GM: Norman
Players: Deborah, Nightshade
Synopsis: Deborah and Nightshade are hired by a mysterious pair of men to 'eliminate' a 'problem'.
Date: 03 NOV 2070
«Time» The current IC time is: Wed Nov 3 11:09:42 2070
Word spreads quickly through the various underworld channels. A particularly secretive J has a job for a crew of 'unknowns'. It's specified that if he knows who you are, you'd better not show your face. It's an open meet, set in a small office building in a small industrial park north of the FTZ. The adjacent buildings seem to be occupied with legitimate businesses, but this particular building is entirely empty except for a few folding chairs, and a card table. Most of the lights are off. Two men sit in chairs against one wall, both wearing very obvious polymimetic masks that fail to do anything but hide their faces and make them look extremely disturbing, in a "I'm wearing another person's face" kind of way. Both are very well dressed, though the one on the right is wearing slightly less expensive clothes.
Nightshade makes her way into the meeting area, she's prepared herself with a freshly created set of clothing, a quick cleanse and sterilize and several hours in front of the mirror working on her disguise. By the time she's done she looks more like a chunky troll than a spikey one, a low grade physical mask is layed over the mundane disguise. Lies always work best when layered, even the most curious only peel back a few layers. She wears her fullsuit, with gloves below the business attire, and a slightly out of fashion flop hat that hides her hair from view. She drove into the area several hours ago and parked about 10 minutes walk away, but she walked the long way around taking almost forty five minutes and approaching from the far side. She wears a pair of small blades one on each wrist but is otherwise unarmed.
Deborah's attempts at disguise are more specific and targetted than many others. That's the way it goes with Fake SINs. Don't have them look like you, have them look just different enough that it's not noticable at first glance, but that it's easy enough to work up a disguise for. She arives perhaps 10 minutes early on her racing bike, and spends another 5 looking for a place to park the damned thing. This makes ehr need to jog to even chance making it to the meeting on time. Hidden away in two shapded holsters are her pistols, and those are under her billowing greatcoat to help prevent others from seeing them.
Nightshade walks into the meet, takes a quick glance at the folding chairs and tucks her hands behind her back falling into a slightly military looking 'at ease' after nodding a greeting to the gentlemen in the polymasks.
This appears to be a completely normal office building with no noticable security features, no armed guards, no cyber scanners, nothing at all out of the ordinary. In theory, that's the best way to pull off an ambush, but disguising one this well would be a challenge. When you enter, the man on the right, without a word, reaches for a box under his chair. The air fills with the dull hiss of static. He speaks through some kind of concealed voice modulator. "Good morning, my name is Mister Johnson and I am acting strictly as a representative of my client or clients, who wish to remain anonymous at this time. Is this understood?" He doesn't pause to let you reply. "My client has requested that a target be eliminated, and I am to brief you on your mission. You will be paid eighteen thousand, total, in the form of a certified credstick, upon successfully completing your mission. Equipment will not be provided for your use at any time. You will not receive any outside support through myself or my client at any time. Is this understood?" Now, finally, allows you to speak.
Deborah enters and spins one of the folding chairs sideways, to have something to lean up on sideways while the guy talks. And talk he does, though not very long. She frowns a bit once he gets to the end. "Understand, yes. Accept the job? Again, yes. But I cannot agree to that price without knowing any details details on the target," she asks, shaking her head. "So lets talk specifics."
From behind the mask, the man throws Deborah a look. The smaller of the two passes him a small stack of printouts, which he takes, and offers to you both. "A human mundane named Michael Cavanaugh. Male white, age forty-two. The photos and surveillance information on the sheets should be sufficient to locate him. There are special instructions. Failure to follow these instructions will result in forfeiting payment. Is this understood?"
Nightshade considers, then nods, "Understood." She takes the printouts scanning them quickly at first then going back through to catch the details.
True to his word, the printouts include three photos of Cavanaugh as well as his current known address, his employment information, vehicle registration, and a few select entries from his bank records.
Hardcopies. Who the hell uses hardcopies? Deborah keeps her annoyance off of her face, though she does glance around looking for a place to shred and then burn the paper almost out of instinct. She reads the file thoroughly, if slowly, and goes back to details about the man's home address, trying to guage security response times, and other such details. She remains quiet, neither confirming nor denying anything until she is satisfied that it's worth the money.
"The conditions are as follows," the man begins. He enumerates with his fingers as he speaks. "You cannot be seen eliminating him. You cannot leave any evidence of your involvement. You cannot alert anyone. You must place an item, which I will give you, on his body afterward. You must call a contact number no more than five minutes aftwards." He pauses, "Failure, as I said, will result in forfeiture of payment."
«Plot» Deborah says, "What does the non-searchable paper mention about security of his home, and other such things?"
«Plot» Norman says, "It doesn't. It lists a residential address in a development not known for especially high security."
Nightshade nods, considering, "If no body or negligible body remains?"
Still quiet, Deborah does a relatively quick matrix search on the residential development. She looks for several things, like… what sector it is in, how far from the nearest security station it is, what the place's advertised reasons to live there are, and so forth.
He shakes his head. "Destroying the body results in forfeiture of payment." From his coat, he withdraws a medium-sized bag made from some kind of woven nylon-like material, and holds it up. "The body must be intact, and you must place this item…the item in this bag…somewhere on the body."
Deborah (#2112) rolls 6 (Police Procedures Knowsoft):
1 2 4 4 5 5
Deborah (#2112) rolls Computers for "For the matrix search I forgot to +roll":
1 1 2 3 4
Nightshade tilts her head, "Intact or 'reasonably intact', are bullet holes acceptable or does this need to be poison or strangulation?" She pages back through the papers looking over the mark and scanning for any magical, medical, or cyber data provided.
You paged Deborah with 'You find a few things about the neighborhood on the 'trix, but it's all public information. Except for two things, someone ranting on a chat board about how their house was broken into in broad daylight, and an old news blurb about a home invasion leading to a sexual assault from four years ago.'.
The two men look at each other. The silent one makes some kind of gesture, the other gestures back; it looks like they're communicating without speaking. The first one looks at Nightshade, and his annoyance is audible even through the voice scambler. "Shoot him," he says, "keep it simple and just shoot him. Do you accept this mission?"
Nightshade looks over at Deborah waiting for her read on the situation.
Deborah has likely spent several minutes reading over things while the others chatted. After a time, she folds the papers as small as she can and shoves them in a pocket, to be disposed of later. "After searching, I've come to the conclusion that eighteen 'kay is sufficient enough for this job. However, should you look to aquire my services in the future, I would strongly suggest going digital. I hear it's all the rage these days," she says, no hint of sarcasm in her voice. She even sounds friendly, trying to be helpful!
The man who has been speaking all this time holds out his hand. "Those are not for you to keep," he says coldly.
Nightshade looks down at the paperwork, making sure none of it has touched her skin and taking another moment to commit the important details to her ME3 enhanced memory she then returns the paperwork to the table, "Accepted then. Timeline?"
Deborah levels her gaze at the man. "They're for, what, blackmailing us since we had to sit here and read over highly porous objects, breathing on them and dumping all manner of DNA to link us to extensive details on a man who was just killed?" Her voice still keeps the seethingly bubbly, helpful quality to it. "I think not. I'll burn it in front of you, if you can't trust me to dispose of it properly, but I will be the one seeing to it that this is properly disposed of." The woman then looks to Nightshade, and then back at the man, waiting for the Troll's question to be answered.
Deborah (#2112) rolls Charisma for "Default Intimidation, yo!":
1 1 1 2 2 2 5
Deborah (#2112) rolls Charisma for "Default Intimidation, yo! kp 1":
1 2 2 3 4 10 11
Norman (#10869) rolls 5 vs TN 10:
2 3 4 4 11 = 1 Success
Norman (#10869) rolls 6 vs TN 11:
2 3 3 3 4 9 = 0 Successes
He collects the paper from Nightshade, but ignores her question for the moment. Instead, he stares at Deborah, and growls, "You want to make this a pissing match? Too easy. Go the fuck away."
The smaller of the two subtly nudges him with his elbow. They proceed to gesture back and forth, conversing silently for several seconds before both turn to look at the elven girl. The larger one speaks. "Fine. Burn it, right here."
Nightshade falls back to 'at ease' waiting for things to sort themselves out.
Deborah looks around for a metal trash can or something, to keep the building from burning down. She spots one readily enough, and hands it to the Johnson. "Here, hold it," she says, pulling the papers back out of her greatcoat with one hand, and producing a lighter with the other. gingerly holding the paper by a corner, she sets fire to it in several places before dropping it into the bin. "I hope you have a way to turn off the sprinklers. Otherwise this could get messy. Fire patrols showing up, and so on," she says. Ever helpful.
The one on the left looks like he's suppressing a laugh, but the mask shows no expression at all. The one on the right, doesn't. "Satisfactory," he says, peering briefly into the bin to ensure that it's burned. They probably really *did* want your prints and DNA, but this meet is already dragging on longer than they would have liked…
Nightshade blinks as people start fires, but otherwise just stands at ease till they've worked things out. Gloves don't leave fingerprints and if someone wanted to get the DNA of her breath…well they could do it ways that wouldn't cost them 18k.
Deborah watches the paper burn up a good bit, and leans back, waiting for it to hit what she believes is burned enough. She nods, satisfied when that point has arrived. "Well alrighty. Anything else?" she asks, looking back and forth from one to the other to nightshade and back again.
The two men look at each other. "You have your instructions," the larger one says, "complete the job in forty-eight hours. Goodbye."
Deborah offers a polite little wave to the men, and stands to leave quickly, giving a little 'Let's head out of here' nod to the troll. She is quiet until halfway to the exit, and then asks, "So, where should we go to make plans?"
Nightshade waits till she's outside then reaches inside a pocket and pulls out a portable phone, "I need to go get my ride, I'll call you in an hour with a location." She then heads off to take the long route back to her van, going through several businesses to shake any tails, when she calls Deborah she suggests one of the many motels in the area that rent rooms by the hour and without a lot of questions.
«OOC» Deborah is thinking a day of surveilance, and also has already forgotten what sector this job is in.
«Plot» Norman says, "The address is in a residential community not known for its security, it's off of Quebec St. north of I-270, near the Sioux sector."
«OOC» Nightshade asks Deb for the breakdown on the when and where the target is with as much detail as her trix diving can supply. She also asks her to check on any family, friends or houseguests the target might have that would be home with him. Interrupted robbery resulting in murder can be a handy distraction, even if whatever is in the bag is probably going to scream 'retaliation hit.'
«OOC» Nightshade says, "Anything 'handy' nearby to keep a watch on the target, hotel/motel trailer park, arcade, restaraunt, bookstore. Somewhere one can 'hangout' without being noticed (well as much as a Troll can be not noticed?)"
«Plot» Norman says, "Sure. There's a small park south around the corner from the house, a bar about three blocks north, a gas station around the corner from the east, and as you head further south towards I-270 there's all sorts of stores and shops and things."
«OOC» Nightshade says, "Bank transactions that were identified in the paperwork, any of them point to where he regularly spends time (bar name, movie theatre, etc.)"
«OOC» Nightshade says, "Oh, and what's int the sack? (Guess by gently probing before opening)."
«Plot» Norman says, "It's about gallon sized, made out of toughened nylon material, with a single-use adhesive seal at the top, which is closed. Once opened, it cannot be re-sealed. Whatever's in the bag is small and soft, you can't tell anything more about it."
«Plot» Norman says, "The bank records show a few bars, restaurants, and stores in the area of the house, and in the area of the Woodland Apartments, where his paychecks are drawn from. Or whatever holding company owns the Woodlands."
«Plot» Nightshade thinks back to the bank records to see if any bar or restaurant might be frequented tonight or tommorrow night.
«OOC» Deborah returns, and reads
«Plot» Norman says, "It's pretty randomly distributed. Comparing the bar/restaurant visits against his work schedule, it looks like he goes out after work about twice a week, half the time near the Woodlands and half the time near his house. The schedule suggests that today, Wednesday, he's working until 2100."
Nightshade checks out the list, "Feel like taking a walk in the park and hitting a bar?" She says indicating two of the places on the frequented list that would give a good view of the house.
Deborah shrugs slightly. "Sure, why not. It's getting a bit chilly, though," she says, double checking the trix for the weather. "Guess I can manage…"
Nightshade has finished her research, mostly going through her list of border crossings in the area and scoping out hidey holes. She's also gave a kid a fiver to run into the local stuffershack and grab her a pair of disposable phones so 'she didn't have to pry herself out of the damn car.' She programs the 'alert' number into the phones and passes one to Deborah. "In case we get lucky." She's still wearing her chunky monkey troll disguise with the physical mask making her look more trim and comely, a bit of vanity rather than a disguise. She keeps her armored undies on and the wrist sheathed blades, all nice and legal if a little tacky in high society. She's bundled against the cold in a large overcoat scarf hat and mittens…layer upon layer upon layer.
Luckily, Deborah's overcoat is partially insulated, so her layers need not be so bulky. She pulls out a stick of gum, which she then begins to chew noisily on, while doing some last minute checking of her gear. "This close to the Sioux, how quick do you figure their response time will be?" she asks, making sure to put the clips with a green stripe into her pistols.
Nightshade glances around, "If we're lucky, hours and hours after we're well away from the scene. Since I figure we're being paid to take the fall, or at least cause a ruckus, probably only a few minutes after we make the call, so make sure you wait four minutes before you dial."
The park is almost exactly a mile from the Sioux sector, though the checkpoint itself is a bit farther beyond that. Directly across the street to the west, on the UCAS side, is a large industrial park which looks like it's seen better days. To the north is a sprawling suburb of single-story ranch houses, which also look like they've seen better days. An elementary school, just getting out for the day, is to the east. To the south, an increasingly crappy neighborhood extends into the shadows of I-270. It's sunny and about fifty degrees, so many of the children from the adjacent school are running about the park, shedding jackets and mittens as they go. A KE patrol seems to come around about every ten minutes, just one squad car either from the east towards Monaco street, or from the north towards the interstate.
Nightshade unbuttons her overcoat and drapes her scarf around her shoulders, big silly trog dressing for winter in fall. She strolls along glancing about casually looking for security cameras, traffic cameras, nosey neighbors and checking out the target's house. Looking to see if he has a garage or if he'll have to cross in the open to get from car to home.
Nightshade (#3173) rolls Intelligence:
1 2 3 3 5 10
You paged Nightshade with 'There's a PTZ camera at both northern corners of the park. You can see a pole-mounted fisheye camera halfway up Monaco, about a block west of the house. You can only see halfway up the street, but between the park and the house, you don't see any really obvious security measures on his street, except of course an emergency call-box.'.
Deborah does the opposite, and bundles herself up tighter. Given her skinniness, it's even believable that she might be terribly cold. For her own part, her eyes are pointed more to the sky, on the look out for things like security drones or aerial patrols. She stops often, and looks to her PocSec as though consulting with directions while she does so.
Deborah (#2112) rolls Intelligence for "??":
1 1 1 2 7 11
Deborah (#2112) rolls 6 (Security Design Knowsoft) for "??":
** 1 1 2 3 3 4**
You paged Deborah with 'There's a PTZ camera at the two northern corners of the park. You only see normal air traffic above you, except for what can only be a police or security helicopter, except it's just flying south at a normal pace.'.
Nightshade sighs, "I'm telling you, this geotagging fad is never going to catch on…they try it ever 4 or 5 years and the everybody realizes it's just a scavenger hunt without the fun of doing misdemeanors." She looks up at one of the trees, "Where's it supposed to be again, under your nose but over your head? What kind of directions are those?" She keeps looking about grumbling a little as she does so. She tries to sneak a peek at the windows on the houses nearby to see if any are labeled with 'protected by KE' stickers.
Nightshade looks over at Deborah, "Alright, here's my thought. I do a little vodoo to make myself invis and put a layer of disguise over you. I camp out between the target's garage and his front door. You hang about on the sidewalk. As he starts to pull in you do something to draw any casual attention away from the target, trip and fall and knock of a garbage can, run a red light and cause a traffic snarl, something. I stick a knife in the mark, drop the goo bag on him and we exit making the phone call as we go. Thoughts?"
Deborah considers this plan of action for a few moments. "Sure, I guess," she says. "Real quick question, though. I know some magic-y types can sort of make DNA traces vanish. Do you happen to be one of them?" The image of wheels spinning in her head as she thinks are almost unnoticable… she plays off the conversation as casually possible, in case people are looking for outsides whispering to eachother.
Nightshade nods, "Yeah, I can scrub an area."
"Excellent," Deborah says. "I think I have the workings of a decent distraction, then. The car I will be missappropriating will need to be wiped clean, though. I can take precautions to minimize leaving a trail, but I'd still feel safe having it scrubbed before anyone reports to the scene."
Nightshade nods, "I can manage that." She thinks back, "Alright, so we've still got two days right? So long as this yahoo comes home tonight we're set. If not then we've got to hunt more actively."
"Yuppers. Should give me a decent enough time to case a good place to aqure a car, too," Deborah answers, somewhat glad she's not needing to do something last-minute for once.
Nightshade nods, "Alright, we'll meet up somewhere shady to scrub the car and lock in the vodoo, then I'll make my in to hide. I'll do what I can on the spirit side but that's not my strong suit." When they're somewhere more secure they review the evac plans with contingencies for if they're together or seperated based on the new info.
«OOC» Deborah says, "You mentioned run down apartments and the like a short ways to the south, right?"
«OOC» Norman says, "Run down, but not Warrens run down. Figure a poor neighborhood for legal, working folks. No rampant major crime, no organized gangs of any note. Like a 'bad' neighborhood in any typical city in 2010."
«OOC» Deborah nods. "That's where the americar I wanna steal will come from."
«OOC» Deborah says, "Electronics and Electronics B/R. Rating 5 (chipped), and +1 for the B/R from Enhanced Articulation."
«OOC» Deborah also has Computers 5, and Security Design 6
«Plot» Norman says, "Ok, you steal an Americar. The left fender is caved in and it smokes a little bit. Nobody sees you."
Nightshade looks over the Americar, "Funny, I would have thought you'd have picked non-smoking on the rental form."
«Plot» Deborah will not be stealing it until right before the distraction. Can't have KE on the lookout before we get started.
"Crapy is what I'm looking for," Deborah answers. "We want a screaming match between some well-to-do corper with a little no good poor person. The louder the shouting, the better the distraction. You just need to be ready to wipe the scene before someone arives to fill an accident report."
«Plot» Nightshade says, "Will be casting F3 Cleanse and F3 Sterilize on Deb, herself, and the car. Then spending a short while removing the astral imprints for each. She will then cast F1 Physical Mask on Deb and lock it in with an F1 Sustaining foci. She will then summon an F3 Wind Spirit with instructions to speed the movement of Nightshade and Deb (will stay in place so long as they're under open sky and Deb keeps the windows down on the stolen car). She will then summon a F3 City Spirit with instruction to guard and conceal them both. Unless prevented she will cast a final sterilize on the car as part of the exit plan."
Nightshade (#3173) rolls Sorcery + Sorcery Pool: 6 vs TN 5 for "Physical Mask on Deborah. Enough different that she isn't recognizable, close enough that if caught it could be 'a beauty aid'.":
1 1 1 2 3 4 4 4 5 5 5 8 11 = 5 Successes
Nightshade (#3173) rolls Sorcery + Sorcery Pool: 6 - 5 (successes) vs TN 5 for "1kp reroll for successes":
1 1 4 4 5 5 5 5 = 4 Successes
«Plot» Norman says, "9 successes, not even her mother would recognize her."
Nightshade (#3173) rolls Willpower vs TN 2 for "Soaking M with traum need 2":
1 1 2 3 4 5 8 = 5 Successes
Nightshade (#3173) rolls Sorcery + Sorcery Pool: 6 vs TN 5 for "Improved Invis on Nightshade":
1 1 1 2 2 2 2 3 3 5 5 5 8 = 4 Successes
Nightshade (#3173) rolls Sorcery + Sorcery Pool: 6 - 4 (successes) vs TN 5 for "Improved Invis on Nightshade 1kp (2 used)":
1 2 2 2 4 7 10 11 16 = 4 Successes
Nightshade (#3173) rolls Willpower vs TN 2 for "Soaking M with traum need 2":
1 1 3 3 5 5 7 = 5 Successes
«Plot» Norman says, "8 successes, you're so gone you're not even a memory. You hold your breath, not because breathing would give you away, but because you're just that close to the unwashed masses."
Nightshade looks over Deb critically, then starts reworking her looks with a physical mask, it only takes a few heartbeats as she 'dolls up' the already good looking Deb with the sort of enhancements that you normally need surgery to pull off. Nothing massive but a change in skin tone, a tweak to the shape of her eye, a little more bounce here, a little less gravity there when she's done, it's a similar but completely different woman. She puts a necklace around her to lock the spell in place, then she simply fades herself from view. Of course being unseen isn't all it's cracked up to be so she'll be using every scrap of her trollish ninja abilities to get into place, and make sure there's no clear line of sight to herself in case the target is awakened or one of those damn cop cars goes by with a snoopy mage in it.
Deborah, disguised, goes about the act of her new role… poor person, out in their cheap Americar, and not paying attention to her driving at all. Of course, the fender bender she's planning on having with the first sporty looking car will be intentional… but she's going to do her best to make it seem like an accident.
Nightshade is wearing her FFBA, plain clothes and her greatcoat, she has a two pairs of rather vicious knives on her but they're 'technically' legal (in some places). The rest of her guns and gear are safely stowed back in her hiding hole, though she has both her vans in the area as evac options.
Nightshade (#3173) rolls Stealth + 1 (adept centering die) for "Trolls just aren't sneaky damnit.":
1 2 4
«Plot» Norman says, "So just to recap. You know where his house is, you know what car he drives (plate and everything), you know where he works, you know his work schedule, you know some of the places he hangs out, and you know vaguely when he's at work, at home, or hanging out somewhere."
«OOC» Nightshade says, "Yep, and we're going to go camp out at about the time when he's expected to get home and ambush him. If he no-shows then we go actively hunting tomorrow. If we can get reports on where he is or isn't on the way home all the better."
Debora is unarmed, but moderately armored. Wrecks are always a hastle, and she needs to be as functional as possible to slip away before KE arrives on the scene. She will time her accident to happen just after the patrol has left line of sight, in an effort to cause a big distraction for the Troll to do her work.
Norman (#10869) rolls 1 for "Let's see where Mr. Cavanaugh is…(low numbers are good)":
3
Norman (#10869) rolls 1 for "Let's see where Mr. Cavanaugh is…(low numbers are good) pt.2":
8
Norman (#10869) rolls 1 for "Let's see where Mr. Cavanaugh is…(low numbers are good) pt.3":
3
Norman (#10869) rolls 4 for "Random dice of chance, all 1s is very very bad":
1 2 3 9
2100 rolls around, about the time the mark is getting off work. Evening in this neighborhood is pretty quiet; by now the children running around in the streets have gone off to bed or to be babysat by the trid. Rush hour is well over. The streets quiet down and darkness falls. There is no activity in or around the target's house. The local KE patrol comes around less and less frequently as afternoon becomes evening, now about once every 30-45 minutes. It should take about 30 minutes to drive from the Woodlands to here, but by 2145 there's no sign of the target. At 2230 it's the same story.
Commlink-Nightshade> Nightshade says, "Getting a bit late, can you swing that hunk of junk around to see if he's at the bar?"
«OOC» Nightshade says, "My memory is failing me a little, I think he's got 2-3 regular bars in this area, and a girlfriend somewhere in another sector right?"
«Plot» Norman says, "Going by what's on the sheet, there are 2-3 places near the Woodlands and 2-3 places near his house that he goes to after work about twice a week, and it's randomly distributed. The places he frequents are all just a few blocks from both locations. There's no set pattern to where he goes or when."
Commlink-Ivy> Deborah says, "I can, but you'll have to deal with your own distraction if he shows up while I'm away."
Commlink-Nightshade> Nightshade says, "Understood, just check the local hotspots, if he shows I'll holler and just wreck up whereever you are and bail, that should draw enough attention for me to get done, and you're clean enough now you shouldn't leave any bio."
Nightshade is laying in the grass, carefully clear of any of the automatic sprinkler heads, she's got her head down just waiting for things to happen. "Times like this…" she thinks to herself, "I wish I had a datajack and a pocsec like Cypher so I could play video games."
Deborah does a bit of driving, and goes by the bars where the target frequents. After considering the best ways to make him leave any given place, she decides to utilize some of the road flares and tools found in the back of the Americar. While wearing gloves and driving along, she tries to thow a tool through a window with a flare closely following.
«Plot» Norman says, "Just to clarify, you're going to throw a tool and a road flare through the window of one of the places he frequents? Any one in particular?"
«Plot» Deborah says, "Farthest from the apartment first,"
«OOC» Deborah says, "Preferably, in the low sec areas."
«Plot» Norman says, "There aren't really any low-sec areas within a reasonable distance of the house. The furthest location on the list of frequented places is in an A area."
«Plot» Norman says, "And it's a Taco Bueno near the Interstate, in a small middle class shopping plaza."
Nightshade considers the earthworm below her nose, "You…you I could go fishing with."
Nightshade rolls to one side as the auto gardening drone cuts the grass to one side of her, then rolls to the other so it can get the other side then flops back down, when the whirring suction of the autoraker starts up she looks back over her shoulder, "You're fragging kidding me, the lawn isn't even a meter wide…why does he have all these drek sucking droids?"
As if someone of his stature and clout *wouldn't* have a garage full of drones. He is, after all, the Assistant Night Manager (Part-Time) of the Woodlands Apartments Facilities Division. It says so right on his business card.
Nightshade growls and keeps her head down as the little sprayers pop up and give her a light dousing of water and fertilizing chemicals. Good thing she was supposed to kill the mark…cause somebody is dying for this.
Nightshade eats her Zagnut bar.
Nightshade tucks away the Zagnut wrapper.
Every twenty minutes or so, a car comes along the street. Some drive straight by, some turn into nearby driveways. One was a Knight Errant patrol, cruising slowly, watching from behind mirrored armor glass. The arrival of yet another vehicle is not surprising, until you see that it's a blue Jackrabbit, just like the target owns. It slows, signals, and pulls straight into the driveway in front of the house. As it nears, you can hear from inside the blaring of the latest in teen-pop on Hot 106.
Nightshade keeps her head down in her little hiding spot, waiting for the target to step out, she'll let him get clear of the car and shut the door, and another heartbeat and a half to see if he's got a passenger before she starts moving.
The car sits there, running, music blasting, vocals muted by the glass, bass thumping and trunklid rattling. The song ends, and cutting the DJ off in mid-word, the engine and lights promptly die. A half-second later, the door opens and Our Dear Friend emerges in his orange polo shirt, milsurp utility jacket, and khaki slacks. He shuts the door, like always, and starts for the front door of his house, like always.
«Plot» Norman says, "Roll stealth, please."
Nightshade (#3173) rolls Stealth + 1 (Adept Centering Die):
1 2 5
«OOC» Nightshade says, "+3 from the city spirit +x from invis."
Norman (#10869) rolls 4 vs TN 16 for "Our Dear Friend's perception check":
3 4 5 17 = 1 Success
Nightshade starts moving, the blades in her hands aren't particularly long, but they are /very/ sharp, they unfortunately also make a little click-snickt sound as the blades deploy.
**Norman (#10869) rolls 4 for "mystery dice, round 1":
2 2 4 5
Norman (#10869) rolls 5 for "Mystery dice, round 2. If the total is either 5 or 6, Bad News":
2 2 2 3 5**
He stops partway up the walk. He turns and looks in your direction, with his head cocked. That sound, it's……
With something of a snort, he turns back and continues up the walkway. Must have been his keys jingling.
«Plot» Norman says, "Now you can roll straight Reaction."
**Nightshade (#3173) rolls Reaction:
1 2 2 4 5 10
Norman (#10869) rolls 4 vs TN 4 for "Surprise!!":
2 2 3 4 = 1 Success**
Nightshade doesn't waste time or make a spectacle, one blade moves to encircle the targets throat while one drives towards the base of his skull.
«OOC» Nightshade says, "Dikoted Cougar Fineblade Short. Str+1 S"
«Plot» Norman says, "Roll for one blade first, TN is 5. Then the other, TN is 7."
Nightshade (#3173) rolls Edged Weapons + Combat Pool: 6 vs TN 5 for "Primary hand.":
1 1 1 2 2 2 3 4 4 4 5 5 5 5 5 9 10 17 = 8 Successes
Nightshade (#3173) rolls Edged Weapons + Combat Pool: 4 vs TN 7 for "Off hand.":
1 1 1 2 2 3 3 3 4 4 5 5 5 5 9 10 = 2 Successes
«OOC» Nightshade says, "Str 9"
«OOC» Nightshade says, "So 14D damage."
Norman (#10869) rolls 2 vs TN 7 for "Our Dear Friend, Unarmed Combat +1 combat pool":
8 14 = 2 Successes
«Plot» Norman says, "Welp, he died."
At the first contact with his scalp, he almost begins to turn towards you, but far too slowly. As the blade slides into the back of his skull, his entire body tenses in one great spasmic jolt before going limp. The blade slices through his throat as clean as any scalpel and blood fountains out as expected, accompanied by a slow, deep, wet wheezing of escaping breath. His knees buckle and he starts to fall to the ground.
Nightshade holds the body up with her blades and sidesteps quickly moving the body away from the door and in front of the car, she keeps him mostly upright, the camera in the distance or the passerby might think he was walking over to check on something in front of the vehicle, then she lays him down. The timer started ticking the moment the blades struck home so there's no hesitation. Two more quick strikes of the blade in vital points to eliminate the chance of ressuccitation by docwagon, then the contents of the bag are slipped inside the targets jacket, then one more stab, this one piercing the jacket and nicking the panties to make it look like they'd been in his inside pocket the whole time. She's measuring time in heartbeats and hers are already moving quickly. She's halfway around the corner of the garage and making for the lower rent areas of town before she even gives consideration to the meaning of the panties. Doesn't matter much though as she only has a few minutes left before she needs to make the call. Her disposable phone comes out and as she moves away she dials. Her message will be short and quick then she changes direction heading for her van and evac plan number one.
Commlink-Nightshade> Nightshade says, "Target showed early, get yourself the hell out."
You make the call. A man answers, "Hello?" in a very natural way. You relay your message, and the line immediately goes dead without another word from his end. One minute and twelve seconds later, you hear a trio of sirens go up in the distance, one to your west and two towards the south. They sound far off, no less than a mile if even that close.
Norman (#10869) rolls 4 for "Random dice of mystery. A total of 4 is Bad News.":
1 2 7 7
Norman (#10869) rolls 1 for "Random mystery dice, part 1":
2
Nightshade slips the phone into a plastic bag after pulling the main battery, then crunches the phone into colorful bits of plastic as she keeps moving. She pockets it for disposal by furnace once she's clear. She keeps moving invisibly till she finds a dark enough doorway, stepping into it she turns about and drops the invis and walks the remaining block to her van.
Norman (#10869) rolls 3 vs TN 8 for "old ladies that like to spend all evening watching their neighbors":
3 4 4 = 0 Successes
So far, so good. Life goes on as usual in this neighborhood, for the moment. You walk the streets towards your van. Up ahead of you, a cruiser clears an intersection, executes a huge whomping downshift as the driver guns it, and flies past you at 160 klicks. Leave it to Nissan to make a cop car sound good. Red lights flash in the cool Denver night, and disappear around a corner in the distance. One by one the sirens fade, blend into the sounds of highway traffic and crickets, and go silent. Nothing else happens.
Nightshade drives off, does cleanup, sterilizing and cleansing herself, her tools, and her van mundanely and magically then she makes arrangements to meet up with Deb to reclaim her foci and check in on payment. The moment the credstick clears the money is converted to hard scrip and laundered, course some people just call it gambling, but when you cover your bets it's the same thing.
Norman (#10869) rolls 4 vs TN 10 for "Random perception check":
1 4 5 5 = 0 Successes
No cops behind you, no SWAT teams ahead of you, and no VTOLs above you. You seem to have gotten away clean. As you drive wherever you are heading, things remain as normal as ever. Just another murder in a big town full of murderers. Goodnight, Denver.
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