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Post by DodoDestroyer on Feb 2, 2017 19:20:15 GMT
(Opening scene is reserved for Deaths.)
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Post by Deaths on Feb 3, 2017 2:00:11 GMT
It's March 15th 2074 it's a bleak rainy day in downtown Hong Kong, you begin to doubt, was coming here worth the Nuyen? How was it you got here? Oh right a friend, of a friend, of a friend, of a friend had a job for some out of town runners, and the money was worth the travel. I hope your conversational Chinese is up to the task if not I have a few VI programs that should get you through the next few days here. The job wasn't a milk run, quite the opposite actually it was going to be hard work, but that's why they called you isn't it chummer?
The ride into China was uneventful your employer was able to sneak your less than legal gear for you, so though you are the away team tonight, at least you have your belongings. Some of you were brought in by air, some smuggled in by boat, hell you may have even walked in yourself. All you know is where to meet your team and 'Mr. Johnson', deep in the port district is a tiny bar known as 'The Twisted Dragons' you were instructed to meet there tonight, you have about an hour before the meet time so what you do is up to you. No matter what you stick out as foreign a few dirty looks from gangers, shops closing their stores to you, aren't enough to deter you though. The locals just know when out of towners show up armed to the teeth the night is going to end badly for a lot of people.
The Twisted Dragons is a worn out old fisherman shack that barely keeps the rain out, the building creaks with every gust of wind, it feels like you sooner or later the building will be whisked away like that house in that old black and white trid from back in the day. The bar is full with multiple metatypes all walks of life are allowed here, the bar itself is quiet all conversations are hushed between friends, out of respect for the others. An Orc tends the bar, he is known as 'Sixxer' you were told to meet him and tell him that you're 'Here for the mahjong tournament.' So chummer how's this night going to play out?
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Post by projectekertest33 on Feb 3, 2017 5:04:55 GMT
Solid walks through the Hong Kong streets his shoulders hunched as the rain pours down on him, his trench coat pulled tight around him in a vain attempt to conceal the LMG he is carrying. At least it wasn't sunny his skin burnt so quick his face could be white one second and a bright red colour the next it was why he always wore sunglasses and had sewn a hood onto his trench-coat. The boat ride over had been a nightmare as he'd spent the entire time being sea sick and had barely had any time to work on Growler his Steel Lynx drone which was also barely concealed under his trench coat.
Solid arrives outside the Twisted Dragon and takes a moment to examine the place from afar his cyber-eye zooming in the scope the place out. There didn't seem to be any trap a lot of metaypes many armed but that was the nature of a runner's bar. Solid entered stooping slightly to et through the doorway his albino skin getting him some funny looks as he pulled down his hood but thankfully no one commented on it. Walking up to the bar he nodded to the orc serving and said "You Sixxer? Here for the mahjong tournament."
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Post by DodoDestroyer on Feb 3, 2017 6:02:23 GMT
Saturn sits by the bar, nursing the glass of alcohol in front of her but has yet to take a drink from it yet. It was never her thing, but at a bar you need a drink on you not to stick out too much. As if her chromed body doesn't do just that already. She can't wear her cloak in this place so her modifications are all on show for everybody to see, which is a lot to say the least.
She's been sat here for quite some time now, her old crew cut their losses and split after a run that went south, it bore major consequences and most of them are now either arrested, dead or on the run. That was back in Seattle, and she was told of a good job happening in Hong Kong. Seeing as she should not attract attention to her location at the time, she decided it was worth the time.
Saturn glances at a man who has recently come in. A large troll with skin as pale as chalk. He tries to conceal his gear underneath the coat but it looks like he's struggling to pull it off without a hitch. It is then she hears the troll say he's here for the Mahjong Tournament. The exact words Saturn was to say when she tried. Now that she knew this job wasn't a waste of her time, she could say it herself.
"Mahjong Tournament too." She says loud enough for the runner and bartender to hear. The words are monotone and expression is deadpan. Due to her cyberware, it's dulled her emotions and ability to actually express anything is a hard trick to pull off.
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Post by silent15 on Feb 3, 2017 11:00:54 GMT
Rush eagerly stepped off the boat onto the Hong Kong streets, bringing up a Chinese lingasoft on his smartlink as he did so. It had been a long boat ride, in a old fishing trawler that Rush suspected predated the Awakening. Normally Rush would have spent the trip jacked into the Matrix, but the boat was so old, it barely had a GPS, nevermind a jackpoint. And so, confined to meat space for the duration of the trip, Rush had been going rapidly stir-crazy. Still, fishing trawlers like that were one of the most common and forgettable ships on the sea, so he was reasonably confident that his arrival had gone unnoticed. A little anonymity went a long way in his line of work after all.
Walking quickly through the streets, his cyberarm tapping out an unconscious rhythm against his leg, he soon found himself outside the Twisted Dragon. Here Rush took a moment to lean against the wall and school his features into a mask of impassive neutrality. Normally Rush was a ball of restless energy, quick with a smile or a laugh. But over 20 years in this game had taught him that his usual attitude did not help when dealing with Mr Johnsons. Rush's energetic, irreverent nature didn't exactly scream "hardened professional" which what most of the corp wageslave types tended to want out of a runner.
Once he was confident he wouldn't start grinning too soon (well, not unless something really funny happened) Rush stepped inside. Finally out of the damned rain, he looked around and quickly spied his contact talking to a troll and a heavily cybered razorgirl. His mind briefly went back to another team he'd crossed paths with in the Flux State. This razorgirl look almost as heavily cybered as the one they'd had on their team, and had the same distant look about her.
Brushing the memory aside, he walked up to the Orc bartender and nodded, "Another for the Mahjong tournament."
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Post by Deaths on Feb 4, 2017 21:03:39 GMT
With a grunt Sixxer slides a tablet to the group. "The other one was already here he got a head start. Go to down the docks there is a capsized tug boat." Sixxer walks away after that and continues to ignore the group, if they ask anyway questions they fall on deaf ears, as the Orc tries his best to pretend they don't exist. The tablet contains a photo of the boat on further inspection there is a latch on the starboard side of it the group is to go inside through that opening. Nothing else is stated beyond that, and the tablet shorts out a few moments after being handed off.
(Meanwhile at the tug boat.) "This sucks I sure hope Flap was right about this." Seraph says to no one in particular, Scylla was in the astral plane doing a little snooping on the boat before he enters. "I guess its best to wait for the others." This was his first run not with his group, but the heat is a little high in Seattle right now so its best to lay low and pick up a few Hong Kong contacts. Scylla returns in her material form, shrugging at James. "I couldn't find anything. There were computers there, but nothing alive." That's not good, there is no way this is a trap, since they were a bunch of nobodies her. Whoever set this job up is going out of their way to hide their identity. "I guess I should wait for the others." James looks at Scylla who nods in agreement, they both take a seat on the ground waiting for his new friends.
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Post by DodoDestroyer on Feb 4, 2017 21:43:49 GMT
A quick look at the photo and Saturn's cybereye has snapped an image of it. Wordlessly, she grabs her cloak resting on the stool beside her and leaves, abandoning her untouched drink. Outside, she throws the cloak over her body and pulls the hood up, concealing all of her cyber arms apart from the glow of red belonging to her eye.
She arrives at the tugboat matching the photo. Barely anybody outside and those who are act like she doesn't exist. Fine by her, she would rather not get noticed right now. On the starboard side, she uses the latched door to enter inside. Once there, she spots the runner who got the head start. Judging by the water elemental hovering near him, she worked out he's a magic user. Without bothering with introductions, she moves to the wall near the door and leans on it. She stares faraway, detached from her surroundings and it feels like time goes more quickly.
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Post by silent15 on Feb 4, 2017 22:45:28 GMT
"All that effort to seem somewhat professional, and it was completely wasted." Rush thought to himself. "Oh well." Standing up, he briefly eyed the razorgirl's untouched drink before thinking better of it. Sighing, he stepped back out into the rain and started walking briskly towards the docks. Arriving at the docks, he was just in time to see the razorgirl enter the capsized tug. Rush waited for few seconds, listening for the sound of gunfire or any other sound that might indicate a trap. Hearing nothing of the sort, he entered as well, to see the razorgirl leaning against the wall and the other runner sitting on the ground alongside a water elemental. Making eye contact with the mage Rush shot him a brief grin, before settling down on the floor as well and pulling his cyberdeck from it's harness. His deck was a tough old girl, but it never hurt to double-check that the rain and seawater hadn't done any damage. Although in truth, Rush knew damn well his deck was waterproof and just wanted something to occupy his hands.
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Post by projectekertest33 on Feb 5, 2017 1:19:41 GMT
Solid let out a grunt before heading back into the rain following the other two. One was clearly a Decker from the equipment he was carrying the other had some impressive cyberware that he'd like to have a chance to examine later maybe see if he could make some improvements. He approached the tug briefly checking inside his coat that his LMG and drone were ready for action just in case before ducking through the entrance. The final member of their team was clearly a magic user from the water elemental Solid had never liked magic he much preferred machines they could be relied upon not like spirits that might turn on you if you lacked the willpower. "So anyway know what the job is." Asked Solid in his deep voice pulling down his hood to reveal his albino skin.
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Post by Deaths on Feb 6, 2017 4:32:38 GMT
"Yeah I found a thing over here big guy." Seraph answers the troll. "I'm Seraph by the way, she's Scylla." Scylla waves politely with a motherly smile. Seraph throws a small orb into the center of the 'room' if it can be called that. A small hologram erupts from the orb, a male possibly human in a suit appears though his face is obscured. "Hello I am Mr. Johnson, I've been asked to higher you all for a job involving a local Renraku office. You will be infiltrating their offices causing damage, you will steal as much vital data as possible. This is of course a ruse for what you are actually doing." He pauses to adjust his tie, he inhales and begins again. "There is a woman by the name of Dr. Lily Huang. You will be extracting her alive from here and bring her to a location that will be revealed to you, after she is safely removed from the office. You will be payed upon completion, any data you steal is yours, you may do with it whatever you want." The hologram fizzles out, so Seraph speaks up. "Right well we don't got all night, the boat thing was unnecessary, but whatever. Like I said I'm Seraph I'm the magical support. What do you guys do?"
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Post by projectekertest33 on Feb 6, 2017 5:46:02 GMT
"Call me Solid." Said Solid. "I'm a Rigger." He opened his coat to reveal his LMG and unclipped Growler from his combat harness. "This here is Growler he's a MkII Steel Lynx drone from Ares with machine gun turret, grenade launcher and ballistic armour." Solid turned to the chrome girl. "If I'm not being too familiar can I have a look at those cybernetics of yours? Most of the shops never optimise them properly and I have something of a talent for improving electronics."
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Post by DodoDestroyer on Feb 6, 2017 6:15:34 GMT
Saturn pulls the hood down from her head and holds up on metal arm for the others to see. In a flash, two eight inch claw blades extend from her knuckles, gleaming in the dim light. "I guess you could say I'm your attack dog." She says in her usual deadpan voice. "Quick, strong, good with a gun and any melee weapon. I'm a decent scout too. People call me Saturn." The words are rehearsed but haven't been said in some time. She stuck with her group for a long while and didn't need to join another until now. It's faint, but her Seattle accent can be heard if paying close attention.
She turns her head to look at the troll with her dead eyes. It usually looks like she's staring coldly at them, but it's merely because emotions can never be seen in them. She shrugs. "Perhaps later." Normally, people are protective over their own augmentations and will only let trusted sources or themselves, Saturn doesn't care. If he's talented and could improve her capabilities, why not?
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Post by silent15 on Feb 6, 2017 10:20:58 GMT
Rush grinned, "They call me Rush, and I'm sure you can figure out my role." He brushed his hand over the casing of his cyberdeck to illustrate. Despite it being over 20 years since he was last in TÃr na nÓg his voice still had a distinct Irish lilt to it. "Aside from the obvious, I've been in more than a few shoot-outs over my career and normally gave worse than I got." At these words, part of the palm of cyberarm slid away, revealing the barrel of the integrated submachine gun.
"On to business" he continued, the barrel cover sliding back into the close position, "Once I get on site, I can jack into their network, shutdown any connected security, grab any paydata I can find and hopefully locate our actual target. That still leaves how we get in, grab her and get out, but hey. We're smart people right? I'm sure we can figure something out."
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Post by DodoDestroyer on Feb 9, 2017 9:58:54 GMT
"Well we made introductions and have our objectives. Let's go." Saturn says to the group, not one to waste time standing idly around. She exits the boat and awaits on the dock side for the others.
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Post by projectekertest33 on Feb 10, 2017 10:47:54 GMT
"Yep." Said Solid rehooking Growler to his harness. "The sooner I get paid the better." He follows her out still letting his eyes roam her cybernetics oh how he wanted to take them apart and put them back together.
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Post by silent15 on Feb 11, 2017 23:01:35 GMT
Rush bounced up to his feet, clipping his deck back to its harness as he did so. Stepping outside he saw Solid's attention was still focused on Saturn. Sidling up to the troll, he he gently elbowed him in the side to get his attention. "It's not polite to stare at a lady like that. Want my advice, buy her a drink first."
Rush didn't honestly believe that was the reason that Solid was staring at the razorgirl, but it was always fun to see how people reacted.
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Post by projectekertest33 on Feb 11, 2017 23:09:03 GMT
Solid blinked down at the energetic elf. "I do not understand. Why do I have to buy her a drink before I examine her augmentations?" Solid asked nonplussed. Dealing with people had never been his strong suit he much preferred the reliability and predictability of machines
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Post by silent15 on Feb 11, 2017 23:18:34 GMT
Ok, so he hadn't been expecting that reaction. "Seriously? Do I have to explain this to you? When a guy looks at a girl like you were, it normally means someone's crushing."
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Post by projectekertest33 on Feb 11, 2017 23:20:36 GMT
Solid was really confused now. "I wouldn't crush anything I would be gentle."
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Post by silent15 on Feb 11, 2017 23:31:56 GMT
And now Rush was trying to figure out if the big guy was being excessively literal to wrong-foot Rush, or if he just really was that literal. "Just... nevermind. And man, I though I didn't get out much.
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Post by DodoDestroyer on Feb 12, 2017 0:24:19 GMT
Saturn sighs at the two's conversation about Solid's strange infatuation with her. Her cybernetics did always attract attention, weird cyborg fetishes is one of the most common. She ignores it, she couldn't care about his attractions even if she wanted to. They normally get over it after awhile.
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Post by Deaths on Feb 20, 2017 7:06:38 GMT
The weather doesn't let up, as the team moves through the city. The weather is still pounding on them, giving Seattle a run for its money. The group ends up a block away from the building. The building is huge at least twenty floors, and no telling how far underground it goes. Outside are two standard security guards watching the front door. A giant reception area can be seen through the glass it seems there is a receptionist on duty still. Brute force will just alert everyone, and with no way of knowing where the target is, a plan is needed.
"I could go astral and see how many of them they have." Seraph speaks up trying to get some semblance of a plan. "Though there will be magical security, so I don't know how long I'll be able to poke around until I'm spotted." He sighs unsure of his plan. "Walking in will get us slaughtered, unless we have a great cover story, but no offense with you two." He points to the troll and the samurai."we scream runners trying to sneak in. If we could get Rush to a jack point then we can at least get a better lay of the land." Scanning the building he notices that on the seventh floor seems to be under construction, there is a giant crane on the ground. "Got it!" He says excitedly. "Rush you or Solid take over the crane, and we can use it as an elevator inside at the art that's being worked on. From there we move quietly and find somewhere for you to jack in." This is the first time he's ever been the leader of a squad, it seems the role has been thrust upon him. "Lets move try your best not to be spotted." He comments as he takes off down the street towards the crane. He makes it to the target unnoticed, and lets out a sigh of relief. Hopefully the others won't get caught and this mission can begin smoothly.
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Post by DodoDestroyer on Feb 20, 2017 7:44:52 GMT
Saturn nods and begins to make her way to the crane down a separate path from the mage, to avoid suspicion. With her cybernetics hidden beneath the ragged cloak, people would easily mistaken her as a homeless at first glance and raises no questioning looks. This guise has helped her in the past when scouting out places for previous runs or slipping right under security's nose. If that doesn't work, then she relies on her enhanced speed and if things really go south, her claws.
She arrives two minutes after the mage does, she silently walks past him and sits on top of a dumpster nearby, just staring blankly at the crane and awaiting further orders.
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Post by projectekertest33 on Feb 20, 2017 11:09:25 GMT
Solid nods. "Sounds plausible. I'll control the crane and send Growler in with you for support." He walks over to the crane unhooking his drone and placing it on the platform before climbing in to the driver's cab and waving at the others to get on the platform. He didn't have the ignition key of course but after a minute with his wire strippers he had the crane purring nicely.
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Post by silent15 on Feb 21, 2017 14:20:22 GMT
Rush waited for Saturn and Seraph to split up and go on before making his own move. With his obvious cyberarm and deck, he could hardly pass as inconspicuous. And while he could make a passable attempt at stealth, it wasn't really his strong suit. But what he could do was act like like a poser. With his hands shoved into his pockets, head nodding to an invisible beat, he looked to all the world like just another bored rich kid thinking he was some novahot tech-head. Easy to notice, but equally easy to dismiss. Wandering aimlessly down the street towards the crane, he rounded the corner where the crane platform was and quickly stepped onto it, rolling his cyberarm as he did so.
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Post by DodoDestroyer on Feb 26, 2017 22:26:25 GMT
Saturn watches the crane's arm move to their position and lower it's platform that is winched to it. When it reaches their level, she jumps off of the dumpster and steps on the platform.
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Post by projectekertest33 on Feb 26, 2017 22:44:13 GMT
Once everyone was on-board the crane platform Solid used the controls to guide it to an unfinished window seventh floor. Clicking on his link to Growler he said. "Please lift Growler through the window." His voice would be played from a microphone in Growlers chassis. One of these days he'd get a flying drone and not have to deal with this annoyance.
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Post by silent15 on Feb 27, 2017 9:18:19 GMT
Rush leaned down and grabbed ahold of the drone's chassis, while making eye contact with the other two runners, "Mind checking the immediate area out while I haul this fellow in?" Turning back to the drone he spoke to the drone's camera, "So you joining us big guy, or is this guy going to be your proxy for the rest of it?"
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Post by projectekertest33 on Feb 27, 2017 14:43:22 GMT
Solid opened the link again. "I will remain outside in case we need the crane to escape covertly if we end up exfiltrating hot I will provide cover from here." He unslung the LMG from his harness and checked it was properly loaded. "For now I will control Growler by remote; he has a machine gun, grenade launcher with both explosive and smoke ammunition and his armour can deflect concentrated assault rifle fire for quite some time I suspect he will be more useful to you in combat then me." Solid stopped to think for a second. "Although you will need to carry him over any windowsills or barricades I'm still working on finding away around that but he can manage stairs by himself."
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Post by Deaths on Mar 11, 2017 8:44:52 GMT
Seraph pops into the window giving it a quick look, he sits down leaning himself against the wall he looks at Saturn, "Hey keep an eye on my shoes will ya? I'll do a bit of recon." With that his eyes go wide and his body drops like dead weight. In the astral plane everything is grey, until he looks up and spots a light brighter than ten suns. "Drek!" He yells as he jumps back into his body. Snapping awake he looks at the others. "Upstairs his full of magic wards, they got something up there they don't want others to see. Might want to try there." He shrugs waiting for the others to come up with a plan.
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