings her bag over her shoulder as she waits for the other elf to join her.

"As for weapons, I don't normally find the need much more than pistols. I mean, we ain't exactly huntin' Juggernauts, now are we?"

"True," Eclipse replied. He pushed open his door and got out.

"I was more thining of Ghouls and things that bump in the night."

He pulled his Colt and dropped in a fresh mag of XX. The weapon slid easily back into its holster.

"I got your backside if you want to go in Flare."

Cipher parks his van behind Eclipse's Dynamit, back in Captain's Chair mode for now, he glances at the unconcious form in the passenger seat:

"Spider's just entered the building, should be back in a minute, send Flare over I got something for her."

As Flare approaches, the vans window rolls down and Cipher passes out a TacComm unit, "Meant to give these out before, you can use it via DNI, or with the earpiece."

At Eclipse's comment, Flare turns back to the other elf, frowning slightly as she runs her eyes slowly and dramatically down his body, then back up to his face. A wide grin then lights her features as she replies with a wink.

"I don't doubt that."

The appearance of the comm unit at that moment did more to calm Flare's nerves than a two-hour session with one of Telestrian's executive masseurs ever could. She gladly accepts the device from Cypher.

"Tres gracias, omae. You don't know just how much I hate bein' out of the loop, so I appreciate this."

She looks the device over, checking with the rigger as just how it works before inserting the earpiece and dropping the unit into one of the pockets that line the inside of her dark green long coat.

"Heard 'bout a thing called a transductor ... or something like that, s'posed to make it possible to talk 'n' stuff just by thinkin', but I haven't had a chance to check one of them out yet. SOTA's a slitch!"

Spider sails through the building, checking it out on the Astral. There is a slight background count, a backdrop of dispair hanging over the area. The building is well populated, but nothing just out at you as a threat to be delt with. As he moves into Johnny Five's apartment, it is clear that no one is home. One other thing is clear as well, the background count is clear in his small space. This is a place that, while not a posh place to live, has seen some happy times. There is a scent of love in the air that Spider can't ignore.

Spider slips back into his body and slowly opens his eyes, fighting not to show the effects of the usual disorientation. His face is thoughtful as he turns to Cipher.

"No big security threats - the place has people around, but no one's at Johnny's place, including him. I also checked out the psychic aura there - overall, I would say that if our target met up with foul play, it wasn't Johnny."

Cipher hands another Comm Unit to Spider, "Take this then we're all in the loop, it works either by DNI or with an earpiece for the old-timers."

Over the TacComm: "Can you guys handle the breakin' n'enterin if I keep an eye out with the Condor? 'Cus it probably ain't a good idea to leave that flash car unattended, with the smashed window."

Cipher also retreives his SPAS from the same bag as the comm units, and unfolds the stock.

Flare grins as Cypher's enquiry comes over the comm unit. "Car needed airing out anyway, if ya know what I mean."

She chuckles at Eclipse's response, cutting him off by calmly responding to the rigger's earlier question.

"We should be fine. Spider there says that the place is a void. You'll be here t' warn us if we have some unexpected comp'ny. 'Sides, since neither the slitch nor her joyboy are here, this is pretty much just a formality anyway."

The elf glances over at Eclipse, giving him an innocent look before grinning widely.

"Ready dear?"

The elf gives a nod as he finishes putting on his working gloves and stuffing a few extra mags in his coat that he had in his trunk. He takes a look at the long black case in the back before closing the car up.

Wont need it. If I do, were in way over our heads.

The two half walk half trot up to the front door of the building. Before entering Eclipse activates the security alarm on the Dynamit.

"Hey," he shrugs, "you never know."

Eclipse takes a quick scan of the lobby, draws his gun, and hides it behind him as they enter.

Flare draws the pistol from under her right arm and quietly screws a long black silencer onto the barrel, which also serves to make the huge handgun appear even more intimidating. She feels the comforting warmth and familiar tingle as she closes her right hand around the grip of the Predator, the induction pad in her palm immediately beginning to feed targeting data through the Smartlink to the Image Link retinal modification in her right eye. Flare doesn't bother making even the slightest attempt to hide the weapon as the two elves carefully make their way to Johnny's apartment.

Spider, Flare, and Eclipse make their way up the steps to the forth floor. Even with their light steps, the floorboards creek from time to time, but no one seems to care. Once on the forth floor, the team moves quickly down the hall to apartment 415. A dikoted blade appears in Eclipse's hand and he goes to work on the door. A few moments later, they are loose and the door falls free from the doorway, revealing a small studio apartment behind it. It looks like Johnny isn't just leaving his gang, but his apartment behind too. Everything is backed up into boxes, which are neatly stacked against the wall.

Eclipse catches the door before it hits the ground. He smoothly slides it up against the wall in the cramped studio.

"What a honey moon sweet."

He slide his pistol back into his holster. It wasn't going to be needed. He started looking around the place, checking the bathroom, any bedrooms and the kitchen. He wasn't sure what he was looking for but he was sure he would know it if he saw it.

"These kids are about to jump, and I am starting to think the Johnson we work for is not this girls father. Everything here screams domestic bliss. Spider, can you check there Trid? See who they have been calling?"

Eclipse went through the apartment and found nothing, so he turned his attention to the boxes stacked against the wall and started to shuffle through the contents. Mostly clothing and old electronics junk, but then he found what could only be a box of personal effects of the targets.

Bingo he thought to himself, pulling out a picture in a nice oak frame. It was of the target, with an older japanese woman and another male in a suit. The face of the male was scribbled over with a permanent maker, but all that was needed was for the picture to be taken out of the frame to reveal that the male in the picture was the team's Johnson.

"Ok, color me wrong it is her father, and she doesn't like him much," Eclipse says handing the photo over to Flare.

"So do we drag her back to her dad or 'escort' her?"

Flare looks at the picture for a moment, then shakes her head and slips it into a pocket of her dark green long coat.

"We won't know for sure until we catch up with our little Julietta ... and her Romero. Sure does look like there's more t' this that we've been led to believe though. But then again isn't there always?"

Standing watch by the entry as the other two search the apartment, Flare unscrews the silencer and makes it disappear, but keeps the matte black pistol cradled comfortably in her hand.

Spider, scanning through the trid call log, looks up and smiles thinly.

"I knew from the start that we were not getting the entire story. But once we do get the entire story, we can decide whether we have been misled to the point that our employer has violated our contract. Either way, we'll get paid for our time. And if he balks, he'll wish he hadn't - he gave us far too much information about himself. I guess he didn't realize that the Johnson requires anonymity just as much as the runners do."

As Spider scans through the telcom, it becomes quickly aparent that it has been deactivated and all memory has been wiped.

Spider snorts and flips down the fold-up vidscreen on the telecom. "Nothing... wiped, just like I thought it would be. Well, on to the party. We'll see if our lovebirds make an appearance, and who else does."

"Right, well at least we know it is her dad. Lets go Flare."

Eclipse takes point and makes his way down to the car. The rain has really begun to fall. His car was thoroughly soaked now. He slammed his door shut and used his coat to blockout the rain by stuffing it in the window.

Cipher brings up the warehouse address on his VCR display. Its only about a five to ten minute drive. The rain is coming down pretty heavy at this point, so much so that visibility is starting to become tough and the Condor is having to use thermal sensors to get a fix on anything. As the team pulls away Eclipse curses the rain that is coming through the broken windows making it clear that he'll have to have a professional cleaning after all this or risk mildew damage.

Spider gazes blankly out the window of the van as they negotiate the rain-slicked streets on their way to the warehouse. His vision shifts to the astral plane, where the wet monochrome night morphs into a corruscing rainbow of shifting colors.

He enjoys the show, deliberately cooling down his overactive mind... he has learned that sometimes he needs to take a break from obsessively analyzing things, so that his subconscious mind can work on things for a bit. Once they hit the party, he'll get back to his normal coldly rational mode again.

Flare grins in amusement as the other elf stuffs his coat in the broken window. She dramatically sweeps her arm across the passenger seat to clear away the fragments of glass that still litter the Saab's luxurious interior before climbing into the car once again for the short trip to the warehouse.

"Yeah yeah, laugh it up girl. At least I can still drive my car."

Eclipse smirks at the minute victory, but not for long. The drive to the club was over thankfully fast. He parked the car under a group of trees, hoping for a little protection.

"Lets get in there and take care of this."

A scowl briefly darkens her features, but Flare quickly shrugs it off.

"A Scorp's a small price t' pay for the chance t' slab a Spike or two. Pity we didn't ice 'em all."

Flare steps out of the still sleek looking Dynamit, trying to hide a smile as she stretches, overly dramatically, in a pretence of relieving cramped muscles caused by the sports car's smallish interior. She places her bag on the hood and withdraws the leather gun belt. Pulling aside her longcoat, she wraps it around her waist and secures the Roomsweeper's holster firmly to her thigh. When she was finished it hangs off her hip at a jaunty angle, the spltting image of one worn by those old west gunslingers on the trid, right down to the spare rounds of ammunition poking through the little leather loops that adorn the belt.

Flare draws the Remington, glancing up at Eclipse expectantly before giving the big weapon a once over. As with her Predators, her implanted Smartlink system interfaced with the pistol, sending data to her Image Link and filling her hand with the warm, comforting glow of a full magazine.

Finally satisfied, she straightens up and smoothes down her longcoat before slinging her bag over her shoulder. Hands on her hips, she once again glances over at the other elf.

"I'm ready when you are. What's keepin' you?"

Eclipse slowly closes his jaw, hoping she didn't catch him galking at her. Damn she was fine. He tried to hide his looks by slipping on his now soaked jacket.

"Nothing, just waiting for you to finish your yoga."

He double checked the Colt's load out, satisfied he tucked it in and buttoned up his coat.

"Lets go."

The old warehouse is just that, an old abandoned warehouse that the gangers are using to throw their party. The building a plain grey concrete with a few high windows that are either broken with wood panels to cover the hole, or glass that is so old and dirty that you doubt sunlight could get through. There is a large loading door out front, which is open and has a small group of gangers having out, dancing in the rain. Music pours out of the place, blaring hard core techno riffs fill the night air. Cipher has a terrible time picking anything up on sensors. They are either blocked by the loud music or the heavy rain. The building shows up as warm over the sensors and you can catch some smoke billowing out of a hole in the ceiling, making you guess that they have a bonfire going on inside.

Man I hope this place doesn't burn up, a lot of people would die.

Eclipse saddles up behind Flare at the entrence, letting the near-ganger do the talking. His street lingo consisted of 'null' and 'frag off'. This way he looked like he was Flares date, not an unpleasent thought.


He leans over and whispers into the elf's ear, "I'll just let you do the talking."

Eclipse waited for a moment for Flare to start talking, and then another. When she didn't he realized that soething must be wrong and took over. He wasn't the sleakest guy in the world but he could get buy when he needed.

"Hoi chummer, come to party, heard you had the whiz place," he fed the line smoothly, along with 50 nuyen in his hand, to the doorman. He grabed Flares hand and pulled her close, hoping to go right in.

The money disappears into the bouncers pocket.

"Have a good time."

Spider watches the two elves enter the dilapitated building, then follows a few moments later. Looking for all the world like a slightly enebriated slumming suit, he tugs Cipher by the arm as they approach the door.

"Hey, c'mon, man! Ya gotta live a little! Walk on the wild side! They said this party was gonna be hoppin'... all kindsa hot chickas here."

he gives the bartender a slightly goofy grin and winks as he slots the man a hundred Nuyen from his credstick. He knows that's probably way more than the cover (if any) for two people is in a dive like this, but the "character" that he is playing would be a bit careless and extravagant.

He continues the act as they enter the main party, only his cold, observant eyes - scanning the crowd for his target - giving the lie to his facade.

As the team enters the party, it becomes quickly clear that you are all way out of your element. Flare comes close, but she's wearing the wrong colors. Everyone in here is wearing red. Most of them have leather jackets with a mountain covered in blood on the back. You get many stares and overhear a few people mention the word 'crashers'. Finally, a big troll steps up and put out his hand. "Wrong party guys. This here is private."

Over the commlink: "Guys, if you want to avoid confrontation for now, I've got a sneaky little drone that we could try'n find the targets with."

Cipher glances up, trying to locate the hole in roof from the inside of the building, his image-link and orientation system overlaying the visual scene with archieved data from the Condors sensors.

Off at the far side of the club, Eclipse spots Johnny working the turn tables. Hanging on his arm is a cute little elf girl.... your target.

The party seems to be a happy one, people keep toasting Johnny and wishing him well.

"Listen pal I don't want any trouble, but I was invited by Johnny, me and my girl here," he punctuated girl by grabbing Flare around the waist and pulling her close, "have just come to say goodbye. The doorman didn't seem to think anything was wrong with that."

"Yeah yeah, whatever. Just be cool or I'll have to make an example of yas. Got it?"

He moves off to rejoin the party, but makes it clear he is keeping an eye on you.

"Idiot," Eclipse says under his breath.

Ok guys, your up, Flare and I got your six while you scout out the girl, see what you can find out before we talk to her.

"You coming?"

Without waiting for an answer from Spider, Cipher starts to shoulder his way across the crowded dance floor towards Johnny's turn tables, trying not to worry about how he stands out like a sore thumb in here.

Hope these guys don't have any problems with us Trogs.

When he reaches the far side of the floor Cipher pauses to survey the area, checking that it's safe to approach Johnny.

"Wouldn't miss it for the world," murmurs Spider as he trails Cipher towards the table. Mentally, he is working out what to say, and how to say it. This is absolutely the wrong place to sound threatening, but he desperately needs to hear Johnny's version of events to get the whole story.

He ponders what he will do. He certainly won't abduct the girl - he was hired to retrieve a potential kidnap victim, not perform a kidnapping. Ruthless he may be, but he has limits - he briefly wonders if that applies to the others, as well. But if the Johnson is trying to play him for a fool, he'll certainly wind up regretting it.

The DJ Booth is at the far end of the warehouse. Johnny is lost in the spinning of the wheels and your target is lost watching Johnny with doey eyes. On each side of the booth is a ganger who seem to be taking requests for the DJ. The place is crowded, it looks like Johnny has a pretty big fanbase. Spider notices Johnny glance up once... and look right at him. The DJ then turns to one of the guys taking requests and says something.

As Johnny looks up at him, Spider smiles sardonically and gives a slight nod. Looks like the kid's friends look out for him - apparently he already knows that people have been asking questions. Good. Maybe that means he'll be able to get some answers.

"Everything looks ok, you're probably better doing the talking, I'll keep an eye out for trouble."

Spider steps up to where Johnny and his friends are, palms out in the traditional gesture of 'no trouble', although the posture does nothing to actually inhibit his abilities. Perhaps that is part of the reason he radiates calm, unruffled confidence.

He stops a few paces away from Johnny and Anji, in case the two guards want him to keep his distance, or need to screen him first. His drunken suit act is gone, but he still shows little expression other than a faint smile.