22:53:11, Thursday, June 24th, 2064/Safehouse

Razz nonchalantly walks into the apartment complex. When he is out of sight of anyone on the street he moves slowly and quietly, on the lookout for trouble as he makes his way to the safehouse.

Once at the door he slowly and as silently as possible, let's himself in and stands for a moment just inside the doorway, closing the door behind him.

Lethe unlocks the door of the RV with a distinct click before unplugging himself from the dashboard, opening the RV's door, and hopping out. He then walks across the street.

"So, you are the Tooth?"

22:53:44, Thursday, June 24th, 2064/Safehouse

Razz, keeping close to the shadows, moves silently up to the safehouse; Only the occaisional crunch of leaves betrays his approach. All is quiet in the area. The dull hum of a metroplex at night sets the backdrop. Razz moves to the freshly painted security door, held closed by an impressive mag-lock, and punches in the code given by Tamburo. The door swing easily on well oiled hinges. The view inside looks like footage from the So-Am conflict zone. Bottles, cans, and butcher's paper litter the floor. The carpet looks as though it has been dragged through mud and over pizza before being installed. Tags like the ones Razz saw across the street are sprayed on the walls. Adding insult to injury, the stench nearly causes Razz to wretch out his toe nails. Obviously, a gang has made unauthorized use of this place, a fact that will most decidedly anger the owners and bring swift retribution...

22:42:54, Thursday, June 24th, 2064/Starbuck's Cofee shop, Redmond


The troll stays where he is until Lethe is within five meters of the van. He seems rather... dull looking. His eyes are heavy lidded, his mouth hangs open slightly and his face in general suggests you are not dealing with the deep end of the gene-pool. "So, you are the Tooth?" Lethe says. The behemoth grunts, looks at the she-elf wiht barely maksed lust and walks around to the rear of the van.

Tony opens the rear doors and drags out an unconscious human bound up in sadist's dream. His arms tied behind his back, legs bound and tied fifteen centimeters from his hands. A blindfold has been placed over his eyes and a ball-gag stuffed in his mouth, then covered in duct tape. There is a bruise on the left side of his face. He is wearing the remains of a once expensively tailored suit and strapped to his chest with more duct tape is a blue and black backpack. Tony carries the unconscious man like a piece of luggage and places him at Lethe's feet. "I Tony," he says with a voice like a dozen or so rocks being rolled around in an aluminum garbage can, "Tony do good. Tony take care of small human. Tony bring human. You take human. Tony do good. Tony hungry. Tony do good. Tony go now." You get the impression "Tony" isn't to bright...

"No, not yet, Tony. Can you carry him over there, and put him in my truck, please? I'm not nearly as big and strong as you are."

22:54:47, Thursday, June 24th, 2064/Safehouse

Razz whispers a few ancient words and waves his hand through the air, making himself invisible. Once the spell has concealed him he moves through the so-called safehouse, checking things out.

22:43:15, Thursday, June 24th, 2064/Starbuck's Coffee shop, Redmond

Gregori stepped out of the RV, and positioned his back to the vehicle. He sighed as the pale elf charged forward to greet the Troll, and then looked down both sides of the street to see if anyone was watching the exchange.

Gregori's blinked repeatedly as he saw the tied up human come out of the Trog's vehicle. He muttered profanely in his native tongue before switching to english.

"inextricably linked my hairy hoop."

Gregori looked at Tony and Lethe. Lethe was asking the Troll something, but what he couldn't tell what. He wished the elf would hurry up.

10:43:15/Thursday June 12th, 2064/Evergreen Point Bridge

"I hope that behemoth is not coming with us as well." Dawn said to Greogri as she walked over to him. The look that Tony gave her had not gone unoticed. Dawn hope she didn't have to shoot both his knee caps out in order to get the message across that she wasn't interested in him.

So the package was a guy, someone in a once nice suit. Probably someone from another criminal family or even a corp that got picked off for a quick payoff. That was the problem with living packages, the story's tend to get longer and more complicated the more you got to know the person. This one appeared to have pissed someone off seriously before winding up in their care. Dawn moved closer to the bound man to study him and see if there was anything she could determine about him.

10:43:15/Thursday June 12th, 2064/5060 1/2 126th Street

Ragnarok exited the bus in an orderly fashion. No one looked at him funny, no one stared at his bag. I packed this thing right.

He started walking toward the address. And a half? Kooky, he thought. He got up to 5650 and started snooping around. Something caught his ears -

"I Tony. Tony do good. Tony take care of small human. Tony bring human. You take human. Tony do good. Tony hungry. Tony do good. Tony go now."

Ragnarok walked down the alleyway as unthreateningly as possible, banking on Dawn informing her teammates.

22:43:15, Thursday, June 24th, 2064/Starbuck's Coffee shop, Redmond


Gregori was hanging back, maybe two steps behind Dawn, partially to cover her, and partially cause... well the view was good from back there.

Gregori's eyes were taken from the elf's posterior to another larger metahuman coming towards the Alley. Also looked like a Troll. Gregori said, calmly but urgently to Dawn.

"Dawn, Look," Gregori gestured with his head, and then turned his body squarely towards the second Troll, the first words of a spell about to come from his lips.

23:15:22, Thursday, June 24th, 2064/Safehouse

Razz watches as his shadow slowly fades until the porch light shines directly on the tile of the foyer. Carefully, Razz moves through the house. After a few moments inside he begins wishing for a “Deaden senses” spell, as the disgusting odor violates his delicate ganger senses. As he moved through the condo Razz thought back to his former days as a ganger. Days when they would break into houses and spend two or three days living it up, until the food ran out or the police arrived. The entire house was ransacked, probably the gangers looking for valuables. Upstairs Razz found the remains of a SOTA security system. One of the gangers had to have skills to get past this set-up. Only one monitor had been left, though it was working and showed a southern view of the property.

It looked as though the place had been deserted recently to Razz’s eye, no more than a day, two at the most. The food has been eaten or taken, only scraps and… other leavings. Well, at least they had a good time. Razz couldn’t quite bring himself to condemn them, living on the streets was difficult and one didn’t pass on the gifts good fortune gave. You never knew when the next meal or shelter or cred, so when it came you took it.

None of the locks had been jimmied so they must have picked it. A simple enough thing to remedy; changing the code was an easy thing. But the mess was a different story. But now a decision had to be made. Did they stay and make Tamburo make good on the deal? Did they move to another location and make Tamburo foot the bill? Or did they cut their losses and walk away? It was rapidly becoming decision time…

The urge to comment on Gregoris subtle attempt to check her was brushed aside as he called her name. Dawn looked where Greogri directed and studied the troll for a moment till she relized who he was.

"Ah. I know him." Dawn said, putting a hand on Gregori's shoulder with a light squeeze. "He missed the meeting and called me to meet up with us. His name is Ragnarok... and he appears to know how to speak full sentences. Which is a relief."

That was more a jab at Tony then Ragnarok. Sooner they picked up the package and left, the better the elven woman would feel. She waved a hand for Ragnarok to come join them walking to meet him half-way.

"Glad you could join us, Ragnarok."

Gregori relaxed at the calm elf's touch, and nodded.

"Alright. The more the merry, now can we get this done? I don't like how exposed we are."

He took a deep breath, and readied his nerves. He was jumpy, but better to go with instinct.

Satisfied that the place is empty, Razz drops his invisibility spell and calls Tamburo, using the "emergency" number.

You drekhead! This place is fragged!" he yells angrily into the phone as soon as someone picks up.

Ragnarok smiled and set his bag down. "Hey Dawn. Who's this?" He nodded at Gregori.

"My name is Gregori."

"Name's Ragnarok. I'm a demolitions expert and I'm damn good with an assault rifle. I always come prepared, too." He smiled and lightly booted his bag. "Now let's get the package and get the hell out of here."

22:55:55, Thursday, June 24th, 2064/Starbuck's Coffee shop, Redmond

"I'm not nearly as big and strong as you are." Lethe says. The massive troll simply reaches down, grabbed the cord stretched between his feet and hands, and picked the unconscious man up like a piece of luggage. He walks across the street and leaves the body on the sidewalk in front of the RV's door. He lumbers back, eyeing the new arrival with a challenging glare. "Tony done now?" He rumbles...

23:17:22/Thursday, June 24th, 2064/Safehouse

Ambrosi Tamburo sat in his office, reading the daily take when his phone rings. The rumbling troll voice overloading the speaker in his phone. "You d....ead! ..is place is ...ged!" Tamburo held the phone away from his head and stared at the profanity spouting device. When it sounded like Razz was taking a breath Tamburo took the opportunity to chime in. "Wait, wait, what are you talking about, the place is fragged?" He listens to Razz lay it out and it becomes Tamburo's turn to spew profanities. "Stinking gangers. I paid them to stay out! When I get my hands on them I am going to kill them slowly over a month. I'm going to drag out their guts and hang 'em on my clothes line! I'm gonna... (you get the picture)." He rants for a few minutes and, after calming down, speaks to Razz in a more reasonable tone. "Look, Razz right? This is salvageable. I can fix this. O.K. Keep the package there and I'll order some pizzas and beer. In the morning I'll send a crew to clean the place and restock the pantry. So, we're back on track. Anything else?"

"I need Dawn's number."

Razz, happy that he bellowing had seemed to work, was not sure that he wanted to stay here for another minute. Especially with the package.

"I'm not gonna make the call for everyone. We'll let you know our decision in a few minutes. Maybe you should start looking for another place."

Before the Johnson could respond, Razzhangs up and dials for Dawn. Once she answers he begins explaining the situation, minus the halfway feigned anger he had used with Tamburo.

Dawn watched as Tony put the package next to Lethe's RV. She was happy this part was about over and they would get to the safe house and kick back and relax till Tamburo called for this guy. Nice food, hot tub, at a nice part of town. It was starting to sound alot better to her and she was glad to have taken the gig.

Then the 'tic-tic' of her phone would change all that. Dawn flipped the screen open and listened to what Razz had to say about what he found at the so-called safe house. The frown that twisted the lovely elven woman features down was a pleasent thing to say. It was the only open door those watching would get to see what she was feeling at the moment though. There was no reason to scare Tony after all. "Thanks Razz, I'll be sure to tell the others. Hold on."

Dawn left the phone open for Razz to overhear the conversation. "Its Razz, he's at the safe house and guess what... our first bad news. The safe house been compromised by some gang. Suppossedly Tamburo paid them off to leave it along, but apparently they took the money and threw a party.

"The place is a wreck, nearly unlivable. Mr. Tamburo is working on cleaning the place up and wants us to go there 'still'." Obviously Dawn was not happy with the abrupt change in plans. She picked herself out of the gutter once before and wasn't about to go back because the Johnson fouled up. Her expanding good mood was definitely soured by the phone call. "So gentlemen, what do you wan to do?"

"Yes, Tony, you're done now," Lethe replies.

When Dawn speaks up, Lethe will turn to her and reply, "Well, we can stay in my RV for the time being. It'll be on the cramped side, but it should be better than the safehouse, until the Johnson has his people clean the place up."

23:02:07, Thursday, June 24th, 2064/Starbuck's Coffee shop, Redmond

The massive troll grunts and climbs into his vehicle. The springs creak and whine under the punishment as the beast roars to life. It pulls smoothly out onto 196th and heads south for the five-twenty. Three minutes later life starts to return to this corner of Redmond, someone paid well for your privacy...

23:11:09, Thursday, June 24th, 2064/In transit between Redmond and Bellevue

With little traffic to worry about, and a wide-open road in front of him, Os puts his car into Autonav and dials his fixer, Rook.

Rook answers the phone, but it sounds like he was about to hit the hay.

"Something wrong with the job, Omae?"

"Not that I know of, mate. But I need you to do me a favor."

"It may be a little late for favors to get done. But tell me anyway, I'll see what I can do."

"I have a little bad weather coming my way. Two Russians have just come to town looking for me. I need you to find out who they are and what they look like, and if possible, where they're holed up."

"I'll see what I can do. Peace out."

The phone line disconnects, and Os resumes control of the americar.

23:30:45, Thursday, June 24th, 2064/Bellevue, Safehouse

Arriving, finally, Os parks on the street in front of the house. He hops out of the car, carrying a gym bag and what looks to be a metal briefcase. He cautiously walks up to the door, punching in the key-code for the maglock.

As soon as the door swings open, the stench hits him. Anticipating danger, his right hand goes for his gun as quickly as his left arm covers his nose. He steps to the side of the doorway and says, "Anybody home?"

Gregori just shrugged.

"I would rather not go back there at all. Figuring that at least half a dozen gangers or more know that location. That will soon spread. Hell. I say we tell Tamburo that we will go back after he cleans it up, and then we stay camped out in our own place. If even Johnson does not know where you are, you are definetely safe."

23:24:43/Thursday, June 24th, 2064/Safehouse

"I might be able to find us another safe house if we don't want to use the RV," Razz says over the phone. "Besides, where would we park it. This neighborhood doesn't seem to be the place for it."

Razz searches his memory for a nearby safehouse and tells the runners its location if he can think of one.

23:31:12, Thursday, June 24th, 2064/Bellevue, Safehouse

"I'm here," Razz calls to Os from a room away. After answering, the ork slowly steps into the foyer. "Sucks in here doesn't it? I couldn't stand outside though. I'd stick our too much."

"We could always stick him in The Glow," Ragnarok said, grinning.

23:31:25, Thursday, June 24th, 2064/Bellevue, Safehouse

Os, slightly relieved that there won't be a shoot-out this early in proceedings, says "Can't say I like Tamburo's interior decorator. I guess there's no accounting for taste. Are we actually expected to stay here?"

"I'm not really interested in being piled up in the RV with our package." Dawn said. Sure the rest might not feel the same way as the elven woman but there was time that disappointment was going to be met. "I do like the idea of going somewhere else till Tamburo cleans up the other place or gives us another in favor of it."

Dawn walked towards her car and the RV. She popped the doors on her car as a silent invitation for anyone else who wanted to ride with her. "Oh, do you think you could give me your cell numbers. I'm pretty sure you noticed the coupe' that was following us... I think its time that we start tighten up. With what happen at the safe house and this person following us around we may see trouble yet."

"Shotgun..." Gregori said by way of accepting Dawn's invitation, as be began moving to the vehicle. He than spouted off his phone number for the others to enter into their own communication devices, and than followed that by saying,

"I say step one is to link with Os and Razz. This done, we hold up at location until Razz or one of the rest of us comes up with a safe house. Then we move with package there, and keep heads down. "

"Sounds good," Razz says, agreeing with Gregori's plan. "We'll hang here."

Ragnarok looked at Dawn's car and laughed to himself. "There's not a chance in the Matrix I'm folding into that thing."

Then he took a look at the RV. "A little better, but..."

He stuck his head around the corner and looked at the bus stop.

"Much better. I'll meet the rest of them at the safehouse." Os and Razz seem like good guys. Ragnarok dialed Razz.

"Hey chum, I'm on my way via bus. Look for a big troll with a big duffel bag, that's me. Try not to blow my head off."

Lethe gives the others his phone number, and plugging a cable from his Pocket Secretary into his datajack, records the numbers of the others.

Os gives up his cell phone number, and then says, "Anyone got a two-way radio? We should pick a couple of channels to talk on, just in case."

Os, slightly relieved that there won't be a shoot-out this early in proceedings, says... then the shiver runs down his spine.

It is at this moment the sound of leaves crunching under tires and the sound of a badly tuned pick-up can be heard idling down the drive. "Tamburo's sending over pizza and beer tonight, a cleaning crew in the morning, and more food to re-stock the pantry as well." Razz says, walking to thr front door. He open it to see an old pick-uproll to a stop. Three gangers dressed in jeans and armored jackets hop out of the back. One stops at the friver's window while theother two head for the front door. At three meters the first ganger realizes the house is occupied and stops in his tracks. Ganger number two, sporting two feet of hair reigns in about a meter behind the lead ganger. The driver opens his door and steps out, staying behind the door, hands unseen. The passenger, a striking woman with long silver hair which glitters in the sparse light of the sleeping city, wait in the truck. "Hoi! Wha ah dey doin inna den?" The first ganger turns to his buddies and shouts in cityspeak. He nods in Razz's Direction and says "You Freds lookin for sometin? Dis spat is taken, find your own!"

Os smiles, but nothing in his expression suggests that he is happy.

"This spot is reserved for us, mate. If you want to make something of it, go talk to Tamburo. But for now, fuck off."

Whoever was going to pile into the car with Dawn would defintely find the elven woman ready to go. She felt a little better now that the rest of the team was getting together. it proved they had a chance to pull this gig off. Though only the unforseen varibles were still in play, like with what happen with the safe house. Seeing as they were not far away from the safehouse it wouldn't take long to hook up with the final memebers of the team and find a place to stay later on.

Dawn put the car in gear and set the autonav to take them to the safehouse. Sitting back and crossing her arms over her chest she waited a moment longer for the rest to get into the RV and get moving before she followed.

"So Gregori, I guess this gives us a moment to get better acquainted."

Gregori nodded some what solemly, "Da," he said. He watched the elf as she began to drive, or rather, to order the car to drive itself.

"You are from here? Seattle?" Gregori asks, after awhile. It was a useful question, of sorts. From his accent it was fairly obvious that Gregori was not.

22:32:30 / Thursday June 12th, 2064/ Safehouse in Bellevue

The lead ganger takes a step closer, hand straying to his waist where a large pistol hangs, and replies in a gruff growl. "I don't know Tam..whatever. I don't know you. You got ten to clear out or Ima bus you up!" The rest of the group begins to fan out, particularly moving out from behind the front ganger, just in case very fast things start heading his way. The woman remains in the vehicle, unmoving.

"Not originally, though I have lived here practically all my life." Dawn said. "I'm originally from Chicago"

Lot of history from living residing in Chicago to living in the Seattle Metroplex. A sordrid story since she was sixteen till now. Hopefully Dawn could end her story with a happier ending then it had started out. One could hope and pray.

"Apparently I've mostly worked the streets. Learning the tricks to the kind of people you got to deal with if you want to make a life for yourself." Dawn talked as she punched the numbers of her team into her cellphone. Boy if Gregori know what she meant by working the streets. Not that Dawn really cared, but people tended to react when learning about her past professions.

Gregori nodded repeatedly, actively listening to the woman's story. As she spoke, he could see her aura in his mind, that dark pain.

"You make it sound very much simpler than I think must have been... the streets I mean."

That wasn't quite true. Gregori knew that the streets were, basically, pretty simple. The strong took from the weak. They took whatever you had. Your creds, your life... Your soul, assuming you had one. Gregori shrugged, and said, more to himself than to Dawn.

"Nothing to do, but pray to god, and continue to row to shore."

"Oh yes, it sounds alot simpler the way I say it." Dawn agreed. She paused a little longer for the others to mount up and started for the safe house.

"This run... something about it bothers me." Gregori said. "I am not one who is normally complaining, but why does Tamburo... how do you say? Farm this work out? It would be simpler in house yes? And Tony... De idiot Troll. He is also 'running. Why pay one group for transport and another to watch? All very odd." Gregori wasn't sure if he had Dawn's attention, but it felt good to air his concerns anyway. Not that they mattered. You did the job, and you kept your mouth shut. and if it was fragged, well, perhaps better that it is fragged from the beginning...

"No, you make a good point. Its something I've noticed as well." How Tamburo handled the meeting and the set-up did not set well with the elven woman either. Gregori pointed out what was clearly a hasty job. Why the family couldn't handle this inside and not bother with the hassle of hiring outsiders to take care of this couirer job.

"It does appear everything was done halfway." Dawn said again. "Maybe Tamburo is trying to get himself a promotion with this job, play someone else out so he can get their spot. Which means we're in a delicate situation should this mission go down the hoop. Tamburo might decide to blame us completely."

Which is probably what would happen if Tamburo was playing games with his family. They didn't take well to it and just might kill everyone after they get done with Tamburo to hide that embarrassing situation. So far all points were leaning that way.

"It may be in our interest to find who, and what, exactly it is we are guarding. Once we get settled of course."

Gregori wasn't normally the noisy type. But you had to protect yourself to. And knowing what you had was probably the best way to figure out who might come after it.

"Trust in God..." Gregori said, "but lock your doors. That's the russian saying."

He stretched in the chair, and idly watched the elf woman behind the driver's seat.

Dawn returned the idle look to Gregori. "Thats a nice saying. What else did you learn in russia?"

Dawn wasn't hitting on him, just interested in the man with the real accent. She'd seen memebers of the russian mob, mostly here in Seattle for pleasue and thankfully not business. At least what she was aware of at the time.

Gregori sat, thoughtfully for a moment, his fingers going to play with the sharp edged teeth of the necklace about his neck.

"In Akademiya, I learned that no man survives all on his own. Those who try to make it, all on their own, end up used and abused."

Gregori thought for a moment about those 7 years for a moment before continuing.

"With the right crew.. the right pack at one's back? There is no telling how far one can go with loyalty and honor."

Gregori watched Dawn as she responded.

Ragnarok had another boring bus ride, and got off at the nearest exit. He started walking toward it at a hurried pace, wanting to get there not too long after Dawn and Gregori.

He again called Razz to make sure he wouldn't get teamkilled.

Being use to working alone, Dawn experince in a group larger then one was new. Perhaps even refreashing if the people that had come on board were as interesting as Gregori.

"Pack, hm? You did mention you were a magic users? You follow a Totem?"

Gregori raises his eyebrow. He hadn't mentioned it, except to Lethe. But then, Gregori thought, looking at the fetish dangling from his armored vest, it wasn't a hard guess.

"Da, Wolf shows me the way." Gregori said,

"Razz is mage, and Lethe is adept. On magic we are covered, I am thinking.

"Yes it appears that we have the magic aspect covered very well." Dawn said. "Then we have Ragnorok to handle everything else."

Dawn smiled lightly at the comment. "So whats it like being able to use magic?"