SR4A: Under the candlelight

[Alberic Strein]

When did we die as a species?

The acid rain falls continuously on the sprawl, raising a caustic mist near the ground as people hurriedly go their ways.

But are they still people?

Humanis likes to think that the "human" species was threatened when "metahumans" emerged. Of course they wouldn't put it in such nice terms.

You're not convinced. The ants before you are humans yes, but also dwarves, orcs, elves, trolls. From where you stand you see no difference between them all.

In your AR view, an ad to cut off your nether regions to switch to bigger and better chrome parts appear, accompanied with a tacky slogan.

Once again your gaze falls on the ants. Was that when? When science came so far that people departed from their flesh? Lizard skin, tails, reptilian eyes... The flesh is but the plaything of the mind, some say, while other claim the opposite of course, but was it the reason for this generation's loss of identity?

You reject the thought. Better watch yourself, you're starting to think like a Humanis member.

The rain keep falling, people start running for food stalls hidden behind protective covers. Your stomach grumbles. It's been two days since your last meal and it shows. You cannot help but think that your sour mood stems from your hunger.

Hunger.

You thought you had known hunger, long ago, before everything became so wrong. But that was barely appetite. That had nothing in common with the monster slithering in your insides, causing painful cramps wherever it wandered.

You can't help but feel a bit of self-loathing. The world ended and your one concern is filling your stomach. Once again you let your gaze err along the buildings, the signs, real or virtual, as you contempt the futility of it all. Somewhere a couple of schoolgirls laugh inside the terrace of a cafe, commenting on the newest trending video of a levitating poor chap trying to shake off a zombie climbing his leg and failing atrociously, while the zombie tries clawing him, failing as well. The sakkity sax music sells the whole scene. For a moment you despise these girls and their futility, but soon enough you are reminded that you are not so different, as your stomach growls once more.

When did metahumans stop feeling fear? Dread? Awe? When were they reduced to such pathetic figures unable of the slightest reaction? Tonight is going to be a full moon, like that one, 28 days ago when the opening shot for the apocalypse was fired. At 23:00 local hour, Ares' space station opened fire on a little industrial sprawl in France, reducing it to a sea of flames, burning alive 10 000 SINners and probably ten times as many people. The international community quickly reacted, but today the announcement came from the Big Ten themselves. Any action against Ares regarding the attack was vetoed. No information regarding the investigation was to be shared. Any and all retaliation would be considered illegal and filled as a crime for undermining the authority of the Supreme Court.

Somewhere inside you you expected all hell to break loose at that moment. But no. The states accepted the decision of the court and public criticism went to the French government for allowing the situations necessitating the attack to take place, and being powerless at stopping it.

All pretense of subtlety was lost. The Big Ten could have as well gone on record claiming "We own you" to the whole world.

And the reaction was thus: You got hungrier. Nothing else happened. This place could become a sea of flames right now, for no known reason, with no warning, and those people could only hurry to go to crowded food stalls and from their office to their corporate-owned house. Zombies. The whole lot of them.

Just as the thought bloomed in your mind, your commlink notified you had a new message. Jack Thompson. He had info on a job for you. The coordinates located the meeting place as a derelict scyscraper in an industrial sprawl halfway between London and Birmingham. It should be at less than an hour by car from where you are.

At the mention of job, the beast inside your stomach roars a bit.

[Mr.D]

Rapier leaned over the handlebars of his bike, watching people go by. The recent Ares attack played on his mind. As well as the surprising lack of government reaction, he'd expected to see some Runs. Raids into France to loot leftover tech, or pull out VIP survivors, but things had been quiet. Mind you that could be because he'd run out of contacts. And thus money. And thus food.

He rubbed his stomach as it growled. Then the message pinged in. He smiled. He shot back a quick acknowledgement. He looked up to the sky Ares, O god of war. Pray thee do not rain down thy fire tonight. I have only just received work, and t'would be a terrible shame to die on an empty stomach.

He twisted his moustache and his stomach growled again. He turned on the engine and and let out a different type of growl as he tore down the street.

[At0m1kSQ]

Franklin shakes his head at the thought. He lets out a hefty sign realizing that even 5,000 miles away he couldn't escape corporate supremacy. The vile toxic air stings his nostrils as he steps out of the awning of a London Soykafé after a failed attempt to palm a free drink. Desperate to escape the smog and rain he fastens his helmet around his face.

A call from Jack Thompson rings in through his commlink. "Finally!" He thinks to himself. "Dios mio I'm going to kill Louis for this second-rate relocation. Everyone on his list of friends was either dead or locked up except this guy." Franklin was already tired of this cojone-less dreker. But he didn't have many options. Jumping into his modified Jackrabbit he steers towards the meet.

[Lentrax]

Chrome yourself! Get more Chrome! The ads keep popping up in her vision, unwanted and unbidden. Probably serves her right for coding that virus a year back that changed the verbiage in a few ARO popups to something a bit less friendly.

Seraph curses as she bats another ad away. Then she curses again as she realized she just made that same gesture in reality. It is still hard, sometimes. Keeping AR separate from reality.

Especially since now its in her head and not just on her commlink.

At least there is AR here. I don't think I could stand that empty noise anymore. How can anyone stand that silence?

Even now, she watches and listens as data shoots everywhere, permeating the air as thick as this rain is. Thicker even. Vast streams of it. She watches streams being shot out of storefronts to commlinks like phasers from the old Star Trek crap they play on the oldies channels. More rivers of data pouring up into the sky, a digital deluge as people send messages from their commlinks to wherever in the world.

The message burned in her brain the same moment it buzzed on her commlink. She hit the ignore button on the link, even as she read the message. Then she started hitting buttons on the link, starting a game of Digitag (the digital graffiti game) as she pulled tracking directions to the meet. She hit the Chromeware store with a tag that reads Go chrome yourself, metalheads! Signing it with her usual sig, a set of circuit wings with a halo hanging on the right wing, Seraph popped the door on her car and drove off.

[TheMightyQuinn]

John

*His laughter sounded hollow in his ears, but he forced himself to play along with the charade, shaking his head as he raised a hand to cover his mouth, trying to be polite while laughing at the womans joke. His stomach rumbled and rolled, threatening to bring up the bile and acid that it was eating itself away with. He was so hungry that he could barely think, but then, that's why he was playing the seduction game, wasn't it? He had thought he was above using a woman for a free meal. Turns out he just had never been hungry enough.*

*As the notification came up in the corner of his vision, John could feel his heart almost skip a beat. Work. A job. Cred. Sweet oblivion, it was about time. Bringing the window up, he listens to Jack and shoots him a quick affirmative message, all the while flirting with the young waitress. She wasn't unattractive - just lonely and wanting someone to care. Welcome to the world, sweetheart.*

*With a smile, John stands, sending his info to the girl, letting the humor stay in his voice.*
"Hey, I just had something come up - maybe we can pick this up another time, yeah? I've got a meeting with a very important client, but I'd hate to miss an opportunity to get to know you a bit better. Life's too short, you know?"

*Reaching out, he takes her hand gently, he raises it up to give it a light kiss, never taking his eyes off hers, and lets her respond before giving her a wink and a smile, heading for the door. He hadn't been over the pond long enough to make any real contacts, and if Jack came through, it might be his first real break - he couldn't find her without cred. It wouldn't do any good to starve to death, but it never hurt to hedge your bets either. Casting the waitress one last glance and wry smile on his way out, he let the facade drop as soon as his back was turned, his face going straight and eyes stone cold.*

*It only took him a minute to hop a local transit bus headed in the right direction. At least I'll be fashionably late. Always a good thing. Maybe the job will be enough to get a car to go along with his rathole apartment. Wouldn't that be something? His stomach rumbled again, reminding him of his priorities and he grimaced, pulling up the data search that he kept running day and night, hoping for some results, only to find nothing. Again. One thing at a time.*

[Alberic Strein]

Firham, the sprawl where the meeting will take place. You see the ruins of rampant industrialization, a maze of building, roads, landfill sites, broken down machinery, broken people. The place feels familiar. This sprawl is like many others, always the same faces, the same broken down, forgotten factories. You know those people. They changed their faces but they're still the same people you used to know, even the moanings in pain feel familiar as a family couldn't quite take shelter against the rain and the skin on their extremities start swelling up and turning red. But it goes deeper than that. It's not familiar because it's the same god forsaken drek-hole, with the same kind of people as any drek-hole, no. It's familiar because you are Runners. This is the shadows. A world that sprouted from nothing at the commands of corporate interest and was discarded before even becoming functional. A place that had wasted money. A place that had no place in corporate records. A place that didn't exist. The Shadows.

You finally reach the meeting place, the skyscraper. Its physical integrity still seems fine, but it's skeleton is laid bare. It was never finished and this is little more than a slab of concrete and steel raising towards the sky. You don't even know how big it was supposed to be. The top floor is just the one where the construction team stopped. The gaping holes which were supposed to accustom large windows let wind and a little rain in, the powerful air currents are loud enough to mess with your hearing.

The meeting place should be at the fifth floor. The elevator doesn't seem to be in working order.

Then, just as you step inside the place... You feel a sudden urge to jump back. What is this? It's not that your runner sense is telling you to get the hell out. You still have all your equipment, all your contingency plans, there is no reason for you to fear. Yes, fear, a powerful visceral terror that grips you tight enough to your stomach that you want to just get the heck out.

You feel like entering a beast's lair.

Yet your stomach growls once more, and you still need to break even for the fuel you wasted.

[TheMightyQuinn]

John Smith

*His shoulders hunched forward, hands shoved into the pockets of his longcoat, John pressed forward through the haze and drizzle, thankful for the chemseal and resistant fibers in his coat. The transit hadn't wanted to stop on their route to let him off even in the vicinity, and he could understand why. This wasn't the place people wanted to go.*

*As he moved, John took note of his surroundings, adjusting his sensor equipment with practiced efficiency. His senses must have always been sharp, but the doctors had told him that since waking up, they'd gone into overdrive, his brain starving for input. It wasn't always bad, but as he stepped around a pile of refuse, John had to steel himself, his stomach rolling at the scent. The whole place stank of garbage and death, but more than that - fear. Desperation. Hunger. The smells mixed together to assault him and he was finally forced to breathe slowly through his mouth, shutting out most of the assortment of smells, though not all.*

*As he moves through the shadowed street, he casts a sideways glance at the sounds of whimpering, seeing the family huddling under an awning, trying futilly to keep out of the horrible rain. The parents pushing their children a little farther in from the rain. He could hear the whimpering as clear as day, and with a sidelong glance at the skyscrapper, he shakes his head, his stomach rumbling. If I'm late, I'm late.*

*Jogging over to the group, he points across the street to an open doorway, pulling his own longcoat off as he does.*
"It won't take long to get over there - it looks dry enough. More than here. Get under my coat."

*Spreading the edges out he holds it above his head motioning for the parents to do the same, keeping the children between them as they move across the street. He could smell the wariness and fear on them. He was a threat, and they likely thought he was luring them to some danger, but that was the way of things.*

*As soon as they were within the confines of the building, John quickly slips back into his coat and adjusts his hat, giving the family only a curt nod before turning and leaving. There was nothing more he could do for them. Nothing that had to be said. As his stomach rumbled once more, he is painfully reminded that he dind't even have the means to feed himself. His small act of kindness would have to be enough.*

*Stepping faster, he pauses outside the building long enough to make mental notes, glancing in either direction as he goes, taking in as many details as possible, breathing deeply through his nose to catch the scent of the place - and anyone that might be there already. Time to work.*


Civil Engineering - to determine any details about the building he might know - actual structure integrity, possible age, ect.

Dice pool - 12 [roll0]
Hits - 4 hits

Perception -

Dice Pool - 20 [roll1]
hits - 9 hits

[Lentrax]

The drive takes forever.

Well, maybe not really, but it sure feels that way. Everything in reality takes forever. At least she still had some AR to keep her busy. She started to feel uneasy as she drove away from her block of flats.

Or she did. Her unease grew as the world started to go quiet around her. Soon enough, the constant buzzing around her became a dim hum. The closer she got to her destination, the worse she felt. Turning her 'link on and setting it to just stream music and data helped, but she still started to get queasy.

She had just finished listening to some Samurai before rolling to a stop outside the building. Do you call an unfinished structure a building?

She killed the engine, Johnny Silverhand blasting another wicked thrashing guitar solo as she popped her door open. For a brief moment, she heard the last notes echo off the unfinished walls of the place. Her feeling of unease grew even greater, to the point where she felt like she might vomit. OF course, the fact there was nothing in her stomach only made that thought even less appealing so she cranked the music in her skull, hooked up the link from her pistol to her HUD, her violet eyes starting to glow from the small currents flowing through them. Information, glorious information flowed into her mind and surrounded her sight. Not much, not nearly enough, but it was something....

Then she noticed that she wasn't alone. Not really seeing anywhere to hide, and the fact that her bright pink neon hair would make hiding pretty damn hard, she decided to just keep walking up to the meeting place. IF this guy, whoever he was, wanted to talk, he would. If he didn't, he won't. Though she is sure they will have to talk at some point. Especially if this was going to be a run. If Jack just needed a hack he wouldn't have called her all the way out here. Her node was secure enough for a meet for a hack and grab on the Matrix.

[At0m1kSQ]

The blazing neon and brilliant LEDs lighting the sprawl around were dizzying. Franklin was no stranger to civilization but the bight lights were not exactly a constant in the middle of the desert he called home. Right now, however he was just glad to be out of the cold and rain...

The Jackrabbit came to the slow halt as he arrived on the location on his mapsoft. The skeletal steel and concrete monolith Jack called a building was more of a pile of construction material packed higher than should be allowed First job in who knows how long and this is the meet location? I guess I shouldn't complain. He thinks to himself as a loud rumble emanates from his gut. Yeah I guess I really can't complain...

Out into the rain and smog again I guess. Still a cautious runner is a live runner, so he keeps his helmet sealed and fastened as he trots around to the trunk(boot) of his car and retries his trusty Sig Sauer. Fingering his pocket for his Tiffani he approaches the derelict skyscraper weapon drawn but lowered down.

[Mr.D]

Rapier weaves his bike through the wrecked streets as he approaches the meet. Alas, Jack never did have very good taste. However, one must admit, the setting adds a certain drama to proceedings. He smiled to himself as he rode, approaching the husk of a building. He see's a couple of vehicles outside, and guides his bike past slowly, looking them over as he passes, he steers the bike through a hole that might have been intended to be a door so it's out of the rain before dismounting.

Fashionably late...makes for a better entrance he spots the pink haired lady and greets her loudly "Good evening Madam, here to see Jack I assume? Please, allow me to introduce myself, I am known as Rapier" he removes his hat and bows dramatically, pulling back the tails of his long coat to reveal the sword which is his namesake hanging at his waist. It's a move he has performed many times and he relishes the theatre of it. He straightens up nd smiles at her, taking a second to straighten his pointed goatee "A pleasure to meet you.."

[Alberic Strein]

You see the room you are in. You see what it had been. The tags, the filth, the broken syringes, the broken pieces of wood, a few barrels, you see the marks of a squat. You see what it is now and you see it clearly.
The light from outside lights a path in the room, leading to the staircase. On second look you notice your mistake. It's not the light, it's that the path to the staircase is relatively free of dust and blood. The rest of the room however is blackened with dried blood. At least a dozen of people died here and were left to bleed out. The walls are splattered as well and you can guess the deed was done with pistols and blades, by the impact in the walls which, even though the bullets were dug out, were left by .45mm at the biggest and didn't penetrate nearly far enough to be rifle rounds, and by the length and width of a number of splatters you can guess a blade was used rather than a claw, it's also slightly too long to be the work of an axe.

There are no bodies however, nor clothes, nor a single weapon. At this point it is unsure whether the killers disposed of them or the people lived here... Well, bodies are worth some nuyen or at least a few calories.

From behind the family that John Smith helped gets thrown out of the building by another group, drenched in the acid rain and mud they run to the person which helped them, clinging to what little hope he could bring them. However they freeze just as they are about to enter the building and recognize it.

You can smell their fear as it overcomes them. They are ungodly scared of this place.
They start to take a step back, but as the youngest lets out a little scream after the noxious rain burns him a little, they finally enter, rush into a darkened corner and cling to each other, clearly trying to make themselves as small as possible. They look utterly terrified, but the parents still try to console their children, who seem to cry more because of the pain than of their fear, so they didn't go into shock either.

Your ungodly hearing picks up noises from above quite a few floors up. They are not muffled, whatever is making them is not trying to hide, and while they are not getting closer, they're not getting farther away either. Also, for some unknown reason, you begin to salivate.

[Lentrax]

"A pleasure to meet you.."

Great. Seraph thought. Of course they want to talk to me.

And then the first thought that pops into her head comes out faster than she could quash it. It's also a bit harsher sounding than she would like it, but he'll, everything has been just frackin' wrong since the world went quiet.

You show everyone your sword, or just the girls who're s'possd ta be scared?

A moment passes, then she throws out a hasty, Sorry, this place's got me on edge. There'd better be good reason for me to hafta come all the way here.

She then realizes that sounded even more harsh than her first statement and clamped her mouth shut as she felt the edges of her face start to burn.

[At0m1kSQ]

Franklin lets out an slight chuckle at the janky social interaction between the two strangers. The awkward humor helps him to lighten the mood. "Tengo un mal presentimiento sobre este lugar" He says expecting a reply before realizing where he is. "Uhhh... anyone know anything about this place? Looks like a whole lotta bad mojo happened here."

The small dwarf turns to his wrist and taps his finger a few times on his wrist mounted Ikon. As he searches his mapsoft for any information on what this place might have been in the days of yester-whenever-the-drek. He hears the shrill cry of the young child as the family seeks shelter in the only place they could find. With a heavy sigh he turns his attention away from his wrist and walks over to his Jackrabbit.

Franklin pops open the tranks and some rustling and the occasional *zip* of zippers closing and un-closing are heard, followed by the wrinkling of what sounds like... plastic? Closing the trunk again he shoves the parcel under his arm and makes an ungraceful return as he tries to shield both the package and his rifle.

"Aquí. Para usted..." He says again forgetting where he is. In his hand he extends a thermal blanket to the family. In a former life he made his living helping families not unlike theirs find a better life somewhere far away. Old habits die hard he supposes. Making his way back to the pink haired lady and the fourth musketeer, he resumes his search for any information on the building.

Defaulted data search of logic 3-1 and a soft rating 6 means 8 dice +2 for whatnot.
[roll0]
angrydome.jpg

[Mr.D]

Rapier smiles "Milady, there was no intention to scare Merely introduce myself. However, I have oft found it pertinent to make it known I am armed when meeting strangers in darkened corners" he motions to their surroundings as he finishes.

At Franklin speaks Rapier looks around "Nefarious happenings indeed...." he approaches one of the blood markings, clearly from a bladed weapon, drawing his own sword as he walks, he cuts it through the air, mimicking the cut that would have lead to the stain, then shaking his head as he sheathes his sword "Butchery..sheer butchery of the worst order" as he turns around Franklin is covering the family huddled in the corner. "But what is this? A Saint in our midst, tending to the injured. Sir, you bring warmth to my heart as you do to their very flesh." Rapier walks to the bottom of the stairs and turns to Seraph "Ladies First..."

[TheMightyQuinn]

John Smith
*With a smile, John turns to the other runners, Franklin in particular, John takes a moment to move over to the family, now wrapped in a thermal blanket, raising a finger to his mouth for them to be quiet and speaks loud enough for only them to hear.*
"I apologize for bringing you here, but better than the rain. When it stops, leave as quickly as you can, yes? If I may, I have something that can help with the weakness. Do you know what this place is?"
*Reaching out slowly, he touches each in turn, willing a little of his power out, hoping to provide some relief before standing and turning back to the other runners.*

"Thank you, sir. It seems I came poorly prepaired for such a situation."
*Spreading his hands wide to show his empty hands, he moves closer to the others, cautiously taking in their scents as he approaches.*
"Names John. I've never been here before, but I'd suggest we not send the lady first. There's something above us - a couple stories up. Not sure what it is, but a thought - perhaps we should assume the worst with the surroundings."

*He motions to the bullet holes and blood, crinkling his nose at the smell, his voice soft.*
"I'd almost say another team of runners came through here, but this is more likely gang violence."

[Lentrax]

Yeah. Don't send the girl. Send Swords here. He seems fast enough to not die if there is anything up there.
Her eyes whir very softly as the lenses start the process of low light vision, causing the pupils to once again dimly emit a soft purplish tint that fades after a second, the process complete.

[At0m1kSQ]

Franklin lets out another hearty laugh at the mention of the word saint. "You'll find no saints here Don Quixote. I simply did what I'm used to, so e'spare me the poetry por favor." Turning his gaze back to the commlink he lightly strikes its side a few times as he waits for it to load, muttering foreign obscenities.

The group resumes the topic of the matter of ascending the stairs when he speaks again "Espérate! Lets see if there's anything this damn thing can pick up first. After that the Man of La Mancha can go first and I'll take the back. Chivalry be damned no sense sending the chica in first." He reaches into his pocket and produces a lightstick and tosses it to Seraph. "Hold onto it no telling how dark the upper floors are."

With his newly freed hand he strokes a rosary hidden under his clothes, whispering a silent prayer. He looks around with scrupulous eyes. He was a long way away from the iron fist of Aztec rule, but the paranoia of a faith lived in darkness still wraps around him. Absurd how a small wooden necklace would mean a prison sentence a world away.

[Lentrax]

Don Quixote? OHhh, the sword thing. Got it. And hey, I'm not exactly defenseless here myself. The girl pulls her Hammerli from underneath her stylishly cut purple raincoat. By your reckoning it is just about almost too big for her. But at least her smartlink is set to account for the recoil from the weapon in her not-quite untrained hands.

Not that anyone else would know that. To anyone else she's just a girl with no chrome and a big gun.

No chrome, a big gun, and a massive feeling of nausea from the lack of cals in her stomach and the silence in her head.

[Alberic Strein]

You got the map of the building as well as the positions of the walled-in power cords which go from the underground to a number of floors. The info you got is mainly official so you don't know the exact state of the building but you have the blueprints and the expected layout. It was supposed to be an office building, it was cutting edge technology five years ago, what with his own node and all, but now it's barely average. You also think the construction was cancelled before they had time to put the node. There shouldn't be anything stopping you from going straight to the fifth floor. There should be lightbulbs, but it's anyone's guess whether they'll be functional or not. Or even if the current is on.
The father keeps reassuring his children while the mother takes the time to answer the questions. She speaks softly as if wishing her voice would be muffled by the pit-pat of the rain.

"This building was the main hideout of the Hangers. They were only a local gang but they had lots of influence, this area was their turf and noone contested that. But three weeks ago a couple came. Strangers are rare here, so I followed them. They looked around a little while, never asking directions or speaking a word and then they came here. They just walked straight into it. I don't remember the exact details but pretty quickly the situation turned sour. The gangers came down from the upper floors and surrounded them. They were asking for nuyen to let them leave here without roughing them up too much. The man answered with a smile in his voice that for that price it would be cheaper for him to just kill them all. He laughed, and they laughed too... But they didn't take the hint.

She bites her lip, averting her gaze. Maybe she knew some people among the gangers. Some people who desired better than one sentence, one throwaway joke as a warning shot.

Or maybe she just thinks you'll think she's gone bonkers.

"The woman disappeared. I'm not lying. I was looking at her and then, all of the sudden she wasn't there any more. The man drew some sort of firearm and I ducked for cover under one of the window frames, the wall between me and them. I didn't see what happened next, just the sounds... The screams, the gunshots like thunder, the laughter the... The song."

She shakes her head and stops speaking for a few seconds, searching for a way to explain what happened and failing. She finally sighs as though accepting that she properly is crazy.

"It was beautiful. The sounds were gruesome, the carnage was making me want to throw up, my fear was filling my mind, the sounds of my own panic were trying to shut away what I was hearing but... I remember that at one moment he must have been not too far from me because I could clearly hear his laughter... His disjointed chaotic laughter, one instant high pitched, groveling the next, jumping from one variation to another at a moment's notice without rhyme nor reason... But then, for one instant, one moment, I could hear it. I could hear it align with the sounds of madness. It was not a laughter but vocals. It glided over the massacre and it gave it sense. It was chaotic but in this chaotic scene it was the only logical thing. The one thing that made sense, the one thing whose existence was certain. It harmonized with this slaughter. It was beautiful. And so it made this chaotic senseless scene beautiful. It gave it sense. A purpose for existing. A-A right to exist. And not only this scene... I can still remember the feeling. The instant I finally understood. The moment it finally all made sense. I feel like I caught a glimpse of the world that man was seeing, everything... Everything perfectly made sense. Even this meaningless slaughter. It was just... Music. No different from when the rain strikes a number of bins and music is born. No different from the impulse to start your audio player and listen to something. It was just so... So right."

Her voice dies, like snuffed out by the sheer madness of her words. She presses her palm against her eye, visibly fighting back a terrible migraine.

"It wasn't something I should have heard. The glimpse of whatever I saw or was about to see overcame me. Even now when I try to remember... Anyway, I passed out. I don't know when, exactly. It could have been seconds after my last memory of the scene, or minutes... Maybe even an hour. I just don't... I was woken up by some of the men. The noises had died out, they wanted to see if the area was safe for looting. So they picked me up and threw me in, to see what would happen. I fell among the corpses into what felt like a sea of blood. There is that one religion with a lake filled with blood, right? Well it felt like I ended up straight into that religion's version of hell. Plus the cut-up bodies. Lots, lots of bodies. I had seen people die, I had seen corpses, but not like that, not like... But even worse, what scared me out of my wits was when I raised up my gaze and saw him looking at me. No, through me... Maybe not even that. He was looking at the source of the noise. My existence didn't seem to register in his eye. After a while he turned his head to his woman. They must have been communicating, but I couldn't hear anything. After a while they went towards the upper floors. I-I just went to the nearest corner and balled myself there. I remember Hans shaking me up lightly and the kids hugging me and when I finally managed to look around me and see I wasn't in that corner anymore. I don't remember passing out but I don't remember leaving either."

Her gaze seems to say "maybe I never really left that corner". It seems a pretty bad time to ask whether or not it was the very same corner she is balled in right now.

"After that... A few groups came in to loot the place... Sometimes we would hear a few screams, maybe even a couple of gunshots and they would never come back. Other times they didn't run into any problems and came back with a wealth of goods. Sometimes they would say the place seemed entirely empty, silent. Other times some would say they heard noises from the upper floors, but nobody came down for them and they got out with no issues with the goods. The gangers that came looking for a fight however... None was left alive. But it all ended up calming down. It's been almost a week since the last incident. It's almost like a natural disaster you see? If you see the couple on the street but don't walk up to them, you'll live. If you enter this place... Either everything goes fine and you go out or you're dead. Nobody flees, nobody ends up "just" injured. You either die or you live. Because that's the way it happened, not because you did or didn't do something. You can't do something. They'll either kill you or not. One can't do a thing about it. Nobody can stop them. So the only thing we can do is live with it. As long as we don't interact with them they don't kill us. That's the only thing we're sure of. They won't notice we exist if we don't remind them. And nobody takes the time to kill what doesn't exist, right? So we can only hope that the rain stops before they come down again and disappear from their world before they notice our existence."

Her youngest child snuggles against her. It must have been months since he felt this warm.

"Thank you for the blanket."

The woman tells you the murderers are a couple. The victims were the gangers which inhabited the place and the people who interacted with the couple henceforth. However the couple doesn't go out of his way to kill people. A full week has gone without any incident. As long as they are not bothered they are harmless. When they are bothered however... The woman likens them to a natural disaster. She describes the woman as disappearing right before the fight with the gangers and the man shooting people dead. He seems to perceive the world weirdly and to be able to make people see what he sees. The woman recounts the experience as though she had seen a glimpse of something alien to her very nature. The experience made her pass out and some memories are missing. She still seems traumatized by the slaughter. The couple doesn't interact with the people here and from the point of view of the woman, they don't even seem to acknowledge their existence. When they are forced to however, they kill the nuisance. No quarter is given, no prisoners are taken. There are no survivors of people who went against the couple. Nobody even had time to flee it even seems. The woman expresses thanks for the blanket and explains that they plan to make themselves as small as possible here and then leave as soon as the rain clears up.

[At0m1kSQ]

Franklin stares wide eyed at the woman's story clearly taken aback by all of it. He remains silent for a spell before speaking again, shaking his head as if to clear his thoughts. "Now lady I've heard some weird drek before and seen a good lot more. I seen wolves turn into men, a troll get high of Ghost knows what rampage through a pueblo slum, a handful of blood sacrifices, some cannibal dinner parties right after, and an all ghoul rendition of King Lear... But that there just... ay chingada that tops the cake."

Franklin turns from the family as his Ikon syncs up and finishes retrieving the data. "Ah finally!" Hes quiet for a moment as he reads over the information and visibly digs through some files with his AR gloves. "Says this place was e'supposed to be an office building, nothing out of the ordinary from what I can tell. Pulled up some floor plans and basic electrical schematics for what that's worth. I'll try to send everyone a copy if I can get your comm codes." Franklin then minimizes the windows but keeps the map in his peripheral. He readies his rifle, pulls down a small monocle attachment on his helmet. Looking up towards rapier he says "Do you want point or should I?"

[TheMightyQuinn]

John Smith

*With a sad smile, he nods to the woman and ruffles the little girls hair as he speaks, his voice soft.*
"The world has gone Mad. I suppose it'd take a Madman to truly see it for what it is. I know it's not easy - thank you."

*Pacing across the room, John looks to the other runners and takes a slow, steadying breath, closing his eyes for just a moment before he reaches out to embrace the Death all around them, his words carried on the exhale, little more than a whisper.*
"Place my step, Guide my hand, Master."

*He shudders just a little, letting the power flow through him, and with a fluid grace, pulls a small box from where it hung behind his back, the compact little machine-pistol expanding out with a barely audible click, the stock and foregrip turning it into more of an smg than machine pistol. With practiced motions, he rests it against a shoulder and steps up next to the others.*
"I'll take point if no one else wants to. I've got a pretty good chance of catching sight of anything before it hits us. "

*With a little mental gymnastics, he approves the commlink message from Franklin and brings the building schematics up to overlay his vision. making note of doorways, windows and corners they'll encounter.*
"Don Quixote? Didn't think anyone read the classics anymore. Well, how about we go say hello?"

*Once the other teammates had cleared the commlink channel, John speaks through mental messaging rather than out loud.*
"I'll watch left, you watch right - more likely to have trouble your way with the stairs turning right. I'll have the access doors though. You see something, tell us to get down - the stairs might provide enough cover to give us a second. Sound solid"



I forgot to put in the last post that I was going to cast nutrition on the family - it's only force 2 and 1 drain, so wasn't really worth rolling for, but seemed like the whole reason he has it.
And why wouldn't he use it on himself? Very good question - he would, but doesn't want to get hooked on it, so hungry it is. Magic can't solve everything, after all.

So - casting Improved Reflexes. I'm not going to be moving as fast as our Sir Knight, but should be able to keep up reasonably well.

Spellcasting - 6 dice, only need 2 hits - [roll0]
Hits - 1, so I'll resist drain and try that again in OOC, 'cause I'm off to work!

I'll leave that sustained with one of my foci.

Perception checks - since they're a free action -

Sight - 22d6 [roll1]
Hits - 6

Sound - 22d6 [roll2]
Hits - 7

Smell - 23d6 [roll3]
Hits - 8

[Mr.D]

"A fantastical tale indeed! Which is not to say I don't believe you I might add" he says to the lady with a smile, then turns to the group "What say you my stalwart companions? Magic of the blackest sort or High technology of a most vicious lean?" he draws his sword and takes on a classical Fencing stance, running through various thrusts, feints and reposte's against imaginary opponents as he continues "Lucille and I may be able to strike down a ganger or 3 alone, but an entire gang? Alone and unharmed? 'tis almost unfathomable!" he stops and seems to stare into space.

"Alas, we have been called here for a reason. Per chance by these very individuals. Although my own summons seemingly came from Jack Thompson, a passing acquaintance.... he strokes his pointed goatee with a free hand thoughtfully, before seemingly snapping out of his reverie, drawing his pistol in his left hand and walking to the stairs and turning back to the group "I shall take the lead, but we shall see who gets the point.." he says, flourishing his blade and raising an eyebrow .. besides, there may be a windmill up ahead"

[At0m1kSQ]

Franklin lets out another disapproving sigh and shakes his head as rapier speaks. He then turns to Seraph "Are all people on this island crazy or just the ones I've met today?". Without waiting for a response he disappears into the shadows of the upper floor.Remember the paycheck remember the paycheck.

[Lentrax]

Seraph shrugs. How should I know? I spend most of my time in the sprawl going to clubs and hanging with my scene. Otherwise I don't get out much. Your guess on him is as good as mine.

You can tell she is very uneasy about this place. Even more so than you. It's probably just nerves, right?

[Alberic Strein]

There is nothing stopping your ascension of the stairwell. The first, second and third floors don't have doors and you can see they are thoroughly thrashed. The fourth is the first floor to have a closed door. The fifth also has a closed door to exit the stairwell but light filters from under it.

During your ascension you started to hear sounds, clearer and clearer, a metallic clanking, not unlike the noise a steel spider would make walking against naked concrete.

The dark ambiance and the grim story of the woman might be the reason you see those sounds in such a light.
You hear those sounds sooner and cleaner than the rest, also as you climb up your appetite grows exponentially. Finally you end up smelling scrambled eggs and you come to the realization that it's the sounds of people eating.

As you finally reach the fifth floor, a happy voice resounds.

"They're here? They're here!"

Jack Thompson. You can hear him rush towards the stairwell and open up the door happily.

"Welcome!" He claims before looking at your weapons, screaming a bit and rushing for cover. You didn't have much time to study him, but it was pretty clear that he got beat up. Well, not enough to stop him from running around.

The room is dimly lighted. Part of it comes from natural daylight, aided with various light sources, from plain old lightbulbs to glowing plants and mushrooms. In the middle of the room sits a large couch and a table. Different chairs are scattered around it. On the couch sits a couple.

The woman is obviously of mexican descent, but her pupils are a striking green when her gaze falls on you. She wears a white tank top and some loose camo pants. Of course the most striking part of her is her chromed left arm. Fully customized, probably so cutting edge that just touching the blueprints could make you bleed. She looks calm and composed even in front of her companion's behaviour.
You've seen her. Not in person, but you've seen her. Something about a miniature version of the Tenochitlan arena.
Holy frakking drek that's Acca! You can't even believe your eyes. That woman appeared out of nowhere one day in the most bloody arena in the whole of Europe, visibly without any training and went on to revolutionize sword fighting. She picked up half a dozen of different styles and forged her own in the span of three years. A freakishly short time looking at the ordeal. Worse, she was too good. Her matches lacked panache. It would always go the same way: The gong resounds and in that single instant whatever was fighting her dies a gruesome death. They even had her fight a huge bear to try and give her some challenge. In vain. She disappeared a couple of years ago in some murky circumstances, but her nickname "The Stampede" is still remembered with awe and terror.

For the man is busy stuffing his cheeks with what looks like some awfully tasty scrambled eggs. This is the source of the noises you've been hearing from a few floors below. That's how hard he is wolfing down his food. He is rather oddly dressed, even for a runner. Long duster, cowboy hat... The cowboy look was pretty damn popular in the Shadows. The weird part is his pirate eyepatch and bandana. Oh and that, besides some jeans, what looks like a full-body form fitting armor and a couple of holsters he is clearly not wearing anything under his open duster.
His style matches with a runner known as Kain, flashy type, got a huge bounty on his head which was cancelled after it had become confirmed that he was at Ground Zero when Ares laid waste to the french city. Also, the man in front of you radiates arrogance. It's almost like having someone is poking your nostrils with "I am invincible" sticks.

Regaining control of himself, Jack darts out of his cover and introduces you.

"That's Rapier, fastest blade I have ever... *err*... Second fastest blade I have ever seen. And an all-around nice reliable guy.

"This is Franklin. Louis described him as the world's worst fly. You don't know how the frakk he got here but he did and finding and disposing of him are a nightmare!"

"And that's Lectric. I ran with her a couple of times, her stuff is the matrix and if there is one thing she knows it's her stuff."

"And this is Smith. John Smith. Yeah, not the most innovative guy on the market, but whatever the job, whether he knows it or not, this guy has the tools for it."

"And thaaaaat's... That's... That's all?!"

You clearly see him shiver as he slowly turns his head towards the man, like a badly oiled chrome junkie.

You notice that there are enough chairs plates and cuttlery to accomodate three people than are present in the room. An uncomfortable silence falls.

"That's more than enough for a team."

Calmly answers the man as he motions you to take a chair and sit down. He starts helping himself to another serving of scrambled eggs and non-verbally asks you to present him your plates.

"Let's talk business."

You are not surprised by any stretch of the imagination. You can reorganize yourself as you wish before Jack opens the door, enter in the order you want, ask for some dice rolls at different points of the scene, etc...

[Lentrax]

Seraph decides to waste no time. So far, she hasn't seen anything that makes her want to hate these people. Fear, maybe. Fear did funny to the minds of people back home. Fear has to conquered. Tempered into something else, but since no other alternatives present themselves, Seraph rams a plate forward, hoping for eggs.

After a warm delicious mouthful she calls out, To business!

[At0m1kSQ]

Franklin is quick to grab a seat and help himself to the food placed before him. With the plate in front of and the warm aroma enticing him he lifts the fork to his mouth and chews it slowly, savoring the flavor. Having forgotten when was the last time he really ate, anything at this point tasted like divine mana from heaven.

"Mmmm que rico. Forgive me if it's just my appetite but I must know what you've done to these eggs, they are the best I've tasted in years."

Cooking: pool (5) [roll0]
3 hits 4 if +2

[Alberic Strein]

"Well, merely using real food already improves the taste a lot, and the proper amound of salt and black pepper does wonders, but the secret lies in the bell peppers, first you fry them, then..."

He happily goes on for a few minutes, only wincing and stopping when the woman strikes him in the back of the head, motioning him to get back on track. Franklin's cooking knowledge allows him to understand the process and that nothing weird was added to the food, else the texture or taste would have been altered.

"Okay okay, back to business. First of all, you can call me Kain. As you must have guessed, I need a team of runners. Let me be upfront with you for this one: It's not going to be paid enough, it's not going to be simple and it's not going to be easy. But it's a job and every nuyen and every bit of cred helps. That, and you would be saving Jack's life."

The man resumes eating for a bit and then, after making a face of pure delight, returns to the subject.

"The story is simple. My team has been preparing a job for a while, and we needed a decoy. So we hired Jack's team but then while we were still busy with the finishing touches, those frakking idiots took a side job against my clearest instructions. Even worse, they botched it. Half of them are dead, and almost the other half is in prison. Jack was the only one to get out of this damn mess. Well, he was going to join the ranks of the dead until he assured me he could assemble another team of runners and not compromise the mission. That would be you. So the bad news are you don't get to choose the time of the mission, you don't get a few weeks to prepare, the opposition won't be a joke and since we are paying you on our cut, you can't really expect much more than 7000 nuyen. On the bright side, we already did the legwork, there is a fine amount of cash to be made as a side job and since you're only a decoy you can pull out whenever you wish and still get the full reward money. I know that it's a difficult job, but I have no interest in having you all die. That would be bad for my cred, on top of being assholish as heck, and I don't have so many contacts and so much influence that I can allow myself to get such bad rep. If I thought I was sending you all to an early grave, I wouldn't ask you."

He eats a bit more before finally adding:

"I'm going to need you to verbally accept the job before I can tell you more."

He shoots a glance at the woman saying "Or else I'm going to be beat up!"

You also notice something slightly weird. Besides her chrome arm which remains oddly unmoving, there is always some part of the woman in movement. From a finger to an eyelash and including her ears from time to time. It's usually some very slight movements, but sometimes they get bigger and when they do, the man "accidentally" somehow touches her, either with his hand, foot, shoulder or else, and the movements calm down for a little while. Rinse and repeat.

[Mr.D]

As Rapier sees Acca he stands dumbfounded. His arms fall to his sides and the others push past him to enter the room "The Stampede..." he whispers in a hushed voice. Composing himself he holsters his weapons and enters the room, walking past the food to Acca and bowing, not his previous theatrical bow but a genuinely modest eyes-to-the-floor bow "Lady Acca, I have had the pleasure of watching all of your Arena battles multiple times, it is an honour to be the same room as you" looking up he smiles "If time permits, it would be a source of everlasting joy to me if you were to teach me even a single technique. The Riposte you used in your match against Brad the Impaler to run him through is a personal favourite of mine"

As KAin starts to talk about his Egg recipe Rapier suddenly seems to be aware of everyone else in the room and looks over his shoulder at the food before turning back to Acca "You must excuse me my lady, for of course we have come to discuss business..." with that he turns and the others can see the grin on his face as he walks to the table, eagerly digging into his own helping of eggs as he remembers his hunger

"Delicious!" he exclaims as he polishes off his food, just as Kain finishes talking, "Sir, the chance to work with Lady Acca, even though I may be pure fodder for our foes whilst the glory falls upon the two of you, is enough for me to say wholeheartedly that I am on board"

[Lentrax]

7000 nuyen? That'll keep me in soy for a while.

Stomach rumbling to accent the point that her prospects of other sources of income were not exactly forthcoming, Seraph looked at this guy again.

Sure. What'dya need hacked?

[At0m1kSQ]

"Senorita Acca, I thought I recognized you. I saw your posters and fliers all over Aztlan back home. It is nice to see someone from the homeland here. I'll be more than glad to work for you both, I'll even offer in a recipe for Huevos Rancheros for the Vaquero (Cowboy)"

[TheMightyQuinn]

John Smith

*When he's introduced to the group, John gives a weak smile, not thinking for a moment that any of the others believe it, but following through with courtesey. His searching senses scan the room quickly, missing little, though he finds himself impossibly distracted by the Smell of the food on the table, the sheer intensity of it sending a shiver down his back as his stomach threatens to mutiny and help itself regardless of his desires. This must be what inspired the tales of Ambrosia.*

*Dropping his weapon to point at the floor, John sends a simple command through the smartlink to cause the gun to collapse, holding his left hand open with the palm facing the ground as he does so - there's no sense in giving dangerous new aquaintances a reason to gut us. And John made no mistake - every fiber of his being screamed that these two were dangerous - he could feel it all the way down to his scalp. As the gun slips back behind his back on it's sling, he motions to one of the chairs and pulls it out for Lectric, though she hardly seemed to notice, such was her hunger. That was fine.*

*Reaching out for a spare plate, he raises an eyebrow to Jack in way of asking if it was alright, and at the other mans nod, he dishes himself, choosing to stand with the plate, Closing his eyes slowly as the first bite hits his mouth like pure mana, he lets a small sound of contentment escape his mouth as he goes for a second bite, pausing here and there to speak, motioning with his fork while he does - a seemingly unconcious act.*
"I'd consider base-jumping off the building just for the eggs, so if you've got a job offer, I'm in a receptive mood."

*A side job? While in the process of a sensitive run? John wasn't against opportunities siezed during the course of an employment, but to actively seek out secondary jobs while already contracted seemed.... unprofessional. At the least, careless.
Giving his head a shake, he listens to the story intently, and focuses his attention on the two, picking up on the tiny details, but files it away for the moment.*
"7? It depends on the job, whether it's solid payment, but since it's coming from your cut, it's a reasonable sum. Never feels good to lighten your own pocketbook - I hope you negotiated for at least partial expense coverage."

*Pausing a moment to enjoy another bite of eggs, John gives a genuine smile.*
"No - asking us to go to an early grave would get you nowhere. Paying us to take the risk is the name of the job though. I think we all get that. Occupational hazard. I assume that in the case of the unforseen, shares will be split evenly between the survivors?"

*With a contented sigh, he places the plate on the table and folds his arms over his chest, color returning to his face.*
"You can count me in - I'll be honest. I'm not in a position to say No."
*As the woman convulses consistently on various scales, John frowns, his piercing gaze focusing on her. That looks like TLE. Physical touch as a means of psychological grounding? Interesting. How much augmentation does the woman have? A professional cutter - so probably no small amount.*


Alright - let's do a cybertechnology/ Psychology roll to make sure I picked up the details of TLE, or whatever it is, then an assenssing roll to see what I can learn by shifting my perception and looking at the two of them.

Cybertechnology -
Pool - 11 [roll0]
Hits - 5

Psychology -
Pool - 11 [roll1]
Hits - 5

Assenssing -
Him -
Pool - 19 [roll2]
Hits - 7

Her -
Pool - 19 [roll3]
Hits - 9

[Alberic Strein]

Acca fidgets for a while while the cowboy vainly tries to hide his huge grin with his bowl.

In the end, he gets dope slapped and she answers the two while scratching her cheek.

"G-Gracias por tus lindas palabras." She looks hesitant, unsure how to respond, but again she slaps the back of the cowboy's head, sighs, and seem to regain some sort of assurance. "I'm surprised people knew of me in Aztlan and I am ever thankful for not having started in the arena over there, I would have never survived long enough to develop into even a half decent fighter there. I am also sorry to tell you this, but while my parents came from your homeland, for all I know I was born in Spain. A-Also, Kain is the one doing the cooking..." Her voice almost dies and what follows is more of a reproachful whisper. "Something about chemical weapons being banned or whatever..."

It seems that during the whole conversation and during the build up for it, the cowboy has been relentlessly teasing her. Well, at least that got a reaction out of her.

She then turns to Rapier.

"It's very promising that you even noticed that it was a riposte. It was extremely close. It's one of those times where I really think that things could really have gone either ways and I only ever won the coin toss. His excellent reflexes, flawless defensive stance plus his reach almost got me... Well, impaled." She suddenly shuts up and slams her chrome hand on top of Kain's head. "A-Anyway, I am self-taught, and my previous attempts at teaching someone didn't go well. I am too much of the instinctive type, I can understand what is wrong in someone's stance and how to exploit it, but not explain how it is wrong or how to fix it. I can only give you the advice that was given to me 'Strike first to strike last' and 'If you don't feel like you can outsmart your opponent, then rush him and make the fight as short as possible'. But again, if you caught on to my movements, you are probably way above the level at which such advice is necessary. But... If I may add some of my own advice, in 'strike first to strike last' the operative word is 'to'. It's not about taking the initiative or rushing blindly your opponent. It's not about attacking first, but hitting first and ending the fight. It can very well be done from a defensive stance. What this advice means in my opinion is to open up a fight with your best blow, where it's the most necessary, as your opponent is at full strength, and effective, as you are still in top-form. The added bonus of course is that on the long run, risky do-or-die single stroke fights are better for your bodies than steady fights where you accumulate damage. And I'm stopping here before a certain someone starts nagging at me."

Kain merely smiles and speaks while letting his bowl down.

"I worked with the whole 'we split dead people's part' but honestly after having to wipe out my own team for the third time I grew tired of it. If four people survive then I am to pay 28 000 nuyen, an eventuality for which I am prepared. If only one does, then I am to pay 7 000 nuyen. If you don't like it, don't die."

"The run is to steal some sensitive data from a corporate lab. It's supposed to only be a standard R&D building, but our Johnson thinks that they are working on a new species of cows or something. Maybe a pig. It seems this could revolutionalize the food market, even the poorest of the poorest could get their hands on actual meat. Our employer invested strongly in soy production and soy based products and if they pull back now, they will suffer rather heavy losses. Even more if they are caught unaware. Our goal is to infiltrate the building and get our hands on the info regarding this product. They want to know if it's bogus, an impossible to industrialize proof-of-concept, still in the early stages, an actual working product, or almost finalized to adjust their funding accordingly."

"The laboratory has three distinct buildings, eastern, central and western. The central building is a decoy, the information we seek is in the eastern building, while some probably as profitable information is in the western one. The plan is to have us infiltrate the eastern one, then your team infiltrates the western building, eventually raising the alarm and hopefully getting the hell out. The alarm will stop the electric current and the node and trigger the back-up node and generator. The compromised building will get sealed and the whole laboratory will go in full evacuation mode. Why ask you to do that? While the security of the node was too hard for us to crack, the back-up node was outdated defense-wise and we managed to infiltrate it. As soon as it will boot my team will get in motion, steal the info we need and make our escape. Oh yeah, before I forget."

He drops a little black box on the table.

"I'm a sucker for old tech. This is a reciever. It will only react to one specified crypted frequency. The range is not bad at all and it's too brief to get noticed by security device. Of course it means it can't do much, only light a LED when it recieves the frequency. If that happens then it means that everything that could have gone wrong on our end has gone wrong and you need to get the hell out ASAP if you want to live. Me pressing the button to send such a signal means that the best course of action for you is to pull out. Don't think about anything unnecessary. You do what you need to to make your escape and that's all. If Acca and I get wiped out then contact Jack, he will have the money to pay you the moment I press on the button."

"Hopefully it won't come to that. Are you ready to recieve the results of our legwork? It's quite a lot of data."

Biotechnology/Psychology/Assensing her : You know of a cutting edge extremely invasive implant which makes a person suffer constant seizures, which are then canalised by the cyberware into lightning fast reflexes and motions. Kain does seem to act as a psychological anchor, though you don't see how it works. Cyberware-wise, she has a cyber arm, the aforementioned move-by-wire system, and an adrenaline pump for bioware.

She feels safe and assured, though that waned into embarassment and indecisiveness when the attention was on her.

As for Kain... You could get a headache just thinking about it. He is radiating pride. Litterally radiating. His aura seems to fill up the whole room. It makes looking at thing extremely difficult. Like trying to assess a post-modern painting while a shining naked man spells "I am invincible" with his body while dancing and doing the helicopter between you and the painting. His astral form seems a little bit weird, though you can't exactly see in what way. It just feels wrong. He might have some good bioware and it might be one of the reasons. Also the eye hidden behind the eyepatch is functional.

[Lentrax]

Seraph had been steadily scratching a spot at the inside of her arm for the majority of the conversation. The spot was probably going to wear through and start bleeding soon, so raw she had ripped it with her nails.

A new pig? Whatever. New reports of genetically altered animals have always been circulating the matrix. Seraph didn't think any of it was true. She only listened halfheartedly to the whole thing. She may have signed on for the job, but so far, she hadn't heard of anything that needed her.

When the idea of data was mentioned, Seraph perked up. That meant electricity, radio frequencies, background noise. A small reprieve from the deafening silence around her. The thought was enough to get her to stop scratching.

Hit me with the raw data, unparsed, unaltered. Give it to me pure.

[TheMightyQuinn]

John Smith

*After hearing the plan, John shakes his head and blinks, letting out a low whistle as he returns his sight to the physical, one hand rising to rub at his eye unconciously.*
"That's quite the plan. It makes sense. I can't imagine so much easily attainable food."

*Pausing, he shrugs and smiles*
"Well, relatively. It's probably pigs - they're already one of the most efficient animals as far as food conversion rates. Well, behind chickens, though not by much. That's all good and well, but if the corp has managed to find a way to turn even normally inedible items and refuse into useable food through trangenic manipulation of processing enzymes..."
*With a sheepish smile, he chuckles.*
"I read. Fascinating stuff."

"It's too bad your employer doesn't want the data itself - trails, proceedures, everything. Rather than just adjusting their investment plans, they could make a killing by reproducing the results themselves and a lot of peoples lives could improve. They'd have the ability to adjust their funding strategies by knowing their own project plans and.... eh."
*With a dismissal wave of his hand, he turns to pace quietly.*
"You're hiring us as a distraction, I know. Jobs a job - we don't call the shots. I'm in, either way."


Now, I know the information on food conversion rates because I lived on a pig farm for a while, but I figure a knowledge (biology) roll will probably be needed for john, just for good measure.

Roll - Knowledge - Biology
Pool - 11 [roll0]
Hits - 4

I know - not really needed, but I like it.

[Lentrax]

Oh, and uhh, by the way. the girls a bit skittish now, like something is coming back to her cortex. A ritual, ingrained for years in the long term memory for recall-dreck they tech kids in primary school anymore. Assuming the even go to primary school. If the school can hold off the drekkers and the boomers long enough to actually teach the class.

Anyway, back to the near travesty about to unfold on this little scene. thanks for not cuttin my ****in head off when you first saw me.

[Mr.D]

Rapier reclines in his chair after finishing his eggs, crossing his legs and pulling his beard idly. "Indeed, share the fruits of your labours with us. T'would be most useful to map out the enclosure." with a mental command he opened his node to receive the data, then leant forward onto the table steepling his fingers as he though "I would suggest, for our team in the very least, our primary point of discussion would be; Egress. That is to say, Escape plans A,B and C. Yes?"

[Alberic Strein]

The laboratory is between Birmingham and Cardiff, lost in the middle of nowhere, there are roads leading to it and a highway 30 minutes from it, but no village or legitimate habitation, the laboratory is mainly self sufficient though not to the extent of an arcologia. It is surrounded by an electric 3-meter tall fence, with three portals, one main one big enough to let even the biggest trucks through, and two lesser ones, for staff, etc... The main building is pretty big, but the two aisles are more decently sized, they have around 6 offices per upper floor, though they seem to be a bit bigger below ground.

There are three buildings, the main one has 5 floors and 3 underground levels. It is comprised of a dormitory (even though the scientists are encouraged to sleep in their office) shopping center, administrative offices and such.

The eastern one has two floors and "?" underground levels, according to the info, it should have 5, but nothing is sure. The upper floors are administrative and security offices, while the underground ones are the laboratories. They have huge entries of plant-based products, the team theorises they must be working on an alternative to Soy-based products, but still based on plants.

The western one is the building with the most information. Above ground-wise it is similar to the western building, but the information of the underground is extremely detailed. Five levels, with the different subjects of research, one per levels, the names and personal information of the staff, their working hours and their psychological evaluation. According to the information, they need to uncover what is hiddent behind the second safe on the fifth level.

Staff wise, there are 74 agents on site, twelve of these people are guards, equipped with automatic weapons, carbines and machine pistols as a back-up, as well as stun batons. They wear armor vests for defense, no helmets. Their training seems to be average for corp security guards. They are not that many and not that well equipped, so the team theorises that there must be additional defenses in the laboratories. "Invisible" defenses in the sense that they don't leave money or food traces. There are three hellhounds on site. The data has averages of their reaction times, they are not that impressive, nothing happened in a while. A side-note adds that stopping issues from occuring for the past few weeks paid off. You have the positioning of the cameras, often they are two by corridors and one per room.

There are four nodes, one per building, the nodes of the two aisles being a "slave node" to the one in the main building, and one back-up, which is marked "hacked".

The data you receive is extremely exhaustive, what you see is what is immediately apparent, but that's only the visible part of the iceberg, ask what I forgot to add.

edit: Oh yeah, forgot about that, you have access to the accounts and money transfers as well as the Johnson's info. He works for a slave company of a slave company of Ares. He is the one who unearthed the weird money fluctuations in the laboratory and theorised that they were working on replacement food. The legwork from the team seems to confirm that, the target corp's R&D department is specialised in food, still they couldn't unearth for who the company works. Officially it's the clave corp of a below-average AA corp with nothing higher than it in the hierarchy. It's evidently bull****, but the team couldn't find evidence to tie another company to this one. They think Evo or Aztecnology to be strong candidates, but their involvement is not confirmed in the least.

"I agree, the most important thing for you would be to plan your escape. We won't ask you what your escape plans are, and I don't plan on telling you ours."

"Our Johnson wants the data to study it, but not to work it. He is a pawn of Ares, and I suppose that while they want their return on investment, they don't plan to overly invest in food. Basically, as long as soy is still cheaper, it doesn't change their overall plans. Yet again, what does?"

'Kain' grimaces.

"To turn anything non-plastic into food for an edible organism... Now that's some bad memories. The bottom-line is that anything that is that voracious and that effective, food conversion rates-wise, is just too much of a goddamn threat."

He shrugs, visibly blowing his composure roll and remembering some pretty heavy memories. Then he sighs, pets Acca's head, who also visibly disliked the subject, and ends up lightening the mood with a joke.

"Not cutting your head off? Damn Acca, do you see where your antics brought us?

"Because I'm the crazy one now?"

"Well, you did decapitate that hobo..."

"He asked for it! I mean he litterally asked for it! 'If you don't help me, you might as well kill me so I don't starve!' I didn't want to help him. So I killed him painlessly. I'm actually surprised you didn't shoot him to death!"

"First of all, you're faster than me, so even if I wanted to shoor him to death... Nah even for me the irony would have been... 'No, I have no cash for you, so I am blowing your head with a 2nuyen cap!' Even I am not that twisted."

'Kain' sighs, and scratches the back of his head.

"Basically, I don't help people unless I am ready to protect them till I die. Those are my aesthetics. I don't like helping someone and then letting them fend for themselves. If I save their lives, then they are living on time I bought them. So I am responsible for them. So I won't extend my hand to anyone I am not ready to protect forever. So yeah, between killing a stranger and giving a single nuyen, if there are no third options, then I will kill. You now know what you mustn't do."

[Lentrax]

Seraph actually sighs as the information floods into her brain. She relaxes as she immerses herself into the flow.

Settling back in her chair, Seraph begins searching through the data for probable escape routes, and flaws in security routines.

data search pool is 8.
Data Search (Escape routes): [roll0] (3 hits.)
Data Search (Security Flaws): [roll1] (4 hits.)

[Alberic Strein]

Flaw1: Since the corp cannot afford the high profile stationing a lot of troops in this backwater laboratory would give, they made it part of their "qualification tour" were guards transit between places, while the number of guards remain the same, it makes distinguishing intruders by face difficult as long as they wear guard armor, if a fake sin with relevant info is broadcasted, odds are they won't even check for authenticity.

Flaw2: Like 'Kain's' team discovered, they neglected updating the back-up node, meaning that an alert is actually more exploitable than a normal situation. Also, their locking of the aisles with no option to open them is illegal, not like anyone can do anything about it, but still.

Flaw3: When the buildings go on lockdown, only the first floor has properly tough metal curtains, the second floor (around 3.5 meters from the ground) only has rather flimsy normal metal curtains.

Flaw4: Every gun on the premises has a SafeTarget system, hacking it might be extraordinarily difficult, but it's possible to shut down any if not all guns if done. It will demand hacking the main node before the alert, or put a trojan in a nearby node. The back-up node does not support SafeTarget system. All guards use frangible rounds.

Flaw5: Their back portal to enter the premises does not work with a biometrics reader, but a simple sequence maglock, the code has been hacked by the 'Kain' team and the night of the assault it will be changed to 4321B

Flaw6: The cameras have a number of not multi-covered blindspots, meaning that with the information in AR, by moving at half speed you can avoid detection, whether outside or inside the aisles, however entering the rooms undetected this way is impossible, the flaw only applies to corridor and open-terrain.

[Mr.D]

Rapier listens to Kain and Acca chatting and the frankness with which they discuss killing, and their reasons for doing so or not surprise even him. His own motivations are usually business, or the pleasure of the fight but he can see their reasonings.

"Is there any action we should avoid? Anything that will lead to security reactions that would disrupt your own plans?" he turns to the other team members So my newest companions, what do you propose?"

[Alberic Strein]

"As long as you don't compromise the security of the main and eastern building, anything goes."

[At0m1kSQ]

"Infiltration and a data grab. I'm used to getting people out of places, I suppose data will be a welcome change. Less to account for no? So whats the time scale on this job? I imagine it is not too terribly time e'senssitive if it allowed you time to try a second time. Legwork should't take too long, do you know what kind of movement comes in and out of the facility? Supply shipments and the like? Is it not too heavily regulated we could just drive up in uniform and blend in with the shift workers?"

[Lentrax]

Data? I can get you data. I'll get data you never thought you wanted.
Could leave some too. DdoS their main server. Have to shut the whole drekkin mess off just to clear out offers for chromin bits that probably benefit from being unaltered if you get me...

[Mr.D]

Rapier sits and pulls on his goatee as he thinks "A Trojan horse, excellent idea. How difficult would it be to secure the uniforms and a suitable Horse? Would we be able to ambush a vehicle on the way in?"

[Alberic Strein]

'Kain' seems to hesitate, lost in thought, then his partner unceremoniously grabs his head and, without releasing her grip, gazes into his eyes for a long, long time.

They are either sending each other messages through skinlink or enjoying a very private moment in the middle of strangers. Oh well, they wouldn't be the first.

After a while Acca ruffles his hair and speaks in audible voice.

"Don't hold back for me. If you want to roll with it then roll with it."

She sounds annoyed but blushes slightly, it seems her partner teased her relentlessly the whole time.

'Kain' then crosses his legs, puts his elbows on the higher one and interwines his fingers masking his mouth, his eyes shining with a dark glitter.

"To start, I would like to say that there are a few rumors about me liking mayhem. Those are absolutely false. I LOVE mayhem. I FRAGGING LOVE mayhem. Mayhem is my one favorite thing in the world. If I had to take something with me to a deserted island, I would bring mayhem. I love all kinds of mayhem. From teasing my partner to the indiscriminate slaughter of passer-bys. I would like to say innocents, but there are no innocents left in this world. I LIVE to see mayhem blight the world for yet another day. So no, you fiddling with data doesn't help me. Because the main node is in the central building and I don't want you there and that if you don't touch it, you will have to wait for the nodes to connect with each other, which they do weekly, and which is a bother. Almost like waiting for christmas. Or for a timer to go off. And when it finally goes off, such obvious fiddling with data could make our own more apparent. But you know what? It doesn't really hurt me either. There are tons of benefits from you doing that. Besides the obvious one of tearing this corp down. For the heck of it. Because you can. So yes, if you want to fiddle with your building's node, plant a lot of disgusting viruses in it and infect their whole corp so hard they'll have to restore their data from a half a year old save losing enough cash to make them go bankrupt, have their chief of matrix security fired if not outright executed and having at least a bunch of executives committing suicide rather than starving on the streets, because you can? You have my blessings. All of them. Well, not all, but a big bag's worth of them."

"Also, I like how you think. Not only about the mayhem part, but about the uniforms and vehicle... That's how we planned our entry. Mingle with the guards, wait for your diversion, then start the operation. But hey, we wouldn't be runners without a strong plan B which does not -for once- centers around killing a lot of people, so I am ready to sell it to you. We have three unisex uniforms, we also hold the workers for the shift in 60 hours in our grasp. They have a few vices each, so it wasn't hard. We were planning on replacing them for them the night of the assault, giving us the vehicle, credibility and access to the factory. With minor adjustments these can be tailor-made for you, giving you easy access to the factory. This should be pretty easy to use, we had really worked on that one. Let's say... I can give you all that, but if I do, it will cost you 1 000 nuyen, deductible from your final pay. Or you could find another way in."

"Actually, this job is pretty damn time sensitive. We were ready to move out with a nice margin of a few days in case something came up when that retard Thompson and his mates decided to frag everything up. Now you're our plan B. We have 60 hours before we have to fall back to plan C and D, which don't involve you, unless you happen to be a bystander around the factory."

[At0m1kSQ]

Franklin reclines in his chair as Kain finishes speaking. "A love for mayhem you say? Well if the need arises for it I'm not afraid to cause a bit of wanton malice. I just ask it be well deserved or desired." He chuckles to himself, smiling from memories coming to mind he's unwilling to share. "It's good to know my first job on this island will be one that caters to my especialty. Uhh Lectric? Si? We'll need some information from the facility all that we can get. What kind of automated security system they use where its active, also any security polices and protocols they have. If we have to pose as security or employees we'll want to know what they do. I want to know how the workers and shipments get in and out so we can pretend to be one or the other. The floor plan will be the next most important thing, we don't want to wander aimlessly looking for the server room."