Peer Review

GM: Feather (Aisha as GM alt occasionally making rolls)
Players: Luck Olga, Posh, Feather
Synopsis: A synopsis of what happened here.: Posh gets a call from an old friend. He's operating as a middle man fixer for a Ute shaman. But he has personal reasons for trying to get this job done.
Date: November 5, 2075


Information is one of those intangible currencies that everyone wants a little more of than they already have. Fortunes are made and lost with the right knowledge or for lack of it. Lives are changed by secrets kept or secrets shared. And in no profession is that more true than for those who live in the Shadows. Whether you're a ganger, an assassin, or a high-end operative, most people in the shadows have had, past-tense, friends who probably would still be around if they had known the right thing at the right time.

Sometimes information isn't quite a fact, though. Sometime it's not tangible, and sometimes the truth is not easily discerned. No, for those with their ear to the ground, it can be far more subtle. Sometimes all you have is a faint rumbling that reverberates through the shadows. A power player moving her men across town. An uptick in corporate security in a few areas. A sudden shift in some exotic segments of the market not known for volatility. Even just an old friend making a call. Alone, any of these events might be insignificant. Together, to those with an eye trained enough to spot the pattern, or maybe just paranoid enough to see one when it isn't there, it means something.

It's a rumbling telling you that somewhere, somehow, /something/ is happening. And hopefully, in the Shadows, even if you're not a big enough player to affect the outcome, you know enough to survive.

Posh gets the call first. Jimmy Twice, a nickname he claims is a mark of his endurance. In reality, it's a moniker he earned when he trekked across Europe to finish a botched job. But he did, even if the poor bastard who was the job really should have died the first time.

"Hey Kylie." Kylie. British slang. Probably a step down in respect from 'chica,' though he only calls Posh that jokingly. "Got a job for you, if you feel like taking it. Bring a few of those shiny sep terms of yours." Term. Think the London equivlaent of chummer. And sep? Well, that's a certain way of referring to Americans, one which might not be very nice. He means well.

From there, she's free to assemble her team and get going. Supposedly, it's a low impact, low risk job, but she needs to be ready to talk in a few hours. The meeting is set for the very same day.


Olga does not have much in the way of gear. She gathers her standard armor package, second skin, secure jacket, scarf and skirt. She does bring her three guns her guardian micro uzi and her gambler as well as her stealth cloak.


Luck has her gear. Quite a bit of gear. And so she brings both sets - the car axle, the telespear, her shock gloves. For her attire, she chooses her street gear… As well as a duffel with her high-sec armor and helmet inside. Once with her crew, she relaxes, awaiting the briefing. What's the job, what's the need for weapons and armor? Could be anything.


«No worries - I'll be sure to round up the finest of the colonials I can» replies Posh, thinking a bit.


A job, from an old connection. Words she hasn't used in a very long time. Posh feels somewhat concerned, perhaps - and so she calls a couple associates that aren't likely to be known as her regulars - yet. Luck, who hasn't been in town for a while. Olga, whose capabilities are only just beginning to be known. Both have a direct connection to her operations.

Posh also adds, «And I'll also bring someone along with a touch of civilization» After all, only the Chinese, would the Brits, who will never quite letting go of claiming to be the direct heirs of a Roman arrangement, without any 'proper' revolution, despite the Protectorate…that's only a generation old, it's only a blip. Like that fellow Cromwell…wait where were we? Only the Chinese, and maybe the Asians, have any sort of civilization worth speaking of.

All this as well as the Marxist backlash against it flits through Posh's head as she dashes off messages to Luck, Feather, and Olga. She wraps up her work at the Keeps, and then begins to pack up the smuggling compartment of the van: EXEX and rebounds. A launcher for herself, and minigrenades, smoke, thermal smoke. Ammo for both Olga's machine and heavy pistol, and for her subguns. She considers - then grabs a pair of Pred 3s off the rack and tosses them in. Might need something big to show.

Posh slips her new Armante long wrap about herself, wrapping it around herself like a pashmina, the almost weightless fabric able to near completely drape around herself if she raises the hood and huddles, though the effect would be far less complete in a proper fight. Still, it's just rather blingy.


«Luck, you'll be the heavy asset on this one. Pack your security armor in a duffel and bring it as well, but you're always best with that telespear. Olga, I've got ammo for us covered.» And with that, Posh then drives around, to pick each up in turn, so they can head out of town to the meet location Jimmy forwarded.


The meet is outside, in a part of town some members of the team might know well. It's the southeastern part of the CAS sector. Normally, this would be Triad territory, this particular block held by the Black Dragons. Now it's in flux. Beyond the notice of most people who don't live in Denver's Asiatown, there's a threeway war happening in the quietest parts of the city. The Black Dragons and their new temporary allies, the Phoenix Lodge, wage war on the Black Chrysanthemums. Now this neighborhood is in flux, which is probably the only reason a member of the Firms is setting foot in it.

The Firms. London's own fractured group of organized crime syndicates, mostly driven by British Nationalism, binge drinking, and cockney pride.

It's midnight, and it's miserable, the temperature hovering just above 40 degrees (4 degrees C). You find yourself in a usually vacant lot, one of the many small parking lots in this area that mostly go unused, only opened to sell overpriced overflow parking when events are being held nearby. A tall but gangly elven man, hardly physically intimidating by size, stands in a quiet corner out of view from the street proper, a few of his buddies leaning against the polished Toyota Elite luxury car behind them. They look to have money, or at least the kind of money gangsters have: enough to bear the affectations of wealth without remotely passing like a true member of the moneyed elite. But it makes for rough men in fancy suits, if one has any affection for that, and Jimmy Twice hardly seems like a pushover. The look on his face is smug, knowing, like he has a few aces up his sleeve that he's not afraid to play.

He greets Posh first. "Kylie! Good to see you. I keep having to convince people still in the Smoke that you haven't gotten boxed. You are a sight for sore eyes, as always. I hear you're a big player nowadays. Glad you're on your own now, honestly. What are you going by now?" Maybe Posh can translate, though the context makes the British lingo clear enough. "Just gonna grab the data. No itchy wired reflexes, alright?" He gestures behind himself, one of his guys circling behind the car, opening the trunk, and retrieving a briefcase.

"How about the rest of you? What do you guys do?" He seems to be trying to scope out an unfamiliar team. His style looks to be more informal than most Johnsons. If anything, he's treating you more like a partner in crime, which is probably a very likely description of what will happen tonight.


Luck eyes the man, her duffel over her shoulder. She's standing behind Posh a half meter, just eyeing the other group. A grunt towards the man and she drops the bag on the ground, takes a few steps away from it… And then punches it at a distance. The bag moves quite a bit, rolling over even though there's heavy armor inside. She also juts a thumb at her back - the axel there - and opens her jacket to show the telespear. "Muscle. I don't do subtle well. But I send very loud messages very well." She runs a hand through her hair, and looks towards Olga, grinning. "I'd say it should be a milk run but then… It never is."


Feather arrives not long after Posh, her motorcycle gliding into lot, the woman tactful enough not to rev it too high as she pulls in. It's a futuristic looking thing, a single metal body wrapping most of the frame, only the wheels exposed, the body mostly brushed aluminum instead of paint. Looks like a 2070's model Suzuki Nuda. It's rated 750cc with a few layout tricks intended to keep it street legal in certain crowded metroplexes, but it has a lot more power than that.

She steps off her bike, her helmet still on, her suit colored mostly black with bright yellow highlights, an effect not unlike a poisonous animal marking its threat. "I am called Feather. Do I know you?" she asks, her voice thickly accented. Chinese, definitely. Hong Kong, very likely. Triad affiliations? Judging by the knowing grin on Tommy's face, quite possibly.

"Yeah. I think I know you too. You muscle for Posh here tonight?"

The reply is simple, her voice flat and unemotive. "Something like that."


Olga dosent speak much, well having an orks charisma. She just stands slightly behind posh and to the left as she says after a few moments of weighing her words in her mind. "I arange for fatal doses of lead poisoning when people do not do as they are told."


Posh chuckles a bit as she shakes her head at the man coming out of the elite. "Jim-Jim, you old geezer," she says, with a chuckle. "Well, I mean, I'm going by Posh these days - one of the locals thought it was funny, you know, ha ha. A little better than the first thing they called me around here though," she says. "And indeed…actually," she says. "Not running the wires anymore, even." There's an almost nostalgic look on her face, before she nods.

She glances back to the Luck and Feather and Olga. "It's all right, by the way - I might not know Jim Jim himself, but a friend of Ronnie's a friend of mine." She give a wink back to the J, arching an eyebrow briefly as she sees the interaction between Feather and Jimmy. That'll be one to ask about later.

She chuckles a bit. "Indeed. Olga's an enforcer - but she also has a few magical tricks up her sleeve."


"Well, then! I think you brought the right team for this, /Posh/," Jimmy replies, a bit of ascerbic wit in his tone. He smiles at Luck and Olga, a look on his face that's predatory in a friendly, almost jocular way, like a wolf dealing with other members of his pack. "If you lovely ladies are as tough as you look, I think we should be in business." And then he lets out a long breath, his tone finally getting a little more serious. "Alright. You all didn't come here to get steaming and gab. So lets get to the business at hand." He gestures again to the man behind him, and he brings the briefcase forward.

"There was a call put out a few weeks ago. A job. Some lady in the Ute sector was calling for fixers to arrange some street-level talent to splash some corp assets. Not my thing, right? I'm mostly here to keep eyes on the syndicates that also have connections in London. I hear you've gotten cozy with some of them, Posh." Denver is arguably the smuggling capital of the world, and it's the gateway for a lot of black market telesma shipped out of the NAN. Prime goods sometimes bound for London, another smuggler haven, one of the most tightly regulated non-corporate cities in the Sixth World. What happens here definitely can have effects there.

He flips open the case. It's a secure computer, likely holding some kind of paydata. He starts it up and begins to work his way through the OS to get to a file. "Anyway, you know my usual style, so I passed. I ignored the call. Everybody else did too, by the sound of it. The girl can't get any locals to work for her, it seems. Then a few weeks later, I hear rumors of who the target was. And suddenly I had a change of heart and volunteered my services."

The file is finally ready. It plays, and you find yourself watching what looks like a short surveillance clip. There's someone being escorted by a group of corporate handlers who are taking pains to keep his face hidden. But he's complacent, head turning the wrong way when it shouldn't, and the video freezes on a clear shot of his face. He looks like a mild-mannered wageslave, maybe a research scientist with his bookish frame and style of clothing. "You recognize this guy, right Posh? You heard the story about my brother, right? He just got hired by Zeta. They've got him doing something black book just opposite the Warrens wall, here in the CAS sector."

He lets out a long, now slightly emotional breath, breath wavering. "For the rest of you, 20 k payout per person. And you get an introduction to the woman running this job. She's a bigtime shaman in the Ute sector, some kind of adept who can sling spells too. If you've got your own mojo, she might be a nice friend to have. I've heard she's willing to take trustworthy people under her wing. But she's really gunshy about getting burned. The corps really have it in for her. So you have to prove yourself to work for her. I had to a do a job for her before she even allowed me to fix this."

Back to Posh, his eyes flicker intensely. "Look. Job's simple. Slash-and-burn sabotage. Break into a black box facility, destroy all materiel, personnel optional. No need for subtlety. But Posh. /Please./ One former denizen of the Smoke to another." His voice gets a little shaky. "/Kill this guy./"


«Plot» Feather says, "If you have any London, UK, or European knowskills relevant to history or biotech or current events, roll them. Or let me know if you have any IC history of living in any of those areas."

«Auto-Judge[]» Posh (#11342) rolls History:
1 4 5 7 11
«Auto-Judge[]» Olga (#8898) rolls Trivia Facts:
1 3 5 16


Posh just gives a light shrug in response to the implications, a smile on her lips - she'd be proud to say that she does indeed have a little link to a few smuggling operations. Supply, and demand - production, to market.

She takes a glance at the secure computer and nods. "A change of heart?" she asks, a little surprised, taking a closer look.

She looks back and then gives a smile. "All right, Jim-Jim. You've said the word, and it'll happen," she says. "And you certainly know the kind of sales pitch that'll touch my heart - after all, a chance for my friends to meet someone well connected in that world." She chuckles a bit. "Look, I hate the Jerries taking over as much as the next lass, but that doesn't mean there aren't old scores to settle. Zeta Impchem is just the old bosses we hate, this generation's version of a laird not caring who dies of blacklung. They won't even play by our rules, Jim-Jim," she says, with a sure nod. "You've got yourself a job, and I'll do it solo if I have to. But I imagine my comrades will be in as well."


Posh knows him. She couldn't not know him. That's Dr. Stephen J. Stiner. Elven man. A brilliant scientist by any definition. Decades ago, he was a rising star in the British biotech world, one of a half-dozen scientists who were leading the way forward in the UK's resurgent biotech sector. He was working for a company called Adams-Hoffman. Then a local BBC expose, years later, finally managed to scrape together enough evidence and find enough whistleblowers (very likely with shadow help) to bring to light Adams-Hoffman's darkest secret.

Project 42-20. A project which Stiner was one of the lead researchers on and directors of. Not the biggest fish, certainly, but high enough on the food chain to be complicit. Project 42-20 was an unauthorized mass experiment conducted by leeching genetic manipulation retroviruses into the water supply of the poorest part of London. A crude early attempt at controlling the uncontrollable: Adams-Hoffman was trying to harness and control metagenes. The final death toll is widely believed to be over 10,000 people. Many times that number have been permanently mutated in debilitating ways. Project 42-20 lit the fuse on London's festering economic tension too, and the resulting rash of mass violence resulted in the government sealing off an entire area of the city. The Lambeth Containment Zone. A few shades worse than the Warrens. Hell on Earth, fueling an endless anarchist terrorist movement and a resulting British Army occupation and crackdown, only resulting in more death and more hopelessness.

Jimmy Twice's brother, at a young age, was one of 42-20's first victims. And Stephen Stiner? He was one of many voices pushing to continue the project even after the results became obvious. Not a nice guy. He just might be one of the most hated men in the UK. Even Olga recognizes him. She caught one of the many documentaries made to document the aftermath of his work.


Posh widens her eyes. "Wait a minute," she says. "So, let me try to put this together: Stiner's /not/ with his security detail? Or is there an opportunity? Guy like that, I'd be surprsied if he's seen the sun ever since he brought a little of Old London back," she says, a veiled refernce to the original Great Stink.

She frowns a bit. The Zone was a tragedy, for sure, but it happened before she arrived in London. And the Zone itself was also opportunity for many…some of the most dangerous, but most profitable, scavving in the world.

"All right," she says. "You said we only have a few hours. I work out of something of a…hooked in command center. Give me an info pack," she says. "We can continue the pleasantries when we're toasting Stiner's journey to the great beyond."


"Ain't no 'solo' here, Posh." Luck sniffs a bit at the air, as if that could be a way for her to sense danger. Crazy. "You don't need to get shot any more." She listens a bit more, and ponders. "Well. No reason to not go for it, if he's unguarded. Guy like that, deserves what's coming to him." She's not British, but she's definitely very, /very/ Metahuman. And knows quite a bit about anti-human groups, though it's more along the lines of famous history. She's even killed a few Extremist Humanis people, though that's hush-hush. "I'm definitely in."


"Unguarded, I don't know about that," Posh replies. "But perhaps more lightly so. They certainly don't expect the reach to be here in Denver," she says, with a chuckle. "I suppose it'll be a touch like Trotsky - nobody expected him to have his last tequila in Mexico City, after all," she says.

She gives a quick smile to Luck. "Thanks, Luck - you know I'm delighted to have you for backup." She figures that this one might be a quick and dangerous one - they'll likely have to plan on the fly.


"Oh no. His detail is with him. I don't know how many. The J wasn't clear about that. But they're keeping it small, I think. Like you've said, the guy can't show his face in the sun, so they're trying not to attract attention. Even here, reporters would eventually catch on. And beyond that, Zeta can't just hire a guy like this without it turning into a PR fiasco. This is probably black book. They must have hired him to do something specific, I think. No idea what that is," Jimmy Twice explains cooly, regaining his calm. He snaps the briefcase shut and pushes it toward Posh. "It's all here. I was told to hand this over when I found a team I could trust. And I think I can trust you. Like you said, this /is/ an opportunity. This guy went deep underground after news of 42-20 surfaced, and he'll probably disappear again once his work is done. We can't miss this chance. You know me, Posh. If I didn't have that glitchy wires system from the 2050's, I'd do this myself. Still get nerve pain every time it clicks on." It's hard to get good ware in London. They control the market very heavily.

"Only real limitation was that she said she wanted this to look like street violence or a low-level hit. Harder to track. Nothing too limiting. Just keep it below milspec. I know you used to deal in heavy hardware. Anything else you can do will be appreciated too. And the J didn't ask for it, but I'll add a little bonus myself if you kill Stiner. The bosses back in the Smoke will be just as glad to see him dead, so they'll authorize it."

"5k bonus each for his head," Jimmy adds. "Figuratively, of course. I have no place to mount a head on my wall."


Posh gives you a chuckle. "Better yet, I'll get you snaps to share around with the boys," she says. "All right," she says. "Get into that facility, smash what we can, perhaps steal a few things for cover. A spray burst and the wrong kind of escape for Stiner," she says, with a grin.

"All right, we'll form a quick cover story," she says, with a little chuckle. "A heist gone bad. A team of talented, violent amateurs, perhaps. I'll just forget to slip the tranq patch on Stiner." She nods. "I think we've got all we need. I'll make a tac map on the way, but it sounds like we don't have much time," she says, with a nod.


The large Oni woman pulls out her vapor-stick to puff on. It's basically a non-nicotine e-cig that's just there for smell. It smells of vanilla and peppermint. And likely tastes the same. "The thing about it is that he's unguarded as he'll get. They're trying to be stealthyabout it, subtle, so they don't attract attention. And that's where they screwed up." She looks to Jim. "You ever hear of Fort Knox? Big place. Gold reserves. Well-known I'd think. Impenetrable they used to say. And it kinda was. Nobody got in. But now, smaller detail… Armor missing. Nobody will know about it because it's supposed to be secret." She shrugs a bit, blowing the vapor towards Posh. "So it's as unguarded as it'll get. Get in there, burn everything, and kill Stiner if possible, before they realize they need more guards - the fact they think being secret is the same as being secure is gonna be their downfall." A small pause. "…We need incendiary grenades, I think. Or maybe I just want some."


As soon as the meet ends, Posh will already begin working on the map in the van as it starts to convey the team in the general direction, making another stop by the Keeps to pick up some fancy climbing gear and a few other tools for entry and lock defeating.

"Hahaha - not this time. No nades," she says. "Smartguns and bright steel. Those are the weapons of the street. We'll be pretending to be hitting a facility we got a tipoff about a major drug stash. So keep screaming, "Where's the Nitro?"


"…Okay, so a molotov cocktail. You want weapon of the street, that's the original anarchist's weapon." Luck knows street things, after all. "And if you literally wanna burn files, nothing's better than fire."


«Plot» Feather says, "A quick check of the briefcase shows you an address. As promised, it has an address. Not much more, though. No numbers. No recon. No details. The assignment is what Jimmy said. Infiltrate. Destroy material. Destroy data. A note is added, though, which seems a little strange. "I will be watching. Make sure to /destroy/ everything. That is your assignment. Human casualties are optional." She will be watching? How."


«Plot» Posh says, "Quick stop off at the stash for general infiltration: ruth cloaks, climbing gear, and so on. Then it's off for a Stage 1 surveillance of the area, just driving, picking up passive sensor data, so that a full map can be built. Then stage 2: Social surveillance, I'll walk by, see what I can just as a passer-by, and come up to the van and update everything. When we have a good description of the local facility, we'll then discuss means of infiltration. I've got spare personal units for Luck and Olga."


"Alright. You ladies seem like you have some ideas. I'll leave Stiner and his friends to your tender mercies." Jimmy snaps his fingers. "We're rolling, boys. I'm going to buy a few pints. I want to be pre-Steamed, just in case Stiner gets away." He turns and grins at the crew one last time. "Not that I have any doubts!"

The team retirs to the van to plan their next move.


Posh gives a wink. "Save a couple bottles of anything CAMRA-certified for me, if you don't mind," she says, heading back towards the van with a quick smile to Luck and Olga. "I think we'll probably be able to approach the facility relatively quickly, and with our vehicle's sensors, we should be able to get a basic map. If you've got any other ideas on the way, please, don't be afraid to ring up some extra help," she suggests, with a smile. "But I think we need info first, and the easiest way to get some is to start picking up some data ourselves." She seems nerdily excited about using the Luna's sensors. Weirdo.


«Auto-Judge[]» Posh (#11342)'s Posh's Suite and Softs (#3322) has the Voucher Item 11 108MP Denver Maps and Topography Datasoft with the following information:

«Plot» Feather says, "Roll perception to check out."
«Plot» Feather says, "And any appropriate comp skills, if you want."

«Plot» Posh says, "Perception on the map, with Computers for processing as a comp?"
«Auto-Judge[]» Posh (#11342) rolls Intelligence for "Perception!":
1 1 1 2 4 5 5 15
«Auto-Judge[]» Posh (#11342) rolls Computers for "Complimentary!":
1 3 5 9 10

«Plot» Feather says, "Do a drive roll to casually drive by in the dead of night. It's midnight, and nobody is on the street."

«Auto-Judge[]» Posh (#11342) rolls Car + 1 for "Vehicle etiquette, just a driving by":
1 1 2 3 4 5
«Auto-Judge[]» Posh (#11342) rolls Car + 1 for "Vehicle etiquette, just a driving by KP 1":
1 3 3 4 5 5

«Plot» Feather says, "Now we'll roll your sensor sweep."

«Auto-Judge[]» Posh (#11342) rolls Intelligence + 4 for "Passive Sensor Test mapping the area.":
1 1 1 2 2 3 3 3 3 4 5 14
«Auto-Judge[]» Posh (#11342) rolls 3 for "Clearsight Dice":
4 5 9

«Auto-Judge[]» Posh (#11342) rolls 4 + 3 for "Active Sensor Test, clearsight":
1 2 2 2 2 9 10

«Auto-Judge[]» Posh (#11342) rolls Electronics for "R8 Scanner built into Taccomm Master Unit":
1 1 2 3 4
«Auto-Judge[]» Posh (#11342) rolls 8 for "Forgot to add scanner dice":
1 1 2 3 3 4 5 5


It's midnight, and the streets are mostly empty. But Posh's vehicle is largely unobtrusive. With its electric engine, it's near silent while running, and she knows how to drive with basic subtlety. Her single drive-by doesn't provoke any reaction that the team can spot.

Posh's mapsoft is detailed but general. With maps, useful shadow maps especially, the larger the scope, the less fine detail you get. Good maps are a precious commodity in the shadows. So she can't see everything, but she gets a decent idea of the basic layout of the area, not that she needs it. The whole team gets to scope out the area with her driveby.

It looks like a low income, mixed zoning area. That cluster of blocks seems to be a light commercial hub, with a few low-rise office buildings catering to multiple clients mixed in with midrise apartment tracts. About a block down the street is an outdoor shopping plaza with a basic grocery store, laundromat, and other mom & pop shop sundry stores. The address itself is a three story light commercial development, likely only housing two dozen or so offices with a few rooms each, catering to small business. It's not clear why they picked it. Obscurity, perhaps? Security isn't great. It's also not clear /which/ office they're in, but you do spot lights on, on the third floor. Someone is working late.

The target building is situated on a corner, only two buildings adjacent to it. One is another, slightly taller, commercial development, all of its windows dark. The other is a five-story apartment building, with the bottom two stories dedicated to light retail. Several windows are still lit.

The sensor sweep doesn't reveal much more. Judging by the results, it's light construction material, not very resistant to bullets or explosions or flames. The same is true of the buildings around it. You catch a few intermittent human signatures in the target building. It's hard to pinpoint locations through all of the structural material, though. The scanner has even less luck. There's nobody transmitting right now.

The only detail really out of the ordinary is something inconclusive that she spots on the map. There's a marking on the building by the utility company. Why isn't obvious. She'd need a more detailed map or the right person to answer that.


«Plot» Feather says, "To clarify, the marking in question was an annotation on the map made by the utility company. You could likely also find ground markings if you look in the right place. Utility companies leave physical marks to indicate the placement of things. You'd need a relevant knowskill or a contact, though. It's not intuitive stuff or something you really know just by living on the streets."


«Plot» Posh says, "Looking for an alley to pull the van into nearby where it would be relatively out of sight. Like sort of parked behind a dumpster."
«Plot» Feather says, "Go ahead and pose it."


Posh finishes building a map of the area and uploading it to her spare battletac receiver units, connecting each one to a microwave link and handing one to Olga and one to Luck. Feather has her own setup, and she gives her a quick smile as she updates the map and considers it.

"Hmm. Does anyone else have a way we could find out what this map marking might be?" she asks. "I'm not sure I know anyone around here - what about your fixer, Luck?" she asks. "This is some gangbanger territory I'm not used to, but you worked these streets if I'm not mistaken." She gives a smile to the tall Oni. "However, I'm working up a plan I think you'll like. Come up with a name for a gang," she says. "That's who we're going to be. We're going to hit the office and pretend we got a tipoff about how drugs were there. I'm going to accidentally kill this guy."


«Auto-Judge[]» Posh (#11342)'s Posh's Suite and Softs (#3322) has the Voucher Item 10 Knowsoft: Engineering………… R8 with the following information:

«Auto-Judge[]» Posh (#11342) rolls 8 for "Engineering":
1 1 3 4 5 5 5 5


«Plot» Feather says, "Posh can't quite make anything of the map annotation. She doesn't know enough about civil engineering shorthand. It seems like it's referencing some other, more detailed map. Sort of a "see notes" annotation. There's very little explicit information, and she'd need more detailed knowledge to make meaningful inferences. She knows, though, that she might more information if she finds the markings. The office building does have a basement garage, and they're often there. /Somewhere./ But she'd have to look carefully. It could also be nothing, like a note that utility fiber cables or a major plumbing line runs adjacent to the building."


Luck shrugs a bit, receiving the unit and putting it on. "My Fixer? Marcus? Iunno." She thinks a bit. Then pulls out her phone, to send a few messages, ping a few sources. "Might be able to pose as the local gang rather than making up a name. Would be more convincing. Plus we'd be able to figure out common tactics of said gang. Then look for the 'drugs' and burn their 'operation' because they're cutting into our 'profits'. And, y'know, accidentally kill some people." Because that's super convincing - at least in Luck's mind it is. So she sends a quick message off to her Knight-Errant contact, the detective that focuses on gangs and such. Maybe a reply will come quickly.


«Auto-Judge[]» Luck (#3691) has the Contact Sean Murphy with the following information:
-----> Contact for Luck (#3691) <------
Contact Name: Sean Murphy
Level: 1
Type: ke gang unit det.
GM Note: Sean Murphy is a detective in the Gang Division of the Denver office of Knight Errant, often working the nastiest of the drug and trafficking gangs in the Warrens. Her role is that of an arbor - she picks the most diseased, horrid fruit in the orchard to make the others able to grow under control.


«Auto-Judge[]» Luck (#3691) rolls Etiquette (Street):
1 2 3 3 3 4
«Auto-Judge[]» Luck (#3691) rolls Etiquette (Street) for "KP 1":
1 1 1 2 4 4

«Plot» Feather says, "Your contact says she can't give you really up-to-the-minute data on the worst gangs she's currently targeting, due to ongoing investigations, but she throws a name your way. The Aurora 22's. Likely named for 22nd street in Aurora, in the Warrens. She says they sporadically operate in the area, and that information is public anyway."


Immediately - or close to it - Luck gets a response. "The Aurora 22's. They sporadically operate around here… Yeah that works. Just chaotic enough to be possible but not likely."


Posh nods and begins to try to collate any images on the Aurora 22s, which could be used for fashioning up disguises. Instead of doing cartoonish ones, she especially looks for any CCTV or other footage of any 'jobs' actually ascribed to the 22s in news reports.

"All right," she says. "I can also get my info dealer on the case about that particular marking," she says, sending him off a message to see if she can purchase a little info. She uploads to him a copy of that marking and the little site, and the simple question: 'What is this?'


«Auto-Judge[]» Posh (#11342) rolls Etiquette for "Buying info from Dirk. Remotely.":
2 4 4 5 11 16
«Auto-Judge[]» Posh (#11342) has the Contact Dirk McDougall with the following information:

-----> Contact for Posh (#11342) <-----
Contact Name: Dirk McDougall
Level: 1
Type: sinfo broker
GM Note: Dirk McDougall is a rather ill-tempered Scottish dwarf who loves to play with stereotypes, and is an old friend of Les. He's in fact one of Les's primary info brokers. Dirk is one of the best guys around to purchase an 'eyedee from, lassie,' and he also keeps his finger on the pulse of the shadows. However, being sharper than most, he's harder to get the best prices from. INT 6, Negotiation 5, specialized for SINSs, specific for information.


«Plot» Posh says, "Posh offers 2k for the answer to that question."
«Plot» Posh says, "Consent to reduce my payout by 2k."

«Plot» Feather says, "Posh's contact is feeling like going to bat for her tonight, with her high roll and offered compensation. He calls a friend of his who works with the city's bureaucracy and asks him. That friend does some more digging. Dirk reports back once the info gets in. He says it's a note from the sanitation department, and Dirk says his friend managed to get a hold of the full report. There's occasional backflow of water from the resorvoir in the Warrens. There was a confirmed report of that toxic water bubbling up in toilets and from faucets months ago in this building. With the frequent low pressure complaints also noted, they think it might be some sort of two-way leak. They're not sure how or why. It's a recent phenomenon, so it might simply be longterm decay. They can't determine the exact cause or fix it, as they have no accurate maps of the Warrens sewers, and they can't really get a team in there, with much of the sewers having been repurposed for black market use."


«Auto-Judge[]» Olga (#8898) has the Contact Shift with the following information:
-----> Contact for Olga (#8898) <------
Contact Name: Shift
Level: 1
Type: gang leader
GM Note: Shift is the young brother of Little Tony, Olga's childhood friend and former leader of the Vice Kings a small time gang that mostly did grunt for more established gangs and served as a filtering system, their members going on to major gangs once they got their feet wet. Little Tony Died in a drive by after Olga left the gang. Shift never liked the idea of members leaving the gang, but Olga never went through the ritual of blood in and blood out she never had any real grounds for objection. When Olga became awakened and proved she could trade services in the form of healing he grudgingly helps her when it is in the interest of the Vice King's, or at the very least does not conflict with their interest. Shift is basicly a source of information and can offer some cheap muscle for a price.


«Auto-Judge[]» Olga (#8898) rolls Etiquette:
2 4 10

«Plot» Feather says, "Olga's contact seems to be a little more aware of them, due to his personal status as a gang leader. He informs her that, yes, they smuggle. And not only that, they're one of the few connections for a few higher-end synthetic drugs in the Warrens. They also deal combat drugs. They're violent and protective, like Posh's contact said, but they're not stupid. Their leaders keeps them mostly in check. Mostly. Like any Warrens gang, they have to do a bit of mass recruiting to keep up their numbers, so sometimes things happen."


Posh begins to prepare the disguise as a job team for the Aurora 22s: she plans for this to be a smash and loud mission. So in addition to making sure that Olga has EXEX for her Sav Guardian and rebounds for her Micro-Uzi, as she waits for a response from Dirk. She's got her disguise kit, both she and Olga have the ruthi cloaks she's got, and she's even got an extra ruthi cloak for Luck that, while has no scanners, can provide her with full urban camo coverage. "All right," she says. "This is how it's gonna go. We go in fast and loud. Olga, you're going to be knocking people down, but don't be afraid to go deadly with the Guardian if you have to," she says. "Ideally we leave only one body: Stiner's. Shoot anything that looks like it's worth anything with your Guardian. We need to leave bullets everywhere. The mix of bullets will look even more random, so I'm bringing a couple of clips of normals for the smartguns to shoot everything up," she says, with a grin. "Luck, you're on fire duty: look for local supplies, particularly lab alcohol, to spread everywhere and set a fire. But when we're done. We want to be long gone before any fire trucks get there," she says. "Remember. Keep asking about the KAMIKAZE." She grins. "If you see anyone, say 'Where's the f-ing Kamikaze?' and shoot them nonlethally. We have to make it look like we're there to steal drugs, not break things and kill a scientist," she says. "All right," she says. "We're ready to move."


«Auto-Judge[]» Posh (#11342) rolls Smuggling Routes:
1 2 2 4 15

«Plot» Feather says, "There's no known smuggling route like that which Posh can immediately think of."
«Plot» Feather says, "Posh asked if there's a smuggling route using a sewer pipe that goes under the wall."


«Auto-Judge[]» Luck (#3691) has the Contact Sara Milczarek with the following information:
-----> Contact for Luck (#3691) <------
Contact Name: Sara Milczarek
Level: 1
Type: smuggler
GM Note: Racism +2 (Humans). Troll woman, age 45. Minor dislike for humans, if only because of the humanocentric Humanis Policlub.


«Auto-Judge[]» Luck (#3691) rolls Etiquette:
2 2 17

«Plot» Feather says, "Luck's contact tells her that she also doesn't know of such a smuggling route. There's nothing that can fit a human in it down there, at least, that anyone knows of. But she says the resorvoir in the Warrens /used/ to send water all throughout the city, and all of that infrastructure still exists, dilapidated as it might be. They also probably built runoff channels and drainage pipes to prevent it from overflowing during heavy rains or because of snow melts, very common with a mountain resorvoir. Smugglers do love to use things like that when they can, often using submersible drones to ship things, but most of the best routes like that are well-kept secrets."


Posh's face suddenly twists in realization. "Oh, fuck me," she says. "But…" She shakes her head. "This isn't a smuggling route," she says, finally. "The bastard's up to his same old tricks. That must be what this job is," she says, suddenly turning rather red-faced in anger. "That's it. It must be him, dead to fucking rights," she says, her ire starting to raise. "Let's get in there and ice him," she says - and if she hears of the Auroras getting their feathers ruffled by the free advertising for their effectiveness, she'll make sure they get a nice care package of Kamikaze.

Posh turns to Luck. "He's probably doing the same damn thing, running experiments on folks in the 'Rens, this time. It's what he did back in the Zone," she says. "Don't destroy everything though. We need to look for evidence. We'll just hold onto that for now," she says. "Then destroy everything else," she says. "This is a little bit off script, I know, but trust me on this one. But…I'm definitely getting photos of this guy dead as well." And with a nod, and with the team kitted, disguised, and ready, Posh moves to depart the van. "On me. We're gangers. We're hear to steal some drugs. Nobody fucks with us."


«Auto-Judge[]» Posh (#11342) rolls Disguise for "Posh +2 hair/eyes":
1 2 3 4 5
«Auto-Judge[]» Posh (#11342) rolls Disguise for "Posh +2 hair/eyes KP":
1 2 3 5 5
«Auto-Judge[]» Posh (#11342) rolls Disguise for "Posh +2 hair/eyes KP 3 spent":
1 1 2 4 10
«Auto-Judge[]» Posh (#11342) rolls Disguise for "Luck":
1 1 2 2 5
«Auto-Judge[]» Posh (#11342) rolls Disguise for "Luck KP":
3 4 4 5 9
«Auto-Judge[]» Posh (#11342) rolls Disguise for "Olga":
1 3 4 5 11
«Plot» Posh says, "Standing. Lowest is 9, on Luck."
«Plot» Posh says, "Disguising as: Another metahuman, same metatype. Probably a ganger."


«Auto-Judge[]» Olga (#8898) rolls Sorcery + Spell Pool: 3 for "Improved Invisiblity Force 4":
1 2 2 2 2 2 3 5 5

«Auto-Judge[]» Olga (#8898) rolls Sorcery + Spell Pool: 3 - 2 vs TN 4 for "KP Improved Invisiblity Force 4":
1 1 3 3 4 4 4 = 3 Successes

«Auto-Judge[]» Olga (#8898) rolls Willpower + Spell Pool: 3 vs TN 3 for "soak":
2 3 3 3 4 4 5 7 11 = 8 Successes


Luck's face slowly fades from bad to worse. She looks to Posh. "To be honest hon… Listen. If he's up to the same shit, then I'm gonna be looking for him. And I'm… Likely gonna burn the building to the ground. Just to be sure. His research dies with him, else they'd not get /him/. They'd get someone else. So yeah. We'll get evidence - but I'm not leaving until the whole place is done and he's either dead or tied to a chair in a burning room. I'm not about to take chances." Because fuck seeing metahumans die by the thousands. Luck is quite serious. And it helps her know what kind of attitude to have. "You're the boss here, Posh. Point out what you need broken."


Feather simply engages her ruthenium. She's still here! "I will stick to my current set of gear, thank you. I will stay out of sight and provide support, if things get excessive. If you prefer low-tech, I can also use my sword."


Posh shakes her head. "No burning buildings to the ground," she says. "It's just one office. Keep it civil," she says, directly to Luck. "We're here to do a job, remember that. Evidence, gang destruction, so on. We have to make it /look/ not suspicious here," she says. "Don't worry though, you'll be fine. But it won't be by the thousands. He's likely doing something much grimmer and sadder: poisoning a few families, maybe a few dozen, see what happens."


Commlink-Posh> Posh sends, « We've exhausted all avenues of research. It's a guessing game where they are. We'll start with the light. Hopefully we only have to kill the target. That's why you're loaded with rebounds in the micro-uzi Olga, and I've got rebounds in my Preds that I brought. »


Luck frowns at Posh. "…Fine. I'll use my spear if it gets dicey but the axel for the rest." And so she pulls that off her back, giving it a good swing to test. "It'll be fine. Just knock out the goons if I can. And then beat this doctor to death." She sighs. "And hope that he hasn't already experimented on someone. This - this right here - is a damn good reason for being barbaric. If science harms people then it needs to be smashed back to where it was only helpful. Lead on, Posh. We're following you."


The team hops out of the van and advances to the door of the building. Bad news up front, though. It's an office building. Of course it's a timed maglock. A simple one, though, very likely, in this kind of development.


Posh glances back quickly at the others and gives a smile. "Not to worry," she subvocalizes into the comm, and then starts to pull off two of her fingertips.

Two little nubs are exposed: one appears to shoot out a small cutting laser, with which she begins to work on the maglock's case.


«Plot» Feather says, "It's a Rating 6 card reader maglock."

«Auto-Judge[]» Posh (#11342) rolls Electronics B/R + 1 vs TN 6 for "Task Pool, vs Rating 6 maglock":
1 2 3 9 14 25 = 3 Successes
«Auto-Judge[]» Posh (#11342) rolls Electronics + 1 vs TN 8 for "Task Pool, vs Rating 6 maglock (+2 for electronics tampering)":
1 4 4 5 8 11 = 2 Successes

«Plot» Posh says, "Posh would have the keypad housing cut open with the tool laser, and the cardreader electronically sequenced, in less than a minute, with her built-in tool laser and microtronics tool kit."


Posh carefully uses her fingertip tool laser to cut open the housing, pulling off a slice of it and inserting her needle-sharp datatap. She then begins to try to analyze the circuit and 'pulse in' a secquence associated with the unlock code, while avoiding any separate code pulses that might trigger an alarm.


The team gains entrance into the "lobby" easily enough. It's nice-ish. Marble floors and walls make it impressive in a low-grade kind of way. It's fake, yes, but it's a quality fake, and it's polished frequently and well enough that it's nice anyway. Directly ahead you is the alcove for the single elevator for the building. It's not a very high traffic place, apparently. And to the right of the elevator is the directory of offices.

There are two actual doors here. One to your left leads to the garage area. One to your right leads to the stairs.


«Plot» Feather says, "There is no front desk. This place seems to cater to small businesses, mostly white collar. Security seems minimal. There was a decent lock on the door, but it doesn't seem like a very secure place beyond that, especially off-hours. It's very likely each office beyond that has its own security system, but those will be basic grade aftermarket systems you can probably bypass easily, not proper building security."


«Plot» Feather says, "The team wants to examine the directory. Roll intelligence and any corporate knowledge skills you have."

«Auto-Judge[]» Luck (#3691) rolls Intelligence:
2 4 5 5
«Auto-Judge[]» Posh (#11342) rolls Intelligence for "Got no corp skill":
1 1 2 3 3 4 5 15
Olga follows after Posh with her uzi in hand unde rher cloak.


Posh does a quick sweep of the lobby, looking over towards where the elevators, and where the stairs are. She figures that the elevator's a no go, likely the only place with cameras in this joint, and figuring that there's no centralized security into each of the offices - unless she sees evidence of that sort of thing, a desk, and so on. But if it's just the directory and the emergency stairs and the elevator - she takes a glance at the first thing on that list and then heads for the stairs. "There was a light on in the third floor. That's probably him. IF not, it'll be someone we can…interrogate about goings-on in the building."


It looks like there aren't actually that many businesses here. There are semifamiliar names. You think some of these /might/ be corporate subsidiaries or shell companies, but nobody really knows enough about the details of modern corporate structure to be sure.

There are only two actual floors of offices, and it seems like some of them are empty. The second floor looks to be home to several offices with companies labelled with actual names, a few of them with an attached esq. Lots of attorney's offices, though some might be other things. There are also two acronyms. ICI Associated Analysis and KRE Industrial Management. The third floor is home to a few similar businesses mostly named after people, as well as some other things. A local Denver screamsheet you might recognize. A construction office. One or two obvious law offices.

It seems like a boring place.


Posh quickly hops on turtle mode and begins to see which of the sites at the building have public hosts, or advertise. Which are the places that clearly want to attract customers? Those are the ones that can be ruled out first.

«Plot» Feather says, "Are you just doing basic browsing on your pocsec?"
«Plot» Posh says, "Yes."
«Plot» Feather says, "Roll intelligence again."

«Auto-Judge[]» Luck (#3691) rolls Intelligence:
1 2 3 5


OOC Note: She figures it out without a roll. I decided to make the answer semi-obvious if they just take a look. Why semi-obvious? Zeta doesn't think they'll attract negative attention due to the nature of this work.

Posh snaps her fingers. "ICI. Imp-Chem-International," she says. "And the job is obviously analysis." She nods. "All right, I think we'll try there first. Maybe it'll be a mistake, but like the J said, we haven't long."


«Plot» Feather says, "Congratulations. The team somehow heroically bypasses the trap of the boss and secretary screwing late at night on the third floor, with a building alarm panic button right next to them."
«Plot» Feather says, "Luck's plan to look at the directory has averted disaster."


Luck hmms a bit, and nods, murmuring under her breath. "We might want to also go after the industrial management. Just to make it look like we're not entirely sure which of them was the one with the drugs. Et cetera." And with that she waves the group towards the stairs up, motioning that they should move slowly and cautiously.


Posh shrugs at Luck. "If it doesn't seem like a biotechy operation when we get there. But why would we just hit a random floor without a tipoff?" she asks. "I think we'll be able to sell the tip on just one operation. In any case," she says. "I've got the van hiding nearby. Let's smash this up and then get the drek out of here," she says. "Great thinking to look at the directory…who knows who were up on the third floor, then."


«Plot» Feather says, "The team advances to the second floor."
«Plot» Feather says, "Roll perception."


Posh heads towards the stairwell, to try to sneak up to the labeled ICI office with the minimum of fuss and interference.

She does a quick look around, looking for any security, and more locks, when she gets there.


«Auto-Judge[]» Posh (#11342) rolls Intelligence:
1 1 1 2 2 2 3 5

«Auto-Judge[]» Luck (#3691) rolls Intelligence:
2 3 4 8


"Because if they're trying to pump out chemicals, then what better than an industrial management company to get it out there?" And that's why, when they reach the second floor, Luck looks around - but if nothing is amiss, will slowly - and hopefully stealthily - head for KRE. "I'll be down the hall, don't worry."


«Plot» Posh says, "Updating battletack, and holding up and making sure Luck, Feather, and Olga are in position. I assume we are at sort of an elevator landing, and there is a door to the office - if we're lucky, we'll walk from the stairs right into like a cube farm or rows of lab tables."


«Plot» Feather says, "Everyone also roll stealth. I have Olga's improved invis and Stealth open test with a high of 7."

«Auto-Judge[]» Luck (#3691) rolls Stealth:
1 1 3 7
«Auto-Judge[]» Posh (#11342) rolls Stealth for "+12 ruth scanner, 2pts thermal damp":
1 1 1 3 3 4 9
«Auto-Judge[]» Feather (#12973) rolls Stealth for "+6 Ruth, +4 Thermal Dampening":
1 1 2 2 3 4
«Auto-Judge[]» Feather (#12973) rolls Stealth for "+6 Ruth, +4 Thermal Dampening - KP 1":
4 4 5 5 7 11
«Auto-Judge[]» Olga (#8898) rolls Stealth:
3 4 5 7
«Plot» Posh says, "Olga also has 12 ruth scanner cloak"

«Auto-Judge[]» Feather (#12973) rolls 4 for "???? Perception":
3 3 4 5

OOC Note: Nobody spots them through the camera.


Commlink-Posh> Posh sends, « Late night. High value worker. We need to look around for an inactive drone. Maybe even a Guardian, something like that. »


«Auto-Judge[]» Luck (#3691) rolls Intelligence:
2 4 5 10

«Plot» Feather says, "Luck cannot sense anything with Magic Sense, short of the aura coming from Olga's sustained spell. There likely aren't any active foci, wards, spells inside the office, unless they're hidden or masked."


The team takes the stairs up to the second floor, leaving them in a landing very much like the elevator room in the first. The elevator door is here. And a locked door looks like some sort of specialty room. It's likely small, knowing the building's layout. A mail room for deliveries? The only way out of this chamber is through maglocked double doors. It looks like a semi-smart door, though. It seems to allow you to open it from the inside without a key, though one thing to note is that it is self-closing.

If you exit through those doors, you're lead out to what looks like another parking level, this one holding only a dozen or so cars. Excess parking for clients, or maybe just the white collar workers who frequent this building, maybe. There's probably a ramp that leads up here for cars. Curved around the parking area, under an overhang, are the office doors. You can find the ICI entrance easily enough. There are no guards out here.

There is, however, a single obvious security camera. You really have no choice but to approach it, as there's no obvious way to disable it. It looks like it's battery-powered, not CCSS, and that it works via vidlink transmitter, likely an aftermarked addition to secure this place slightly more. Video quality is poor on that model, and it's darkish out here, only the dim night lighting under the overhang illuminating you. You're probably not easy to spot in these conditions if someone isn't really paying attention. It's not clear if there's any reaction if you do approach, but you're stealthy enough that it may not matter. There's really almost zero noise inside, but you can hear faint movement. Someone /is/ here, and you can see light from under the door. It's not clear why you couldn't from the street. Likely opaque tinted windows.


«Plot» Feather says, "The maglock leading out to where the ICI office is seems to be semi-smart for convenience. It's a self-closing door that can be opened without a key from the inside."
«Plot» Feather says, "So you don't need to bypass it."
«Plot» Feather says, "Will you leave it alone and just exit?"


Posh glances back to Olga. «Hey Olga. We might be getting into trouble. The ruth cloak should cover the glow from your armor spell, at least enough for you to still be sneaky» She nods, looking around at the light under the door. Well, someone's here…and the job is the job.

She looks around in the room for any computer, any data to maybe copy from, but then she's grinning at Luck and Olga, nodding to each in turn. «Remember. Where's the Kamikaze?" she says. "That's what we gotta shout…like we're gangers on a hard hit.»

OOC Note: There is no armor spell. Was an OOC error.


Posh looks around for anything that she can wedge into a crack of that door, to prevent it opening into the stairwell.


Olga nods her head to Posh and then well she cant see it but she shrugs to herself as she remembers invisible. She says "Copy that! I can make an illusion of gangers fleeing the building as we leave."


«Plot» Feather says, "Are you going to do anything to the door?"


Commlink-Posh> Posh sends, « All right. I'm going to go through the doors. While we shouldn't usually split up…yes…there might be an opportunity for me to scout a different path. Wait there. Perhaps I'll be able to disable the camera. »


And so Posh pushes against the door, nodding back through as she allows it to close, and then readjusts her hood, to investigate where she's ended up through the double doors. Sometimes, you've just got to take a door.

Once through, she will attempt to then see about keeping the lock opened so that the others can pass through and back without difficulty.


«Auto-Judge[]» Posh (#11342) rolls Security Procedures:
1 4 11
«Auto-Judge[]» Posh (#11342) rolls Electronics - 2 + 1 for "Electronics BG":
1 3 3 4


«Plot» Feather says, "Based on taking a glance at the camera, there's no way to disable it. The fact that it's low tech has actually made it rather hard to disable without being noticed, as there are no wires for either power or video feed. You could jam the vidlink transmitter it must be using or just shoot it, but if someone is looking, then it would be instantly obvious something was going on. It doesn't /seem/ like security is on alert, so you could take a chance and sneak up to it."

«Plot» Feather says, "This place seems to be maintained inconsistently. That door looks like it was recently replaced. It looks like a much better model. Probably equivalent to at least Rating 8, with some level of anti-tamper circuitry. And Posh remembers that doors like that /do/ set off alarms if they're hold open for longer than a short period, usually between 1-3 minutes."


Olga says "Or I could just use levitate to open it from the otherside as I cast a trid illusion of someone pushing? I mean Ill have to drop invis but it could work."


«Plot» Feather says, "Olga's idea would work, from what you know, even without the illusion."

OOC Note: The team advances together, letting the door close, confident they've found a workaround for the door's security conundrum. They passed the pitfall of the difficult-to-bypass door either slowing their exit with law enforcement on the way of triggering a law enforcement response if they fail to open the door subtly.


«Auto-Judge[]» Olga (#8898) rolls Sorcery + Spell Pool: 3 for "Weird thing":
1 2 3 5 5 5 5 9 15

«Auto-Judge[]» Olga (#8898) rolls Willpower + Spell Pool: 2 vs TN 3 for "willpower soak.":
1 1 2 3 3 4 5 5 = 5 Successes

«Plot» Feather says, "I put a secret higher TN on that illusion spell, but you got two exploding dice, and he only got one success. So you just happened to create a really good illusion this time."


Olga shakes her hands under her cloak and moves her hands and fingers to meet her gease as if she is weaving a picture. She gets the image in her mind and slowly weaves it as a solid image in her brain before she releases the spell into place.


With the cover of Olga's spell, the team advances to the door. There's no reaction when they approach. No sound is heard, and the movement inside doesn't audibly increase, at least so far as you can hear.


Posh glances a little warily at the bottom of the 'bowl' that Olga's created to cover up the camera, but the gives a smile. She then moves to head on into the ICI office, nodding back to Luck and Feather and Olga as she huddles back down and adjusts her hood, trying to continue sneaking in.


Olga mumbles "How long do I need to hold this spell?"


Commlink-Posh> Posh sends, « Just a little longer. And use the comm! »


Posh moves to push open the door, as, well, there's not much other option. And she's not too afraid of being seen on the camera on the way out - probably it's a direct vidlinked setup. She'll remember to nab that vidlink later - those are usually expensive. If she sees where the other end was connected at least.


«Auto-Judge[]» Feather (#12973) rolls 5 vs TN 6 for "Noticing entry? 1":
1 2 3 4 5 = 0 Successes


Continuing to move quietly, huddled, the open front of her hood peeks left and right, providing only the occasional flash of her eyes as she shifts the featherweight wrap around herself, to hide her face. She scans the small office, starting a methodical sweep, checking with her heat senses every few moments, as soon as she finds safe places to lower her hood to do so - the cloak is thermal dampening, after all.


With Posh in front, Luck - though rather large, considering she's an Ork and a big one to boot - moves behind her, trying to stay as hidden as possible. Through the door, into the office past it. And hopefully… Her footsteps are quiet. Hopefully.


Commlink-Posh> Posh sends, « Rebounds. Micro-Uzi. EXEX on Guardian only if needed. »


Right before entering, Posh remembers to remove her ruth cloak, nodding. «Aurora's wouldn't have ruth» she says. «Keep it sneaky, but open up with rebounds as soon as you get spotted. Get the drop on them. Like we planned.» And so, with her hood pulled down and her wrap kind of ponchofied, she gets ready to sneak in, prepared to shout, 'Where's the Kamikaze???' as soon as she gets spotted. She considers - need to get a flashlight for this kind of work. Overpower. Make them surrender. Security guys don't wanna die.


Olga does not seem thrilled about the idea but removes her cloak as well,


«Auto-Judge[]» Feather (#12973) rolls 5 vs TN 6 for "Noticing entry? 2": 1 2 3 3 5 = 0 Successes
«Auto-Judge[]» Feather (#12973) rolls 5 vs TN 6 for "Noticing entry? 3": 1 1 3 5 11 = 1 Success
«Auto-Judge[]» Feather (#12973) rolls 4 vs TN 4 for "Noticing entry? 4": 2 2 4 10 = 2 Successes
«Auto-Judge[]» Feather (#12973) rolls 4 vs TN 5 for "Noticing entry? 5": 2 4 4 5 = 1 Success

«Auto-Judge[]» Feather (#12973) rolls Initiative with a result of 23.
«Auto-Judge[]» Posh (#11342) rolls Initiative with a result of 23.
«Auto-Judge[]» Luck (#3691) rolls Initiative with a result of 22.
«Auto-Judge[]» Olga (#8898) rolls Initiative with a result of 22.

«Auto-Judge[]» Feather (#12973) rolls 3 for "1": 3 3 5
«Auto-Judge[]» Feather (#12973) rolls 2 for "2": 1 5
«Auto-Judge[]» Feather (#12973) rolls 2 for "3": 3 9
«Auto-Judge[]» Feather (#12973) rolls 1 for "4": 10
«Auto-Judge[]» Feather (#12973) rolls 1 for "5": 9

«Auto-Judge[]» Luck (#3691) rolls Reaction vs TN 4: 1 2 2 2 4 4 5 5 9 = 5 Successes
«Auto-Judge[]» Feather (#12973) rolls Reaction vs TN 4: 1 1 1 1 2 2 2 4 4 4 5 = 4 Successes
«Auto-Judge[]» Olga (#8898) rolls Reaction vs TN 4: 1 2 4 5 5 5 5 11 11 = 7 Successes
«Auto-Judge[]» Posh (#11342) rolls Reaction vs TN 4: 1 2 2 3 3 3 3 4 9 9 = 3 Successes
«Auto-Judge[]» Posh (#11342) rolls Reaction - 3 vs TN 4 for "KP 1 (8 spent)": 1 2 2 3 3 5 9 = 2 Successes
«Plot» Posh says, "Stand on 5"

«Auto-Judge[]» Feather (#12973) rolls 10 vs TN 4 for "1 Surprise": 1 1 3 3 4 5 5 10 10 15 = 6 Successes
«Auto-Judge[]» Feather (#12973) rolls 8 vs TN 4 for "2 Surprise": 1 1 2 2 3 5 5 13 = 3 Successes
«Auto-Judge[]» Feather (#12973) rolls 8 vs TN 4 for "3 Surprise": 1 2 2 4 5 5 7 9 = 5 Successes
«Auto-Judge[]» Feather (#12973) rolls 6 vs TN 4 for "4 Surprise": 1 1 2 4 7 11 = 3 Successes
«Auto-Judge[]» Feather (#12973) rolls 6 vs TN 4 for "5 Surprise": 2 2 3 3 3 7 = 1 Success
«Auto-Judge[]» Feather (#12973) rolls 6 - 1 vs TN 4 for "5 reroll KP 1/5": 1 2 3 3 3 = 0 Successes

============================> Initiative Listing <=============================
Combatant Name…………….. P1(B) P2(-10) P3(-20) P4(-30) P5(-40)
Feather…………………… 23 13 3 — —
Posh……………………… 23 13 3 — —
Luck……………………… 22 12 2 — —
Olga……………………… 22 12 2 — —
Detail 1………………….. 21 11 1 — —
Detail 3………………….. 17 7 — — —
Detail 2………………….. 14 4 — — —
Detail 4………………….. 12 2 — — —
Detail 5………………….. 12 2 — — —


Commlink-Posh> Posh sends, « Luck. You hold back, and you jab with the telespear when needed, got it? You're the ace in the hole. »


Commlink-Posh> Posh sends, « Feather, take point. Olga, you're in first and I'll back you up. I'll be making the most noise with my smartguns. Hold fire until they shoot or I shoot. Keep those ruth cloaks up. »


Commlink-Luck> Luck sends, « But if I hold back I can't take the hits. I'm not letting you get shot again. »


Commlink-Posh> Posh sends, « Luck. I need you as a surprise attack. You might be able to get two at once. »


Commlink-Luck> Luck sends, « Doubtful. None of them are going to be charging out of the offices. And I doubt there will be any coming in from outside. »


The team enters the room. Feather goes first. If not the hardest to see, she's certainly the quietest, with her magically silenced steps. But this particular strategy seems to sour fast. That door opening doesn't go unnoticed. You're not sure what to expect inside, in terms of enemies or security or sight lines, and you find yourself in direct view of someone watching the door. He looks to be slacking, expecting this to be a boring job. But that's not quite the case.

He's professional enough, though, to have an eye on the door. And he's professional enough to recognize your methods. This might not be the Sioux Wildcats, but these guys seem to be trained for trouble, even if they weren't expecting it tonight. Shadow trouble. Not a huge surprise, maybe.

You may have Luck on your side, but that only goes so far. If you're doing a job, there's probably someone out there whose job is to stop you.

And the Ingram Smartgun in front of him looks modified. Painfully so, for you. One hand grabs it. The other slams the red button in front of him. You can't hear or see what the result is, but that might be bad news. The element of surprise is gone. The possibility of shock and awe is gone. Now it's test of speed and reaction.

The situation for the team: Feather is up front, a few meters past the door, but she's still a few meters from the sentry watching the front. She has no weapon ready. Olga is behind her. She can drop her spell at any time and be ready to fire. Posh is still in the doorway, trailing Olga. Luck is outside, in reserve.

The terrain: the doorway leads into a small hallway. Just a mater past it, to your right, is the guard who spotted you. That's Detail 5. He's scrambling to prepare for a fight, has his weapon in hand, but he's not in cover yet. Only Feather and Olga have line of sight on him. There is a desk in front of him, though, partially concealing him, and there's a large office area behind him. Someone else might be there. Down the hallway, there are doors leading to your left. This place isn't that big, though. They must be supply closets or something similar. At the end of the hallway are branching doors leading to three large office spaces. Only one is actually facing your direction, though, and you can see a man through it in a similar bodyguard suit. He /was/ talking to someone, but now he's spinning around to engage you. He has a SMG of his own, and again, it looks modified. Hopefully these guys are at least packing standard rounds, but they look to be pros.


«Auto-Judge[]» Feather (#12973) rolls Reaction vs TN 4:
1 1 2 2 2 3 3 3 5 7 9 = 3 Successes

«Auto-Judge[]» Feather (#12973) rolls Pole Arms/Staves (Miao Dao) + 1 vs TN 3 for "Quick-draw Charging Attack, reach negated by Close Combat, base power 12D":
1 1 3 3 4 4 4 10 = 6 Successes

«Auto-Judge[]» Feather (#12973) rolls 5 vs TN 4 for "Detail 5 Close Combat Counterattack, no combat pool due to surprise roll":
1 5 5 5 16 = 4 Successes

«Auto-Judge[]» Feather (#12973) rolls 6 + Combat Pool: 7 vs TN 7 for "Attack staged to 13D reduced by 7/6 armor, full combat pool to soak":
1 2 2 2 2 3 3 5 5 5 5 7 8 = 2 Successes
«Auto-Judge[]» Feather (#12973) rolls 6 + Combat Pool: 7 - 2 vs TN 7 for "Attack staged to 13D reduced by 7/6 armor, full combat pool to soak - KP 2/5":
1 3 3 4 4 5 5 5 5 5 9 = 1 Success
«Auto-Judge[]» Feather (#12973) rolls 6 + Combat Pool: 7 - 3 vs TN 7 for "Attack staged to 13D reduced by 7/6 armor, full combat pool to soak - KP 4/5":
1 1 1 3 4 4 5 7 8 11 = 3 Successes

«Auto-Judge[]» Feather (#12973) rolls 6 vs TN 9 for "Knockdown Test vs Str 9":
2 4 4 4 7 8 = 0 Successes


Feather doesn't seem willing to hesitate here. She dashes forward, leg leaping forward to vault over the desk, blade drawn with incredible speed as she attacks. Her target is too surprised to avoid it. But he puts everything to throwing up his arms and rolling with the attack, reinforced forearm guards managing to stop the blade, for now, leaving his arms bleeding as the dikoted weapon penetrates the densiplast armor just enough to draw blood. The force of the blow, though, leaves him on the ground and vulnerable. Which is perhaps a bad thing. Now she's out of line of sight, unless someone joins Feather where she is. And there /might/ be a second enemy there.


Just as the situation starts to show itself, Posh sees Feather engaging an enemy with her miao dao, the two-handed Chinese blade flashing out as she then updates the map with a red X on the cyberlink. «SPEAR HIM!» she dashes out on the map, the one that Feather engaged already clearly tangled up. He's also a serious threat as she then looks to follow Olga.


Commlink-Posh> Posh sends, « Luck. Help Feather… »


«Auto-Judge[]» Posh (#11342) rolls Athletics + 2 vs TN 4 for "+3 KP (12 spent)":
1 1 4 5 13 = 3 Successes


Posh heads into the room, pressing a hand to stabilize herself on the furniture desk as she sprints heavily towards the far closet, lowering shoulder and hoping for luck…or weak construction. She updates the position of the guard for Luck, hoping that Olga will have some way to address the other one she's only sort of registering.


Posh attempts to find cover, and true to her intent, she does. The small room she's in is a tiny server room. A few feet in front of her, there's a wall covered by computer equipment, shelves of chemical supplies to her left and right. Yep. Someone is working here. Oh, and someone /was/ checking a computer for a glitch. Directly in front of Posh, now less than a foot away, is another bodyguard. Enter Detail 3. He has his SMG out. He was /about/ to fire at someone, his finger already tightening on the trigger, someone that wasn't Posh. Though those bullets might be just as eager to get her too.


With Posh calling the shots - so to speak - Luck runs on in to help Feather. The guy's down, however, so it's not that big a deal. Why did she stay near the door in the first place? Oh well… Wait. Second person! So by the time she reaches the first opponent, she simply stabs into the guy on the ground, and then charges for the second, to try and stab him. Gotta love that dikote.


«Auto-Judge[]» Luck (#3691) rolls Pole Arms/Staves vs TN 4:
1 3 4 5 9 9 9 = 5 Successes
OOC Note: Attack against Detail 5.

«Auto-Judge[]» Luck (#3691) rolls Pole Arms/Staves + Combat Pool: 3 vs TN 4:
1 1 1 2 4 4 5 5 11 15 = 6 Successes
«Auto-Judge[]» Luck (#3691) rolls Pole Arms/Staves + 3 - 2 vs TN 6 for "KP 1":
1 2 2 3 3 5 5 15 = 1 Success
«Auto-Judge[]» Luck (#3691) rolls Pole Arms/Staves + 3 - 3 vs TN 6 for "KP 3":
2 2 3 3 4 5 5 = 0 Successes
OOC Note: Attack against Detail 2

«Plot» Feather says, "Those TN's are adjusted to 2 and 6. So Luck gets 6 successes against Detail 5 and 2 initial successes against Detail 2."

«Auto-Judge[]» Feather (#12973) rolls 5 vs TN 5 for "Close Combat Counterattack Detail 5, L wound":
1 1 3 4 14 = 1 Success

«Auto-Judge[]» Feather (#12973) rolls 6 vs TN 5 for "Detail 5 Resisting 12D":
1 2 2 2 4 5 = 1 Success
«Plot» Feather says, "Sorry, that should be TN 6, so no successes."
«Auto-Judge[]» Feather (#12973) rolls 6 vs TN 6 for "Detail 5 Resisting 12D - KP 5/5":
1 2 3 4 9 10 = 2 Successes

«Plot» Feather says, "Detail 5 takes an S wound. They're still alive, just terribly wounded. Now S+L."

«Auto-Judge[]» Feather (#12973) rolls 5 vs TN 4 for "Detail 2 Close Combat Counterattack":
1 5 5 9 15 = 4 Successes

«Plot» Feather says, "Counterattack sucessful with no staging. Luck needs to soak 8M."

«Auto-Judge[]» Luck (#3691) rolls Body vs TN 3:
1 2 3 3 4 4 5 8 11 = 7 Successes

«Plot» Feather says, "No damage to Luck."


Luck rushes in to assist Feather, only to stumble upon a second enemy who happened to be in the reception area. She has speed and surprise on her side, and she manages to attack both. Detail 5 is having a bad day, nearly dead to the blades of the two women. Detail 2, though, manages off to fend off Luck's attack entirely, even stepping into her reach and counterattacking. Her punch, though, does nothing to the Oni's tough figure.


«Auto-Judge[]» Olga (#8898) rolls Pistols + Combat Pool: 5 vs TN 3 for "Rebounding his world!":
1 1 1 2 2 4 4 5 7 7 = 5 Successes
«Auto-Judge[]» Olga (#8898) rolls Pistols + Combat Pool: 5 - 5 vs TN 3 for "Rebounding his world!~kp":
4 5 5 8 9 = 5 Successes

«Auto-Judge[]» Feather (#12973) rolls 8 + Combat Pool: 8 vs TN 6 for "Detail 2 resisting 12S stun vs impact ranged with 7/6 armor.":
1 2 2 2 3 3 3 3 4 4 4 5 5 5 5 7 = 1 Success
«Auto-Judge[]» Feather (#12973) rolls 8 + Combat Pool: 8 - 1 vs TN 6 for "Detail 2 resisting 12S stun vs impact ranged with 7/6 armor. - KP 1/8":
1 2 2 3 3 4 4 5 5 5 5 5 5 8 9 = 2 Successes
«Auto-Judge[]» Feather (#12973) rolls 8 + Combat Pool: 8 - 3 vs TN 6 for "Detail 2 resisting 12S stun vs impact ranged with 7/6 armor. - KP 3/8":
1 1 1 1 1 2 3 3 4 4 5 8 10 = 2 Successes
«Auto-Judge[]» Feather (#12973) rolls 8 + Combat Pool: 8 - 5 vs TN 6 for "Detail 2 resisting 12S stun vs impact ranged with 7/6 armor. - KP 6/8":
1 1 2 2 4 4 5 5 5 8 13 = 2 Successes

«Plot» Feather says, "Detail 2 is down."


«Auto-Judge[]» Feather (#12973) rolls 6 vs TN 2 for "12S SMG bursts vs Feather":
2 3 4 5 5 10 = 6 Successes

«Auto-Judge[]» Feather (#12973) rolls 6 vs TN 4 for "12S SMG bursts vs Luck - +2 second target":
1 1 2 2 3 5 = 1 Success
«Auto-Judge[]» Feather (#12973) rolls 6 - 1 vs TN 4 for "12S SMG bursts vs Luck - +2 second target - KP 1/12":
3 4 4 5 26 = 4 Successes

«Auto-Judge[]» Feather (#12973) rolls Body + Combat Pool: 9 vs TN 4:
1 1 1 1 2 3 3 4 4 5 5 7 8 11 = 7 Successes
«Auto-Judge[]» Feather (#12973) rolls Body + Combat Pool: 9 - 7 vs TN 4 for "KP 1":
1 1 2 3 3 4 4 = 2 Successes
«Auto-Judge[]» Feather (#12973) rolls Body + Combat Pool: 9 - 9 vs TN 4 for "KP 3":
4 4 5 5 7 = 5 Successes

«Auto-Judge[]» Luck (#3691) rolls Body + Combat Pool: 4 vs TN 7:
1 1 1 3 3 3 3 4 4 4 4 7 23 = 2 Successes

«Plot» Feather says, "Actually, that guy would have had attacker walking too, so he only would have had 3 successes."
«Plot» Feather says, "Luck takes an S wound."


Detail 1 finally steps into the room, perhaps a little too fearlessly. He looks like the leader of the crew and not somebody you'd like to mess with. His SMG is already at the ready. He's not quite fast enough to catch Olga as she unleashes her onslaught, her reaction a little too fast, but he drops a burst of EX Explosive SMG fire into both Feather and Luck. Feather dives, taking the hit without absorbing a lot of damage. Luck is a little less lucky, her armor more tuned toward street fighting than bullets.


Detail 3 is still in the room with Posh, too surprised to see her to really react. His finger was already on the trigger, and his weapon ends up spraying wildly, though it's not particularly well-aimed.


«Plot» Posh says, "consent to anyone present to roll for me."

«Plot» Feather says, "I'll just finish for Posh, since we're trying to end this, and it's the final fight."

OOC Note: It was late, and this was supposed to be a short plot. I took control of Posh.

«Auto-Judge[]» Feather (#12973) rolls 5 vs TN 6 for "Accidental suppressive fire damage Detail 3":
1 2 4 4 4 = 0 Successes

GM Posh Roll:
«Auto-Judge[]» Aisha (#11638) rolls 9 vs TN 5 for "Posh soaking 12M":
1 1 1 2 2 2 4 5 5 = 2 Successes

«Plot» Feather says, "Actually, that was 9M, and she soaked it with no KP. My bad."


Posh is too well-armored, though, taking a single stray bullet that doesn't penetrate her body armor.


«Plot» Feather says, "Detail 4 is caught entirely flat-footed during the surprise pass due to low reaction roll. They're left stumbling for their weapon without acting."


Detail 5 is barely breathing. He lifts his SMG with a shaky hand and sprays wildly at Feather and Olga.


«Plot» Feather says, "Feather will eat it."

«Auto-Judge[]» Feather (#12973) rolls 5 vs TN 9 for "Suppressive Fire roll Detail 5":
1 1 2 4 5 = 0 Successes

«Auto-Judge[]» Feather (#12973) rolls Body vs TN 2:
3 4 4 4 5 = 5 Successes

«Plot» Feather says, "Feather takes no damage"

«Auto-Judge[]» Feather (#12973) rolls 5 vs TN 9 for "Suppressive Fire roll Detail 5":
2 2 2 4 5 = 0 Successes

«Auto-Judge[]» Olga (#8898) rolls Body + Combat Pool: 3 vs TN 3:
1 1 2 3 3 3 3 4 5 = 6 Successes

«Plot» Feather says, "Olga takes no damage."


«Plot» Feather says, "Feather is up. Free action drop sword. Simple action draw bow. Quick-draw fire a single arrow."

«Auto-Judge[]» Feather (#12973) rolls Reaction vs TN 4:
1 1 2 2 2 3 4 4 5 10 15 = 5 Successes

«Auto-Judge[]» Feather (#12973) rolls Projectile Weapons (Bows) vs TN 2:
2 3 3 4 4 4 5 = 7 Successes

«Auto-Judge[]» Feather (#12973) rolls 9 vs TN 4 for "Dodge Detail 1":
1 2 3 3 4 5 5 8 8 = 5 Successes
«Auto-Judge[]» Feather (#12973) rolls 9 - 5 vs TN 4 for "Dodge Detail 1 - KP 2/12":
1 2 3 4 = 1 Success
«Auto-Judge[]» Feather (#12973) rolls 9 - 6 vs TN 4 for "Dodge Detail 1 - KP 4/12":
1 3 8 = 1 Success
«Auto-Judge[]» Feather (#12973) rolls 9 - 7 vs TN 4 for "Dodge Detail 1 - KP 7/12":
4 5 = 2 Successes


Feather finds herself reeling from the attack against an opponent who seems extreme in his skill. It doesn't seem like the team will withstand a second wave of attacks from him. She moves fast, her sword slipping from her grasp, hands reaching behind her. One draws a bow from a quick-release compartment in the black weapon case she keeps slung behind her, it folding out to full length. Another reaches for an arrow with incredible speed, a single exploding arrowhead drifting toward the enemy with practiced ease. Somehow, though, his superlative reflexes get him out of the way of the attack.


«Plot» Aisha says, "For Posh, I'll free action call her first shot."
OOC Note: She free action calls a shot, uses a fire two weapons simple, then uses a fire one weapon simple.

GM Posh Roll:
«Auto-Judge[]» Aisha (#11638) rolls 6 + 1 + 6 vs TN 4 for "SL called-shot cyber-SMG with rebound rounds, 10D base damage vs impact.":
1 1 1 2 3 3 3 4 4 4 10 11 13 = 6 Successes
«Auto-Judge[]» Aisha (#11638) rolls 6 + 1 + 6 - 6 vs TN 4 for "SL called-shot cyber-SMG with rebound rounds, 10D base damage vs impact. - KP 2 - I think you can see where this is going.":
1 2 2 3 4 4 9 = 3 Successes
«Auto-Judge[]» Aisha (#11638) rolls 6 + 1 + 6 - 9 vs TN 4 for "SL called-shot cyber-SMG with rebound rounds, 10D base damage vs impact. - KP 4 - Yep":
1 4 5 14 = 3 Successes
«Auto-Judge[]» Aisha (#11638) rolls 6 + 1 + 6 - 12 vs TN 4 for "SL called-shot cyber-SMG with rebound rounds, 10D base damage vs impact. - KP 4 - Screw the rules, I have karma.":
3 = 0 Successes
«Auto-Judge[]» Aisha (#11638) rolls 6 + 1 + 6 - 12 vs TN 4 for "SL called-shot cyber-SMG with rebound rounds, 10D base damage vs impact. - KP 8 - I'm not really sure why I need this last dice.":
5 = 1 Success

«Auto-Judge[]» Feather (#12973) rolls 12 + Karma Pool: 2 vs TN 3 for "Detail 1 Pointless Resist Roll":
1 2 2 3 3 3 4 4 4 4 5 8 8 14 = 11 Successes
«Auto-Judge[]» Feather (#12973) rolls 12 + Karma Pool: 2 - 11 vs TN 3 for "Detail 1 Pointless Resist Roll KP 11/12":
1 4 9 = 2 Successes

«Plot» Feather says, "Detail 1 is dead"

GM Posh Roll:
«Auto-Judge[]» Aisha (#11638) rolls 6 + 1 + 6 vs TN 4 for "SL cyber-SMG with rebound rounds, 10S base damage vs impact vs Detail 3. All CP spent.":
1 1 1 3 3 3 4 4 4 4 5 9 14 = 7 Successes
«Auto-Judge[]» Aisha (#11638) rolls 6 + 1 + 6 - 7 vs TN 4 for "SL cyber-SMG with rebound rounds, 10S base damage vs impact vs Detail 3. All CP spent.- KP 9 - It seemed like a good idea at the time.":
1 2 2 3 4 4 = 2 Successes
«Auto-Judge[]» Aisha (#11638) rolls 6 + 1 + 6 - 9 vs TN 4 for "SL cyber-SMG with rebound rounds, 10S base damage vs impact vs Detail 3. All CP spent.- KP 9 - Yeah":
2 2 4 11 = 2 Successes
«Auto-Judge[]» Aisha (#11638) rolls 6 + 1 + 6 - 11 vs TN 4 for "SL cyber-SMG with rebound rounds, 10S base damage vs impact vs Detail 3. All CP spent.- KP 12 - Still going!":
3 10 = 1 Success

«Auto-Judge[]» Feather (#12973) rolls 6 + Combat Pool: 8 vs TN 4 for "Detail 3 soak":
1 1 1 2 3 3 3 4 4 4 4 4 5 5 = 7 Successes
«Auto-Judge[]» Feather (#12973) rolls 6 + Combat Pool: 8 - 7 vs TN 4 for "Detail 3 soak KP 1/8":
2 4 4 5 5 8 11 = 6 Successes
«Auto-Judge[]» Feather (#12973) rolls 6 + Combat Pool: 8 - 13 vs TN 4 for "Detail 3 soak KP 3/8":
5 = 1 Success

«Plot» Feather says, "Detail 3 M wound."

GM Posh Roll:
«Auto-Judge[]» Aisha (#11638) rolls 6 + 1 vs TN 6 for "Posh killing shot Detail 5":
1 2 3 5 5 8 10 = 2 Successes
«Auto-Judge[]» Aisha (#11638) rolls 6 + 1 - 2 vs TN 6 for "Posh killing shot Detail 5 ~ KP 13":
1 3 4 4 5 = 0 Successes
«Auto-Judge[]» Aisha (#11638) rolls 6 + 1 - 2 vs TN 6 for "Posh killing shot Detail 5 ~ KP 15":
1 1 4 4 10 = 1 Success
«Auto-Judge[]» Aisha (#11638) rolls 6 + 1 - 3 vs TN 6 for "Posh killing shot Detail 5 ~ KP 18":
3 3 3 8 = 1 Success
«Auto-Judge[]» Aisha (#11638) rolls 6 + 1 - 4 vs TN 6 for "Posh killing shot Detail 5 ~ KP 22":
1 2 4 = 0 Successes

«Auto-Judge[]» Aisha (#11638) rolls 6 vs TN 3 for "Detail 5 soak":
1 4 4 5 5 7 = 5 Successes

«Plot» Aisha says, "Detail 5 is down."
OOC Note: I ruled that S+M Physical and L Stun was enough to incapacitate him with his professionalism rating, and he lost the will to do anything but lay there bleeding.


OOC Note: We rushed through combat, but when everyone was awake, we added poses after the fact, so they got to RP out the combat.

Posh sights in her elbow, rather quickly, a heart beat sighting in on the man directly in front of her as she blasts out a devastating shot of rebounds right into his forehead. With a quick slip back, her other elbow whips around and shoots again, bringing up her Predator to bang a third right writhing on the ground with another rebound. For now, her EXEX loaded SMGs remain where they are as she moves in almost a blur, Posh fully unleashed upon the opponents. She remembers to cover, though - the attack, the confusion in the dark, as well as her use of the multiple weapons - all the bursts around. She screams at the man. "WHERE'S THE FRAKKING KAMIKAZE????"


«Auto-Judge[]» Luck (#3691) rolls Kung Fu:
3 4 5 8 11 13

«Plot» Feather says, "I'm allowing Luck to do a ranged disarm with Distance Strike. That's 3 successes with her wound penalty level, sufficient to disarm a 6 strength person holding a weapon with 2 hands."

«Plot» Feather says, "Detail 3's gun is at his feet."


Guns? Well… Luck doesn't have much in the way of defense against those. And these guys are tough, for a small team to take out. But what if there was no gun in his hand…? Thinking outside the box - in her Luck Logic - she sends a small shockwave at Detail 3's weapon. Small, but powerful enough to disarm him, making the gun clatter to the ground before Luck dives for cover. Because he could still totally pick it up and fire at her, and she's hurt /bad/.


«Auto-Judge[]» Olga (#8898) rolls Pistols vs TN 3 for "Rebounding his world!kp for fits and wiggles":
1 1 1 3 4 = 2 Successes
«Auto-Judge[]» Olga (#8898) rolls Pistols - 2 vs TN 3 for "Rebounding his world!kp for fits and wiggles":
3 4 13 = 3 Successes

«Auto-Judge[]» Feather (#12973) rolls 6 vs TN 6 for "Detail 3 Soak 12S.":
1 1 3 5 8 11 = 2 Successes
«Auto-Judge[]» Feather (#12973) rolls 6 - 2 vs TN 6 for "Detail 3 Soak 12S KP KP 4/8":
5 5 5 9 = 1 Success
«Auto-Judge[]» Feather (#12973) rolls 6 - 3 vs TN 6 for "Detail 3 Soak 12S KP KP 6/8":
7 8 15 = 3 Successes

«Auto-Judge[]» Feather (#12973) rolls 6 vs TN 6 for "Detail 3 Knockdown":
2 3 3 4 10 11 = 2 Successes

«Plot» Feather says, "Detail3 takes S stun. Now has S+M"


Olga growls as Posh monster is shot and sprays the guy in the head as she tries tod raw some fire from Posh as she growls "No touchy the elf!"


«Plot» Feather says, "Detail 3 will spend a simple to pick up his weapon, then fire a burst with a simple."

«Auto-Judge[]» Feather (#12973) rolls 5 vs TN 5 for "Have at you. 12S.":
1 1 2 5 8 = 2 Successes
«Auto-Judge[]» Feather (#12973) rolls 5 - 2 vs TN 5 for "Have at you. 12S. KP 7/8":
1 4 11 = 1 Success

GM Posh Roll:
«Auto-Judge[]» Aisha (#11638) rolls 9 vs TN 5 for "Posh soak, no CP left.":
1 3 3 3 4 4 9 9 10 = 3 Successes
«Auto-Judge[]» Aisha (#11638) rolls 9 - 3 vs TN 5 for "Posh soak, no CP left. KP 23":
1 2 3 4 7 8 = 2 Successes
«Auto-Judge[]» Aisha (#11638) rolls 9 - 5 vs TN 5 for "Posh soak, no CP left. KP 25":
1 4 8 8 = 2 Successes

«Plot» Feather says, "Posh takes L."

«Plot» Feather says, "Detail 4 finally gets his action."

«Auto-Judge[]» Feather (#12973) rolls 5 + Combat Pool: 4 vs TN 2 for "Heavy pistol SL-2 vs Posh.":
1 1 2 3 3 3 5 5 7 = 7 Successes
«Auto-Judge[]» Feather (#12973) rolls 5 + Combat Pool: 3 vs TN 2 for "Heavy pistol SL-2 vs Posh.":
1 1 1 2 2 3 3 4 = 5 Successes

GM Posh Roll:
«Auto-Judge[]» Aisha (#11638) rolls 9 vs TN 2 for "Posh soaking first shot":
2 2 3 3 4 4 4 5 10 = 9 Successes
«Auto-Judge[]» Aisha (#11638) rolls 9 vs TN 2 for "Posh soaking second shot":
1 1 1 2 3 4 5 8 9 = 6 Successes
«Auto-Judge[]» Aisha (#11638) rolls 9 - 6 vs TN 2 for "Posh soaking second shot ~KP 26":
3 4 4 = 3 Successes

«Plot» Feather says, "Posh takes L."


The final member of Dr Stiner's security detail finally shows his face. Unsteady, racing out to finally be of assistance after being caught flat-footed and slow to react, Detail 4 appears. He's a fresh-faced young man, but he doesn't really look like an experienced combatant. Some sort of specialist, maybe? A driver? An electronic security specialist? He's a little more lightly-armed, but a Predator III hurts nonetheless. He lifts the menacing heavy pistol, aiming squarely at Posh's chest, firing two rounds. He's not a bruiser, but he's trained enough that each shot just about hits center mass. Posh's body twists left, then right, but it doesn't look like either round actually pierced her armor. Standard ammunition, this time. He's not loaded for bear like the rest of them.

Detail 3 capitalizes on that opening. He's not foolish enough to engage in close combat in his state, but his tricked-out Smartgun is right there at his feet. Thanks to Luck's actions, though, he can only pick it up and fire a single burst before Posh reacts. Still, 3 rounds of EX Ex hurts, even if it's only the intermediate subsonic cartridges used by the Smartgun. The rounds fly, sprayed easily in that tiny space, flattening against the elven woman's armor. Posh is knocked around, a little dazed, but she's still up and ready to fight.


«Plot» Feather says, "Posh's action."

«Plot» Aisha says, "Free action call a shot, simple action fire."
OOC Note: Simple action fire two weapons.

GM Posh Roll:
«Auto-Judge[]» Aisha (#11638) rolls 6 + 1 vs TN 4 for "Cyber SMG 10D base burst":
1 2 4 4 5 9 10 = 5 Successes

OOC Note: Should be TN 5.
«Plot» Feather says, "Forgot to factor wound penalties. Gonna start from reroll of first attack."

«Auto-Judge[]» Aisha (#11638) rolls 6 + 1 - 2 vs TN 5 for "Cyber SMG 10D base burst - L wound - KP 26 - Woe unto all who oppose me":
2 3 3 4 5 = 1 Success
«Auto-Judge[]» Aisha (#11638) rolls 6 + 1 - 3 vs TN 5 for "Cyber SMG 10D base burst - L wound - KP 28 - Woe unto all who oppose me":
3 3 5 9 = 2 Successes
«Auto-Judge[]» Aisha (#11638) rolls 6 + 1 - 3 vs TN 5 for "Cyber SMG 10D base burst - L wound - KP 31 - Woe unto all who oppose me":
3 3 5 11 = 2 Successes
«Auto-Judge[]» Aisha (#11638) rolls 6 + 1 - 5 vs TN 5 for "Cyber SMG 10D base burst - L wound - KP 31 - Woe unto all who oppose me":
1 9 = 1 Success

«Auto-Judge[]» Feather (#12973) rolls 6 + Karma Pool: 1 vs TN 3 for "Detail 4 soak":
1 1 1 1 4 4 4 = 3 Successes
«Auto-Judge[]» Feather (#12973) rolls 6 + Karma Pool: 1 - 3 vs TN 3 for "Detail 4 soak - KP 2/5":
1 3 4 5 = 3 Successes
«Auto-Judge[]» Feather (#12973) rolls 6 + Karma Pool: 1 - 4 vs TN 3 for "Detail 4 soak - KP 4/5":
1 3 15 = 2 Successes
«Auto-Judge[]» Feather (#12973) rolls 6 + Karma Pool: 1 - 6 vs TN 3 for "Detail 4 soak - KP 4/5":
1 = 0 Successes

«Plot» Feather says, "Detail 4 is down."

«Plot» Aisha says, "Second burst, second target."

GM Posh Roll:
«Auto-Judge[]» Aisha (#11638) rolls 6 + 1 vs TN 4 for "Cyber SMG 10S base burst - +2 second target":
1 1 2 3 3 4 5 = 2 Successes
OOC Note: Actually only 1 success. Result is the same.

«Auto-Judge[]» Feather (#12973) rolls 6 vs TN 3 for "Detail 3 soak":
1 1 2 3 4 5 = 3 Successes
«Auto-Judge[]» Feather (#12973) rolls 6 - 3 vs TN 3 for "Detail 3 soak KP 8/8":
2 2 4 = 1 Success

«Plot» Feather says, "Detail 3 is down"


With her heart thumping heavily, and Luck and Olga backing her up, Posh truly is in the zone. She rarely gets like this…goes full offense, but it's a thrill. It feels good. Damn good. She takes a full speed run but her gyromounts start to whirr, her upperarms a stabilizing spinning cylinder now as she shifts, a strafe blasting heavily into Detail 4, knocking him to the ground, setting up a disabling shot right at the last standing one, who Olga'd set up, and then she blasts out at him, sending him heavily slumping to the ground.


The final bullets fly in this particular confrontation. They're called Rebounds for a reason, of course. Typical gel rounds flatten on impact significantly. They're more malleable, spreading out their energy more diffusely, which is good if all you want to do is transfer kinetic energy to the target's body as a whole. Good for knocking someone down. Not great for causing local damage. Rebound rounds, though, don't deform as much and have greater focused force at their point of impact, allowing for greater chance for non-lethal injury and transferred energy causing local hydrostatic damage. The bruises are a lot nastier, and minor stress fractures are common. But they get their name for their elasticity.

The rebounds are out en masse, tonight, colliding with body armor, deforming slightly and then partially snapping back, rebounding off their target after transferring most of their energy. They're flying everywhere in here as Posh and Olga go wild, ricochets pinging off of bodies and walls, landing in odd places amidst the office furniture, dozens scattered on the ground here. The counterfire is even nastier. EX Ex. Even the non-penetrating hits have left the ground coated with the tiny shards remaining of these explosive, frangible rounds. The misses have left smoldering black holes in the plaster walls. This place looks like a shooting gallery.

And then it's over. Suddenly, silence, the last of the enemies collapsing to the floor. Detail 1 and 4 are downed by Posh's armguns, unconscious. Detail 3 succumbed to concerted fire from Posh and Olga's rebound gunslinging. Detail 5 passed out, seriously wounded from Feather and Luck's melee onslaught but stable, the final blow a non-lethal pistol shot from Posh, the pain too much for him to bear. And Detail 2, felled by a single long burst of Olga's Micro Uzi. The team is looking better, though they've taken casualties too. Olga is still in good shape; she has been spared any shots in this bullet hell. Feather has taken a few hits, but none of them look to have gotten through her armor. She's unwounded. Posh is knocked around, a little dazed, but her armor has held up. She's OK. Luck has its the worst. She has taken a Serious wound from the leader's Smartgun. She's bleeding, but she's stable. She's a tough girl, too. She might be in pain, but she'll definitely be on her feet until you get to the van to patch her up.

The job itself still needs to be done, though. You have two objectives. The main objective from the Johnson: destroy all research equipment and data. The optional objective from Jimmy Twice, his emotional plea: Kill Dr. Stiner. He's likely in here, somewhere. He's not hard to find, either. The team moves, looking for him first. At the end of the partially open hallway in this small office space, there are three doors. One leads to what it is obviously a makeshift lab space, expensive corporate grade research equipment stationed here. Some of it is still being set up and is half-connected, as if you interrupted the job. That's probably what Detail 4 was here to do, actually; he might have been a lab assistant. Stiner himself is cowering in a corner, his back against the wall. It looks like he was working on something. Posh might recognize bits of it. The gear around you is mostly high-end chemical analysis instruments, along with a few specialized biotech tools.

Stiner has a plea. "Please don't kill me! Listen to me! I need to finish my work! It's important!"


There still needs to be a lot more done. She pulls out the two smartguns and empties two clips everywhere, smashing any equipment that doesn't look like a computer, using her smartlinks to turn off the rounds at such situations. She looks to see if any of the computers look like they're being done for important work.

She takes a close look at the gear, looks all around, and tries to see the nearest computer.

With everyone else quite unconscious, either from rebounds or bleeding out, Posh aims a gun directly at Stiner. "You've got about twenty seconds left to live while you go to the first aid kit and save the life of the man bleeding out on the floor there. I recommend you use that twenty seconds to convince me that I shouldn't end your worthless life for what you've done," she says, allowing her British accent out at its most cold, at its most precise. "Nineteen seconds."


OOC Note: Luck asks about starting a fire.

«Plot» Feather says, "If you started rummaging through the supply shelves, you could probably find some alcohol. That's a good accelerant. It would take you a bit to find the right stuff, though. But you can see a commercial sprinkler system throughout the whole office. That would disperse most fires you start pretty quickly, even a chemical fire. You could probably disable it with brute force, but you'd need to be smart about it to avoid flooding the place in the process. And as a reminder, you know from the earlier scans that this place is about average in terms of the fire resistance of its materials, which means it might or might not withstand a large, uncontrolled fire. And you also know there's an apartment building right behind it."


«Plot» Feather says, "It doesn't /look/, at least at first glance, that he's doing any genetic manipulation work."
«Plot» Feather says, "Most of the instruments that are actually active seem to be focused on chemistry."
«Plot» Feather says, "There are a few genetic scans on some screens, but it's not clear for what or why. You'd need to be read in on his whole project to really understand isolated bits of evidence. Alternately, you can make a chemistry or biology or medicine roll."


«Auto-Judge[]» Posh (#11342) rolls 8 for "Medicine R8":
1 2 4 4 4 8 9 14
«Auto-Judge[]» Posh (#11342) rolls 8 for "Biotechnology R8":
1 4 5 5 5 7 8 17
«Auto-Judge[]» Luck (#3691) rolls Intelligence:
5 5 8 8
«Plot» Posh says, "Softs on voucher #7197"


Stiner's face goes pale, or perhaps "even more pale" is a better way of describing it. He's already terrified. "Oh, God. You're from London, aren't you?" he asks. He recognizes the accent, and more than anything, that seems to be what's scaring him. Yes. It seems he very well knows how many of his former countrymen want him dead. He stands up, scrambling for a medkit. It looks like he has a savior here, in one of the shelves. He rushes to the other room, his arms up in surrender, one arm holding the kit. He's not trying to escape or try anything funny. He kneels down next to the badly man, wincing as he peels off his armor to find the lacerations from Feather and Luck's weapons. He starts working to save him, or at least to stave off infection and stop bleeding. His eyes drift slightly, looking at the rest of his detail with pity, clearly fearful that he'll join them next.

Stiner's voice is equally British, and refined, educated. "Look. I know why you're here. I know what I did. I've spent the last few decades running from it. I was thirty, and I was high on the power at my fingertips. I thought I could change the world, and I didn't care who got hurt; I told myself the ends justified the means. I know that's wrong now." He starts to inject nanites into the wounded man. "I don't want to run anymore. I have a lot of expertise, and that knowledge can be used for good, to atone in some small part. I can't change what I've done, but I want to do /something/ to help. I pitched this project to Zeta, and they agreed. I'm developing a strain of self-terminating bacteria that can detoxify places like the resorvoir. Eventually, the toxic zones in the UK. But they wouldn't hire me openly. They gave me a small lab and a small budget, under the table, and I'm trying to prove the viability of my concept on a small scale."

Whether he's telling the truth or not is another story. If that's true, why does the Johnson want this place burned so bad? And even if it is, can this make up for what he has done? And what does Zeta want? What do they /really/ want? You have no answers to these questions, of course.


«Plot» Feather says, "Posh's knowsoft seems to corroborate Stiner's story, at least partially. The genetic models look like they're testing the effects of local water on genetic decay, like they're trying to isolate every toxin and its results. And a lot of the chemical samples do appear to be from the Aurora Resorvoir. You can roll to spot lies, if you think he's lying and want to test it, but it will be a secret roll done by me. You will either get an answer of, "You don't spot a lie." or "You think he's lying." without knowing what, if anything, was rolled."


Luck looks ready to kill the man, but… Considering the words the man is saying, she chews the inside of her cheeks. "Prove it," she murmurs, eyeing Posh as if to ask if proof would be enough to spare the man's life. "Prove you're gonna clean the place /without/ harming metahumans. Else we torch every file, every ingredient, and all that's left is a rock that reads 'Dr. Stiner - Died trying to do the right thing'." Which is fair enough.


Posh looks over at Luck. "Oh, is that the thing that we are trying to do?" she asks, opening up and stitching the bullets directly up Dr. Stiner's body. Clearly, he will be the only one to die tonight - heroically saving the life of one of his security detail.

Posh says nothing, and then heads back, to see if there's any data she can retrieve from the computer, before she begins to destroy everything with bursts of fire, almost emotionlessly, whether or not she found retrievable data.


Commlink-Posh> Posh sends, « I'll explain in the car. »


«Plot» Feather says, "Dr. Stiner isn't really anti-meta. He's an elf himself, and the project he worked on mutated humans as much as metas. He may have been trying to control the metagene, but most people think that was more of a mad scientist playing god than any kind of anti-meta sentiment. It was classist, if anything, mostly writing off the poor rather than metas. For what it's worth, he seemed to be telling the truth."


Luck grunts a bit, and shrugs. "Looks like he couldn't prove it." She heads for the gun that shot her up, and uses her telespear to stab /into/ it, just out of spite. "And hey, he died doing the right thing. Patching up someone. That's what doctors are for." A light grunt, and she looks towards Olga and even Feather. "You ready to go? I'm about ready to fall over." She's been bleeding for a little while now, so that's likely. "Kinda want to sit down. Have a margarita. Burn some Zen. Watch a movie."


Posh gives a taut nod to Luck. "All right. We're through here," she says.

And, well, then that's when it's time to send the message, and the photos of Stiner's body to Jimmy Twice.


So ends the sad saga of Dr. Stephen J. Stiner. A brilliant man, at least within the confines of his field, though he was arguably lacking in whatever part of human intelligence can grapple successfully with questions of ethics and morality. His science was one of grand ambition and human costs not even considered. Regardless of his potential, inarguably one of history's villains. His particular debt of blood, though, has now been paid.

The team manages to disable the sprinkler system easily enough, but only within the lab room of the facility. Luck torches it, and as planned, the instruments and computers go up in flames, at least what's left of them after Posh's rampage. The sprinklers engage, though, in the other rooms, when the smoke travels far enough, soaking the floors and walls, enough water dribbling into the other room to quell the fire before it spreads. It looks like the security detail will live, but Dr. Stiner is very dead.

They get out of there as planned. Olga uses her levitation trick to open the sealed door leading into the elevator room. They descend the stairs to the ground floor, and they exit through the already compromised front door. Then they make their way to the van. First things first, Posh breaks out her own Savior medkit, and she does some basic patching up of Luck. Then Olga heals the oni the rest of the way. The autonav already has them miles away when they hear the distant siren of the responding fire department.

Now they have a moment to talk. Posh can explain herself.


OOC Note: These heal rolls were rolled the previous night, to get them out of the way. They're placed here now to make chronological sense.

GM Posh Roll:
«Auto-Judge[]» Aisha (#11638) rolls 5 + 1 + 1 vs TN 6:
1 2 5 5 5 7 17 = 2 Successes
«Plot» Feather says, "Just applies biotech successfully. That was base 8 for S wound with -1 savior, -2 for Luck's 9 body, +1 for Posh's L wound"

«Auto-Judge[]» Olga (#8898) rolls Sorcery + Spell Pool: 5 for "Go for broke healing.:P":
1 1 2 3 3 4 5 5 5 5 13
«Auto-Judge[]» Olga (#8898) rolls Sorcery + Spell Pool: 5 - 6 vs TN 4 for "Go for broke healing.:PKP":
1 2 3 3 5 = 1 Success
«Auto-Judge[]» Olga (#8898) rolls Sorcery + Spell Pool: 5 - 6 vs TN 4 for "Go for broke healing.:PKP 2 more since I am doing this later after my kp recovers.:P":
3 5 5 7 11 = 4 Successes

«Auto-Judge[]» Olga (#8898) rolls Willpower vs TN 3:
1 2 3 3 4 5 = 4 Successes


The redhead lights up a smoke in her van. "Stiner was trying to balance it. He knew he'd done wrong," she says. "But he was trying to make things right on 'is terms," she says. "If he really wanted to make up for what he'd done, he could have opened a clinic in South London, right on the edge of the Zone," she says. "So he tries to spin some smoke and mirrors about what he's up to," she says, shaking her head. "So, since he wasn't truly taking the Mother Teresa route, and letting anyone who had a grudge with him hash it out, in person, on site, all of his good intentions aren't worth a copper penny to a real friend of a friend asking me to do a dirty for him," she says. "And remember. That goes for all of you. I might have my own mind, or my own opinions. But any of you. Any of you ask me to do something for you, important." She smiles. "I'm your girl."

Posh nods. "That's what it means, to be one of my circle," she says, taking another puff of her smoke. "Now, if Jim-Jim's done stitched me up, well, that'll be something I settle with him later."


Posh is explaining when the team gets a call. The briefcase computer: their mobile briefing from the Johnson. They left it in the van. And now? It's ringing.

They open it up, and there she is. She's a human woman in her fifties, copper skin, a look on her face that exudes confident power. Definitely a very Johnson personality. Not the usual look, though. Her hair is done into small braids with ornamental Ute beadwork, a specific style with spiritual significance. She's a shaman too. She's very likely the Johnson that Jimmy mentioned.

Jimmy, meanwhile, sends back a picture of himself holding a pint in one of Denver's few British-style pubs. Already "steamed," as he promised, London slang for smashed. Just a simple text message is attached. "Cheers, Posh. I owe you a few pints, when you're free, one of these days. The money will be in you and your girls' accounts in a few days."

The woman on the screen finally speaks. "You've done it, I see." That was quick. She did 'I will be watching' in the initial recorded message about the job. How is anyone's guess. But whatever the case, she seems to know now.


"…Well to be fair I knew that. I mean, I wasn't gonna spare him either." Luck is pretty cold about that. "I just figured that if he had something that could do real good, we'd get that information, off the bastard, and then do something good with the info." She shrugs, looking to the Johnson, fingers rubbing over where there had been holes from bullets not long ago. "But then, he didn't get to prove his words. Dead as a doornail, everything's kosher. Anything else you needed before I drag these Runners home for drinks and a movie and such?" Probably not, but she does like getting paid.


Posh shakes her head. "I looked at his stuff. He didn't have anything," she says. She switches on the display system and adopts her game face, nodding simply. This Johnson didn't say anything that requires a response. So Posh isn't responding.


Olga shrugs and looks to the others as she f says "It may sound a bit cold but I was not being paid t ask queshtions. I mean Im not going to gun down a village of children or anything, but the guy obviously fucked up and had to pay the price."


"You're a serious young woman," the Johnson replies to Posh. "Or maybe you're just serious right now because you've seen a ghost from your past. I apologize for that, for what it's worth. It was not intentional. I did not realize I would be getting runners with history with Stiner. But I am glad that Jimmy managed to produce such an enterprising team. I did not have good data on Stiner's security; you dealt with a few unexpected challenges very well."

Her eyes are large, brown, but they look deeply perceptive. "I am curious, though. I'm getting reports that the fire squad found five men alive and one dead. Why did you kill Stiner, when you seemed to be trying to avoid fatalities? Why him specifically? I am sure he told you about the work he was doing." Interesting. She's aware of that. Why is she asking you about this, though? Is this some kind of test? And why did she want his work destroyed, if she knew what it was?

"Oh! Forgive my rudeness. I'm a bit of a public figure, so you'd find my name eventually, anyway. I am Arly Stormfeather. I am a minor spiritual leader among my people, the Ute." She's a member of the actual Ute tribe. The plurality in the Ute Nation, but not even the majority. "I might want to hire you again."


«Plot» Feather says, "And to answer, Posh managed to download Stiner's data. He seemed to be genuinely researching what he was saying. There wasn't much there, though. He didn't get very far in his project, and there are few scientists in the world of his calibur, so others might not be able to finish what he was intending. At least not without further advances in science. But still, what he _did_ do might be of _some_ use to people with similar aims, to someone environmentally minded. You're not really sure if that's Arly or not, yet."


"I don't think it matters what the man said, to be honest. If she didn't kill him," Luck notes, "I would have. He got a lot of innocent people killed. It doesn't matter that much anymore, though. He's gone, paydata's caput if it was even there in the first place. I think the main thing," she notes, smiling at her team, "is that we did the job, are getting paid, and nobody died or lost a limb. That's a win. I'll take it."

Posh takes the conman's choice of telling the misleading truth: "I had an old score to settle," she replies. "It wasn't against the objective of the mission." She nods. "I feel though, that I wanted to offer a bonus, you could say," she says. "Destruction is not quite accomplished yet. I copied what data seemed immediately relevant, before destroying the equipment," Posh explains. "I figured you would perhaps wish the opportunity to bring this assignment to a close yourself. Once you have destroyed his work, the Doctor will be but a memory," Posh replies. "But if you want the most direct answer, about the score to settle, it is this: What next would this man talk himself into?" she asks.


Luck snorts with both amusement and agreement. "The road to hell is paved with good intentions, my dad used to say."


Posh connects her pocsec to live viewer mode for Arly's benefit. She uploads the contents of the chip with unique encryption to the Johnson, and then crushes the chip in her hand, after unslotting it. "There," she says. "The only copy of his data is in your posession."


Arly nods appraisingly at all of the answers she has received. She chuckles good-naturedly at Luck, a matronly note to her voice. "And you are a spirited young woman." Back to Posh, her tone gets a little more serious again. "I was going to ask you if you retained a copy of the data, but I suppose that answers that. Whatever you have will be useful, I'm sure. I won't use it, of course, but looking at it before I destroy it will indeed be very useful." What does that mean? "And if you're wondering, payment is being forward to your accounts. For retrieving the paydata, I'll throw in a small bonus." You get notices on your pocsecs moment later. Wire transfer to the drop accounts you set up for this mission.

"I suppose that leaves one final question, if you're willing to humor me. You don't have to answer, but I like to get a feel for operatives that might work for me in the future." She smiles wide. "I am sure you will do your research, and you will find that I view myself as a bit of a custodian of my people's nation. I heal the land when I can. And I take more drastic measures if there is no legal recourse to deal with the worst of those who harm it." She pauses there. "Knowing that, why do you think I wanted Stine's work stopped?"


Luck thinks on that, looking over her comrades. "I honestly don't know. If he was in fact working on what he said - with no ill effects to the land or the people - then I don't see how his work would be against you. But… Then again, given his history, it may have been another disaster. Another wasteland. I think that if a chef spoils one restaurant, why hire him at another? His food is unlikely to have improved. His arrogance at being the top in his field would make him unable to see the outcome. It might look good on the plate, but taste rotten to the customers. And he wouldn't care because it looks nice." She shrugs. Philosophy isn't her strong suit. Neither are metaphors. "Or you might have just hated the man for his previous crimes against the land. It wasn't exactly something that can be washed away with good deeds."


"Because it would reduce the cost to you of accomplishing your objectives," replies Posh. "The same as any who hires us for work that would get us all a stint in the clink courtesy of Lone Star, if not a bullet to the head at the hands of an ImpChem cleanup team. We" now that's an odd we, isn't it? "didn't rule the world by being nice, after all," she says, with a little shrug.

"I'm glad that you appreciate the extra service. We do try not to think on our feet, and whoever's providing the security, as an institution, is likely less inclined to dedicate all resources to this without a serious whipping from their bosses. A dead egghead is just not the same to them as someone they have to toast over synthbrews," Posh says, hoping to finish up the debrief soon.

She smiles. "I think he was your competition."


Posh chuckles a little bit, sending a quick message to Jimmy as well. "So it sees we're in agreement," she says. "He could have talked himself into anything, again. A man like that is nearly a god in the world of technology," she replies, nodding politely before the call ends.

She glances at the briefcase computer, wondering if it were a paper airplane about to self destruct for a moment, before she chuckles a bit, shaking her head and sending a message to Jimmy to buy a few rounds for with the money instead, for some of the boys. After all, it's always good to keep your murder price /well/ above five grand.


Arly nods at Posh, no clear disagreement on her face at that appraisal. That doesn't mean much, though. Her confidence says she's not really the type to break a sweat lying, nor to easily betray her motives.

"That's an interesting take. I'm not usually one to volunteer information, but I think you're all of the right temperament to handle a little follow-up job to this one. So you're probably going to find out all of this anyway." She shrugs, an almost resigned look on her face. Her demeanor is nonchalant, unflappable, always a little amused in a pleasant way, as if she was never really offended. "The truth is, Stiner really did want to atone. But he was still afraid. He was still unwilling to return to his homeland to answer for his crimes properly and help his victims. He feared them. That's not a surprise, though. He was a scared little man with a big brain and small soul. But more importantly, that fact meant he was willing to strike deals devils. He wanted security and funding, and he was willfully blind as to /why/ a company like Zeta-ImpChem was funding him. Oh, he would have accomplished his goal, given enough time and resources, and he would have helped heal the land. And Zeta-ImpChem would have accomplished their goal by hiring him. I suppose you should ask yourself … knowing what he was trying to do, and knowing his specialty, even if he did find a solution, what kind of solution would /he/ create? And how could that be used by others?" She chuckles a little more, her voice a little lower. "But I suppose you young ones will find out next time."

She adds one final thing. "And oh. Jimmy Twice mentioned some of you have certain talents. I've been instructing our warriors for decades. I wouldn't mind teaching some of you that follow the way of the adept. I am curious now, honestly, to see what is within your spirits."

A final smile. "I will be in touch. Jimmy will contact you, when I need you next, if you feel like working for me again. You girls have a good night." And then, the screen goes dark. There's a sparking sound afterward and a faint smell of fried optical networks. The briefcase computer is shorting itself out. Not a fire risk, but it is useless now. A security measure, likely, old tech but effective.

And then the team is simply left to drive home, heading off into the night, the sound of the fire engine sirens faint in the background now, and then gone.

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