22:35:00 Sunday January 7, 2063 - Outside Erebus' Apt – Tacoma

The team was in position, back and front fully covered. Erebus took the stairs two at a time to his apartment. The outside stairwell was wet from the mix of rain and snow. He reached his level and in a matter of moments. Pistol in hand he slowly moved to his door. The standard metal door was intact, as was his intrusion detection system, a small metal splinter rested between the door and the jam, exactly as he left it.

His hand moved to the keypad when a ringing in his ear surprised him. His cell displayed an unkown number on the caller ID.

"Go," Erebus said simply.

"E, this is Max, listen bud, listen close, I'm real sorry about this job, reall sorry, some goon squad just blew up half my building trying to take me out. I didn't get a close look at 'em but they were definetley Yaks."

22:35:00 Sunday January 7, 2063 - On the street, Erebus' Apt – Tacoma

The hovering form of Talos was invisible in the sky. It carefully monitored the approach of the lone cyclist. The boy parked across the street from the entrance to the garage and dismounted from his bike. His movements were graceful, precise, whoever he was he was educated beyond his years on how to move.

Dragon and Tenmou could see him now as the boy approached the garage door. He held his hands out to his side, palms up. He could easily hide 10 smgs in the volumes of his robes though.

"I am looking for the man who bought flowers tonight, I mean you no harm."

He had a serene quality to his voice, again belying his age.

22:35:05 Sunday January 7, 2063 - On the street, Erebus' Apt – Tacoma

Perhaps sensing the tension in the shadows, the young man seeses his forward movement. His arms go out even further from his body.

"My master only wishes to help the flower-buyer in his quest. Peace only comes from truth."

22:35:03 Sunday January 7, 2063 - Milton Doss - Tacoma

Oh great now they're fraggin my fixer. What have I stepped into now and how am I going to get out.

"Okay Max, you got yourself some cover? I'm not the safest person in town right now but if you need close cover I doubt you'd be in any worse danger with me than on your own. The offer is there if you want it. Either way I need to know everything about where this job came from, if we're going to get out from under on this then I'm going to have to start putting the pressure back on the Johnson who set us up."

As he spoke Erebus quickly punched in the entry code on the door lock, openned the door, and then punched a bunch of other random keys to make sure no fingerprints would give away his entry numbers.

He drew his Guardian and moved into the apartment, and directly towards the kitchen where he kept his AK and arsenal.

22:35:03 Sunday January 7, 2063 - Milton Doss - Tacoma

"Thanks Kid, your a good egg. But I'm whiz. I am going to be unavailible for a couple of days, till things cool down. The only thing I can tell you is the guy who set this job up was a yak fer sure. So watch your back Jack."

The line clicked dead.

22:35:07 Sunday January 7, 2063 - On the street, Erebus' Apt – Tacoma

Dragon, this guy's awakened, that's all I can tell. Virgil passes the warning across the group.

deleted, will modify later.

22:35:03 Sunday January 7, 2063 - Milton Doss - Tacoma

A blur of motion caught Erebus’ eye, and gave him the split second warning he needed to block the kick. It was silent, and very powerful. The shockwave from the blow sent tremors down his spine. The man was clad head-to-toe in black, with nothing but red cyber eyes visible. The series of strikes and feints came quickly, faster than the Samurai was capable of defending against.

It was eerily silent as the two combatants punched, lunged, dodged and kicked their way through the small apartment. A heartbeat passed and Erebus saw his opening and took it. His fist slammed into the mans un-defended ribcage. The satisfying thud of meet on meet resonated in the apartment, breaking the almost supernatural silence.

If it wasn’t for the 10k worth of Cyberware in his eyes Erebus wouldn’t even see the guy trying to hit him. The fight lasted several breathless moments before Erebus landed another solid blow, in the form of a kick against his opponent’s chest, separating the combatants for half a second.

22:35:07 Sunday January 7, 2063 - On the street, Erebus' Apt – Tacoma

Tenmou audibly sighed, before relaying a short message via transducer.

"I'll try talking to this guy. Cover me."

Tenmou stepped out of the car and walked slightly into the open to make himself more visible to the visitor. While nowhere near the defenceless gesture the newcomer was presenting, Tenmou kept his hands visible, so the man knew he was unarmed. He did the best he could to mask his injuries.

"You have my attention. How can you help?"

22:35:15 Sunday January 7, 2063 - On the street, Erebus' Apt – Tacoma

"It is not I, but my master. He wishes you to know that you are being used by a name name Ishikawa Kamura, a low level Yakuza boss in Auburn. You can find him here."

A white paper appeared in the boys hands. He carefully knelt down and rested the paper on the ground.

"My masters says good luck."

The boy nodded respectfully to Tenmou and slowly started backing up.

22:35:35 Sunday January 7, 2063 – In the Parking Garage of Erebus' Apt – Tacoma

Well I’ll be damned. We may have just caught a break here after all. Assuming, of course, that we’re not being set up to walk into more trouble. Still, this is the clearest piece of information I feel like I’ve had all week. At the least, we’ve got a specific name to start checking out.

Transmitting to the rest of the team, Dragon quickly relays what just happened, and adds,”So what do we think? Is this kid on the level? More immediately, does anyone else think it’d be worth anything to ask who his masters’ are? It’d be nice to know, but asking probably won’t get us anywhere, and sometimes it really does hurt to ask. Do we take the gamble and try, or take the information as is?”

22:35:21 Sunday January 7, 2063 - On the street, Erebus' Apt – Tacoma

Faking with his gun, Erebus spun clockwise bringing his right foot up and around, and connecting solidly with the ninjas head. The snap of his neck was droned out by the glass breaking as the 200 lb man flew through the front window, over the ledge and out into space. The five story fall was mercifully short, and punctuated with another loud crash. This time of flesh on metal.

There was a split second of silence, then the car alarm started. A loud whooping that filled the air with its shrill siren. A quick check out the window showed the dead mans legs sticking up out of the windshield of the wailing car.

22:35:36 Sunday January 7, 2063 – High up in the air above Erebus' Apt – Tacoma

Transmitting at the speed of thought (but slowing down to be intelligible), Daedalus replied,
"Does he expect us to just take this point blank? Whats in it for this guy, or his master rather. Some sort of proof that this isn't just another tra-- What the..."

His thought was interrupted by a crash through the fifth floor window as Icarus' sensors picked up a black garbed man, his a neck at an impossible angle, performing a perfect swan dive into the car below.

The alarm began wailing as he flicked his view up to the broken window and saw Erebus glance down with a grim smile of satisfaction on his face, then quickly vanish back into the apartment.

"Looks like Erebus cleaned up a little mess in his apartment. He's fine, nothing on the street moving yet but we had better be soon."

Checking to make sure Talos still had the monk in his sights, Daedalus redirects his attention to the surrounding streets to monitor what sort of response a car diver gets in a neighborhood like this.

22:35:36 Sunday January 7, 2063 - On the street, Erebus' Apt – Tacoma

Tenmou deeply bowed, as a sign of respect. "Arigatau. Please pass on my thanks to your master, zenkou-san."

The samurai makes no moves towards the paper until the boy has stepped a suffcient distance away. Then he retrieves it and relays the address to Dragon and Daedalus.

22:35:59 Sunday January 7, 2063 - On the street, Erebus' Apt – Tacoma

While keeping a close eye on the messenger in case he gets any funny ideas, Dragon takes the opportunity to radio the others, "Let the kid go. He seems to be on the level, and we don’t want to start trouble if we don’t have to. And what the hell was that crashing sound?”

22:36:08 Sunday January 7, 2063 - On the street, Erebus' Apt – Tacoma

The boy bows to Tenmou again, then turns his back and heads for the bike. He pauses momentarily when the car alarm goes off. Then hes on his bike and off down the street.

The address on the paper is in Northern Auburn.

22:36:15 Sunday January 7, 2063 - On the street, Erebus' Apt – Tacoma

Tenmou scans the sheet of paper after watching the messenger ride off. He scans the contents of the sheet and sends a message to his teammates.

The address is in Auburn. Do we want to check this out upon Erebus' return, or do some homework first?

22:35:30 Sunday January 7, 2063 - Erebus' Milton Doss - Tacoma

This has been a full rich day.

The errant thought flittered through his head like a pick pocket in a crowd and was gone. The car alarm was still going and people would begin to notice, now.

Still working off the boosted reflexes Erebus grabbed everything he could lay his hands on in the doss. His AK and all his ammo, spare clips, and grendaes where shoved into one over-large roll bag. Another roll bag was shoved full of a few changes of clothes. Not bothering to take the time to crawl under the bed the Elf simply flipped the whole box spring and mattress set upside down and reached into the hidey hole for his cyberdeck.

Grabbing all his gear he hot footed it out the door and down the hall for the stairs. It was well past time to be going.

22:36:30 Sunday January 7, 2063 - On the street, Erebus' Apt – Tacoma

"Before we do anything, I think we need to go your wounds treated. Erebus seemed to have a place in mind to meet and discuss while doing that, so unless we have a reason to, I think we should stay the course."

Changing channels to one that only Daedalus and Virgil were receiving so as not to reveal too much about their thoughts to Tenmou and Erebus just yet, Dragon transmits via his transducer, "I hate to suggest this, but I think we might need to split up. We’ve got too many things that need doing and not enough of them are getting done at once. Virgil, you need to figure out what’s wrong with you and get yourself back online at full capacity. We need to get Daedalus’s van back and get ourselves out from under Vinnie’s threats. We haven’t made any progress in finding Julia, and maybe we’ve even backslid."

He pauses, then decides to add to the list, "We have to figure out who set up this freaking trap for Erebus and Tenmou, if only because we’re involved in it now too. That’s at least three or four objectives right there, and as a great man once said, ‘time is a factor’. If we try to do all these one by one, we’re going to get screwed somewhere in the end. Thoughts?”

22:39:47 Sunday January 7, 2063 - Stairwell of the Sunset Apartments - Milton/Tacoma

Erebus kept himself in excellent shape, his body was the primary tool of his trade and that meant maintaining physical fitnesses meant life itself, but his breath was still coming in heavy gasps as he raced down the last set of stairs to the garage. All of the equipment and gear he was carrying weighed him down. He burst through the fire door into the garage and his eyes automatically kicked into low light to adjust to the dim lighting in the garage.

"Time to go!" He gasped.

He looked around for any sign of the person chasing them, actually with what had been happening upstairs he was looking for the bloody remains, and spotted all his teammates.

"I just go ambushed in my doss, this place is compromised and the hitter took a swan dive into a parked car outside so the Star has probably all ready been called. We gotta go."

While most of the people in this building wouldn't call the cops whoever owned that car was probably pretty slotted off and would certainly be on the comm to the Star. Erebus wanted to take a quick look at the dead man before they bolted too, maybe the fragger had something on him to help them get a handle on whoever it was that was following them.

22:41:19 Sunday January 7, 2063 - Stairwell of the Sunset Apartments - Milton/Tacoma

Nodding sharply at Erebus's words, Dragon moved into action. "All right everyone, we're moving out. Virgil, bring the car around to the front. Tenmou..."

Interrupting him, Erebus says, "I want to investigate the dead body of the guy who attacked me. There might be some clues for us there."

Without missing a beat, Dragon continues, "All right, Tenmou, secure the street, I'll go back up Erebus while he checks the body, just in case his attacker had any help. Erebus, grab your bike and meet me at street level."

Quickly, Dragon moved to the street while the elf got his bike, noting that the rest of the team had pulled up to the front of the apartment and was securing the street.

It wasn't hard to find the car, since the roof was smashed in and the alarms were still blaring. Taking up a position to cover the area, he noted that the elf was right behind him and had already begun rifling through the body. Waiting for the elf to indicate that he was done, he took the opportunity to radio the rest of the team.

"As soon as we're done searching the body, we'll head out to Erebus's chummer for medical attention for Tenmou. From there we'll move to the other safe house he mentioned, regroup and reassess the situation there, then decide our next move."

22:41:19 Sunday January 7, 2063 - On the street below Erebus apt. - Milton/Tacoma

Erebus quickly searches the body in the car. Other than his armored clothing, a digitial key, and a small pda, his body is clueless. Well that and the tats all over his body.

22:42:01 Sunday January 7, 2063 - Erebus' Apartment - Milton

Pocketing the stuff from his ambusher Erebus hustled back into the underground garage and over to his Harley. The rest of the crew fell back from their positions in the garage and into the car like they'd practiced it before, null sheen just another day in the office.

He gunned his hawg and lead the crew out of the garage and immediately cleared the area, first heading north towards then taking several side streets and alleys to ensure that no one was following them, before hitting I-5 and heading south towards Puyallup.

He'd barely gotten on the freeway, falling back to trail the rest of the crew, when his phone buzzed for his attention. No number appeared on the screen, as usual.

"Hoi." He kept his greeting short, intending to keep the call shorter in case the call was being traced.

"Erebus, it's Elan I'm returning your prior call concerning the property you wanted to liquidated. I'll be happy to take the item off your hands and dispose of it. Of course since I'll have to move the item again and at a reduced rate I'll only be able to offer 35,000 for the item."

Frag. That fragging slitch is offering only 50 cents on the dollar for the deck. I'm getting jammed here.

While he'd never expected full price he'd been hoping for two-thirds rather than half.

"Hmmmm. How about just a loan with the deck as collateral?"

"Certainly, but we're looking at 25% interest compounded weekly on the principal amount"

It was only with difficulty that the young elf kept his bike upright, his shock was that great.

"Uh, no thanks." He thought hard about the situation, trying to find a way around it, then sighed to himself and came to a decision.

"Okay, I'll sell the thing outright. How about we meet later this evening in Tarislar. Call me back with the specific location and time, be aware I'll probably be brining some friends. I'll need at least a couple of hours to get some things done on my end first." He could almost hear the fixer grinning on the other end of the line at the deal he'd just gotten but recognized that if the situations had been reversed he'd have done the same as thing Elan did.

"Oh, by the way, I might have some data to trade with you concerning a possible syndicate conflict. If you've got data to trade or sell maybe we can work something out at the meet." Hopefully that little tidbit would get Elan's curiosity up enough to quietly look into things. If he did he might have useful data for the crew before the meeting.

He disconnected the call and focused on his driving, watching the traffic around them and when he could, scanning the skies for possible trailers.

23:07:15 Sunday January 7, 2063 Eatonville Highway near 7th Street- Puyallup

The Elven section of the Puyallup Barrens were as nasty and dirty as ever. The sides of the road were decorated with abandoned buildings and the rusting hulks of long dead vehicles. While the highway was a major enough street that not many people occupied it, he saw several working girls peddling barely concealed goods leaning in the sheltered areas of doorways and decrepit overhangs. Only the occasionally street light broke the near constant darkness, what few lights were on in the surrounding buildings shone like beacons in the darkness of the urban jungle. The whole area smelled of smog, fumes, and filth. The recent rains hadn't washed anything clean like in other parts of the city, it just turned the dirt and grime to mud. A group of three or four street dwellers huddled around the dubious warmth of a trashcan campfire, wrapped in torn and ragged clothing. Erebus couldn't tell if they were stooges for Doc doing lookout duty or squatters really looking for a hint of warmth.

Erebus rode close cover on the car containing the rest of the crew now, staying close to the vehicle to let others know that they were together. He wished he'd had time to pull his helmet to let the locals know that he was an Elf, the cold was a minor consideration compared to the openly hostile reception that strangers were often shown. As they approached the designated meeting site he gunned the engine enough to swing past the car on the driver's side and assume a point position. He glanced at Dragon who was driving. The man kept hand his left hand on the wheel and his right hand out of sight in his lap, Erebus would be willing to bet one of his internal organs that the other runner had a weapon in hand and was ready for anything. His face showed neither anticipation or worry, merely a calm detachment, almost like he was bored with the whole proceeding and Erebus was suddenly glad his helmet hide his own features. He could feel the tension in the air and even his own normal paranoia was running rampant tonight having been ambushed twice within a two hour span.

Erebus throttled forward and swung around the block to approach the abandoned warehouse from 7th Street. He'd already decided to simply get inside as quickly as possible instead of driving around trying to spot any trailers, the people following him had already proven to be better at hiding than he was at seeking so speed was his best option at this point.

Inside the warehouse was big enough to fit several large tractor trailers and had, along the west wall, a multi-story office set up. The building was almost completely dark inside, dark enough that even with his low light vision seeing into the depths of the building was difficult. Before they'd gotten far into the place an unfamiliar voice rang out of the darkness.

"Hold it chummers! Shut off your engines and get out of the vehicle."

The unseen speaker's tone was commanding, and the threat inherent in the instructions were enough to cause Erebus' hackles to rise. He slowly turned off his bike and removed his helmet. He didn't dismount and noted that the other hadn't complied either. He hoped Dragon, Virgil, Tenmou, and Daedalus wouldn't start splashing people prematurely.

"Chill, chummers, we're friends. I'm supposed to meet Doc here per his instructions. I've got patients that need his attention."

Erebus raised his hands above his shoulders, confident he could get to a gun quick enough to do some good if things went bad, and waited. His eyes had begun to adjust to the darkness when a pair of widely spaced headlights turned on, aimed directly into his face and at the car behind him. His flare comp kept him from being blinded but the illumination ruined any chance to see into the darkness beyond. Before he could take offense he heard a far more familiar voice.

"Its okay boys, this is the man we're waiting for, stand easy. Someone close those dam doors."

Doc Hammerclaw stode out of the darkness and into the light. As always the big Elf looked shagging and huge. He wore street leathers and chrome and looked like the ganger he'd originally started but Erebus knew the man to be a competent doctor as well as a healing shaman following Bear.

23:07:15 Sunday January 7, 2063 Abandoned Warehouse 7th Street and Eatonville Highway - Puyallup

Erebus dismounted his bike a stepped forward to shake Doc's hand. The Elven street doctor had a crushing grip and Erebus quickly retrieved his hand.

"What's up Doc?" Erebus greeted his friend and then looked around the warehouse.

It was as if Doc's words were magic, the lights in the warehouse began to come up, showing half a dozen Elf gangers wearing Prince colors. The rest of Erebus' crew carefully got out of the vehicle, still cautious, especially as two gangers rolled down the door they'd come through.

Dragon got out of the car bearing his shotgun and looked around at the environs. Erebus worried about the man, his very presence and bearing was almost a challenge to these young toughs and he didn't know the runner well enough to guess how he'd react if one started getting twitchy. The others slid out a little more slowly, Tenmou and Virgil obviously hurting but being stoic about it and Daedalus seemed distracted. Erebus managed introductions all around and Doc took over from there.

"Okay, wounded into the offices, I've got a temp medical facility set up and we'll see what can be done. Don't worry about being surprised here, I've got friends who are keeping an eye out for me." No need to say who of course.

Erebus started to follow Doc towards the office when Dragon caught his arm in a light grip and held him back. When the others had moved away a bit he spoke, keeping his voice low and private.

"Don't forget, we've got a passenger in the vehicle, that will be needing some treatment from me as well."

Actually, Erebus had forgotten the man he'd captured until the other samurai reminded him.

"Oh, ya, just give me a sec and we'll get some place set up."

23:07:20 Sunday January 7, 2063 Abandoned Warehouse 7th Street and Eatonville Highway - Puyallup

Daedaus spent as little time as necessary scoping out the inside of the warehouse, he looked around for some place to sit where he would be minimaly disturbed. Deciding that in the car would be the best option.

He gave a glance to his teammates, clearly conveying his intention to keep watch despite the help of the elves and sat down in the back seat of the car and once again projected his senses out into the skies above.

Determined to not be caught unawares yet again, he carefully studied the layout of the building, the surrounding blocks and sifted through any and every angle of approach with this keen tactical eye.

No more tonight, Icarus, Talos, lets make darn sure nothing gets in without our knowing.

00:15:20 Monday January 8, 2063 Abandoned Warehouse 7th Street and Eatonville Highway - Puyallup

The long day was starting to catch up on all the players. The doc spent the first hour looking over Tenmou and assessing his physical and mental condition before declaring his intention.

"Your best chance is for you to rest till the morning, let your body clense itself of the toxins it has built up, then Bear and I can begin the healing process." He waved Tenmou torward a far door, "in there is a cot, some food and water, use it, Doctors orders."

In the car Daed carefully monitored the data stream coming in from both his drones, it had taken a while but the blimp had finally caught up to them and took its stationary position above the warehouse. Other than the usual traffic all looked well.

00:17:45 Saturday January 8, 2063 Abandoned Warehouse 7th Street and Eatonville Highway - Puyallup

Virgil waited until the Doc had seen Tenmou off to rest before approaching the healer with his own particular ailments. He knew that whatever affliction had befallen him was likely to be far more difficult to diagnose, and dedicated healers like Juliette and this elven shaman were Virgil's best hope for aid.

Extending his hand Virgil introduced himself kindly to their benefactor. No use in me being any more of a stranger than I have to be.

"My name is Virgil and I'd like to thank you for the hospitality that you have shown us thus far, despite us being strangers to you."

00:18:45 Monday January 8, 2063 Abandoned Warehouse 7th Street and Eatonville Highway - Puyallup

"Virgil eh? Nice to meat you omae," the big doctor shook his hand. "No problem, Erebus has taken good care of my people in the past, least I can do. 'Sides, he's paying me."

00:19:00 Monday January 8, 2063 - Abandoned Warehouse 7th Street and Eatonville Highway - Puyallup Barrens

The near silent buzz of his wristphone caught his attention, showing yet another ID BLOCKED number.

"Hoi." Erebus kept his answer short.

"Erebus its Elan I received your call, and wanted to inquire as to the exchange arrangments concerning the item I'm purchasing. I have a trusted courier available immediately, who I can send to your location if that's acceptable. I'd like to facilitate the exchange however possible." Elan's voice dripped sweetness like warm honey, enough to make Erebus want to gag.

Ya, I bet you want to get your hands on the deck, probably already got a buyer ready to turn your investment into profit before dawn.

Erebus tried not to be bitter, it was just business, but he hated getting screwed on a deal. He'd already been slotted over on the job from Max and now he was getting about 50 cents on the dollar for his deck from his other fixer. It just wasn't his day.

After quickly verifying that it would be okay to have someone meet him here at the warehouse with Doc he gave the address to his fixer who assured him the courier could be at the site within 20 minutes.

"Certified credsticks chummer. Nothing larger than 5,000 per stick please. I'll have the deck waiting. Have your courier request a verification code Lima and I'll respond with the name of the place where I picked up the earlier items I purchased."

That was extremely fragile tradecraft but it was pure paranoia at this point, anyone causing trouble for him here would have to wade through a crew of Elf go-gangers to get the job done. While he didn't doubt that a bunch of rocket bearing Yaks could do that he was relatively certain that they couldn't do it quietly.

00:45:00 Monday January 8, 2063 - Abandoned Warehouse 7th Street and Eatonville Highway - Puyallup Barrens

Things start to wind down as the team realises that there isn't a squad of assassins ready to jump out at them at a moments notice. The location seems relatively secure.

Daed spends most his time jacked in to his two drones on patrol. Even so the craziness of the day is starting to catch up with him, on everyone, as the adrenaline leaves and the toxins from sleep deprivation move in.

One of the elf gangers yells down from the cat walk, "rider coming in, looks like Erebus' pigeon."

00:47:00 Monday January 8, 2063 - Abandoned Warehouse 7th Street and Eatonville Highway - Puyallup Barrens

The courier parks her bike cross the street. She is dressed all in black and red riding leather with knee high guard boots. Without taking her helmet off she walks up to the door and knocks. She carries a satchel in one hand.

00:47:02 Monday January 8, 2063 - Abandoned Warehouse 7th Street and Eatonville Highway - Puyallup Barrens

Erebus slide the door open without stepping out, centering himself in front of the courier, with the cyberdeck in its case held loosely in his left hand and his right hand conspiciously free.

"Hoi. You from Elan?" Erebus asked politely, more than a little nervous about the satchel, his mind trying to calculate the damage that size of bag packed with explosives could do.

00:47:35 Monday January 8, 2063 - Abandoned Warehouse 7th Street and Eatonville Highway - Puyallup Barrens

The girl takes her helmet off letting lonf black hair cascade down. "No, I'm from the north pole, ho. ho. ho. Heres your package, an I have mine?"

00:47:38 Monday January 8, 2063 - Abandoned Warehouse 7th Street and Eatonville Highway - Puyallup Barrens

Erebus swallowed his first three responses to the wise hooped courier and finally settled on a short nod.

"Verification code?" He asked.

"Lima." The courier responded in a bored voice.

"Paradigm Shift." Erebus responded. He made a mental note to speak with Elan about the jokers doing courier work as he handed over the cyberdeck for inspection and accepted the satchel in exchange. He pulled his p-sec to beginning scanning the credsticks in the stachel.

00:50:00 Monday January 8, 2063 - Abandoned Warehouse 7th Street and Eatonville Highway - Puyallup Barrens

With the girl gone Erebus quickly counts the money, to his surprise the satchel contains 45k in cert cred.

00:50:30 Monday January 8, 2063 - Warehouse 7th and Eatonville Highway - Puyallup Barrens

Erebus slipped the satchel over his shoulder, and headed back towards the office where Doc was working on his friends. He regretted the loss of the cyberdeck but with things getting this nasty this fast he needed the flexibility of certified credsticks. He made a mental note to talk with the other runners about keeping their eyes open for the chance to boost another deck if the opportunity arose.

Once inside the office he found a private corner and began secreting the credsticks about his person in various places, keeping a few readily accessible. He made sure he had a few low denomination credsticks to help pay off Doc and the gangers who were providing cover for Doc while he worked. The street shaman was a good man and a valuable resource for someone in Erebus' line of work, he couldn't afford to short him.

00:55:00 Monday January 8, 2063 - Warehouse 7th and Eatonville Highway - Puyallup Barrens

While the street doc was taking care of the others, Dragon made it a point to reload all his weapons carefully, cleaning them as necessary and inspecting them for damage. After all the action he’d been seeing today, he figured that was the only smart thing to do. He had no doubt he’d have more need of them before this mess was all over. How on earth had they gotten into this in the first place, he couldn’t help but wonder.

Freeing his mind of emotion, looking at the events of the past few days with an objective eye, he had to admit to himself he didn’t like what he saw. He’d been hotheaded and irrational, and had made some grievous errors in judgment. Thinking back to how he’d almost splattered that kid outside of Virgil’s apartment, and Tiffany’s admittedly fair horrified reaction, he admitted he’d been teetering on the edge of losing control.

His humanity had been walking a razor edge lately, and while some lost it with a feeling of disconnect and separation from the world, he was losing it in the grips of an irrational killing rage, a tightly controlled frenzy that might have racked up even more deaths to his soul, or what was left of it by now, if not for those around him keeping him in check.

There was a lot to think about there, like why he was so close to losing it. Why he’d become so bloodthirsty in the last few days. How had he managed to make so many mistakes in so short a period of time? And more importantly, what was he going to do to ensure he didn’t repeat those mistakes? Of course, that didn’t even address cleaning up the various messes lying around that needed to be dealt with as a result of his screw-ups.

While he was sitting in silence with his thoughts, he noticed Erebus busily taking care of some business, making some calls and later, making an exchange with a courier outside. Although the elf offered no explanation for his actions, it was reasonable to say he’d been a solid teammate so far, so until there was reason to doubt, he rated an ‘OK’ in Dragon’s book.

As soon as Erebus finished taking care of whatever business he had with the visitor outside, he headed immediately to a private corner in the back. Finally finishing up whatever he was doing, he went and whispered some words to the doc, who nodded and pointed at an empty office near the back of the warehouse.

Walking over to Dragon, the young elf nodded grimly. “He said we can use the office in the back over there.” Rising to his feet, Dragon checked his weapons one last time, ensuring everything was in its proper order and condition, then strode towards the trunk of the car. Unholstering one of the Guardians and leveling it at the trunk, he motioned for Erebus to open it.

Understanding his intent, the elf stood off to the side, well clear of Dragon’s line of fire, and popped the trunk. Their precautions proved not quite founded, as their captive made no move to escape. Though awake, he made no move to try anything, blinking his eyes in the sudden light of the warehouse, dim as it was.

“Out.” Motioning with his head, the mercenary indicated the direction their prisoner should walk. Awkwardly trying to get to his feet and climb out of the trunk with his hands bound behind his back, the prisoner was obviously still groggy, staggering as he exited the trunk and headed towards the office.

Once they got there, Erebus roughly jerked the man into a seat, and secured the restraints holding his hands together to the chair itself, courtesy of another pair of restraints. His legs were similarly secured to the chair. Putting the gun away, standing a few feet in front of him, Dragon looked down at the man.

“I’m going to keep it simple. You will tell us who you are, why you came after us, who sent you, and where we can find him. We can do this the easy way or the hard way, and frankly we don’t care which.”

Looking at Erebus, he asked casually, “You have any other questions you would like him to answer?”

The elf shrugged and leaned against a wall just inside the peripheral vision of the man, to remind him he was there without giving him anything to focus on.

“I’d say that’s a good place to start.”

“You heard the man.” Dragon looked back at their prisoner. “Start talking.”

01:04:00 Monday January 8, 2063 - Warehouse 7th and Eatonville Highway - Puyallup Barrens

In the light the mans Japanese heritage was obvious, as was his stoic expression. He looked up at Dragon and smirked. His unwillingess to cooperate written on his face.

01:05:00 Monday January 8, 2063 - Warehouse 7th and Eatonville Highway - Puyallup Barrens

Dragon waited a full minute for the man to change his mind, but the smirk never left his face. Rolling his eyes and glancing over at Erebus, Dragon sighed loudly. "It's going to be the hard way, isn't it? They always want to do it the hard way."

Pulling a sharp Cougar Longblade from his belt, he held it up to the light and examined it melodramatically, checking it for dents and flaws. There were none, of course, but that wasn't exactly the point anyway. "Hmm...no, not quite right. I'll be right back."

Leaving the room, Dragon rummaged around the warehouse for a few moments under the instruction of one of the doc's guards before he finally found what he was looking for.

Returning to the room, he looked at the prisoner and said, "Here's how it goes. I'm going to ask you questions. You're going to answer, or I'm going to start chopping off your fingers, knuckle by knuckle." He shrugs and adds, "I know you can get replacements for those no problem. But then, I'm going to start moving on to things that aren't so easy to get replacements for, if you catch my drift."

The man looked a little nervous, but the sneer never left his face, although his hands flexed nervously from their place of constraint on the arms of the chair. Shutting the door, Dragon slapped himself on the forehead. "Oh, did I forget to mention? I will be doing the chopping with this."

Holding up what he had been looking for in his left hand as he moved towards the thug with deadly intent, he let the light illuminate the object in his hand. A dull, rusty metal knife.

"Oops, did I say chopping? Maybe sawing would be a better term. All right then, I'll be a nice guy and ask, do you have a preference for which hand you want me to start sawing, or should I just pick one?"

01:05:02 Monday January 8, 2063 - Abandoned Warehouse - Puyallup Barrens

Erebus leaned back against the wall and watched the show dispassionately. Dragon came across as a mean little fragger that's for certain but it still remained to be seen whether he'd actually have the stomach to saw off the Yak's fingers.

Reaching into a pocket he pulled out his small butane lighter, and held it up to catch the light and Dragon's attention, before he flipped it to the other runner.

"Here amigo blood loss can delay these conversation's horribly, this'll help."

With that addition to the on going show Erebus resumed his position against the wall to see what would happen. If the other runner could do this to the helpless Yak it would give Erebus a solid feel for where Dragon drew his lines. While killing someone in a dustup when it was kill or die was one thing, Erebus had only met a few people who would do out right torture. Vick Viscous had actually gotten off on causing pain, and Trooper who had treated it like it was simply business. He hoped Dragon was closer to the later than the former.

01:05:10 Monday January 8, 2063 - Abandoned Warehouse - Puyallup Barrens

As Dragon moved to start his bloody work the man stiffened. As if pain had just lanced through his body. Just as quickly as it came, it passed, and the man was free.

It happened so fast that a the time it took was the blink of an eye. The man was on Dragon, savagley chopping at him with broken hands.

01:05:11 Monday January 8, 2063 - Abandoned Warehouse - Puyallup Barrens

Erebus blinked.

In that time everything had changed, his weight still settling back against the wall all of a sudden was a major impediment, forcing him to fight his own momentum as he threw himself away from the wall and towards the not-so-imprisoned prisoner.

Too close for guns. This is going to get nasty.

Hands raised, half open, ready to form a chopping blade or smashing fist he hurled himself into combat.

01:05:10 Monday January 8, 2063 - Abandoned Warehouse - Puyallup Barrens

It was definitely one of those days. Just when it seemed that things were finally starting to turn around, even a little bit, something had to happen to annoy him even farther. They finally had a prisoner, seemingly helpless and in a position to finally fill in some of the considerable gaping holes in their intelligence, and he just happened to have a seemingly magical ability to escape his restraints despite his condition.

Not that Dragon was particularly worried. Physad or no, he was still badly injured, and in no condition to take Erebus and himself, and escape from the warehouse. Still, he was pissed, and definitely not in the mood to play nice.

All this flashed through his head as the man launched himself at Dragon, who immediately responded with a brutal counterattack. He was tired of all the crap of the last few days, and if this guy wasn't going to talk the easy way, or the hard way, he was going to talk the really hard way. And it was going to start right now.

00:52:36 Monday January 8, 2063 - Warehouse 7th and Eatonville Highway - Puyallup Barrens

Having scanned the layout of every potential route of approach, rooftop, and sniping location for a radius of 3 blocks of the warehouse, Daedalus still felt slightly on edge as he monitored the courier's arrival, exchange and exit with a wary eye (and machine gun) from Talos.

He finally stepped out of the car to stretch his legs, checking back on the drones every few minutes.

01:05:10 Monday January 8, 2063 - Abandoned Warehouse - Puyallup Barrens

As Dragon almost lashed out at the now-former prisoner catching a flash of clublike hands with thumbs writhing at unnatural angles as the Asian man chopped down, Erebus's diving chop connected against the man's bald head. Catching him neatly at the temple, the blow caused a stream of blood laced spit to come from the man's mouth, landing on the dirty floor milliseconds before the prisoner followed it to the ground, out cold before he could land a blow.

01:05:11 Monday January 8, 2063 - Abandoned Warehouse - Puyallup Barrens

He looked down at the unconcious man, rubbing his thumb into the palm of his right hand to ease the ache caused by the blow. Then glanced over at Dragon in time to see the look of lethal menace fade from the smaller man's features.

"I don't think he's going to co-operate chummer." Erebus said drily.

01:05:15 Monday January 8, 2063 - Abandoned Warehouse - Puyallup Barrens

The lethal menace may have faded from Dragon's face, but something far darker replaced it. The repeated screwups over the past few days, plus all the problems it seemed he'd inadvertantly stumbled into made something like this a relatively minor thing. Still, even something as small as not taking into account the possibility the man might have escape artist skills was enough to push Dragon's patience with himself to the breaking point.

That this punk had been the final straw probably wasn't his fault, but Dragon was absolutely through with things not going his way. This guy was going to help. He just hadn't come to grips with it yet.

Smiling tightly at Erebus, he replied, "He'll cooperate. He's just delaying the inevitable. If he wants to play hero, fine. He's just making it harder than it has to be, and given what kind of mood I'm in, that's a really bad call on his part. Go grab some chains, would you mind? I'll handle setting him up here."

Without looking to see if Erebus complied with his request, Dragon began stripping his prisoner down. People always felt more secure with their clothes on. This guy obviously felt secure enough to make a move on the two of them, even if he had to dislocate his hands in the process. That made him crazy, confident, maybe even a little of both. Hence, time to start chipping away at that security.

Handcuffing his prisoner stark naked back to the seat again, this time tightly enough the flesh near the cuffs would probably begin to swell soon. Dragon also made sure to wrap their prisoner's arms around himself, handcuffing him to the opposite end of the chair. He also cuffed his legs to the opposite back leg of the chair in an 'X', meaning if he did get loose again he wouldn't have the position necessary to gather the momentum to fling himself at his captors.

This accomplished, he began rummaging around the room for other implements of pain while he waited for Erebus to bring the chains, keeping a close eye on the prisoner all the while.

01:05:47 Monday January 8, 2063 - Abandoned Warehouse - Puyallup Barrens

Erebus walked out of the smaller room as Dragon began manhandling the prisoner back into the chair. The smaller street sam seemed calm enough, but Erebus had a bad feeling about this. He kept waiting for Dragon to pop; to start cursing or yelling or hitting things, anything to release the frustration and tension they were all feeling.

Erebus could feel that tension, knowing they were in a situation where they had very little control, in which they were placed in opposition to not only Lone Star and the corps, but also to the Yaks and the Mob. He knew enough about organized crime to know that while the shadows might hide him from the corpers, the shadows didn't exist that were dark enough to hide him from either of those organizations if they were serious about finding him. It was either come out on top or come out in a bag now. No matter what happened the young elf was relatively sure that being shot at by machine gun and rocket wielding bad guys ranked pretty high on the "work-related-stress" insurance charts. He walked over to the car they came in and began rummaging through the trunk, looking for snow chains or cables Dragon could use for his little project.

He had a real bad feeling about what was about to happen, and reached inside himself to find that silent place where his pyche could hide while bad things were happening. Amanda had taught him that, the ability to school his face and body to show nothing, to be able to do what had to be done, no matter what kinds of nightmares it would cause later. He had a feeling that Dragon was about to do things that would be excellent nightmare fodder.

01:10:12 Monday January 8, 2063 - Abandoned Warehouse - 7th Street and Eatonville Highway-Puyallup Barrens

Checking the trunk and being careful not to further dent the car in wrenching it open, Erebus found nothing to help tie up the prisoner, though the tire-iron caught his eye.

Picking it up almost reluctantly after remembering what Dragon had said, he dug deeper into the mess of the trunk, eventually coming out with a grease stained safety yellow set of jumper cables. The two meter long length of braided wire and plastic insulation seemed perfect for the job.

Digging them out from the piled plastic bags and the spare tire, Erebus tried not to think about the alligator clips the size of his hand, two on each end, bright copper teeth grinning in the streetlamps.


00:31:08 Monday January 8, 2063 Abandoned Warehouse 7th Street and Eatonville Highway - Puyallup

“So, you’re not physically injured, right?” Doc said after looking him over. “You don’t look so hot, but from what Erebus said you’ve had a long day. What seems to be the problem?” the shaman asked in a gentle voice that belied the harsh gang colors on his jacket.