Zaibatsu - Corporate Wars (IC)

[Freshmeat]

Chapter 1: Old Vendettas

Tokyo, Marunouchi District
September 21, 2030


Welcome to Ellis-Itami.

Knowledge is strength.
Knowledge is unity.
Knowledge is a way of life.

*ping!*

The elevator doors slide open and within moments a well-dressed secretary arrives. She leads you to the kind of dark, uninviting office reminiscent of a film noir. The company motto still fresh in your head, your mind can't help but think back about how simple it had all begun: a small note slipped under your door.
In hindsight, it could just as well have been a phone call or a message through cyberspace, but the content would still be the same: Ellis-Itami had selected you out of thousands of other candidates to perform a task for them.
Being the undisputable masters of information in Tokyo, it didn't come as a surprise that the Ellis-Itami corporation knew about you and your skills. They choose people from all layers of society, often completely disregarding their amount (or lack) of experience. They pride themselves on their capability to construct what they consider 'perfect' teams that have the greatest chance of completing whichever mission they're tasked with.

Although the note only mentioned a date and an adress, the real message was the card itself - or rather, its color. Green and yellow cards stand for 'safe' and 'low-risk' jobs respectively. These included package deliveries, small-time espionage and roughing up someone from time to time.
Red cards, such as the one you received, signify dangerous missions where chances of survival are a lot lower. It's rumored that there are grey cards as well, which are only reserved for the most dangerous of missions.


The secretary closes the door and leaves. Although there is little illumination, you can make out six other people in the room. Five of them are clearly recruits like you, either sitting relaxed in one of the sofas, leaning against the wall, or simply standing at ease. The sixth person, clearly your direct superior, sits behind a desk and is partially covered in shadows. You can see rings of smoke emanate from where he's sitting.

For a few moments, the room falls completely silent, but then the man speaks up in a weary tone with a slight - possibly British - accent.

"Good. Now that we're all here, we can discuss business. I've read all of your personal files already so chances are, I probably know you better than you know yourselves. As for me, you can call me..." he seems to think for a moment "... Five."

He stresses the last word, and it's almost as if you can sense his smirk in the darkness. With the push of a button, he projects a surprisingly realistic 3D-hologram of one of Tokyo’s building in the middle of the room.

“This is the Century Sanjari Hotel”, he says. “Thirty stories. Expensive rooms and a lot more security than your average hotel. Though then again, it’s still a hotel, so don’t worry about that too much.

As you know, one of our most promising agents was found dead several days ago. We believe he was murdered. He most commonly went by the name Yousuke Jurata, though who he was isn’t exactly relevant to this mission... unlike what he was investigating. Our intelligence indicates that prior to his death he discovered something that would incriminate one of the zaibatsu. In all likelihood, these two events are related.
It’s up to you to show that no one messes with our senior operatives and, simultaneously, recover the information he discovered.”

Once again, Five presses a button, and the image changes, this time showing a life-sized hologram of a middle-aged man with rat-like features and a scheming look in his eyes.

“This is Takaro Iato. Our sources show that he is responsible for killing our agent. He has worked for Okuda Optics from time to time, though it seems that in this case he hasn't been operating under their command. Whatever information Takaro has in his possession, he intends to leave the country with it tonight. Earlier today he arranged for a private jet to arrive at the Tokyo airport at 11.30, which will bring him to New York.
We need you to eliminate him before he leaves the country.

Since security at the airport is tight, we suggest you head to the Century Sanjari hotel and kill him there. According to our latest reports, he's holed up in his room along with his bodyguard. It’s highly probable that he has hired additional protection in the meantime.

Once you’ve taken him out, search the room for his personal palmtop computer. He’ll probably keep it close by. Take it along and don’t access it yet. Takaro is a skilled programmer and will probably have several contingency programs installed that might cause all files to be automatically deleted as soon as an unauthorized user accesses them.

Bring the computer, as well as any other items of interest you chance upon to the Shoto shop in the Yokohama district. It'll serve as a temporary safehouse when you’ve completed your mission. Basic supplies will also be available there, should you need them. We’ll contact you when you arrive.

So to sum it all up: Eliminate Takaro, recover his computer, head to the safehouse and await further instructions.

Gentlemen, this is your chance to prove yourself to our corporation. If you fail, we’ll have to send in our backup troops. I don’t want to do that, and let me assure you, you don’t want it to happen either. Therefore, I suggest you get going now. You've only got a few hours to work with, so it's in our best interests that you put them to good use.
If you ever need to contact me again, just go to the nearest public phone. When that time comes, you'll know what to do.

One last thing before you leave though: whatever you do, don’t needlessly endanger any civilians. We are a professional company, and I want it to stay that way.”


Tokyo, Ikebukuro District


*Welcome to subway station #5, Ikebukuro east. We wish you an enjoyable evening.
Did you know that the Tokyo subway network is sponsored by Matsuyama Heavy Industries?
Matsuyama: The future of Tokyo.*

The train doors close behind you, and you find yourself amongst a massive throng of commuters. It's the evening rush hour, and everyone is on their way to the nearest apartment complex, restaurant, bar, brothel or arcade hall. They're done with work for today.
For you, it has just begun.

You make your way up the stairs, to the surface, where you are greeted by various neon lights and other, various flashing billboards. Cars both drive and fly by, while rain pours down on everyone below, as if an angry God has been looking down on the world with great disapprovement, and now seeks to drown it in tears. The streets are thinning out an an amazing rate - soon they'll be empty.
You can see a variety of buildings around you, most notably the Shinobizawa corporation building to the south and the Century Sanjuri hotel to the west.

Although you've probably told eachother your name on the train, you don't really know much about eachother yet.

Since you're walking around publicly, I assume you've all taken special precautions to keep some of the larger weapons/items (shotguns, katanas, etc.) hidden on your body until the time is right to actually use them.

The following items are pretty much unconcealable:
- Viktor's 2 LAW's (These are stored in a large bag you're carrying around).
- Viktor's kevlar jacket (This is the unconcealable version. Since civilians aren't allowed to wear kevlar jackets, you'll want to either store it in your bag until you're about to attack, or to hide it under a layer of clothes. In the latter case, you'll look unnaturally bulky and will have to roll a deceive check against anyone who inspects you closely.

[Ulzgoroth]

Uemura hangs back toward the middle of the group on the way up the stairs. Emerging into the rain, he hunches his shoulders under his scruffy once-black jacket. His fingers wander unconsciously toward the pistol settled unaccustomedly in the left pocket, across from the familiar weight of the cyberdeck, before he pulls them back to the seam of his dark gray pants.

Looking towards the brightly lit tower of their target's hotel, he offers a question to his new associates. "Did anyone catch where in that to look for him?"

[Timaoh]

Kimaro sneers as he throws the long bangs of dark grey hair out of his face and mops the rain away with the same motion. "You mean besides in the hotel? Nope. I missed that part." His sarcasm does little to hide the edge in the voice and more than likely has the opposite effect than he was trying to achieve.

He shuffles his feet nervously and tries to move out of the way of the people bustling for shelter. "Looks like they have the right idea. Let's get out of this rain and into that hotel. I could use some 'room service'." With that he pulls a dark flask from the inner pocket of his sleeveless trench and takes a quick swig, placing it back in his jacket with a sure motion that belies a habbit he is familiar with.

Somewhat more comfortable now that he's had a drink he leans back, lounging against whatever is handy and waits for someone else to decide their fate.

[Alton]

Musashi adjusts his dark sunglasses slightly, making sure that they cover the irregularities in his eyes. His autopistol was in a holster that allowed it to be drawn relatively easily with either hand, and utterly concealed under the blask suit jacket he wore. The undershirt and tie were a dark blue, and gave him the overall appearance of just a random middle level businessman.

"Now Kimaro, he meant where in the hotel we should look for him. I believe they didn't give us that information, so his question is entirely justified." He runs a hand over his hair, pushing excess water out of it. It's done up in a short ponytail that with a very simple change could be pinned up into the traditional top not of the old samurai.

With a casual nod at Uemura, he continues speaking. "I believe that finding out where he is might be easier from inside the hotel. Who can hack?"

[Mavian]

Pulling the hood of his pull-over up to cover his hair, Yoshimufi is going to glance around the area nervously.

"Get me a deck and some Icebreakers and I can handle it, or we could just ask at the desk."

[Kaisshau]

"Asking may not be the right idea. Everyone can be bought. We could try to pay the desk clerk more then this, Takaro, and hope he doesn't cross us. Or, we can try other methods. Now, can anyone get us blueprints of this place we're headed to? Be nice to have an escape route before we need it."

Viktor always felt exposed without his armor, but he knew he couldn't get away with wearing it anymore. He'd have to speak to someone about getting a military ID again. The other members of his team looked nervous, anxious. Nothing like what he used to work with. He knew that they were as safe where they are now as they would be in any of the buildings around here. Probably safer, if someone had a metal detector, or ask to inspect their bags. Then again, standing around in a group looking for something was a good way to attract the kind of attention they didn't want.

"Come on." He said, turning and walking in the opposite direction of the hotel, trying to find a cafe that offered net access.

[Ulzgoroth]

Uemura nods gratefully at Miyamoto's intervention. In reply to the question, he pats his stowed deck. "I've got the hardware, if I can get someplace dry to work." He hesitates a moment. "I don't have a lot of software, but I'll see what I can do. You want the guest registry?"

Following the Russian, he observes "Surely blueprints in the public records?"

[Kaisshau]

"We need more then anything they'd give the public. Blueprints, including sewer maps and roof accesses. Security details, camera locations, hired muscle. What kind of tamper-proofing they have on the doors. And, how often are those that are publicly available anywhere near accurate?"

"Newcomers." Viktor thought, shaking his head, "It was a good thing I was there. These fish would be dead before they started."

[Timaoh]

Kimaro shrugs displacing the rain that had built up on the collar of his jacket causing it to run down his back creating a small stream in turn making him shiver. Slowly he follows the others as they head to a cafe kicking the ground with his heels and stuffing his hands into his leather pant pockets careful to keep the shotgun hiden under his left arm out of view.

Pretending to absently survey some of the more attractive girls nearby rushing about in their wet clothes. He does his best to keep an eye out for anyone who might notice him. Unlikely, at least this rain was good for something. He always hated the hiding, secrecy, and scurrying about that others felt were necessary in his former profession.

[Alton]

OOC @ Ulzgoroth: Not sure if you meant to, but you used Musashi's last name. Japanese culture dictates that the second name is the given name. The first name, Miyamoto, is his family name. Of course, it would be more professional to use Miyamoto...

Stepping into the cafe, Musashi quickly surveys the area. Speaking in an undertone, he addressed the rest of the team. "You know, it might have been easier to just get a room at the hotel under a false name, and then tap the network from inside. Certainly would have given us access to the buildings security. That's where I figured we would go to get the information, till commando here led us away from the building we need to be inside of. Remember, we're on a time limit with this one folks."

[Timaoh]

"That was what i had been thinking. Not to mention there probably isn't anything decent to eat or drink in here. Does someone want to go accross to the hotel and get a room? It might be a little less obvious than all of us just walking in and getting 1 room. No offense i like you guys i just don't want everyone thinking we're uhhhh... 'Together'."

After speaking his mind Kimaro looks around for a moment then makes his way off to the corner of the cafe to where he suspects the restroom to be. He motions that he'll be back in a minute or two and then disappears into the restroom.

[Ulzgoroth]

That was my intention, but I'm glad to see I got it right. Uemura may not be altogether professional, but he can think respectfully.

"That might be easier, if they built their network that way. If I slipped up, they'd probably know where we were coming from though." Uemura unslings his compact computer case with a worried expression. "How much time do we have? This takes some work."

[Freshmeat]

Finding an internet cafe turns out to be simple enough, and in only a few minutes you find one, aptly named "Den of Kombat". The cheesy name and unusual spelling of 'combat' hints at this being the type of internet cafe frequently visited by gamers. Sure enough, you find the cafe crowded with people, most of which are playing 'Fukushu Nights 5', a popular game set during the first corporate war of the late 1990's.

A large man in colourful clothes and an old baseball cap approaches you. He seems to be in charge here. In a comically shrill voice he speaks up: "If you guys want to use cyberspace, you can use those computers over there," He motions over to a currently unoccupied corner. "and it'll cost you 350 yen, per hour."

He looks at you all, before adding. "Or do you want to have something to eat instead?"

[Timaoh]

Returning from the restroom hair looking a little neater and himself looking much drier. Kimaro scans the room as though looking for something. "Did we decide what we are doing yet? Stay or go doesn't matter to me much but i would rather just get our 'business' over with. I'm going to go over to the hotel and see what information i can get the old fashioned way. If anyone wants to come with me that's fine just don't cramp my style and we'll get along fine." He says everything with a mild tone of annoyance not directed at anyone. He seems more annoyed with the situation and having to do things that he sees as below himself. Being unaccustomed to gathering his own intel and instead just being called in for the 'business end' of most transactions. He's been spoiled by his old company and he misses the luxuries and everything about his old life. This new way of doing things hiding and skulking gets on his nerves too quickly and makes him more edgy and unpleasant than a night out with Old Fat Zaibatsu businessmen at a 'new' Karaoke bar.

Without another word or glance back at his 'new friends' Kimaro walks over to a nearby game and begins to talk with a teenager at the controls.

[Kaisshau]

Holding up two fingers towards the owner, motioning for him to wait or stop, Viktor turns to Musashi, leans in and whispers "Easier, yes. Smarter, no. Do you have any fake IDs on you? And how do you know where they have their cameras? You really want to get your face plastered all over, go ahead. I'm not going to take that risk. I stand out more than anyone else, so who do you think they'd peg for it? I spent two years fighting for this country, earning some respect, and I'm not about to lose it all on my first mission for some small-time company."

Letting him digest that, he turned and walked over to Kimaro, taping him on the shoulder, and when he turned around, he whispers to him, looking straight into his eyes, "You've never done recon, have you? You've never done anything other then clean-up, right?"

Walking back to his main group, he swells himself up to his full height, takes off his glasses, holds them folded in one hand, and sets his bag down so there is the slightest clink of metal on metal. He looks the owner in the eyes, and says "Now, how much was that for cyberspace access?"

[Freshmeat]

The cafe owner adjusts his cap for a moment and raises an eyebrow. Viktor isn't the kind of person he sees often in his establishment, but he says nothing of it. It doesn't look like he has noticed the slight clanking sound of metal on metal, or it might just be that he doesn't consider it strange.

"Err...350 yen per hour, big guy. For the six of you, that is."

He reaches for a can of soda, opens it and takes a drink, awaiting some sort of response.

[Alton]

Musashi shakes his head. For an ex-special forces solider, this guy seemed far more...arrogant then was normal. And he kept leaning in to have whispered conversations with specific people. In a busy cafe, where speaking low would be just as effective. Leaning in slightly, he speaks loud enough to be heard over the noise of the gamers. "It's not a great deal of money, but don't expect to find what we're looking for, or to be reimbursed. A small waste is still a waste."

[Kaisshau]

"That is ok. I am sorry, I am new to country, and I deed not understand your money. That is why I had to ask my advisers for a exchange and if it was within my dailey limit." Gesturing one of the others forward he says, "Et is ok. You may pay the man." Turning back to the owner, he winks at him and says, "Nice city this is. Many women."

[Ulzgoroth]

Looking at the Russian as if he doesn't know him, Uemura continues unpacking his deck and speaks quietly to Yoshimufi. "If you know your way around a system we both should try it. If you get in and I don't, you can use the breaker. It's not much, but all I could afford. Try not to make it cut ice for you. It probably won't." Pulling a few obscurely-labeled cards from the deck case, he slots his icebreaker (hand-labeled as a collection of the works of Charles Stross) and a blank card into the deck and sets it on the desk.

[Mavian]

Yoshi

"I been around the system at time or two. I ain't no cowboy, but I can handle my own, what kinda deck you runnin? I prefer the old Ono-Sendai's myself."

He'll pull up a chair next to Uemura, cracking his fingers before sliding them back into his pockets.

"I'll watch your back and your moves, see if I spot anything you miss"

[Freshmeat]

You all position yourself behind one of the computers and plug in. Almost instantly you find yourself in the cyberspace variant of Tokyo, something which would seem psychedelic to those very few people that are still unfamiliar with it.
A strange grid stretches out as far as you can see, most of which are occupied by basic shapes such as blocks, pyramids and cylinders representing office buildings, arcade halls or other establishments.

Everything in Tokyo's cyberspace alter ego looks a lot different. Every shape and object - including that of your companions and yourself - is outlined by strange lines, mostly in a lime green, red or beige color. Just like its real-life counterpart, the city is crowded, and you can see people freely floating inside, outside or through most buildings, often at amazing speeds.
Everyone pretty much follows Yoshifumi's and Uemara's lead, who seem the most experienced with finding their way around in this environment.

You decide to check up on the Century website first, as a preliminary search. Simply thinking of it transports you inside the building itself, and in short order you find a lot of (generally useless) information. You find out that the Century hotel was built to give its guests the 'feel of the millennium'. Some of the pictures that float around you indeed look rather old-fashioned to you, but, by all means, it's still a beautiful hotel.

Hacking into the Century Hotel is a piece of cake. Uemara succeeds on the first try. The world seems to twist and turn, and you are offered a panoramic view of a number of messages on a corporate messageboard/chatbox hybrid. At a glance, two messages stand out in particular:

The first one is a few days old and was posted by what seems to be a loyal and enthusiastic employee called Ekki. He has drawn a crude map of the hotel detailing a couple of issues he would like to adress:

1. For some reason, the nearby Jitari Tower's network causes interference with that of the Century hotel. The Century server building (across the street) can't seem to 'find' the main building whenever there's too much electronic traffic coming to or from the Jitari Tower.
(the Jitari Tower is the main office of the Jitari corporation, a small Zaibatsu press company)
2. A group of thugs/yakuza frequently hang out in front of the hotel. They follow Century guests that leave the hotel around so they can mug them. The police seems unwilling to interfere. Ekki suggests hiring more security guards.
3. Due to an error by the architect, the north-east corner of the building isn't exactly stable. A heavy shock (such as that of an earthquake) might cause it to collapse.
4. The guard overseeing the parking lot is known to sleep on the job. Management should hire someone else, according to Ekki.

Attachment:
http://img251.imageshack.us/img251/8586/centuryhoteloutsidesl0.png

The second message that seems important was posted only a few minutes ago. Apparently a staffmember has found a dead colleague in the kitchen. The cops have been alerted and are on their way to the hotel at this very moment.

Although it doesn't look like the system administrator has noticed your presence in their network yet, the entire scene suddenly changes. You find yourself in a transparent square-shaped room with four doors.
The first one has 'Hotel Security A' written on it (will provide information about the number of guards, equipment, which areas they oversee, 'black list' of people they should look out for, history of situations where they had to intervene, etc.)
The second one is named 'Hotel Security B' (security cameras, camera logs, blueprints and other security-related electronics)
The third door is labeled 'Guest Information' (guest name, year of birth, bank number, room number, how long they will stay, etc.)
A fourth and final door is simply named 'Exit'.

[Ulzgoroth]

Uemura sets the icebreaker loose briefly to look for documentation on what systems rely on communication from the server to the hotel. As it darts back up into the main system, he stares at the three doors onward - presumably all secured subsystems.

"Each of those ought to take some time to get through. What's most important?"

[Alton]

Musashi moves in and looks at the screen. "I think the guest registry is the most important. No sense cutting out the security if we don't know where he is, and with those police on the way we might only have time to crack one or two of the doors."

[Kaisshau]

"We need to slow the cops down. Those street punks seem like a good idea. Someone want to go see how much they like cops? If we have time, go for the electronic security after the guest registry. We need those blueprints. Wouldn't be good to get to the floor he's supposedly on and get lost."

[Mavian]

"I'll go chat with'em, see if we can't work out some kinda arrangement"

Spinning up out his chair, he quickly walks through the cybercafe to the exit. Pushing it open, he's going to briefly check the weather before wandering over to find the street punks.

[Timaoh]

Kimaro

Returning from the arcade just in time to see most of the information being displayed on the screen. Even though it doesnt seem to mean much to him he gets the general idea of what is being done. Given how little he understands what is being displayed it interests him even less.

"I may as well go along with Yoshifumi and do something constructive. All this technology is giving me a headache." He quickly moves to follow Yoshifumi to the door and into the street to meet the thugs.

[Freshmeat]

Apparently the thug problem Ekki spoke of still hasn't been dealt with: five of them are currently loitering around the hotel area.

Their current occupations include such things as kicking against trash cans, insulting passers-by and playing with cheap firecrackers.
None of them look well-dressed. They're clad in torn leather jackets (which haven't lost any of their appeal yet), and generally look dirty and uncouth. They sport funky hairdos, piercings and tattoos, and some of them appear to be high, drunk or both. Dangling from their belts you can see a variety of switchblades. One of them seems to have a gun in his pants.

Urban survival roll:
- Yoshifumi: Recognizes these thugs as Yakuza members - more specially those of the Dark Moon Triad, which operates from the docks. You don't know what they are doing out here in the Ikebukuro district, but you get the feeling than the DMT is here to get a foothold on the illegal arms market of this district. They share a blood feud with the Yamato gang. People who want to offer them a deal must show them the complex 'truce' hand signal, which one performs by putting his thumb and index finger sideways and stretching all other fingers.

- Kimaro: Recognizes these thugs as members of the Blue Dragon Circle, a small-sized local gang which works for the Shinobizawa corporation from time to time. They're at war with the Red Dragon Circle, an equally small faction whose members once belonged to the BDC, but left after an internal dispute.
They often deal in drugs and have no special 'code' when dealing with non-gang members.

[Mavian]

Yoshimufi is gonna contort is fingers into the DMT truce signal, while at the same time brushing his hood off of his head to reveal his equally punkish looks.

"Hey guys, you gotta second to talk some business? Me and the big ugly got some things to do and we're wonderin if you want in on a piece of the action."

[Kaisshau]

"Uemura. You got any way to put a guest into the registry? I got an idea."

[Ulzgoroth]

Uemura winces as his backup blinks out. Too late to say anything, though. His cyberspace avatar ripples in a manner suggesting a nod, then dives into the third door and the ice behind it.

[Freshmeat]

Yoshifumi & Kimaro (near the hotel):

The thugs eye you warily as you approach. The one with the gun, a buff guy - clearly the leader - takes a few steps forward, looks Yoshifumi and Kimaro over and snorts. The snort turns into a facial expression of apparent disgust when he sees the pirate's hand signal.

With an incredulous look in his eye he begins yelling at you, mostly suggesting that your mother has a certain occupation common in Bangkok and that your father's genes have come straight out of the dump. Needless to say, he's not happy.

His fellow goons draw near in a threatening manner. They don't seem to have any violent intent (yet) but they definitely want you to beat it.


***

Uemara, Viktor & Musashi (in cyberspace):

Uemara attempts to go through the door marked 'Guest Information' but fails - it's as if he's walking into an invisible wall. He concentrates before trying again, but is met with the same result. His next try, although more risky than the previous two, fortunately succeeds. Belying the difficulty he came across in his previous attempts, Uemara walks with surprising ease through the door. Viktor and Musashi follow. The virtual door remains closed, but has changed from a dark red to a lime green color, indicating that it's 'open' now.


When you access the guest database you see that all listed guests also have a picture in their record. You quickly look for someone matching Takaro's description, but find no one. This means he has used some sort of disguise, has submitted a fake picture, or has had it changed afterwards to that of someone else.

Although there are over 600 guests in the hotel, you can quickly narrow
the list down to around 30, based on age, nationality, duration of their stay, people they're with (such as a family), and additional notes made by the staff.

From there on out it's a bit more difficult, until it finally hits you. He has indeed used a fake name, but one that's also an anagram of his name. A lazy, perhaps cocky slip-up that will cost him dearly.

{table]Name | Room # | Year of Birth | Bank # | Will stay until | Paid in advance | Notes
Tokara Tiao | 505 | 1992 | 569803 | 25/09/2030 | Yes | Apparently a famous rockstar in the west. Treat him with the utmost respect!! - Machiko
Chikao Godo | 505 | 2009 | 268579 | 25/09/2030 | Yes | Bodyguard
Ukon Hishida | 505 | 1998 | 564198 | 25/09/2030 | No | Bodyguard
Akihiro Ise | 505 | 2002 | 886172 | 25/09/2030 | Yes | Representative of record company 'Top Music 3000'
Daisuke Kitamura | 505 | 1986 | 568891 | 25/09/2030 | No | Financial advisor[/table]

You also find the following information:
Room 256 seems to have a leak. A repairman will be sent tomorrow morning.
A survey shows that senior guests only have a 6% approval rating of the new yoghurt in the restaurant.
Rooms 26, 89, 166, 289, 312, 314, 478, 490 and 504 are currently unoccupied.
The guests in room 56 often complain about the loud music coming from room 57.
Another survey shows that the new yoghurt in the restaurant contains 80% more milk than the previous yoghurt, and is manufactured by the up-and-coming 'Yutaka Industries'
Rooms 316 and 389 are currently occupied by criminals, but the hotel management doesn't want to slight either of them by asking them to leave.
Room 502's window is currently broken. A repairman will be sent tomorrow morning.
Room 147 is currently occupied by Gouki Kojima, a well-known politician.
You can freely add, delete or change records at this point.

[Timaoh]

Kimaro smiles. This is what he is used to. This is what he loves.

Looking the wannabe thugs up and down Kimaro takes his left hand out of his pocket to straighten his hair slicking it back with his hand. Not bothering to try and conceal the shotgun hanging loosely inside his jacket. After he's sure they have seen it he replaces his hand in his pocket and calmly says.

"We just wanted to talk but if you want some action we have that too. Personally we thought you would want to know whats about to go down. If you don't want to know then we can talk and if you want to start trouble then im your guy."

Kimaro will take a somewhat non-threatening stance and see what happens next. If they want to talk he'll talk if they want trouble he's got it in spades.

[Kaisshau]

"Uemura. Room 504 appears empty. Fix that. Put two people in that one, you and Yoshifumi. The rest of us should go into 490, which should keep us close enough, but far enough away not to arouse suspicion. Change all of their records to having not paid, if you can. Set me down as a relative of someone famous, the others, except you and Yoshifumi, as my advisers. And of course, it's all paid in advance."

[Ulzgoroth]

"Who do you want to be? I don't know famous Russians. And, ah, they may want ID at check-in." Uemura surreptitiously starts storing as much of the customer list as he can (without diverting his attention) to the smart card...it might be good for something later. "Maybe we could start something with 316 and 389. I don't think they'll like the police showing up. If they keep the investigation to the kitchen we might be able to avoid them."

[Freshmeat]

Yoshifumi & Kimaro:

The thug leader looks at Kimaro's shotgun and snorts again.
"Hmpf. Fancy yourself a tough guy, hm? Fine." Despite his demeanour, you can pick up the slightest hint of hesitation in his voice. He motions to his goons to back down for a moment.
"What do you got? Information? Some sort of deal?"

[Timaoh]

Kimaro

With a wry grin/smirk on his face he stares the leader down and replies. "Both actually. I thought you might want to know that i have heard rumors of your rivals trying to move in on your turf. They are making their move as we speak and have called the cops to come and deal with you so they can move in while you are distracted. I'm not sure of their exact tactics but you will see shortly whether they cops on their payroll arive or not." Satisfied with himself Kimaro looks at them letting everything he has said sink in. "I just thought this information might be worth something to you or your leaders... you can pay me what you thinks it's worth or i can go see them and see what they will be willing to do for my information. I think that it's worth at least 20,000 yen if it keeps you alive, out of jail, and your territory intact."

[Kaisshau]

"Your call, kid. Do what you think is best. Just do it quickly. If you need someone to make me related to, make it Makarov. A distant relation. But hurry. If you have time and want to risk it, you can run at the security for the blueprints after you finish."

[Ulzgoroth]

Uemura begins entering the data, using the real names of the group and the bank codes from the room 505 inhabitants. Viktor is noted as a cousin of Makarov. Kimaro becomes a bodyguard, and Miyamoto his PR handler. He puts himself and Yoshifumi down as engineering specialists from Transdyne Cybersystems. All, of course, are payed in advance. "Dates of birth! The less points of mismatch we have, the better the chance they won't catch something wrong at check-in."

[Kaisshau]

"Leave mine blank. My ID doesn't have one, anyways. Did anyone catch those for the other two? I don't remember if they said it or not. When we get in there, we'll have you do the talking, Uemura. I'll speak in a broken accent, if at all. You think it'd be more believable if we had a driver, or do you think they would notice?"

[Freshmeat]

Yoshifumi & Kimaro:

The thug leader shakes his head and smiles condescendingly. It's clear that he either doesn't believe a word Kimaro is saying, or simply doesn't care about it. Just as he is about to say something though, the faint sound of police sirens can be heard in the distance, growing louder and louder with every passing second. He looks again at Kimaro, and this time his eyes are filled with concern rather than malice.

Hastily, he adresses Kimaro.
"I don't know just what to think of you, man, but if those cops are really coming for us, we owe you one."

He reaches into his pockets and quickly hands you a few bank notes and some coins. "Here. That's all I've got at the moment. But if you've been lying to us, we're coming after you!"

With that, he walks away, soon breaking off into a run. Judging from how fearful they were of the police, Yoshifumi and Kimaro can tell these were lowly thugs indeed. As Kimaro looks at how much their leader has given him (10,600 yen), he sees a familiar figure approach: Shiiji.
The young kid and die-hard gamer has returned from his little scouting mission to the hotel. Despite the look of disappointment in his eyes, he once again greets you with what must be the worst gangsta-style salute ever.

"Yo! I asked them about your uncle Takaro, but they say he's not there. They say there's not even a Takaro in the hotel!"

When he's done, he gives Yoshifumi a strange look.
"Who's the nerd?"


Uemara, Viktor & Musashi:

After setting the status of the 505 occupants to 'not paid', it takes Uemara but a few moments to enter the following records:

{table]Name | Room # | Year of Birth | Bank # | Will stay until | Paid in advance | Notes
Uemara | 504 | 2011 | 569803 | 30/09/2030 | Yes | Engineering specialist from Transdyne Cybersystems
Yoshifumi | 504 | 2008| 268579 | 30/09/2030 | Yes | Engineering specialist from Transdyne Cybersystems
Viktor | 490 | 2000 | 564198 | 5/10/2030 | Yes | Cousin of Girilinky Makarov
Kimaro | 490| 2005 | 886172 | 5/10/2030 | Yes | Bodyguard
Miyamoto Musashi | 490 | 2002 | 568891 | 5/10/2030 | Yes | PR Handler[/table]

As soon as Uemara is done, a single thought is all that's needed to transport the Uemara, Viktor & Musashi back to the main directory: the room leading to the three subsystems.
Uemara quickly dashes towards the 'hotel security B' door and while his first few attempts to force himself a way in are unsucessful, he suddenly witnesses something strange: it's almost as if a strange force is slowly pulling him and his companions towards the 'hotel security B' door. Stranger still - for some reason it looks like they can't even do something about it. Whoever is reponsible for this virtual shanghai though, he is here to help, and within moments the three street samurai find themselves exactly where they wanted to be: the heart of the Century's electronic surveillance.

A strange red light flashes on and off inside what seems to be a nondescript room with nothing but wall-sized monitors. Clearly, something is wrong. You get the feeling that you're being watched, and Uemara knows that his previous attempts at gaining access must have attracted someone's attention...

The walls display just about everything - from access logs to camera feeds to various other data. Uemara seems to have lost control of the system, which, in turn, doesn't even seem to recognize the presence of any users anymore, whether illegitimate or not. Save for your mysterious benefactor that is, who is busy running multiple computer routines. Images flash by with every complex command he enters, until finally, all the monitors display the same screen.

Loading Blueprints...
Loading Century Hotel - top view -- Failed
Loading Century Hotel - front view -- Failed
Loading Century Hotel - side view -- Completed

http://img145.imageshack.us/img145/924/centuryhotelsideviewrs2.png

1. Roof entrance
2. Fire escape
3. Main entrance
4. Storage depot, kitchen, security station, safety deposit box (also sewer entrance)
5. Underground parking lot
6. Sewers
Loading Century Hotel - back view -- Failed
Loading Century Hotel - ground floor -- Failed
Loading Century Hotel - parking lot -- Failed
Loading Century Hotel - staff section -- Failed
Loading Century Hotel - floor #1 -- Failed
Loading Century Hotel - floor #2 -- Failed
Loading Century Hotel - floor #3 -- Failed
Loading Century Hotel - floor #4 -- Failed
Loading Century Hotel - floor #5 -- Failed
Loading Century Hotel - floor #6 -- Failed
Loading Century Hotel - floor #7 -- Failed
Loading Century Hotel - floor #8 -- Failed
Loading Century Hotel - floor #9 -- Failed
Loading Century Hotel - floor #10 -- Failed
Loading Century Hotel - floor #11 -- Failed
Loading Century Hotel - floor #12 -- Failed
Loading Century Hotel - floor #13 -- Failed
Loading Century Hotel - floor #14 -- Failed
Loading Century Hotel - floor #15 -- Failed
Loading Century Hotel - floor #16 -- Failed
Loading Century Hotel - floor #17 -- Failed
Loading Century Hotel - floor #18 -- Failed
Loading Century Hotel - floor #19 -- Failed
Loading Century Hotel - floor #20 -- Failed
Loading Century Hotel - floor #21 -- Failed
Loading Century Hotel - floor #22 -- Failed
Loading Century Hotel - floor #23 -- Failed
Loading Century Hotel - floor #24 -- Failed
Loading Century Hotel - floor #25 -- Failed
Loading Century Hotel - floor #26 -- Failed
Loading Century Hotel - floor #27 -- Failed
Loading Century Hotel - floor #28 -- Failed
Loading Century Hotel - floor #29 -- Failed
Loading Century Hotel - floor #30 -- Failed

Remotely updating access protocols.

Loading Century Hotel - floor #30 -- Completed

Displaying live camera feed - Completed
Merging visual markings - Completed

http://img218.imageshack.us/img218/5249/centuryhoteltopfloor2lo7.gif

Enemy
Civilian
Hotel staff
[red star] security camera
[blue ellips] small luxurious indoor pond
- Displaying live camera feed. Camera #1: Parking Lot

You see a multitude of cars here. A few people are walking towards what seems to be an elevator in the distance. A lone guard is patrolling the area. He seems to be unarmed.

- Displaying live camera feed. Camera #2: Parking Lot

Same area, different angle. You learn nothing new, and soon the screen turns completely black for some reason.

- Displaying live camera feed. Camera #3: Main Entrance

Access denied.

- Displaying live camera feed. Camera #4: Main hall

You see the receptionist's desk. An elderly couple is currently waiting (clearly losing their patience) on someone. Sofas, small tables and plants decorate the area and give it a fresh, appealing look. What few staff members you can see are looking rather nervous, though it's unclear why. You can see stairs leading both up and down, as well as an elevator.

- Displaying live camera feed. Camera #5: Main hall

Access denied.

- Displaying live camera feed. Camera #6: Security office

Shows an office with numerous monitors, several file cabinets and a weapon rack with several nonlethal weapons (stun batons and the like).
Two guards are standing around looking worriedly at the monitors while a third person, looking very much like a computer expert, is busy typing something.

- Displaying live camera feed. Camera #7: Top floor:

The first thing that draws your attention are the two men standing guard in front of one of the doors. Both are wearing a black suit and sunglasses. The first one can only be described as 'large'. He occassionally plays a bit with what seems to be an earpiece.
His companion is much smaller and actually quite tall. He is leaning casually against the wall and appears to be armed with an electro-nightstick.

- Displaying live camera feed. Camera #8: Top floor:

Access denied.


As the last image flashes before your eyes, time and space suddenly (and unexpectedly) begins to flow backwards. Or so it appears.
You're transported back through the door, through the cyberspace hotel building into what seems like nothingness. Then... everything returns back to its normal state again.
The hallucination has stopped and you find yourselves back at the internet cafe.

Uemara's computer has been remotely shut down. You see the internet cafe owner raising his eyebrow as he is watching his own computer screen. It takes him exactly 2 seconds before he stands up and heads straight to you three, looking pretty mad.

"Have you idiots been hacking some corporation or other from my network?! Get the hell out of here! I've got enough problems already! And give me my 350 yen, you punks!"

You can clearly hear police sirens outside.

[Ulzgoroth]

Uemura stares at his suddenly shut down deck in disbelief for a moment. Then he turns on the cafe owner, covering bewildered fear with mostly real anger.

"You provide very good private access, eh? And such good security! Somebody grabbed a hold of 'your' network and took us for a ride. Maybe you should spend more time keeping control of your system than watching your customers." He flourishes his finance card at the proprietor. "That should cover it. Go back to watching your other customers."

He packs away his deck with nervous haste and abandons the scene as fast as possible.

[Mavian]

Muttering to himself, Yoshi is gonna grab Kimaro's arm and whisper at his ear.

"Lets book it man, those cops may be comin for us, and if the team is stupid enough to get hit by some Ice, we're fried."

Yoshi is then gonna saunter back towards the Cafe, keeping his eyes and ears out for any of the other team members.

[Alton]

Musashi quickly falls into his role as PR agent, and quickly pulls the manager aside. "We are terribly sorry about this misunderstanding. I trust you'll find that card has a little bit extra on it, consider it yours in compensation for the scene we've caused. Good day to you sir."

Turning quickly, he takes Viktor by the elbow, and mutters a few select phases in Russian. It doesn't mean anything in particular, but Musashi is fairly certain that the manager can't speak Russian, and that this will help with the cover of a famous Russian and his assistants. He tries to lead Viktor out of the cafe after the Uemura.

[Kaisshau]

Viktor follows, but not before looking at the man and saying "Thank you for service. I am sorry for aney trouble that happened. You are very kind man."

[Freshmeat]

Paying the internet cafe owner doesn't seem to relieve his mood, but it does get him off your backs. He gives you all a cold glare and then gets back to work.
To say you've overstayed your welcome would be quite the understatement.

[Timaoh]

Kimaro

Taking the rough wad of scattered bills and coins from the 'gang leader' more like school yard bullies Kimaro thinks to himself... He tucks the wad of cash away into his jacket pocket and then takes time to greet the teenager. "Hmmmm he wasn't there eh? Well thanks anyways, you should probably get back to the cafe and i'll check in with him later. For now i should probably see what everyone else is up to. Oh and he's not a nerd he just likes dressing like one." With a smile and a nod back at Yoshi to let him know he has heard his concerns and not to take the slight personally. Kimaro begins to walk back towards the cafe. It's time to get out of here and salvage what little they can of the mission.

Time to stop all this dancing around and try a more direct approach i think...

[Kaisshau]

Meeting up with Kimaro and Yoshifumi a safe distance from the hotel, Viktor outlines the plans for them, briefing them on what happened. "We got reservations. Yoshi, you're with Uemura. Let him do the talking. Kimaro, you're my bodyguard, Musashi's the PR man, let him do the talking. Don't worry, you'll get your time when the action comes. Just roll with it for now, we'll see what happens."

[Timaoh]

Kimaro

Smiling to himself as much as to Victor standing in front of him interlocks his fingers and streches them out infront of himself, waiting for the satisfying popping and crunching as his knuckles crack he asks. "Are we going in hot or cold? Is someone going to take out security measures or do we just take care of that afterwards?" After asking his questions Kimaro pats himself as though looking for something he had misplaced. Upon locating his flask he removes the stopper and takes a long generous pull from it before quickly offering to the others gatherd around. Without really waiting for them to take him up on his offer he quickly takes one more swig, replaces the stopper, and puts it away in a different pocket on his jacket.

[Kaisshau]

"We got a way in. Uemura got us all in as guests, but he got ICE'd. Him and Yoshi will be taking the room next to the target, since they look like less of a threat. We'll figure some way up to them when we get in. I'm just hoping we can get past security."

[Freshmeat]

Viktor, Kimaro and Musashi reach the hotel without any further problems. Yoshifumi and Uemara are close behind, but leave enough distance between the two groups to suggest they don't know each other.

Only now - when you stand right in front of the building- do you notice just how large the hotel actually is. Overpopulation has always been a problem in Tokyo, and despite the technological revolution of the last fifty years, no magical solution has sprung up yet. As the years went by, buildings (apartments and hotels in particular) just grew higher and higher. The Century hotel, despite being tailored for those who want to get 'the feel of the Millenium', is no exception.

As you walk underneath the decorative 21th-century style archway, you begin to understand why Takaro has chosen this hotel. No cold, modern, business-like architecture, but rather old-fashioned, alluring decadence. Of course, in a world of flying cars, cloning and cyberspace, such words quickly lose all meaning - all things are relative. But whatever business Takaro is involved with, it has to be pretty lucrative.

The main lobby is large and wide. Save for a charming fountain in the middle of the room, it's basically just wide open space. The sides of the room are a different matter - comfortable sofas and lively plants (most of which you immediately recognize as fakes) make for small and cozy corners. You can see several people sitting there, talking to each other.
Slightly up ahead you can see a large staircase leading up, and a smaller one leading down. Not far from there you can see the elevator as well. A guard is patrolling nearby, but doesn't seem to be paying much attention to his surroundings - a common trait in hotel security guards, since they don't usually exactly expect trouble.

The receptionist's desk is directly to your right as you enter the main lobby. As you get closer, a cute woman with brown hair approaches you. She is sweating a bit and looks nervous, but gives you a warm smile nonetheless. In a tone that makes you suspect she does this hundreds of times a day, she drones off a casual greeting.
"Good evening gentlemen, and welcome to the Century Hotel. How can I help you?"

Meanwhile, another receptionist motions over to Yoshifumi and Uemara and gives them a similar welcome.

[Timaoh]

Kimaro

Kimaro will wait until the room has been assigned and then he will check the room to make sure it is secure after which he will go to the hotel boutique and see what he can find to disguise their faces and failing that he'll head to the bar to get a few drinks in and refill his flask.

[Ulzgoroth]

Uemura smiles back at the receptionist. "We need to check in to our reserved room, please."

[Freshmeat]

The receptionist takes Uemara's ID card and scans it, a slight look of boredom on her face. After a few seconds she simply hands it back to him, along with the key to room 504. Her demeanor doesn't suggest any hint of surprise or mistrust whatsoever.

"All right. Everything seems to be in order, Mr. Uemara. Enjoy your stay."

The receptionist dealing with Viktor, Musashi and Kimaro apparently falls for the party's scheme as well, and within moments, the three of them receive their room key too.


Kimaro wanders around for a bit but doesn't stray too far from the rest. He finds a hotel boutique where various clothing accessories are sold. Of particular interest are a number of scarves, caps and sunglasses, in various colors and sizes.

[Timaoh]

Kimaro

Looking over the items of interest in the boutique Kimaro selects a few more fashionable pieces (he has no real fashion sense). Picking them up and making his way over to whomever he can find he quickly pays for the few pieces he thought might offer some effective form of concealment, including a long sleeved dress shirt for himself. Although he hates to cover his arms he can see the necessity on some occassions. Paying with the cash he has on hand he quickly makes his way upstairs and to the room he is sharing with the others.

Quickly by way of the bar of course... which is to say that he should arrive about 30 minutes after the others have arrived having stayed for a few drinks with the other bar patrons.

[Kaisshau]

After Viktor enters his room with Musashi, he closes the door and sets his bag down on the bed. Pulling his radio out, he gives Uemura what he believes to be sufficient time to get to his room, and then sends out a call to him.

"Did you get in all right? How'd his bodyguards treat you?"

[Mavian]

Yoshimufi

Leaning in towards Uemura, Yoshi whispers "So what exactly is the plan, and our cover? I'd hate to blow it without realizing it." Nodding to the receptionist, he follows Uemura to there room, trying to spot the security cameras as they go.

[Freshmeat]

Kimaro finds and buys a variety of clothes for him and his companions without too much trouble. He hands a few of them to everyone. Total cost is around 1300 yen.
Yoshifumi spots two security cameras in the main hall. One overlooks the stairs and the elevator, while the other one is placed fairly high and overlooks the entire hotel lobby. Neither look particularly high-tech to him. When he goes to room 504, he spots two more security cameras, overlooking the hall and one staircase each.
The bodyguards ignore Uemara and Yoshifumi as they enter room 504.
The cops arrive without incident. They've begun questioning people that have been acting suspiciously according to the hotel staff.

Viktor calls Yoshifumi and Uemara about half an hour after the party's arrival at the hotel.
Despite the thick walls, the latter two can hear some annoyed yelling coming from room 505. It doesn't sound like your target likes the presence of the cops in the hotel.

Just as Yoshifumi finishes his sentence, everything suddenly goes to hell when the unmistakeable stacatto of gunfire can be heard down the hall.
You hear a scream, and the hotel pretty much erupts into total chaos.

[Timaoh]

Kimaro tries to discern whether the gunfire is coming from the floor he's on, above, or below. Reguardless he will head into the hallway to investigate pulling the scarf up to cover his face like a bandits mask, the brim of one of the hats he found down to cover his hair, and lastly flicking up the collar of his jacket to add to the effect.

If he sees anyone who is armed he will radio for backup. Otherwise he's heading straight for the room of their target assuming the gunplay is nearby not bothering to conceal his shotgun he runs with it loaded and in both hands.

[Kaisshau]

Viktor

Grabbing his vest, Viktor puts it on and pulls out one of his LAWs, hoping he won't have to use it. He tosses on whatever Kimaro gave him to cover his face, and rushes out the door. If there's no hostiles here, he's going to run to the stairs, and then sneak up them and check the hallway to see if it's clear. If there are hostiles in the 4th floor hallway, he's going to shoulder his LAW and point it at them, and tell them not to move. If they fire at him, he's going to fire back. If the come towards him, he's going to attack them in close combat. And if they don't move and toss their weapon to him when asked, he's going to pick up their weapon, and then go up the stairs.

[Ulzgoroth]

Uemura latches onto a panicky sort of calm...don't trip the accelerator too soon... He grabs out his pistol and, unless something happens too soon, covers the door with it.

"We're fine, bodyguards didn't twitch, what is this!" Aside to Yoshimufi, he mutters "Doesn't matter now, does it?"

"We've got to move. If someone else gets that computer, Five will peel us..."

[Mavian]

Pulling out his Autopistol, and tossing it onto one of the beds Yoshi is going to dig through the room, hunting for a network jack.

"With all this chaos, maybe we can get a hold of there Security Cams and find out what going on out there. I ain't stickin my neck out that door until I have an idea about what's happening."

[Freshmeat]

Kimaro, Viktor and Musashi quickly don their impromptu disguises and head out the door. The russian mercenary lags a bit behind the rest, having spent some time putting on his kevlar jacket.
As they enter the hall, they see little more than a few curious innocents who immediately (and fearfully) head back to the safety of their rooms at the sight of three armed gunmen. More gunshots can be heard as Kimaro, Viktor and Musashi head upstairs, following the direction of the noise.

When they reach the staircase, they're surprised to see one of the Takoro's bodyguards stand at the top of the stairs. What with all the chaos, it doesn't look like he has spotted the three street samurai yet though. In fact, it looks like he's taking cover from someone else. Armed with his electro-nightstick - by all means a pretty mean weapon in the hands of a skilled combatant - he carefully peeks around the corner, only to prompty duck behind cover again as a throwing knife misses his head by mere inches.


Meanwhile, inside room 506, Uemara keeps the door covered while Yoshifumi finds a network jack and plugs in his computer. It seems to take an excruciatingly long time for the system to start up.


http://img404.imageshack.us/img404/8091/centuryhoteltopfloorfiges2.gif

Lime green: Musashi
Black: Viktor
Orange: Kimaro
Grey: Uemara
Purple: Yoshifumi

[Kaisshau]

Viktor sets down his LAW as he watches the man in front of him, and carefully sneaks up behind the man, moving to take the man out from behind before he is noticed.

[Timaoh]

Kimaro waits and watches shotgun trained on the man as Viktor aproaches, just in case things go wrong. Keeping an eye on the door as much as the bodyguard Kimaro gets ready to rush the doorway at the earliest oportunity.

[Alton]

Assuming he brought it, Musashi will grip his katana with his left hand, preparing to draw it, while he trains his autopistol on the door well behind them in case police show up from the lower levels.

[Mavian]

"We got friendlies comin in from the north staircase, seems there is a shoot-out going on outside our door. Got a nice shot from the security cameras, if you want to take a look." Stepping past Uemara, Yoshifumu is going to press his ear against the door and concentrate, attempting to figure out how many people are in the hallway.

[Freshmeat]

[OOC: Might just as well update now, since I don't think Yoshifumi will immediately influence the staircase part. Because both groups have a radio, I'm just going to assume that Uemara and Yoshifumi will, at the very least, have some notion about what's going on outside.]


***

Viktor creeps closer to his target, quiet as a guttermouse. Too focused on watching whatever is around the corner, the lanky bodyguard doesn't notice the large Russian until it's almost too late. He turns around just to see Viktor's fist heading his way.
Instinctively, the bodyguard hugs the wall and his attacker's punch pierces the air. In response, he brings up his nightstick and swings it fluidly, almost gracefully towards Viktor.
The mercenary feels a powerful electric shock go through his body as the unusual weapon hits him in the side, but shrugs it off easily thanks to his retrogenics. He knows that his body can't take too much of that punishment though.
With a quick step to the right, he gives Musashi and Kimaro a clear shot at their target, who raise and fire their guns in perfect unison.

Kimaro's shotgun blast goes wide, and is immediately followed by another scream down the hall. Musashi's two quick bursts however, completely blow the bodyguard away. The latter staggers forward for a moment and then falls over, his chest riddled with bullets. As his body rolls down the stairs, you can see minor traces of life still inside him, but it's clear that he's no longer a threat to you, and unless he gets medical care real soon, he's dead.


Viktor regains his breath again and stands up. Along with Musashi and Kimaro, he takes a peek around the corner...

http://img523.imageshack.us/img523/3356/centuryhoteltopfloorfigtk7.gif

What he sees is a strange scene: a member of the hotel staff is currently under attack by the other bodyguard, who is shooting at him with an autopistol. A metallic trolley he must have been pushing forward is currently serving as impromptu cover against the gunfire. Still, you think there's something odd about the hotel employee's behaviour.

Other than some surprised hotel guests who are shocked to witness a battle in the hotel, you can see the staff elevator doors opening down the far end of the hall. Out steps a cop who is apparently as surprised as the other innocents on the floor.

For a moment, there's a pause in the battle as the bodyguard turns to face this new threat, but unexpectedly, the hotel employee beats him to the punch. With the swiftness and agility that can only belong to a professional assassin, the would-be staff member picks up a large steak knife in each hand from the trolley, and sends one flying to the bodyguard and the cop each.

The bodyguard quickly ducks to the side, and the knife aimed at him embeds itself into the wall.
The cop has less luck however. Despite the distance, it hits him square in the shoulder. He screams out in pain and immediately draws his gun...



***
Status:
Viktor - wounded
Kimaro - healthy
Musashi - healthy
Bodyguard 1 - dying
Bodyguard 2 - [precise status unknown]
Assassin (pink) - [precise status unknown]
Cop (blue) - [precise status unknown]

[Timaoh]

Kimaro takes a moment to reload his shotgun and asks the hackers back in the hotel room if they can do anything to disable the elavator to limit guests to the stairways. After that he is going to rush headlong towards the assasin firing off shotgun rounds and ending up drawing his claws as he closes the distance. If the assasin is down he will switch to targeting the bodyguard. Otherwise he'll engage the assasin in melee and try to use him as a shield against other attacks while disembowling him.

[Kaisshau]

Viktor grimaces as the pain passes, suprised that the bodyguard heard him and got the drop on him. "I must be getting old," he thought. He ignored this, though, as he saw Kimaro rush the scene. As good a lead as any, Viktor follows Kimaro out, breaking slightly, and late, heading toward the bodyguard as Kimaro takes on the assassin. (If Kimaro kills the assassin, he'll just follow him to the bodyguard.)

[Alton]

Musashi runs after the other two, taking in the hallway and noticing the perceived routes of his allies. He fires at the police officer down the hall, and moves to the room. If the body guard is still alive when he gets there, he will engage with his katana. If the bodyguard is dead, he'll try and bring down the door, most likely trying to hack the door open.

[Ulzgoroth]

When Kimaro and Miyamoto begin shooting, Uemura triggers his metabolic augmentation. Suddenly floating through a slow-motion world, he jogs over to the computer and slips on the headset for a quick look at the camera imagery.

[Mavian]

"Targets next door, right?" Grabbing his autopistol, Yoshi is going to put a bullet into the wall between their room, and the targets.

[Ulzgoroth]

"Yes...can you aim through the wall? Anyone in that room isn't on our side."

[Freshmeat]

The cop tells everyone to freeze, but in the chaos of the battle, no one seems to listen. The few innocents that have been watching the scene hastily flee, trying to avoid being caught in the crossfire.
Even though you know he must have heard the gunfight at the staircase, the assassin still seems surprised to see the arrival of Viktor, Kimaro and Musashi. With apparent ambidexterity, he takes a few more knives from the trolley and simultaneously throws one at Kimaro and the cop, in one, elegant move. The hitman then breaks off into a run towards the other staircase.

Kimaro is hit square in the chest and as a result, his shotgun blast hits the wall. Clutching the knife in his hands, he goes down like a sack of potatoes, but doesn't lose consciousness yet.
The cop is hit in his leg and screams some expletives in response. Clearly this situation won't be resolved peacefully...

Across the hall, Viktor storms the other bodyguard and delivers a quick snap kick to the gunman's wrist. The stinging pain forces his opponent to drop his gun and soon, both of them are engaged in heavy fisticuffs.

The cop levels his autopistol at the bodyguard and taps the trigger twice. Just as Viktor is about to strike again, his adversary's back seems to get turned into Swiss cheese. The bodyguard falls over, his clean shirt a bloody mess. The cop catches a bullet in the gut himself, courtesy of Musashi, from the far end of the hall. He slumps down next to the elevator, while shouting a few more choice words.


Uemara takes a quick look at the cameras and finds out in no time what exactly is going on in the hallway. As he looks through the other cameras, he sees that the police in the lobby are acting confused. He spots a group of four cops head towards the elevator, while an undeterminable amount of them go up the stairs.

Yoshifumi takes a quick look at the computer screen before picking up his gun. He inspects the solid wall closely, takes a few steps back and then fires off a few shots. As the bullets tear harmlessly into the concrete, he realizes that to play Counterstrike (with a wallhack on, no less), he'd have to be at the arcade hall across the street.


All of you can clearly hear hasty orders being shouted inside room 505. The residents might be planning something...

Map:
http://img526.imageshack.us/img526/2029/centuryhoteltopfloorfigcq6.gif

(green cross: temporarily disabled)

***
Status:
Viktor - wounded
Kimaro - wounded [disabled for two turns]
Musashi - healthy
Bodyguard 1 - dying
Bodyguard 2 - dying
Assassin (pink) - healthy, fleeing
Cop (blue) - wounded [disabled for two turns]

[Kaisshau]

Ignoring the assassin, Viktor goes to kick down the door to room 505, while radioing those inside room 506 to come out, quickly but carefully. He's going to kick down the door, then duck to the side, and if necessary, grab the cart and throw it in the room.

[Timaoh]

seeing as i have meditek training is there anything i can do to stem the bloodflow and stabalize myself?


Kimaro bleeds quitely... Looking for his flask to make sure it has less holes in it than he has in himself...

[Mavian]

OOC: I don't suppose there a chance one of those bullets managed to penetrate the wall leaving a hole I could see through? :smallwink:

"Well, it looks clearer out there, shall we?"

Stepping over to the door, Yoshi cautiously opens it and looks out into the hallway, ready to look like an innocent bystander if anyones looking.

[Ulzgoroth]

There's times for careful, and there's times for being the fastest thing around. As soon as the way is clear, Uemura dashes into the hall and shoots at the assassin.

[Freshmeat]

Uemara leaves room 506 just in time to see the 'staff member' running by. In a hurry he takes aim... only to be beaten to the punch by Musashi. With two loud bursts from the samurai's autopistol, the hitman goes down in a hail of gunfire. Bullets tear deeply into his back, neck and head. You don't doubt, not even for a second, that he's completely and utterly dead.

Kimaro stands up, takes a deep breath, and then pulls out the knife from his chest. Blood starts flowing out and frantically he starts looking for makeshift tools to apply some impromptu first aid. Walking over to the dead bodyguard, he rips a piece of cloth from the corpse's shirt and binds it across his chest. Despite the shoddy quality of this improvised bandage, Kimaro somehow manages to stop the blood flow. For now.

Viktor kicks down the door and immediately ducks to the side. Bullets fly right past him. With apparent ease, the buff mercenary picks up the cart and throws it inside the room. A few gunshots can be heard in response, and Viktor makes use of the temporary confusion to take a quick peek around the corner...

http://img252.imageshack.us/img252/4307/centuryhotelroom505rn1.png

At the far end of the hall, the cop lets out a groan and slowly stands up.
When he spots the four gunmen outside room 505, his eyes widen and he limps away as fast as he can.


***

Status:
Viktor - wounded
Kimaro - wounded
Musashi - healthy
Uemara - healthy
Yoshifumi - healthy
Bodyguard 1 - dying
Bodyguard 2 - dying
Assassin - dead
Cop - wounded, fleeing

[Timaoh]

Kimaro half leans half trails a bloody smear on the wall he is using for support as he joins the others near the doorway. "We better make this quick. I'm not sure how much more blood i can lose or how fast the cop is going to bring reinforcements. Let's get this done and over with." With that he slips inside the doorway looking for a target and ready to drop to the floor firing once he spots any resistance.

I don't really have a death wish, but all this running and hiding has me glad i can finally sink my teeth into something substantial. Even if it kills me... which it just might... Kimaro thinks as he throws himself through the doorway his finger itching on the trigger of his shotgun.

[Mavian]

"Uh... why don't you all go first, and I'll go make sure backup takes a while to arrive. Uemura, you mind if I use your ICEbreakers for a moment?"

Regardless of what he gets for an answer, Yoshi darts back into their hotel room and attempts to get access to the elevator systems to shut them down.

[Kaisshau]

Watching Kimaro run in, Viktor waits a few seconds then follows him into the room. If it's unoccupied, he's going to hide in the little alcove on the south, and if it's full, he's going to make for the bathroom.

[Freshmeat]

Knowing full well that time is off the essence, Uemara quickly heads back to room 506. Yoshi's computer is still on, and - unlike the one in the cybercafé - hasn't been ICE'd yet. Uemara works his way towards what looks like the hotel's maintenance control system and successfully breaks in on his first attempt. From there on out, accessing the elevator controls is a piece of cake. He comes across a simple menu that seems to control both the main and the staff elevator in the hotel. A big warning label is juxtaposed next to this menu, strongly advising against unauthorized use.

Uemara can do the following with either (or both) of the elevators:
Stop elevator: stops elevator instantly.
Stop elevator (slowly): slows down elevator and then stops the elevator.
Send elevator to floor #: ...
Increase winch speed: makes the elevator go up or down faster
Decrease winch speed: makes the elevator go up or down slower
Block elevator doors on floor #: ...
Turn off elevator lights
Shut down electricity to elevator
Exit

Meanwhile, the remaining four street samurai have entered room 505. Kimaro rushes inside, ready to point his shotgun at the slightest of sounds. Viktor is close behind and quickly checks the alcove to his right. Musashi joins Kimaro somewhere in the middle of the room, trying to pick up any noises that might lead to their targets' locations. Yoshifumi, at last, takes a few steps forward, but remains standing close to the doorway so that he can keep an eye on the hall, but still provide adequate backup to his companions if necessary.

For a few moments, the four gunmen stand in silence, with only Viktor moving about. Just as he enters the bathroom however, he suddenly finds himself standing face to face with one of Takaro's bodyguards. The man levels his autopistol at Viktor, a mocking grin on his otherwise expressionless face. Viktor is faster however. The large mercenary grabs the man's shooting arm and twists it in a painful manner, forcing him to drop his gun. Viktor follows his quick karate move through with an elbow to the face. The bodyguard stumbles backwards for a movement, but then raises his hands in a defensive position.

With the bathroom turning into the place to be for spontaneous barroom brawls, the kitchen door suddenly swings open, and out comes an older bodyguard wielding a katana. With a deafening cry he charges Musashi, his sword held high. He brings down the blade in a strange arc, and hits his target in the side. Even though Musashi's kevlar vest lessens the impact of the blow, a serious wound is still caused, and he drops to the ground, spitting up blood.

Kimaro reacts almost instantly. From point blank range, he blasts the samurai bodyguard in the gut. The latter goes flying backwards against the wall and slumps down, out of the fight.
Just as Kimaro pulls the trigger, the man himself - Takaro Iato - jumps up from behind one of the couches to his left. He looks just like the hologram you saw earlier today. Thin, frail and completely untrustworthy.
Using an antique revolver, he takes a quick potshot at Kimaro, his hand clearly trembling. He misses Kimaro's heart by mere inches.
Unsurprisingly, the organ legger goes down and a pool of blood begins to form itself around his body, staining the decorative rug.

Yoshifumi reacts in a flash and returns fire at Takaro. By the time he does so however, Takaro has already ducked behind cover again.


***

Map:
http://img132.imageshack.us/img132/9936/centuryhotelroom505cpw2.png

Status:
Viktor (black): wounded
Kimaro (orange): dying [disabled]
Musashi (orange): wounded [disabled for 2 turns]
Yoshifumi: healthy
Bodyguard (red - bathroom): disarmed, 1 stun
Bodyguard (red - samurai): wounded [disabled for 2 turns]
Takaro (red): healthy

[Kaisshau]

Not relenting on the bodyguard, Viktor presses the attack while he has an advantage, pushing the man back into the bathroom.

[Mavian]

Yoshi, as one of the few people still standing, is going to stare into the room in shock for a moment before hopping over the two fallen men on his way into the office type room. Once he gets in he is going to spin to a stop and put a bullet into bodyguard thats sprawled in the doorway.

[Timaoh]

Kimaro bleeds quietly with only the occassional gurgle. Apparently the carpet wants his blood as much as he does.

[Ulzgoroth]

Uemura goes for a no subtlety whatsoever approach. He sends all the elevators to the top of their shafts at maximum winch speed. With the lights off. And seals the elevator doors on floors 4, 5, and 6 for good measure. If he's still in control when the cars get to the top he cuts winch speed to 0 and zeroes the power. That ought to slow down any unwanted visitors.

[Freshmeat]

Only a few seconds after Uemara has messed with the elevator controls, the entire system seems to go haywire and he gets disconnected. It's clear that something bad has happened. When you listen carefully, it's like you can hear a strange 'thud' in the distance...


The fight between Viktor and the bodyguard starts heating up. Punches start flying and either miss, barely hit their target or are deftly blocked. When Viktor sees a gap in the bodyguard's defense, he is quick to deliver a powerful kick right in his opponent's stomach.
As a result, the bodyguard flies backwards and slams painfully into the wall. With reckless abandon, he braces himself against further attacks and suddenly pulls off a quick move of his own. He twists Viktor arm to the side, and, within moments, forces the mercenary into a deadly chokehold.

While Viktor begins struggling to get free, Yoshifumi darts inside the kitchen, only stopping to finish off the samurai laying near the doorway. With a quick burst, Yoshifumi ventilates his skull, spraying blood all over the wall.

You can hear some noises coming from around the corner. It's not clear what Takaro is currently doing.


***

Map:
http://img146.imageshack.us/img146/3783/centuryhotelroom505dcx9.png

Status:
Viktor (black): wounded [currently in a chokehold]
Kimaro (orange): dying [disabled]
Musashi (orange): wounded [disabled for 1 turn]
Yoshifumi: healthy
Bodyguard (red - bathroom): disarmed, 4 stuns
Bodyguard (red - samurai): dead
Takaro (red): healthy

[Freshmeat]

As Viktor feels the bodyguard's arm tighten around his throat, he reaches around with his hands, and begins to beat on his assaillant's side. It doesn't take long before Viktor strikes with increasing force, and ultimately, the bodyguard is forced to release his grip.
A quick haymaker from the mercenary brings his opponent off-balance, but it isn't enough to ward off any further attacks coming his way. The bodyguard attempts to get behind Viktor again for another chokehold, but this time, the tall Russian isn't having any of it: he swiftly takes a step backwards and roundhouse-kicks the bodyguard right in the face, who falls backwards, hits his head on the side of the bath, and goes down, unconscious.

Meanwhile, just as Yoshifumi reloads his weapon and Musashi gets up, Takaro dashes past and out of the room. It's plain to see that he's holding the computer you came for...


***

Status:
Viktor: wounded
Kimaro: dying [disabled]
Musashi: wounded
Yoshifumi: healthy
Uemara: healthy (currently in room 506)
Bodyguard (bathroom): disarmed, 8 stuns [unconscious for 3 rounds]
Bodyguard (samurai): dead
Takaro: healthy, fleeing

[Mavian]

"We gotta runner. Uemrara can you keep him from getting to the stairs?"

Jumping back out of the kitchen, stepping across the bodies sprawled on the floor, Yoshi darts out of the hotel room, and quickly scans the hallway, taking a shot at Takaro if he see him.

[Ulzgoroth]

Whatever happened with the elevators...well, they sure aren't running now. Uemura sprints out into the hall, with all the speed of his augmented metabolism, and snaps off a shot at the fleeing man. Or if he can't see him, dashes for the far stairs (assuming that he'd notice if someone ran by the door of the room.)

[Kaisshau]

Ignoring the runner, knowing he'd never catch him, Viktor focused on the unconscious bodyguard in front of him. He was out for a little while, so he had time to think.
He didn't want to do anything unnecessarily cruel, but this man had tried to kill him. Resigned, he walked over to the man, and proceeded to snap both femurs, then twist around the broken bone until he was sure both arteries had been cut. Viktor didn't have a lot of medical knowledge, but he knew how to kill people. That man would be dead in less than a minute, massive blood loss. Pocketing the dropped autopistol, Viktor went to check on the rest, stopping by Kimaro, checking to see if he was still alive.

[Freshmeat]

Musashi and Yoshifumi follow Takaro outside and begin to unload their weapons at the fleeing coward. Neither of them hit Takaro.
Upon hearing Yoshifumi's call to action, Uemara runs out of the room to join them, but clumsily (and hilariously) trips over his own feet. He falls down, face first, but doesn't get hurt.

Takaro runs towards the staircase to the north - the one Viktor, Kimaro and Musashi took to get upstairs - and quickly rounds the corner. Moments later, you hear three gunshots, fired in quick succession.


Viktor stops to check up on Kimaro and discovers that the organ legger is still alive. He's not long for this world though, unless someone competent (or very lucky) starts treating his wounds.

[Timaoh]

Kimaro

"Wheeeze cough.... Mommy? The lights are so pretty. Can i keep one?" Kimaro whispers clearly delirious. Then he bleeds some more.

[Kaisshau]

Saluting his fallen comrade, Viktor sprints from the room. He'd never been good with injuries, and he knew that the number one concern was the job. He ran out of the room and down the stairs that their target took, stooping to grab his LAW when he passed it.

[Mavian]

"Stop Thief, he's stealing my computer...."

Tossing his autopistol back into room 506, Yoshi takes off after Takaro

[Freshmeat]

[OOC: since I assume all of you are simply going to give chase, I might just as well update now]

When you round the corner, you see the bodies of two police offers laying on the staircase below. Takaro, huffing and panting, is about to run downstairs when he notices his pursuers. He fires off a quick shot at Uemara, Yoshifumi, Viktor and Musashi, but misses completely.

You can see that the frail man is beginning to panic. He looks around nervously and sees - to his surprise - Viktor's LAW resting against the wall, only a few steps away.
Instinctively, he drops the computer and reaches for the weapon...

http://img128.imageshack.us/img128/1599/takarostaircasebmg2.png


***

Status:
Viktor: wounded
Kimaro: dying [disabled]
Musashi: wounded
Yoshifumi: healthy
Uemara: healthy
Takaro: healthy, fleeing

[Kaisshau]

"STOP!" Viktor yells, a worried look passing over his face as Takaro reaches for the LAW. "You don't know what you're doing! You'll kill everyone! Yourself included!"
If he doesn't listen, Viktor is going to leap down the stairs towards him. If he does listen, Viktor is going to put up his hands in a sign of peace and say "We don't want to hurt you! We just want the computer. We can protect you. We can make you a rich man! Just surrender the computer and give up."

[Mavian]

"Oh ****... why the hell did you leave a bloody rocket in a stairwell????"

If Takaro keeps going for the law, Yoshi is going to fling himself over the railing, aiming to land on the next lower set of stair, hopefully on a cop for a nice soft landing.

[Freshmeat]

Takaro clearly has no intention of backing down now that he's got his hands on the only thing that can get him out of a situation this sticky. He grabs the LAW and tries to figure out in as short as time as possible how the hell one uses a rocket launcher without hurting himself.

His aggressive behaviour immediately prompts an attack from Viktor, who leaps down and strikes at the armed man with punches and kicks.
Takaro tries to bat away Viktor's attacks - without much success - and a swift kick directed at his right elbow causes him to drop the heavy LAW.

Meanwhile Yoshifumi has already jumped down on to the second flight of stairs, uncertain of where (if at all) Takaro's rocket would hit. He nearly falls down when landing, but scarcely manages to maintain his balance.

Uemara and Musashi aim their guns at Takaro and fire. In their caution not to hit Viktor however, they end up not hitting anyone at all.


Takaro assesses the situation and storms downstairs again. Yoshifumi tries to stop him, but the desperate man violently pushes him aside.
As he runs, you can see him drawing his revolver again...


***

Map:
http://img204.imageshack.us/img204/2481/takarostaircasebgn9.png

Status:
Viktor: wounded
Kimaro: dying [disabled]
Musashi: wounded
Yoshifumi: healthy
Uemara: healthy
Takaro: healthy, fleeing [1 stun]

[Kaisshau]

Watching the man running down the stairs, Viktor jumps over the rail and then another. Trying to get on the stairs below Takaro to intercept him, then going to engage, hoping the man's antique pistol wouldn't pierce his armor.

[Mavian]

Cursing when Takaro goes rushing past him, he turns to chase him when he spots the computer still lying on the landing above him. Stepping back up the stairs he's going to grab it and head back up stairs.

"This is what we came for, right?"

[Freshmeat]

Viktor jumps down and neatly cuts off Takaro's escape route. A hard punch to the face causes the gunman to drop his revolver while simultaneously bringing him off-balance on the uneven stairs.

Musashi and Uemara storm downstairs and fire a hail of bullets at Takaro. It looks like they're still trying too hard not to hit Viktor though, and their attacks go wide again.

Yoshifumi walks over to the computer and picks it up. It doesn't look like Takaro has had the time to tamper with it and make off with the hard-drive or something.


Takaro, unfortunately, sees that running away is futile, now that a large and angry Russian is blocking the way to freedom. He backs away into a corner and speaks up. Desperation has clearly overtaken him.
"Ho! Ho! Wait! We can make a deal, right? You can have the computer if you want it so badly! There's no need for more bloodshed today, right? Right?!"

[Kaisshau]

Walking over to the man cowering in the corner, Viktor grabs him by the chest and pulls him up to eye level.
"You weren't willing to make a deal when you had an advantage... Why should we?"

[Freshmeat]

Takaro glances nervously from left to right. You can see drops of sweat appear on his forehead and neck. Viktor's reaction isn't the one he had hoped for.
Knowing that diplomacy isn't going to work in this case, Takaro suddenly lunges forward in an attempt to take the Russian by surprise. He goes for the sucker punch, but Viktor easily bats the attack aside and delivers a snap kick of his own. Takaro, clearly dizzy, loses his balance, but manages to hold on to the stair railing. He snorts and glares angrily at Viktor, but then looks up and stares death right in the face: Uemara and Musashi level their respective guns at Takaro and pull the trigger. The bullets tear into Takaro's body, again and again. His limbs turns weak as he is blown back like a ragdoll every time he gets hit.

When Uemara and Musashi hold their fire, they see the battered and broken man still clutching the railing, a wry smile on his lips. Even when all is lost, it looks like he still just wants to spite the assassins that were sent to kill him.
His contempt is short-lived however. A shot rings out and echoes throughout the hallways. When you look up, you see Yoshifumi casually walking down the stairs, the computer held safely in one hand, and a smoking gun in the other one.

Takaro loses his grip, and slowly slides backwards, over the railing, and into nothingness. Even as he falls down, his expression remains motionless.
In a moment, he disappears, and a few seconds later you hear a soft thud several stories down below.

After a quick nod at each other, all of you pack your gear and grab a few choice items along the way. Shouts can be heard from several directions. The police are apparently still looking for those that are causing this ruckus, but fortunately, you encounter no one on your way down. When you reach the bottom of the stairs, you can see the nigh-indescribable mess that remains of Takaro. Suffice it to say that he's pretty dead.
No one seems to have spotted his body yet, even though the lobby is close by. From the noise you can deduce that a lot of people have gathered there - probably confused residents trying to find out what the hell is going on.

Deciding to take advantage of the confusion, you quickly hide all weapons and armor, wipe away some of the blood on your face, take a deep breath, and enter the lobby.
The chaos is complete. Policemen are running to and fro, trying to determine which floor the gunmen they're looking for are on. A large gathering of people is waiting at the elevator, though it looks like they can wait for a long time. Guests are bugging the receptionists with questions. Most are confused and scared, though there's always those that are loud and angry.
Police officers try, without any success, to calm everyone down.

You make your way through the throng of people. Some give you wary glances, but no one seems to have any intentions of stopping you.
Halfway through, you get the impression that someone is watching you, yet when you look back, you don't see anyone that appears to be aware of your presence in particular. Because nothing seems to happen, you move on until you reach the other end of the lobby.
You can see more police officers, as well as several paramedics approach the building as you leave through the hotel entrance, but giving them a wide berth works just fine, and they run inside without giving you a moment's notice.
After a few seconds you can hear someone shout 'Seal off the area! Don't let anyone leave!' but by then, you're already homefree.

Having accomplished what you came for, you head to the safehouse Five spoke of.


---
Meanwhile...

His vision a blur, the only thing Kimaro can do is contemplate. Somehow, he always knew it'd end like this.
Dying alone and unhappy, never having accomplished any of the goals he was hoping to achieve. Today, he took a gamble, and today... he lost.

Even as his body turns cold, the warmth of his own blood provides a strange relief in these dire circumstances. Any movement at all results in a sharp, stinging pain in his side, so he simply decides to remain motionless and hope for the best. Maybe Takaro would come back and finish him off. Or maybe a paramedic would arrive. Kimaro spends some time trying to retrieve his bottle from his pocket, but he finds it shattered beneath his own weight. Even a last pleasure is him denied.

Still in a state of semi-consciousness, Kimaro suddenly hears footsteps behind him. They draw closer and closer, until it's clear that whoever he heard has now entered the room.
For a moment, Kimaro closes his eyes, awaiting his fate, but oddly enough, nothing happens.
Curiously, he opens his eyes again, and with some difficulty he can make out a figure in front of him.
Even though his vision is still blurred, it's as if someone is standing there, looking for something. Judging from the figure's posture, it's not Takaro, but it's not one of the bloodmoney companions Kimaro was working with either.
Kimaro blinks.

The figure moves about with a calm grace, and strangely enough, seems to... fade away, from time to time. Kimaro blinks again.
When he opens his eyes this time, the figure is standing in front of him, with its back turned towards Kimaro. It's still taking in the carnage inside room 505, as if trying to deterine what exactly transpired here five minutes ago.

Slowly, as if it already knows what it's going to see, the figure suddenly turns around and watches Kimaro square in the eye.
In a flash, it moves its left arm foreward.

The throwing knife coming straight at him is the last thing Kimaro ever sees...


---

Tokyo, Yokohama District

Led by Yoshifumi, you quickly make your way through Tokyo's port city. By steering clear of shady alleys and known Triad hotspots you don't run into any trouble, other than a few drunkards who seem uninterested in bothering you anyway.

The Shoto shop looks like it used to be a typical run-of-the-mill shop, but now it has clearly fallen into decay. The paint is peeling off, the door looks crummy and some of the windows are broken. It's unclear what type of shop the 'Shoto shop' is (or rather, was), and you're not sure you even want to know. A soft push to the door opens it, and when you walk inside you realize that the inside doesn't differ much from what you'd expect it to look like. Various boxes are scattered all over the place, and only a handful of old chairs and sofas remain. Judging from the dust you can tell that this place hasn't seen any action in years.
As you investigate the house, you see that the other rooms are pretty much in the exact same state.

The basement is the only notable exception. The fact that not a trace of dust can be seen anywhere immediately puts you on guard, though you find no one else in the room.

Viktor opens one of the nearby cabinets and discovers that it's filled with various medikits, several bandages, and a few other items such as scalpels for on-the-spot surgery.
A box in the corner catches Yoshifumi's attention. When he opens it, he sees that it's filled with a large variety of ammunition. He also finds several old-fashioned locks to secure possible entrance routes with.
Musashi looks inside the sole drawer in the room, and finds an autopistol, a pistol, a baseball bat, brass knuckles, two knives and a grenade.
Uemara finds a microwave and a fridge filled with cheap TV dinners, a network jack and a grade 1 Icebreaker.

More interesting, however, is the table in the middle of the room. Five chairs are placed around it, and a cellphone is lying in the middle of the table.
As you approach, a message appears on the screen:

Leave the computer on the table. We'll handle things from here.
Take whatever supplies you need before you leave, including this cellphone, but don't go overboard with it. Your money will be transferred to your personal bank accounts as soon as the computer is in our possession.

We'll contact you if we have need of your services again.

[Kaisshau]

"Well guys," Viktor sighs, as he settles his bulk into the one of the chairs, raising an eyebrow as it squeaks unsettlingly, "What do we do now?"
"We've lost one man, and I don't like that we had unexpected company on this job. Do you guys wanna stay here, wait til the heat's down, and see if we can get more work? I can't remember if Kimaro had a map to this place on him, or not. If he did, that assassin's probably on his way here by now. If he didn't, we're most likely in the clear. Still..."
He looks at Yoshifumi looking through the box.
"How well can we secure this roost?"

[Freshmeat]

Tokyo, Marunouchi District
September 28, 2030

It’s been a week since the shootout at the Century Hotel. Even though Viktor frequently catches himself checking the lock twice and steering clear of dark alleys, nothing has changed. Life still goes on. History appears to have forgiven him for his actions at the Hotel. There are no repercussions. No hitmen. No threats.
There is only silence. That, and a deposit of 30,000 yen on his bank account. Ellis-Itami takes care of its employees – perhaps in more ways than he can imagine...

Perhaps the lack of repercussions has given him confidence. Maybe he still needs the money. Or he might just be in it for the action. Whatever the reason, when the company contacts him again, offering him another job, he’s quick to come to Five’s office.

Reaching his superior is remarkably easier the second time around. There are no hassles with security, and no one seems to double-check his exact purpose in the building. Although Viktor is still a small fish at best, he gets the impression that people at least acknowledge, if not appreciate his presence. His boss’ office looks no different from the first time he’s been there; it’s still shady at uninviting at best, and those that wouldn't know any better, would feel unwanted in no time.

The first thing the large Russian notices is the presence of four other people in Five’s office.
The first of them is a thin foreigner wearing a long coat. His features seem to suggest that he was born somewhere in Eastern Europe, or possibly in Russia as well. In any event, he looks like he’d know his way around in the streets of Tokyo.
Next to him stands a short, young, beautiful woman wearing a lilac color blouse under a matching white skirt, as well as a jacket, knee-high boots and mirror shades. She doesn’t exactly look like she belongs here, but since Ellis-Itami brought her in, it stands to reason that she possesses certain skills that could be of use.

At the other side of the room, leaning against the wall, stands an older-looking man who has the look of a Westerner about him. He watches everyone with taxing eyes.

And somewhere in the middle, a rather buff man (although he’s still dwarfed by Viktor’s physique) is nervously pacing about, a stern complexion on his face. It’s easy to get the impression that this is someone who’s used to getting things his way. Some of you recognize him as Misaro Tasaboto, one of Tokyo’s top smugglers. He’s currently wearing a grease-stained T-shirt, ditto jeans and a brown leather jacket. To say that he doesn’t seem particularly happy about something would be an understatement.

“All assembled then.” Five remarks with his ever-so-slight British accent. As usual, he’s casually sitting behind his desk. Unlike most other times, however, you can get a good view of his face today. Five looks a lot younger than you'd expect – somewhere around 23 in fact, which is strange, given Tokyo's business culture. Although you know that he doesn’t own Ellis-Itami, it’s clear that he still occupies a fairly important position in the company hierarchy. He’s wearing a sharp, dark blue business suit and a neat, black tie. A quick (and obviously fake) smile is all that he gives you before continuing.

“You’ve been called together,” Five says while looking at the five street samurai standing before him “because an unexpected problem has popped up recently. One of our main contacts, Misaro Tasamoto” he quickly gestures over to the poorly-dressed man “has a problem he needs help with. As you may or may not now, Mr. Tasamoto is a ‘middleman’ that deals in just about everything. Illegal items mostly, but Ellis-Itami and Mr. Tasamoto have come to a certain... gentleman’s agreement.”

“Six days ago, a considerable shipment of firearms has been stolen from him. Since Mr. Tasamoto has helped us out in the past, now it’s time to return the favor. We have located the shipment and discovered that it’s currently in the hands of Shatei Ikirohami, an up-and-rising Yakuza boss that has a base of operations in the Yokohama District.
Although we don’t know the exact location of the shipment, an informant has told us that it’ll be at Docking Bay 88 tomorrow, at 22.10. They’ll load the shipment on smaller boats there and transport it to, well, who knows? In other words: our only chance to get Mr. Tasamoto’s weapons back is to stop them at the docks tomorrow.”

“Unfortunately,” Five adds with a slight hint of irritation in his voice, “we currently lack the manpower to wage a full-scale war against the Yakuza, and there is no reason to think the shipment won’t be heavily guarded. Until we can find a better opportunity, your primary objective is merely to ensure that the shipment doesn’t leave Tokyo by sea. We’ve got enough informants amongst the Yakuza to know if (or when) they’ll try to move it by another means of transportation.”

“The easiest way to sabotage the Yakuza’s efforts is merely to blow up the transport ships that will dock there about half an hour before the weapon convoy arrives. Ikirohami will also inspect the area personally in advance, to make sure everything is in order. He is nothing but a target of opportunity, but if you get the chance to take him out, you’ve got permission to do so.”

“Now then, a quick introduction of the team members, since I believe none of you have worked together with each other before...”

“Some of you already know Viktor, a Russian mercenary that has already proven his usefulness in the Takaro matter. He has enough combat experience with various sorts of weapons to carry you all through most sticky situations – which you’ll definitely run into.”

“The old geezer is Nawa Chan, more commonly referred to as ‘Gaijin’, who also happens to be an excellent sniper...”

“The young lady over there is called Saaya-Ai. She’s, well, she’s a handful.”

“Then there’s Konstantin Rykova. He’s got a pretty fast mouth, and he knows surprisingly much about Tokyo for a foreigner. I’m sure he’ll prove useful.”

“Now, Mr. Tasaboto is coming along on this one personally. Suffice it to say that we definitely want to see him back in one piece. Failure is not an option.”

“A company car,” Five says while throwing the car keys to Saaya “is parked in the garage downstairs. I expect you to return it without so much as a scratch.
Inside the car you’ll also find two cellphones you can use to stay in contact, in case you have to split up.”

“The time is now...” he says while looking at his watch, "...19.30. You’ve still got about 24 hours to make arrangements. So, to recap: get in, destroy both boats, and get out. If you see Ikirohami, kill him. If not, leave him for later.
That is all, people. Return with results, or don’t result at all.”

Perhaps somewhat uneasy, the five of you make your way downstairs. Tackling small-time criminals that tend to operate alone is one thing – the Yakuza are an entirely different matter. The smuggler, Misaro Tasaboto, seems confident enough. He abides by the ‘if you want something done right, do it yourself’ principle. The fact that he insisted on coming along himself speaks volumes of his faith in his own combat abilities, and you soon conclude that he’s rather arrogant and egocentric.

The car Five offered you isn’t so much a car as it is a small van. You don’t find much of use inside other than the aforementioned cellphones, a flashlight and some food.

(With around 26 hours left on the clock, how will you spend your time?)

[Timaoh]

Gaijin

"First thing we need ta do is get'a look'at that guy Ikirohami. Any of you know your way around a deck? I can send an email but don't expect me ta track anyone down'r anythin'. If you can get'me a pic of him it'll make my job easier if i see him ta'take'im down. Other than that we could benefit from scouting out the docks ta'see if security will be a problem or if there's anywhere i can snipe from." Speaking in a fast clipped tone and slurring words together at irregular intervals Gaijin continues to talk, and talk, and talk, and talk.... First about the mission and then about canadian cuisine, about how he misses something called poutine or beavert'ails. From one topic to another it seems he is quite content to ramble on for long periods of time even when he has little to say. Maybe it's the issolation of being a sniper and never being able to talk once things get started in the field. Maybe he just figures silence isn't as golden as the slogan says.... either way by the time you get to the van you're sure he'll run out of stories and hoping he'll run out of breath.

Not to say he's storys aren't well told or full of anicdotes and useful tidbits. There is however a limit to how many times in an hour you can hear the phrase "When i was a boy in Canada..." and not want to beat someone to death with their own sniper rifle.

[rubakhin]

Konstantin flushes when Five announces his full name, and steals a glance at Viktor. He's going to have to explain why he has a woman's surname when he gets the chance. ("Zdrasvuitye! I'm the bastard son of a Russian prostitute, how about you?") Damn, why didn't he get around to changing his surname to the male form Rykov yet? He makes a mental note to get the paperwork the second he gets back from the mission. If he gets back, anyway.

There's no love lost between Kostya and Japanese women, so he doesn't take much notice of the girl, and Gaijin sort of gives him the creeps - most older men do, in fact. (It doesn't help that he seems to be reminiscing about eating Putin.)

Viktor, of course, fascinates him endlessly. You don't often come across Russians in Tokyo. Konstantin tags behind the group, staring holes into Viktor's back, wondering what the hell a Russian guy is doing in Japan, if he goes to the Orthodox church, and whether or not he could get away with calling him Vitya.

Probably not, he decides.

Anyway. Bonding with this guy is not exactly high on the priorities list.

He turns his attention to Tasaboto. He recognizes him, sure. He's a small-time dealer, his adoptive mother is a street surgeon, and for whatever ****ed-up Oedipal reason, kind of a kid brother to some of the prostitutes around here - of course he's chummy with the yakuza. And more than familiar with those docks.

Which means if he runs into the wrong people, Ikirohami is gonna figure out who's working to screw him over on the weapons deal. Fan-freakin'-tastic. And what was that Five had said about waging war with the yakuza?

He's vaguely familiar with Ikirohami, too. There was a party in Yokohama a few nights ago. Somebody had pointed him out. They hadn't talked, thank God - Ikirohami was far too important to hang with a kid like him.

Hmm. He had talked his friend Sachiko into coming with him. ("Bring women," they told him, and it wasn't like he knew a lot of women. None that would come to parties like that for free, anyway. She wasn't too pleased about being felt up by gangsters all night long, but hey, at least she was out of the house.) That kid is inordinately fond of her digital camera - probably not unusual among up-and-coming reporters - and had taken dozen of shots of the party just for practice. There were probably some pictures of Ikirohami in there somewhere.

"Um," says Kostya. "Yeah, I know what he looks like. If it's important I could maybe get a picture if we swing by my friend's place."

[Kaisshau]

Viktor looked at his new team, and sized them up independently. The Westerner would be good at what he did, Viktor knew, having served with some Canadians during his time with the Americans.
The woman Viktor had no opinion on, save that she couldn't be trusted.
The other man on the team looked vaguely Slavic, but it was hard to tell. He was either Russian or from a country close to Russia, but the borders blurred so often it was hard to tell. He had a feminine last name, so either his mother was very prominent, or his father was unknown. Either way, it didn't matter to Viktor. He looked useful enough to have around, and the mission ranked above all, save survival.

"A picture of the man we are supposed to kill would be nice. And if we can get in position, I have the means," Viktor said, hefting his black duffel bag, "To disable the ships."

Turning to their employeer, he eyed him, removing his sunglasses. "You appear very nervous for a man who has just lost a shipment of small arms. Should we expect more?"

[Faithdreamer]

Saaya-Ai

Scribble, scribble...
Clean, tiny letters with explosive curves bounced from the tip of her ball point pen. Only when Five was done talking did the unstoppable ink rain suddenly stop. Those flashy, tinkling keys were still on the floor where they fell when she didn’t bother to catch them. Saaya kicked off her boot and let everyone know what kind of wacky striped toe socks she wore. Up went the keys on one foot and into her hand. She slipped her boot on and bowed very formally before she left the room.
Notes in hand she let all the words quiet down before she took her turn. They all kind of looked like stunt guys for a movie. “One of you has a deck jack in now. Find anything you can about,” She glanced at her notes. Ikirohami-kun. Search the matrix for city maps. The tourist information bureau keeps current data they shouldn’t be hard to find. Download them en-masse so no one suspects you’re looking at Docking Bay eighty-eight.”
She stuck her glasses on her head. Her earnest brown eyes were steady and bright, looking at Konstantin. “If you go there your friend is the discreet type. Before we leave the parking lot check your stuff then turn on your headset radios and we’ll make sure they work right. Tasaboto-sama please try to understand you won’t be getting in the thick of it. Your role here will be as an observer. There won’t be any compromises.”

[rubakhin]

"Whoa, cool," says Kostya softly, looking at Viktor's bag. He doesn't know much about explosives. What would be in there, anyway? Nitro?

"Yeah, she's cool," he says to Saaya-Ai. He turns on his headset at her command. "Maps would be useful. The docks are confusing. But they're great for free running. I go there to do parkour sometimes, and - anyway." Konstantin shakes his head. They don't really need to know about his hobbies. "Hey, if we're going to my friend's first, can I drive?"

[Faithdreamer]

Saaya-Ai

“You know low profiles are best for you.” She smoothed over the crass their client looked like he’d give the Prime Minister himself. Konstantin was busy talking about how cool the big man’s bag was. She didn’t smile and she didn’t have a chip on her shoulder. “Better not.”
Stringing her radio around her head Saaya was writing again. “We’ll have maps from the tourism bureau off the net and gossip on the dock inspector too. There are public satellites we can check for more accurate maps. Since he visits the docks a lot he can walk in to see things while the rest of us drive by. We’ll visit his friend for information,” Saaya passed off the keys inexplicably to Konstantin. She was looking at Viktor.
“Do you know how to scuba dive?”

[Kaisshau]

"I have had some experience of that nature, yes. But I do not see why it would be a necessity. For you see," said Viktor, unzipping his duffel bag and showing the contents (2 LAWs, which are shoulder-fired missles), "I have the means to disable the ships from a distance. We do not need to get that close to them."

[rubakhin]

As Viktor becomes the coolest person in the world in his eyes, Konstantin's brows shoot up, travel around the back of his head, and nestle in his collar.

(Well, not really, but if they were at all capable of doing so, they would be.)

The van is comparatively less interesting, but beggars can't be choosers, and Kostya is still young enough to get a kick out of driving, having hit the minimum legal age not long ago. He climbs into the driver's seat, resists the temptation to fiddle around with the radio, and starts the car.

"Don't worry, 's not gonna take too long. She lives like two clicks from here."

[Faithdreamer]

Saaya-Ai

“We’ll see. Near the stairs there was a soft drink machine. Get three bottles full with water when you find it Gaijin.” Very careful with her English Saaya knew she wouldn’t get lost in translation. Movies...
“Tasaboto-sama while you consider your options think about telling me how large that guns shipment is very seriously. For this size matters.” As soon as Gaijin got water she was going to take the shotgun seat. The other three fit nicely in the back with their stuff and she still had her stylish ‘Yoshi-Kitty’ backpack nearby. Her plan was dropping Konstantin off at his friend’s place with a cell phone. They would leave him there and get things started. In the meantime it was Gaijin’s job to rent Scuba gear. Tourists always did things like that. She’d tell Viktor he was supposed to help Tasaboto find replacement clothes for them. Nice stores in Ginza for the latest in-thing and garbage dumpsters and impoverished squatters for something else. There were work clothes from the docks if they needed them. Before all that she knew where there was a vending machine selling sticky tattoos. The first thing she did when they were all in the van was open her Cyberdeck and start searching for maps. She went on the net to look for satellite pictures and anything about Ikirohami-kun. When she turned on the radio it was playing old songs. This one was ‘Gravity’ by Soul Decision.
“Where can Tasaboto-sama get a boat?” She asked no one in particular. They might have kept some kind of net connection at the docks in addition to anything in paper. Looking at that could give her ideas. Checking recent news activities, firefighters, police or ambulances seemed like a thoughtful thing to do.

[Timaoh]

Gaijin

Looking at her funny when she asked him to get water he stopped his story which noone seemed to be listening too anyways and asked her. "Why? How much water do we need?" Lifting up one of his pant legs slightly to reveal a water flask and a boot knife with tiny little canadian flags painted on them. "I have about a litre of water here. Do you think you will need more than that?"

If he sees a soda machine he'll stop and get some water bottles but other than that he won't go out of his way to find any. Asuming he knows what she is thinking but trying to verify her plans for the water, if he sees a vending machine that vends plastic bottles he'll buy those they should work just as well.

Getting to the car to find only the back seats empty Gaijin says something about youth and manners under his breath and sighing heavily climbs into the van with the others.

[rubakhin]

"Son of a - what useless bedworker owned the box you slid out of, eh?" Konstantin mutters, in Russian, staring daggers into the car in front of him. "Go back up the prick you came from! I will f***-start your car with a chainsaw if you don't move!"

The traffic edges forward a little, as if responding to the sheer vitriol of Slavonic profanity.

"This would literally, in all of the senses, be quicker if I just ran - ah, here we go." Konstantin finds a gap in the traffic, and the van peels down a side street. They wind up in front of the apartment building in question in record time.

It's not a bad neighborhood, actually. Sort of on the border - right where this part of Tokyo starts getting a bit safer. Kostya leaves the keys in the van and jumps out.

"I'll just be a minute."

He jogs to the intercom. He's light on his feet. Anyone looking at him could tell that he's more used to running than walking. (Not to mention driving.) It looks more natural when he runs. Somehow right.

"Oneesan? It's Kocchan. You remember the party we were at the other night? Could you stick all the photos on a SmartCard or something and bring it down? I need it for a thing."

"Okay, sure. I'll be there in a second."

Sachiko appears in the foyer a minute or two later. The girl is on the tail end of what must have been an unattractive childhood, and is growing into a kind of womanly handsomeness not often seen in Japan. Her features seem too mature for her face. Heavy red lips, sort of a Mayan nose.

Despite her age - she's young enough to still be nursing an inconspicuous cluster of blackheads on her cheekbone - the business clothes she's wearing suit her. Off the to station to work soon, probably. She hands Konstantin the card.

"That's all of them. What do you need them for?"

"Ma's gotten into scrapbooking or something. She wants some photos of me with my friends."

Sachiko makes a face. "Haven't you got purikura? You're falling over drunk in most of these pictures and in half of them you're not even wearing a shirt."

"Eh, at least we're having fun."

She shrugs. "Say, Kocchan, I haven't seen you much since you left school." Sachiko, being a bit older than Konstantin, had graduated two years ahead of him. But Kostya, despite being intelligent, lacked the patience to excel at academics. He often came around when he fell behind and needed help catching up. "Haven't you been thinking about going to college?"

Konstantin squirms. Neither of them has the time for a lecture, thank God. "Not really. I landed this job, and - listen, you've got work, right? I'll tell you about it later, I gotta run. Take care."

[Faithdreamer]

“Rykova-san, most company employees like peace and quiet. Office spaces can be very serene at lunch hour.” There was an eerie 20/80 attention divide between errant boy and internet. She was back on the monitor in no time while he backed up and drove somewhere else.
“The three of you need to find a speedboat and diving equipment. Drop our client off with Viktor-san and the Gaijin. We’re going to Ginza I have to get hair dye. I’ll write our number down for you.” She tossed a cell phone at them, sketched a few numbers and folded the torn note into a paper airplane she looped backwards.

[Timaoh]

Gaijin

"Not that i mind takin' orders from'a girl but if you could explain to us why we are doing these things we could perhaps offer our views and alternate strategies that play to our strengths instead of simply doing what must be done as you assign them. Don't get me wrong i'm all for following orders but i doubt that you have assessed my strengths and those of the others in the few minutes you have spent paying attention to us over that infernal machine you seem so attracted to." Letting her know he isn't happy with how she has been throwing orders about Gaijin folds his arms accross his chest and waits for her reply.

[Faithdreamer]

There weren’t any seatbelts where she was crunched in squatting between the seats. Saaya-Ai was being very bad.
“Naachan, Militaries are your biggest culprits. Most of these pictures make our Sararimen turn green. He’s awfully scrawny but if you get lost in his pectorals we’ll miss Ikirohami-kun and make Five-sama angry. Tourism maps are vague but you’ll know where to go. Docking Bay 88 looks like a big breast. If we zoom in any closer this website blacks out. You can barely make out crate outlines, a crane, these big blobs are warehouses. Rykova-san sees the docks a lot. He knows his way around so later he can tell us about them.”
She stuck a folding keyboard on her lap and handed her squeaky clean Amstrad C-22 over so Viktor could let them all see. First there was a picture of Rykova mixing it up with chocolate-slathered models, there was another with six big glossy men flexing. The next window had digital maps showing everything with reliable accuracy around where the docks were. The docks themselves were just big shapes, which sort of made sense if you were a lazy cartographer. The very last window was a public website with real-time satellite feeds. The link on the bottom said they could download to a GPS but it was obviously lying.
“Tourists do things like renting scuba gear all the time. Our client is providing us with a fast boat. Viktor is working close protection because he’s mean and scary. Let me see that one litre water bottle Mr. Sharpshooter.”

Saaya snapped up the plastic water bottle rolling along the floor and drank. “Nevermind.” Her throat wasn’t dry anymore. “Speedboats make so much noise I want to throw my headphones at the driver. When a girl tells you it’s dumb how you brutes always bash things until they work she’s being ditzy. The best solutions inside the docks when you need to stall are simpler than you think. If you can find the weapons tip them over. The Yakuza will take longer picking them up. Five says we have to break their boats so they can’t take them away. We can break the big crane or crash the forklifts until they don’t work. Two of you are going in the docks with Rykova-san in fancy clothes. Yakuza stand out a lot for men who like to blend in. They’re outside of things and Rykova-san looks like he should be inside things.”
She looked over at Tasaboto and took a sip from her water. He might even have the pleasure of thinking she was checking him out. Inch by inch, over his clothes, up his chest and neck to his iron mask face.
“If you want these men to work give them the information they need. They’ll want to know how big the shipment is, what’s in it and why everyone is mad at Ikirohami-kun.”

Naturally she let him make his decision. Thank goodness Saaya wasn’t so rude she sped up his timetable.
“Ideally you’ll be in place before they are. It saves you the hassle not being Ikirohami Shatei security first.”

[Freshmeat]

Misaro Tasabota sits back in the van, a smile on his face, as his hired guns start their preparatory work. He seems quite pleased with their proactivity. When the topic of his protection pops up, he waves his hand dismissively in a gesture of extreme confidence.
"Don't worry about me. I'm used to dealing with Yakuza punks."

Misaro gives Saaya a strange look when he sees her eyeing him. The young woman is probably around half his age, yet seemed rather bossy for her age. Most peculiar.

"Well," the large man continues "As for the shipment... Assuming they haven't split it up yet - and I see no reason why they would have done so - it should be the size of about four trucks, filled to the brim. The weapons, all of which is high-quality stuff, mind you, will probably still be encased in large, wooden boxes. My guess is they'll load them on their boats by crane, though it's perfectly possible that they'll rely on forklifts instead."

The smuggler rubs his chin for a moment. Now that he inadvertedly draws attention to it, you notice that he hasn't shaven himself in quite some time.
"Getting a boat will depend on the size. You'll mostly find freighters at the docks, but finding a speedboat you can hire shouldn't pose too much of a problem. Getting your hands on anything larger might get difficult. Whether a water assault is viable will depend on many circumstances. We'll see about that when we get to the docks."

Misaro takes a look at some of the maps you've printed out. They aren't all that helpful, and it looks like your best bet is to rely on your offhand knowledge of the docks for now. You've got a good idea about where docking bay 88 should be, and will probably be able to gather much more once you actually get there.

"That's some solid equipment there," Misaro says, pointing at Viktor's pair of LAW's. "Should be more than enough to sink any medium-sized ship. I can bring along a bunch of limpet mines as well tomorrow, in case something crops up. I'll give you ¥20,000 for the both of them after we're done with this. Deal?"

[Timaoh]

Gaijin

Sighing quietly to himself Gaijin leans forward and lifts his pantleg to remove his 1litre canteen. Holding it up for Saaya's inspection. "Although i wouldn't call it a bottle as it's made of metal i wasn't sure if this was what you had in mind, so i grabbed these as well." Taking the two 'water bottles' he managed to find at a vending machine he tosses one to Saaya to see her reflexes as much as to let her inspect it for herself. Replacing his own canteen he looks at the deck as it is passed to him or turned in his direction and then asks Misaro if he knows how many cranes would actually be around the docks as well as if there are any high vantages that might be made use of as well. For surveying bay 88 as well as securing or covering a retreat if it became necessary. "I could always perch myself somewhere to cover everyone and possibly take out our target at the same time once the explosives are in place." He comments off-handedly not quite sounding cocky, just confident and experienced in a casual manner which speaks volumes about his military experience.

[rubakhin]

Kostya speaks up. He had been thinking that Saaya-Ai's plans were getting unnecessarily complicated, and that it was probably a bad idea to go around buying all that junk in advance, but he didn't exactly want to be accused of insubordination. "Look, we're going down there and checking the place out tonight, right? We'll need to know the territory before we make any plans. Like, for instance, if any diving is going to be involved here, we need to find a safe place close to Dock 88 to change into the gear and enter the water. We can't be seen carrying scuba gear without drawing attention, so this safe place is going to have to be a short walk from the van. One of the warehouses, probably. We'll have to find one that's not locked, guarded, or too visible from where the yakuza'll be. Diving might not be an option. Same issues with launching the boat. And hell, even getting the boat is going to be hard - do we have something lined up already? Anyone down that part of the docks who'll rent us one is going to be involved with the yakuza, and he'll remember our faces and names ... "

He trails off. If the wrong people are down there tomorrow night, they're going to recognize him if he isn't careful ...

Well, no use dwelling on that part. He doesn't need to make himself nervous. This is basically just planning out an obstacle course, right? No problem.

"After we figure out where we'll be, we can work on the best vantage point for Gaijin-san. That won't be as hard, lemme worry about that. I'll show him around once we get there. They're used to me running around on top of buildings and stuff, so it won't look too weird."

He looks over his shoulder at the photographs on the computer screen. "Gaijin-san. That's - " He cringes. "Uh, well, that's a guy I know from Moscow. We're just good friends, I swear." He leans over and taps a button. "There. That's Ikirohami."

[Faithdreamer]

“You’re on the right track I have something else in mind. Five-sama is very meticulous. He believes Ikirohami-kun is up-and-coming Yakuza cheese. If he loses your weapons real bosses will pick on him. He may lose more than fingers when he fails. Yakuza are paranoid – they will look harder because too many people despise Ikirohami-kun. Five-sama was right to expect heavy guard.”
The stain on his shirt looked like an old pizza. The police probably wouldn’t arrest him unless they wanted fatal mould disease. Misaro had a flawless natural defence that made him far too dismissive. He was so conceited he wouldn’t understand if she was careless. Saaya peered up passed the seat at Nawa Chan.
“There are men protecting the shipment and watching the docks. We must believe they will spot any suspicious characters if they are near. Their snipers have spotters and either one will find our agent. Please, excuse me Naachan you can’t risk your life like a big dot. At least take your time considering things.”
If her words sank in like the boat hopefully didn’t she was happy. Her attention swam back to Misaro and the others. “I believe policemen set up for sting operations by being there before criminals are. The street toughs are looking outside but the officers are already there. No one catches on until too late. We have to sneak by the ones already skulking with your weapons Tasaboto-sama.”
She would explain carefully so everyone understood. Viktor was definitely her best listener.
“We can’t mark up company property. Convenience demands we have a boat only not for an honour charge. A speedboat will get us there faster than this van. There won’t be any traffic and we can swim if we want. When we ruin their operation we can go through New Honk.”
She took another sip from her water and pleasantly ignored the one the Gaijin threw at her. Maybe everyone was on the edge of their seat, huh?
“Ellis-Itami is an information company with links to NHK news. We could publicize it as ‘racist Yakuza war on innocent Chinese!’, no one likes negative attention even if all Japan laughs. The Yakuza at the docking bay and the ones who are coming will try to scare us away. That’s what new clothes and Rykova-san are for. Yakuza accept outsiders like him, if he weren’t working for us he would work for that crowd. If we got him an ostentatious suit he could blend in. Viktor would be trying out luck but lie and say he happens to be your Russian friend. There will be floodlights but there is a fair chance of success. That’s why I want you on the docks in hiding before the rest of the Yakuza are there to receive the ships.”
Whenever she thought about having a canteen on her ankle it didn’t seem very sensible. She wondered where Gaijin got the idea from. It would be noisy and uncomfortable. She would even go as far as saying it made her feet unwieldy. More so it was just weird when he lifted up his trousers like that; he wouldn’t act that way if he had a skirt on.
“The ones who go ashore can keep their heads down pretending to be security until you’re ready to sink their boats. You might slow them down in the meantime. Tasaboto-sama you will want to remain at a safe distance with me. You can bet Ikirohami Shatei knows who he stole from and so will his men. If they see your face you lose something very important.”
She wasn’t going to explain just yet. He had to waft the mystique away first. Konstantin was rolling the wispy miasma along.
“You’ve been there recently Rykova-san where can we find something suitable?” She went back up front and buckled her seatbelt. “As for locks, those are better left locked. The less we disturb the better – especially if we’re inside.”

[rubakhin]

"I don't need any fancy clothes," says Konstantin. "I don't go down there just for parkour, you know."

He pulls out the speedball in his jacket and tosses it on the dashboard. "I used to sell this stuff before joining up with Ellis-Itami. I get the blow right off the docks. That's why they're used to having me around. I'm just a kid, a small-time dealer. Pretty benign. And sometimes I bring guys down there, yeah. Nobody's gonna ask questions if Viktor's with me."

Konstantin exhales sharply; releases some of his tension by volleying a string of Russian curses at a tailgater.

"But I'm not stupid. If I have to shoot somebody or something, and his friends come after me ... well, not many of them know my real name or where to find me, and the ones who do, I can trust. I think. Or no, maybe I'm doomed," he finishes thoughtfully. "Anyway, I don't know about getting the rest of you in, but me and Viktor will be fine. Um, I think the safest place to launch the boat would be this little beach about half a kilometer from Dock 88."

He adds, "I mean, it's not, like, a beach beach, it's just this patch of rocks that leads into the water. It's just off the highway and the water's too polluted to swim in, so the place is usually deserted. There are oil tankers moored between the launchpoint and Dock 88, so you'll probably be able to sneak up on Ikirohami's ships from behind. But honestly, there are a lot of factors involved ... "

Well, I'm probably going to hell tomorrow, Kostya thinks, ever the optimist. At least he'd probably get a chance to chat with the Russian guy. Would be nice to hear the mother tongue.

[Faithdreamer]

Sitting quietly watching buildings walk by Saaya heard the radio. Now they were all listening to old anime themes. This one was ‘Shell’ from Witch Hunter Robin. All weak smile and wit made her think over Konstantin and his talking. It was a while before she said anything, just then she wondered how close they were getting to a boat. She reached up and dragged his narcotics off the dashboard before she spoke out.
“Ikirohami-kun hasn’t split the weapons apart. Wouldn’t it be safer to take them apart and pass them along his gangs?”

[Timaoh]

Gaijin

"I doubt that they are much concerned with their own safety or the safety of others for that matter. It would also be less efficient because i doubt that any of the thugs they have hired to move the weapons would be able to disasemble or reasemble the weapons efficientlyand even put them back into similar condition as they are in now." Gaijin pipes in with his thoughts on the matter trying his best to distract himself by looking out the window of the van and yet still remain part of the conversations.

"I would say our biggest concern will more than likely be their numbers." He continues pausing briefly to think. "I have no doubt that we will be able to get to the weapon shipment or the ships they are using for transport. My concern is whether or not we will be able to get out again or even remove the secondary target as we were instructed to. Perhaps a diversionary tactic would work better than subterfuge or infiltration. What to use as a diversion other than a large explosion is still beyond me for the moment though." Gaijin sits back again thumbing his chin and thinking about other strategies he may have overlooked for their simplicity. Absentmindedly he taps out the rythm to Shell with his other hand.

[Faithdreamer]

Saaya-Ai

Maybe Gaijin wasn’t as silly as she thought. If he was he was still helping at least. Down went the mirrored glasses to hide wonderful portraits of anxiety. Maybe they were being taken advantage of, obviously.
She got a hold of her Cyberdeck and sent an e-mail to Five-sama. Writing spam mail wasn’t something she did normally.

Open E-Mail
Good Afternoon! Tired of Office Lady Airheads giving away your sex life?
RECONSIDER SHOOTING FOR YOUR annual TARGETS and trap those pesky women in their own devious

200 % off yoor CONDOM make biggu tree Biggu! Q in to |-|4xs0rlI3es-E.

social games. It’s obvious they HURT you MORE than YAKUZA finger cuts if they keep their vicious rumours ALIVE?

Check out nasty f0toe now! XD!

:smallsmile: :smallsmile: :smallsmile: :smallsmile: :smallsmile:
Talking in a cafe was always muted when you tried listening in. She wouldn’t like some grungy pervert thinking about what he heard either. If radios were people the one in the van would feel exactly like that while Saaya turned it down. She lost track of where they were a long time ago. Luckily Rykova-san seemed to know where he was going.
“Don’t go near the oil ships and the highway,” She told him. “Go straight to the docks as soon as you have a boat. If you know they shouldn’t be able to see us anyone who sees the docks will be worried. When you’re going somewhere you don’t normally pick a secret spot.”
If she had the chance later she was going to break into a nice car and steal it. Hopefully Tasaboto-san would come with her. She wanted to take Gaijin as well. He could answer the phone so she didn’t have to.
Wheelman Rykova wouldn’t have any trouble listening now that the music was nearly mute.
“Mark a place we can meet at. I’ll drive with Gaijin and Tasaboto-sama. Someone, could you pretty please let me have some yen?”
She had an urge to go shopping for curtains. They wouldn't remember the account cards until it was too late.

[Freshmeat]

The pictures of Ikirohami that Konstantin shows you are clear enough. The Yakuza gang boss seems to be around 30 years old, with messy black hair and numerous tattoos on his neck and forearms. He has the kind of glazed look in his eyes that suggests he's some sort of excitable, trigger-happy drug junkie. Not good.

Misaro sits back for a bit and shrugs at some of the questions. "The docks are usually relatively quiet at night. We should be able to strike from almost everywhere. As for you," he says while motioning over to Gaijin,"I think you'll find plenty of cranes and sluice towers to work your magic from. I'd bring along a night scope though."

"I can make a few calls and get my hands on a speedboat," Misaro says rather confidently. "Keep in mind that a speedboat is rather noisy however, and that a boat sailing at night will be highly suspicious. But only if they us, of course."

"The gun shipment, hm... The Yakuza thugs under Ikirohami's command will probably have taken a few guns for themselves. It's likely that they've left the bulk of the shipment alone though. If they were going to divide it amongst themselves, they wouldn't set up an operation like this. Even men like Ikirohami have their orders"

"The problem will be the sheer amount of Yakuza here, I'm afraid. Most are street punks with low-end weaponry, but even those can get the drop on you. You should be able to avoid most of them though. I've no idea how and when Ikirohama will arrive. He might even be on one of the transport ships himself."



You finally manage to get past the hectic Tokyo traffic, only to find that the docks are equally hectic. Foremen shouting orders, crates being moved around, trucks riding to and fro... You don't have too much difficulty with blending in and walking around. You get surprisingly little stares. Most people are simply to busy to notice you, or pay you no heed - out of sight, out of mind.

Misaro decides to stay back in the car. "My face is a bit too recognizable around here," he says "I'll see if I can get a speedboat for you guys."
He taps his cellphone demonstratively.

After about half an hour of looking around, you find - or rather, chance upon - Docking Bay 88. It doesn't look like it sees much use, and there are decidedly less people around here.

[Faithdreamer]

Saaya-Ai

There was an endless supply of company money to buy a borrowed dress. It would have been nice to take something home. So many things she could decorate her closet with. Pictures of a glassy-eyed Bosozoku boss weren’t very appealing. Following the example set by Tasaboto-san she tried to make her seat more comfortable. She was busy writing the abbreviated notes to smelly docks and bay eighty eight.
“To keep my stash safe men would guard the shipment. No one is allowed to be near any goods unless they’re uniformed security. Poking around for the weapons may make them suspicious. Have a look if you can find a way.”
Her sticky notes were rainbow colored. They changed shades as many times as this job was being refreshed. It was a lot to write down and going over everything before things stared was a good idea. She circled her reminder.
“Gaijin Ikirohami-kun should be so paranoid there will be snipers. Show him as many places as you know Rykova-san. He’ll be able to find them more easily.”
Poor Viktor was in the most danger. There would be many men helping to load weapons. He’d just have to memorize the area.
“Rykova-san bring Viktor-san along with you. Try to memorize as much as you can. If you can’t find your way around in the dark... you’ll trip.”
She wasn’t going to do this before there was a lot of pressure for Viktor.
“Misaro, you’ll take care of Viktor tonight. Remember I like you better when you’re not a macho guy please.”
She had no idea what Konstantin did but drugs were a bad habit.
“Rykova-san, one thing you might do is act pushy. Try to sell drugs. Help Misaro-san and Viktor-san get closer to the boats.”
And then she was alone with their Very Important Smuggler for a while.
“Tasaboto-sama, you’ve been part of a diversion before haven’t you.
We can hire a pair of prostitutes blasting loud music and someone will get a video of hot bodies crawling all over one another.”
Prostitutes would draw a few eyes plying the world's second oldest profession on themselves. That should distract a few thugs from what was really going on. If they at least looked like lesbian prostitutes things would be more magnetic. She was allowed to use a third of their account for dirty deals and Five-sama looked the other way. She'd have to buy their prostitutes nice clothes so they didn't look the part. Yakuza was only good for males.

[Freshmeat]

The Docks:

http://img175.imageshack.us/img175/5351/docksbx7.png

The grey blocks with yellow numbers are the Docking Bays. (in hindsight, I actually shouldn't have called them 'Docking Bays', but oh well...)
The ellipses on the water are boats. These boats will probably have moved by the time you execute your assault.
Orange blocks are heavy containers.
Small brown blocks are small boxes.
Blue circles are random, metal barrels.
Large brown blocks are unimportant buildings. The one in the middle is the worker's cantina. The one at the bottom of the map is a bar.
The purple building in the lower left hand corner is a refinery.
Yellow blocks (with an 'X') are cranes. Sizes may vary.
Building 'A' is the sluice control tower. The grey bar to the right is the sluice.
Building 'B' holds the switch that controls the drawbridge. It's usually down.
The building with the four red lights is the Main Control Tower, and one of the tallest buildings in the area. More so than any other official building, it's off-limits to unauthorized personell. Just about anything is regulated from here.
The building to the right of the Main Control Tower is pretty much a large fuel tank. Small/medium-sized boats can fill up here... at a price.
A boat is under construction 'the old-fashioned way' in the middle of the map (just above the road)
Docking Bay 108 is one of the most important ones around. Plenty of materials are stockpiled here.
There is a small fence around Docking Bay 88. To the north of the road is a gate through which trucks can enter the enclosed area.
A small tower is situated to the left of the map, near the two containers.
The upper right hand corner is an old lighthouse (which has become a bit of a tourist attraction). It's by far the tallest building around. Security is low, and it gives an good view of the area. A few guards patrol the area from time to time though, to keep squatters and vandals out, who have taken a liking to this place.

Inside Docking Bay 88:

http://img98.imageshack.us/img98/4673/dockingbay88aij2.png

Yes, it's possible for boats to dock inside the building. :smallamused:
The three black dots in the upper right hand corner are pillars. They support a large part of the roof.
The red blocks are small forklifts.
Blue circles are random barrels.
The upper left hand corner has a metal walkway.
The entire building seems to be a bit in a state of disrepair. There's lots of litter on the ground, and the wall are decorated with numerous graffiti signs.

[Timaoh]

Gaijin

Ignoring the orders being barked out by Saaya-Ai Gainjin wonders how much money will be left after she gets through with the access card. He remembers some wise words from his youth... 'never let a girl hold onto your credit cards' Not exactly the same but the emphasis and context were similar enough that it applied all the same.

Still smiling to himself and thinking about those things he looked towards Saaya-Ai and asked her. "Would it be at all possible for me to get some funds dropped onto my card so i could get some equipment i might need for tonight? I was thinking a night scope and possibly a grappnel line or even a base jump chute might come in handy." With that he holds out his access card so she can see the account number and transfer the funds.

[Faithdreamer]

Saaya-Ai

“Ten thousand yen is on your card. You’ll be prosecuted if they aren’t returned.”
Saaya was talking into her monitor hoping the sound would bounce off and reach Naachan.
If they wanted to move giant boxes cranes helped. Those stretched out as far as the canals. As long as main control didn't turn the crane off she could capsize a ship that way. Going against a current was almost impossible in Japan especially for a boat. There was a sluice gate plugging up water and the half-finished hull needed some desperately. If the gate opened waves would push against Docking Bay 88. The workers wanted to move their work in progress eventually. Unsure how to use it Saaya still had an idea.
Ikirohami-kun should choose to divide his shipment. A truck would be most convenient in a movie only he was Yakuza. For any shipments he drove he would split it between cars. Every movie she ever watched had Yakuza keeping records carefully. It would arrive safely in pieces and he could move it later. She’d have everyone shoot the tires or hijack the truck if Ikirohami-kun thought about using one. He looked like a weak link in a chain of Yakuza.
For stopping ships they had big chains. If she had a chain to block the canal they’d stop to move it. She was explaining her ideas to everyone with a warning. It was something for these Street Samurai to stop and think about.
“Off limits are the fuel tank and refinery. Giant explosions and raining contaminants make our company very unhappy. I’ll report you as potentially ronin if you even think about that.”
Her maps were updated now. Pointing out buildings they might use also meant pointing out places Yakuza thugs would be guarding.
“The sluice should be guarded. It would be harder moving the shipment if it was open. They would watch the drawbridge so they had two ways to drive the boats. I think reformed Yakuza can work at companies. I guess they’ll have men working at the control tower. There will be a few hired guns looking around the fenced off area. They’ll try not to make people curious. Speaking of the fence I’d like to know what the inside of bay eighty eight is like. There’s a lighthouse too. Gaijin maybe if you got ready there they wouldn’t see you. The Yakuza might not think about the lighthouse since it’s patrolled.”

[Timaoh]

Gaijin

"While i agree that the lighthouse might be the best spot to setup for it's height advantage it has no LOS to anything interesting at all. Plus the fact that it's patrolled makes it less viable as well. If you are counting on my skills to snipe and i am tied up talking to or taking care of a security patrol at the most inopportune time then it could ruin the entire opperation. Instead i think positioning myself here." He puts his large finger right onto her glossy deck screen pointing at the southern crane. "This might be a better vantage for me to cut off any ground movement as well as getting a shot at our secondary target. Plus if they opted to use the southern canal to escape i can cut that route off as well with a well placed shot to the head of the driver or the engine of the boat depending on its size..." He trails off thinking, taking a moment to order his thoughts and continues. "If i could cut the power to the crane or disable it somehow that would help as well. It could take them a while toget it fixed if it was a legitimate problem too. I could sit on the actuating arm or even on the counter weight and have a clear view in every direction except for a minor FOV of about 20 degrees or so where the building blocks LOS. Either ways i still think that crane would be my best bet if you are doing a direct assault to use those LAWs to take out the boat so i can cover your retreat. It also means by the time they figure out where i am i can take out a good number of them and just grapnel accross the chanel to the other side or if i can find a good low-altitude base jump suit i can just jump it and hit the water. It would still be a hard landing but i've had worse."

Gaijin sits back and lets his ideas sink in for a while. "If you think those ideas have merit though it means i should get started setting things in motion. Disabling the crane and finding the items i'll need will take a little bit of time."

[rubakhin]

Konstantin Rykova

Per Saaya-Ai's orders, Konstantin waits outside the van for Gaijin. The fall air is chilly. Makes him want a cigarette. He wonders if he could bum some off somebody later.

He glances over his shoulder into the van, wondering idly when Saaya-Ai is going to give him his speedball back.

Looking over maps. Would probably be a minute. Might as well show Viktor around in the meantime.

"You coming?" he asks, in Russian.

[Faithdreamer]

Saaya-Ai

Good thing she got that clear protector. Her screen was looking so glossy and ultramodern. She wasn’t going to smile for him but, sucker, thought Saaya.
“Whatever you think a good idea is. I would have liked to drop boxes with it. For an example on the switch working the drawbridge; were you to make the crane break you would get attention. Before he turns black please look around with Rykova-san.”
When she had her deck packed up she had time to look around. With all three men busy with preparations she spoke with Tasaboto-san. She was busy watching the Smuggler as they searched. She got tired eventually and drove away to grab two sleeping bags. Someone with a good memory might remember it. She'd be careful enough to let him do it. After all Tasaboto was a smuggler.

[Timaoh]

Gaijin

"Perhaps... however i was thinking more along the lines of disabling it instead of breaking it. Perhaps then it could be used as you wanted, however i think that might draw more unnecessary attention then perching myself on the counter-weight and taking out key targets with my rifle. If done properly i could cause alot more confusion and chaos with well placed shots then i believe could be caused by needless destruction of a draw-bridge hut whose controls would surely be protected from falling boxes." He finishes with a dry tone suggesting what he thinks of her idea of flinging boxes at levers hoping one raises the bridge.

"We can talk more about all this later. I have some supplies i need to get reguardless of where i end up possitioning myself and a tour to take." With that Gaijin climbs out of the van and walks out to see if he can catch up with the others.

[Faithdreamer]

Saaya-Ai

Being a spying sort Saaya thought real spies hated it. There was no way she’d ask for company supplies. Every standard issue stakeout sleeping bag had a standard issue bug. She’d do everything she could so perverts wouldn’t downloaded videos of everyone in their underwear. Cell phones did that it was why Five-sama left them in the van.
“Blocks that way Blankets and Pillows is having a blowout sale. I can find something innocuous.” Essentially leaving Tasaboto at the curb so he could go into an outdoors store Saaya went searching for trouble. Her occupational field was Housewife. Her mission (she chose to accept it) was finding bedtime accessories. First she converted her entire card so she had spending yen – then it was on to Blankets and Pillows though not necessarily in that order. There were so many options!
If Saaya wasn’t careful she might get lost in choices and make a wrong turn into the parking lot.
Carrying five fluffy pillows and an assortment of fleece throw blankets she somehow lost track of her car. There had to be a fast one somewhere in here...

[roll0] – Untrained Awareness to spot trouble or cameras
[roll1] – If I’m able Counter-Security to steal a fast car
[roll2] – Stunt Drive away somewhere near the docks packing bedtime blankets

Chase Rolls just in case

[roll3]
[roll4]
[roll5]

[Freshmeat]

Misaro raises an eyebrow at some of Saaya's orders and plans, some of which seem a bit far-fetched to him. The girl certainly was proactive though.

The street samurai disperse, either casually chatting with eachother to pass the time, or looking for supplies to make their job a little easier. When Saaya wants to return to the car later on, she almost slaps herself (if she could do so, since her hands were full with blankets and bed sheets) for forgetting where she parked the car. She looks around for a while, but still can't figure out where exactly she came from. Just as she's getting slightly irritated about not knowing her way around in the area, a thought strikes her: why not simply steal a car?

It doesn't take long for the young woman to realize that fancy cars, unfortunately enough, aren't parked in this kind of area. She decides to settle for the next best thing: the most pimped out ride in the entire parking lot. Flashy colours, blackened windows, tyres that must have cost a fortune - in short, the type of car to pick up girls with and which would most often be recognized as the source of loud rap music.

Saaya walks up to the car and encircles it, nodding approvingly. Her hands quickly go to work on the car's lock, when suddenly a loud voice can be heard behind her...

"Hey b*tch! What yo doin' to my car!?"

Saaya turns around... and finds herself face to face with a broad-shouldered, mean-looking thug in a leather jacket. He's got several piercings and tattoos, and seems to be a particularly rowdy type. He's accompagnied by four of his friends, all of whom look equally physically-imposing.

:biggrin:

[Faithdreamer]

Saaya-Ai

As springy as the shocks bouncing his pimp mobile off the cement Saaya hopped on the roof. She got a satisfying bloink sound for the trouble. Now there was a Saaya-Ai sized depression to add a little oomph to the finish. He even got a flash of her hipsters, flaming fuchsia pink under her skirt.
“Requisitioning your lady-killer. The payments are late. Unless you want take a job and even the score?”
She was staring very crossly at him, knowing he’d see his own face in her glasses. How far could she run?
“Or we could leave empty-handed and have your fingers snipped as payment. It’s hard eating but you’ve got lots of friends to hold sticks.”

[Freshmeat]

For a split second, the thug seems confused. Then he continues in the same angered tone.
"I don't know what yo' talking 'bout girl! Get yo punk ass out of here before I break your legs!"

[Faithdreamer]

Saaya-Ai

“You’re Mister Kitomaku am I mistaken?” She tilted her head just a little. Reow, predatory!
“There are only so many disguises you can try.” If she left too eagerly he might run her over.

[Kaisshau]

"Yes, yes." Viktor replies, following the other man. "I am thinking I might need some new clothes, as I am dressed in combat gear and do not look like I am here for your protection. Do you know of anywhere I may be able to find better clothes? And a set of spiked handguards would be nice, but not necessary."

When they've traveled a short distance from the van, Viktor speaks again, in Russian. "That is one crazy *****, do you not agree? I think she needs some discipline."

[rubakhin]

Konstantin Rykova

"Da, krome shutok," Kostya laughs. A little bit louder than he might have otherwise. It's always a small relief to hear the mother tongue. He wonders how long Viktor's gone without hearing it, if he ever missed it, but despite his open Russian heart, he can't quite work up the nerve to start asking deep questions right off the bat.


"In your size? Dunno. The Japanese are all midgets. Must be a pain in the ass to find clothes in Japan. There's an import shop around here that has a lot of foreign customers, though. I think there might be something. It's like a block away, we can walk."


It's pretty peaceful here - by Konstantin's estimation, anyway. There are people everywhere, sure. But the breeze is mild. It's not that cold. No frost or rain to slow him down. And the tops of the gray buildings are, as always, deserted. Some of them are so tall that when he looks at them, he gets vertigo - almost like they're swaying in the wind.

He runs his hands through his hair and takes a breath.


"What part of Russia do you come from? If you don't mind my asking. I'm from Moscow. I mean, I'm from here, I was born here - I'm not a foreigner like the guy said - but I go back to Moscow whenever I can. Like in the summer, I have these friends with this dacha, and ... well, anyway," he finishes, embarrassed, looking down at his feet. "The shop isn't far from here if you want to go right now."

[Kaisshau]

Viktor

"I was raised in a village near Chernobyl, but far enough away that it was not affected by either melt-down. I had been a farm hand, and my parents believed it was my destiny to be such, but I knew better. I knew I could make a career in the military, and I did. But the pay is s***, the work long and hard, and with what I did, the only reward for a job well done is not getting killed by your commander. These companies, they do not know what it means to face difficulty. They do not understand that if you lower your costs in-house, you could afford to pay less, and then, you make more money. So they pay us too much, since they are scared of other companies. It is a system where I can make much profit."

Viktor removed his sunglasses, and leaned into talk with the small man. "My size, is a curse and a blessing. It's all on how I use it. I prefer Japan, though, since in Russia and the America, it draws those who wish to make a name for themselves. What do you think of Gaijin? He is chatty, but professional. He shall be a valuable asset. Although, I do not think I can forgive his country for what they did to ours. Mother Russia is no longer the largest country, now that Canada has annexed parts of America. And can you believe their nerve, claiming those waters next to their Alaskan province as sovereign? Still, though, I've heard of the American behaviour being worse. At least the Canadians are fair.

I am sorry, Konstantin, had I known I would need new clothes, I would have ordered them from my supplier. A new jacket and shirt should be enough, but I would prefer having a pair of those jeans you are fond of wearing."

Have you had much contact with those who can speak Russian? I have almost started to think in English, I use it so often. You will never catch me uttering Japanese, though. I find the sound of their language offensive. Although that does not mean I do not understand it. I find when people think that no one can understand them, they are freer with their words than they should otherwise be.

[rubakhin]

Konstantin listens intently.


"So, you're like a proletarian or something," he says.


Having grown up in these cities, he isn't sure what the villages were like. Rural Ukraine makes him think of the old propaganda stories about the collective farms, where life was rough but the people were more human, and the poems by Yevtushenko about the virgin pine forests of Siberia. That kind of thing is so far out of his realm of experience that it all sounds kind of thrilling.

He doesn't know much about international politics either, for that matter - his adopted mother, being Chechen, had wanted him to have the luxury of ignoring them, something that young Kostya happily took for granted - and just nods at Viktor's estimation, trying to look patriotic.


"I don't know about Gaijin-san," he says. "I think ... " He tries to muster up a calculating psychological analysis of the near-stranger, a la Dostoevsky, but fails to come up with anything decent. "I guess he's good at what he does, or else he wouldn't be here with us. That's about all. I don't even know if we can trust him. I haven't really talked to him yet."

He continues, "There's not a lot of Russians in Tokyo. They mostly come in for a few days on the ferry from Vladivostok, and that's way out in Niigata. It's not easy for us here. The Japanese are afraid of us or something. But there are a few people. There's me and my mom - my adopted mother, I mean - and sometimes my friends will fly out to visit me from Moscow. I miss being around other Russians a lot. You're right. The language is better, the people are better ... "

He trails off for a moment, then adds quickly, "Hey, no, don't apologize, it's fine. I'll take care of it. No problem," he says, trying to sound manly and confident. "And it's just Kostya, if you want."

[Kaisshau]

Viktor
"You could call me that", Viktor says while staring at the small man, "But that is no association that I would wish for. And I can see you are bored by politics, the expression is clear. So I will converse about something else, if you would prefer.

Viktor looks away, and at his surroundings, watching the people move.
"This place, it is so busy. They do not take the time to relax. Everything must be done now, or, if possible, earlier. These people do not know the benefits of taking breaks during work. Can you believe the highest suicide rate in the world is in Tokyo? And that's not counting those that kill themselves in other ways. To be home again... That I would not care for. The pay is horrible, unlike here, and the benefits are nonexistent."

"You are ruining yourself with those drugs, you know."

[rubakhin]

Kostya turns red and looks down at his feet.


"I'm not! I don't do that much. I'm not addicted or anything. Besides, that's why I got this job. I knew I wasn't getting anywhere by dealing. There's no money outside of the corporations."

He sighs. "I just keep thinking that someday I'll make a killing. Set myself up in Moscow or somewhere. I just don't know how, though. Get in with the mafia or go back to school. You know how it is in Russia. Even the poor can't afford to be poor. But I mean, money isn't everything - it's just - here in Japan I don't know how to live - like, have you been to that Orthodox church? St. Nikolai? I go there and the people are friendly. They trust me. They don't act like I can't speak their language or look at me like I'm a creep. They understand what I mean when I talk about -
I don't know - the rain in Petersburg, or learning Pushkin as a kid ... "

His voice is earnest, rather than unhappy or nostalgic, and he's talking with his hands, trying to convey these rather complicated ideas all at once.


"Don't you ever miss not having anyone to talk to about the forests or anything?" He tilts his head in thought. "I mean, assuming that you don't. Do you have a family or anything?"

[Kaisshau]

Viktor

Viktor looked at the small man with interest, thoughts coming together in his head.
"I did not have much experience with the forests of Russia. We came from the plains, and all my military training was conducted in Siberia. However, if you appreciate good forestry, you would love the Canadian Shield, or their mountains. They can almost rival the splendour of Russia."


Viktor glanced ahead again, then back to the man. That clothing shop was more than a small walk away.

"It seems to me, that you do not want to go to Russia. You want to go to what you imagine to be Russia, your idealized home. You can find acceptance anywhere, my young friend, if you simply know where to look. For example, when I was living in the United States, I had my house in a Irish neighbourhood of a coastal city. Normally, they would not have welcomed me, maybe they would not have tolerated me staying there, but I made myself at home, learned their customs, adopted them, and did not show an obvious loyalty to Russia. They welcomed me after I turned down an offer to join a Russian crime syndicate, and even helped me when the same syndicate tried to attack me.

It is not a matter of where you belong that you will be welcomed, but how you act. If you act Russian, you will only be welcomed in Russia. Despite my size, I can blend into this world, and be accepted as a Japanese, some times so well that people forget I am foreign. Right now, I do not do this, for I am paid better because I am different, because I am not Japanese. If you do not feel that you are welcome where you are, you will never be welcome."

[rubakhin]

Kostya frowns a little. He knows that, of course, but it still kind of hurts being told.


"Well ... yeah, I guess you're right. But at the same time, I want to act like a Russian because I am a Russian." He shrugs. "Maybe it's just 'cause I'm young. It's normal to want to get out of the nest, right? It would be great to see America someday. Um, or Canada. Or wherever."


At about that time, they show up at the store. It's a dingy, cluttered little warehouse, filled mostly with mass-produced Japanicana and dust, but there are several rows of clothing racks in the back.


"Just pick out whatever you want," says Kostya. "I'll take care of it."

He puts his hand into his pockets, fingertips brushing against the reassuring presence of his stash, and goes off to haggle with the cashier.

[Kaisshau]

Viktor

Browsing thru the racks, Viktor looks for anything he can find in his size, hoping to come across a black jacket, grey shirt, and a pair of jeans. Something to make him look like a bruiser, not like a soldier. After Viktor gets his clothing, he looks around for something like a bandana, a head covering of some kind. Walking up to the cashier with Konstantin, he leans in to ask the man a question in Russian.

"My friend, would you know of a location where I could find some spiked knuckles, or even brass knuckles? I think they would not only assist me in combat, but in my looking the role of your protector."