The Mean Streets – Night City – 11:10pm
With Guardian in the lead, the two beat it across the street, splashing through the oil-slick puddles and scanning their surroundings with a practiced, nervous eye. The media knew that they were close to one of the toughest boostergang on the street’s hide out and with all that had gone down tonight already he wasn’t sure they wouldn’t be aware that something was up. He also knew that Croaker and Peacekeeper—he still had difficulty referring to that mallplexer with that street moniker—would be about soon enough and right now, that meant an even greater danger. Boosters usually loved the spotlight and didn’t mess with a media too heavily, but there was currently nothing stopping Croaker from putting a bullet in his temple except Guardian. No matter what he thought of the large black man running point, Guardian against Croaker, Peacekeeper, Preacher, that Bullseye fellow, and Firewind was not good odds.

DigitalScribe slowed to a halt behind his bodyguard as the man came up on the southeast corner of the apartment building between them and the Hole. Ahead of them was the outdoor parking lot, a few cars, some bikes, a couple of burroughwagons, and a pickup sat within the compound, the overhead lamps illuminating the lot with relative effectiveness. About twenty feet up the poles on nearly every third lamppost was a armored security camera and signs were posted all about stating:

The vehicles on this premise are protected by the Crandall & Martin Security Company. C&M has been authorized by the city of Night City to use excessive force in protecting these vehicles. Lot fees are 5Eb a night, or 1Eb per hour.

Peering past Guardian, DigitalScribe quickly panned the parking lot with his camera, waiting on instruction from his combat ready employee before proceeding further.

(OOC: Remember, the URL for the map is here: MAP)

The Mean Streets – Night City – 11:12pm

Croaker was glad that for the moment the tenseness of a possible lethal situation was over. Though he still did not trust the fixer and his gangbanger bodyguard for the moment they all would have to work together as a team if they wanted to retrieve Mery Deth by the deadline.

"So Spiff what your saying is that our target is in realty in the very building where we thought she was. Ok well at least we know where she is at so time to plan. Anybody got any suggestions as to how we play this."
Though Croaker had an idea for a plan already somewhat in mind he wanted to hear everyone out in case a better one was to be had. With the numbers against them and their orders to get the girl back quietly any suggestions as to how to do this was fair to ask for. In the end if they could not recover the girl by the deadline this run would be a bust.

The phone responded with the remake of Valley of Death once again, played through nearly a full stanza before being answered with The Reverend's typical, "God is watching." Though Spiff could tell there was concern in his voice this time around; probably derived from the way their last call had ended.

Spiff smiled, his back still against the side of the van. "Hey Rev, where were we?"

"Uh," the Reverend faltered a bit before continuing, apparently trying to decide whether to push as to what had happened or not. "Well, I believe I was just asking if ya know what kind of hot water you're about to tread? You'd just said something like, 'Ya' and then ya hung up."

Maybe he hadn't decided whether to press or not, but that didn't mean he wouldn't let Spiff know he didn't appreciate the sudden disconnect.

"So, I didn't get to tell you that I went ahead and did some of the usual research into this Hole since I got the blue screen when I pushed my query too far on Queen Merry Deth. And, I think I got some blueprints comin' your way. I've got a bite on a BBS anyway and they've not yet responded to my prompt. I should hopefully know within the next half hour."

Spiff was taken aback by the tone in his Lieutenant's voice. The Reverend should know better than to think he didn't have a good reason to hang up. He shrugged it off. If the Reverend had a problem with it, he could address it himself. "Thanks Rev. Send me those blueprints. I'll call you back in a half hour, so don't call me 'cause it may be an awkward time. I'll catch ya later"

He hung up, staring at his watch as he put his phone away. Time was running out. He addressed the group, still staring at the ticking clock. "Ok, I've got blueprints of this place so we won't go in blind. I will be getting more info in a half hour, but if they're digging up more firepower, we may not want to wait." He looked up at Croaker before continuing. "Something I almost forgot. Yes, she's still called Merry Deth, but the low-lifes in the gang have taken to calling her 'Queen Mary'. I don't know how much value that is, but it certainly tells us that she's no easy target. Anyhow, I'm just the newbie and I'm not fantastic with a gun. It's your gig Croaker, how we gonna run it?"

It was quiet... as quiet as Night City ever got. Too quiet for Guardian's liking. Peering around the corner of the aparment complex, the big black man didn't see anyone. Not a single soul. So close to the Wild Things headquarters he would've expected to see a guard or three or even some gangers just hanging around.

Him not noticing anyone didn't mean there weren't any of course. There'd be electric eyes ready to zoom in on anyone moving through the parking lot no doubt. And if there weren't any cameras set up by the gangers, then there were not. There wasn't exactly anything Frank or Scribe could do about it.

Frank turned his eyes towards DigitalScribe. "It's your decision, mate. The eyes on the wheel park will be followin' us whether we try to sneak or not. If they're at all decent, that is. There might be some pointed our way at the Hole too. I ain't exactly a ninja or your everyday thief and my sneakin' skills ain't the best either. So try as we may, someone's bound to see us, if they're watchin' this way."

Guardian turned his eyes back towards the big red building. He scanned the Hole with his augmented eye trying hard to find any sign of guards or surveillance equipment. Shrugging, the big bodyguard checked his gear, drew his handgun. And despite what he had just said, started moving towards their target with his back close to the wall of the apartment building trying to make himself as small as possible.

As usual, it seemed that plans were falling apart as soon as they were pieced together. Croaker no sooner escorted these two into the van when he drew weapons on them. The reception Firewind had gotten at his initial meeting with the group had seemed relatively cool at the time. Now, after watching how the group treated others, it seemed more like a group hug. This group had a definite tendency toward violence.

One of the new guys claimed that he had copies of the blueprints for the building which contained Merry Deth. Firewind wasn’t sure that he could trust this one and he would definitely avoid having one of these two behind him. It seemed that in the process of obtaining information the element of surprise may have been compromised. Turning to Croaker, Firewind said “This guy said something about ‘his girl’ bringing Merry Deth to him. What did he mean by that?”

As Firewind broached his question Croaker also remembered the Fixer having said that in the beginning of the meet.

"Yeah Spiff what’s the deal with that is it still a viable option? And if so who’s this she."
Croaker knew that they would need to move soon but he wanted as much input as possible before making a final call as to the way it all would go down. Though a plan was half formed in his head he still needed the thoughts of the others before making a final call and then laying it out to them.....

Spiff's eyes widened. He didn't recall mentioning that part of the conversation and it caught him off guard that the group had. He pulled out his gun carefully as he replied, checking his clip for ammunition. "Yeah, her name's Elizabeth, like I said." He sighed heavily. "She's a frackin' bitch at the moment and she owes me one. Apparently this was too big of a request for repayment, so she wouldn't let me cash in. Either way," Spiff popped the clip back into the gun and cocked it. "I ain't got time for her games."

He smiled at the guy that looked like a medic. Obviously this one was more observant than the rest to recall that part of the convo. "I'm Spiff, by the way." He extended a hand toward the medic. If this guy was good at healing and observant, he might be useful in the future.

The Mean Streets – Night City – 11:12pm
The image of the Hole’s rooftop came into focus through the rain-splattered shades that covered Guardian’s eyes. It pixilated for a moment, then refocused at a mental thought from the large bodyguard to a higher clarity, refining the blurred edges of shadows, sharpening objects, and helping to clarify the mess of shapes barely visible through the rain. His eyes darted about within the socket, cataloguing the objects and relaying the digitally enhanced imagery to his brain with technologically advanced acuity (Awareness/Spot check 29). It was due to this that Guardian was able to pick out the shadowed frame of a man crouching near a large cold air outlet. Nearly blending in with the slate gray and black field behind him, the man was very obviously holding a fully automatic assault rifle. The basic shape thereof was too muddied by the weather for Guardian to determine exactly what kind, but the size was enough to confirm his initial suspicion. The man was also in a vantage point that allowed him coverage of the whole parking lot and the buildings beyond, though a normal man couldn’t see very far in this weather this was a boostergang member, and boostergang members loved cyber enhancements.

DigitalScribe stood behind Guardian as the big man surveyed the building that was their target. He, too, was eyeing the Hole, his own vision enhancements at play. He’d missed the man atop the roof, but he’d been mostly focused on the windows and the path ahead of them. His teleoptics had zoomed his vision right up to the window panes and the slick details of the brick. As Frank shrugged and drew his handgun, DigitalScribe reached out and put a stalling hand on his shoulder.

“Hey, the last thing we want here is a firefight.” The media motioned towards the building ahead of them. “If what you say about your sneaking skills is true,” Frankie gave his bodyguard a smile to soften what came next. “Then walking up to the back door with guns drawn probably ain’t the best of ideas, neh?”

DigitalScribe frowned a little as he continued to study the building, then gave a slight shake of his head. “We could try to angle for the story. Maybe they’ll be a little more forgiving of an interview if they’re offered facetime on the big-vid? What d’ya think, big guy?”

(OOC: Remember, the URL for the map is here: MAP)

The Mean Streets – Night City – 11:14pm

As the tension in the van subsided, and the conversation moved on to how the group might assault the Hole, Coyote sat silently beside his slick-tongued charge.

Not good, man, the barrel of a man thought to himself. He had known all along that it might come to this The action is happening way to fast.
Coyote kept his thoughts to himself and busied himself by taking out his uzi and rechecking the magazine. Finding a full clip, plus one in the chamber, he slammed the magazine back in place and returned it to his waist.

The thought of assaulting the Wild Things main base of operations did not excite the big man. He had known all along it might come to this... but with these people... Coyote thumbed his nose and sniffed as he looked around the van. I hardly know who to trust.
Taking out his Colt AMT 2000, he proceeded to give the weapon the same treatment... full clip, plus one. As he did, Coyote readied himself for what would happen next. I wish Lobo was here...

Firewind with a smile explained “Spiff, The origin of the handshake comes from medieval Europe, when knights would extend their hands to each other as a demonstration that each did not possess weapons in their hands. It is obvious that this is not the case here. I am sure you understand!” Ensuring that the safety was off his weapon, Firewind continued with “At any rate you have a bit of guts. There seems to be a bit too much information floating around. What do the Wild Things know and what do we know about them? Has DigitalScribe got his fingers in this still?”
He watched as Coyote drew and readied a weapon. Lots of guts there too. The problem with this so far seemed to be plenty of guts and not much brains. DigitalScribe had gotten him into this. If he survived, Firewind might need to show his gratitude personally.

Spiff smiled, pulling off his sunglasses to clean them on his shirt while staring Croaker in the eyes. "So you do have a media on your tail!" He grinned, carefully putting the glasses back on. "Well, the kinda heat we're dealing with will tear him to pieces in no time if he's about. I don't even imagine the kind of protection he could afford would hold up for that long against the Wild Things' main hideout. I wonder if there's an easier way in..."

Spiff trailed off, his thoughts wandering. He wondered if he could use the info he gave Elizabeth to his advantage in getting in to meet this Queen Mary. He paused, wide-eyed behind his glasses and grinned. "Hey, we got any paper about? And a pen, I need a pen." A plan was reeling in his mind as well. At the very least, he could make things easier for Croaker to go in blasting.

Bullzeye fell in line, he kept one ear toward his friends and both eyes out into the streets.

Meat Location: The Farris Family Inn – Night City – 10:14pm; The Net: Night City Grid.
"Who you want erased, shoot me names and I'll try."

He wanted to get this done quick so he could head for the univeristy system and start digging there...

Null Lock replied quickly, “You done? Ok. Sorry, not success here. Name is Damon Mallory. Record needs to be clean.”

Jazzer quickly began his search again, perusing files, discarding names, until he found a Damon P. Mallory. The file showed a middle-aged man with a comb-over and glasses. Glasses, in this day and age! The police record was another thing. Most crimes weren’t public record, just that which would pose a threat to the public. This man’s was clean so whatever he wanted erased must not have been primetime.

Jazzer informed Null Lock that he had found the file and the rotating icon spun over to his side.

“Hmm… must need go deeper.” Null Lock opened the file in front of him as well. “You try too?” Jazzer gave a nod and dug deeper. The two of them quickly ripped out the guts of the file. The interface made it appear as though they were using a black pen and blotting out the information in a book. Jazzer caught site of a few white collar crimes, but nothing huge. Perhaps this Mallory fellow was looking to clean his record in the hopes of getting a new job. Corporations tended to frown on the idea of hiring someone who stole from them. Whatever the deal, Jazzer was glad that they’d finished. Perhaps things were looking up after all.

The Mogwai stepped back from the geometric shape and tipped his hat in farewell. “Thank you for company, Jazzer,” Null Lock said before spinning away and then vanishing in a clean log out leaving the other netrunner in the middle of a slew of additional icons there on private business. Slipping outside the building he made his way straight towards the college datafortress.

It was a long walk, even for the Net. At the site of a bulldog rushing past his heart skipped a beat, but those programs flew all over the Net and this one wasn’t after him. It was like seeing a police car when driving through the city looking for a good uplink point. You know they aren’t after you, but you also know you’ve been doing things that are against the law so there’s always a chance. The second time it happened as he passed massive WorldSat fortress was a little less disturbing since he was much further away from the run he’d just done. It was the third event that really shook him up however.

Near the digital highway that led into the Combat Zone and the intermittent connections found within its wasteland, Jazzer was passing a coyote in running shoes and a Night City Rangers jersey when three other icons converged on it, two of them rushing along a path that took them right past him. These were cold steel icons of police figures and bore the name NETWATCH across their backs in flashing colors. It took Jazzer a moment to figure out that they weren’t after him, and only when the freezerays and such started flying did he catch his breath and keep on going. Looking over his shoulder he noticed three more icons join in the fight on the coyote’s side, and that brought all sorts of hell swinging past him as more NETWATCH agents rushed in to offer support.

Eventually, Jazzer entered the college facility. It was set up just like the campus. As a matter-of-fact, students of computer science often put their skills to the test adding on, repairing, and generally building the datafortress for the college. This allowed for the student to earn their grade and the school to gain exponentially with each new class. So, Jazzer found himself walking along paved paths with trees and bushes lining it, students casually hanging about with their various icons, and the occasional patrol sysop of AI moving by as a motorized security agent in uniform.

He was entering from what could conceivably be the southeast corner of campus. Directly ahead of him was the massive colonial administration building. The east and west wing protruded south of the main entrance giving it a secluded feeling with a pavement veranda. Icons made their way across the massive stretch of open compound and up the sweeping staircase into and out of the building, but what caught Jazzer’s eye was the appearance of black-garbed security units standing on either side of the entrance and positioned all about the landing—eight of them at least. These icons made no effort to appear casual, but carried with them a militant essence. They had highly polished boots, crisp uniforms, heavy utility belts with a handgun at the hip and a submachine gun in hand held across their chests. Closest to the door there were even two with large mastiffs on leashes, the heavy-headed dogs tiredly watching those who passed inside.

Guardian took a couple of steps forward and then suddenly felt an arm on his shoulder. The softness of the touch told the big bodyguard it was no attack. And though every bit of sense in his mind told Frank the hand belonged to Scribe, he couldn't help the unconscious tense in his muscles - ready to defend himself against an assault. He relaxed as quickly as he'd reacted to the touch and turned his head halfway to listen what his employer had to say.

"Hey, the last thing we want here is a firefight.” The media motioned towards the building ahead of them. “If what you say about your sneaking skills is true,” Frankie gave his bodyguard a smile to soften what came next. “Then walking up to the back door with guns drawn probably ain’t the best of ideas, neh?”

Frank shrugged to the smaller man and put away his piece. "Just a precaution, but your call." As he turned back to move towards the large red building. He scanned through The Hole once more, and then stopped quite abruptly as his digitally enhanced eye caught a shadowy figure of a man hiding behind a big air vent. Cursing under his breath, Guardian raised his left hand to stop the media too.

DigitalScribe frowned a little as he continued to study the building, then gave a slight shake of his head. “We could try to angle for the story. Maybe they’ll be a little more forgiving of an interview if they’re offered facetime on the big-vid? What d’ya think, big guy?”

This time, the big black man turned a full 360 degrees to look the vid-jockey in the eye. "You serious, man? I mean, you do know that they are very much lethal and not extremely happy about uninvited visitors?" Shrugging was quickly becoming a habit as Guardian raised his shoulders again and let them fall with a heavy sigh. "Still, you're the one providing the cash, so why not. Might be best if you led the way then."

As he turned to follow DigitalScribe, Frank muttered to himself. "Me.. they'd rather shoot me first and ask questions afterwards." Then something came to his mind. "Oh by the way, don't know if it makes any difference, but there's a sniper on the roof, behind the big air outlet."

As Croaker watched Spiff as he went looking for a pen he had his idea ready to go, but it would be up to all as to if it would be put into play. Turning to Spiff he caught the Fixers attention.

"Ok my plan idea is that we get you, Firewind and Peacekeeper indoors of the Hole somehow, with you having a contact inside that should be hopefully easy enough and you can play off Firewind and Peacekeeper as your bodyguards. Now once inside the hole while you talk to your Wild Thing contact, Peacekeeper does a quiet recon and a head count and finds out hopefully exactly what room Mery Deth is hanging out in. Now Spiff your job will be to give the rest of us up to the Wild Things in a manner of speaking. How and what you tell them to get more of them out of the building is up to you. Maybe you can somehow also tell them to be on the lookout for a Media with a camera and possibly two bodyguards as I can give you Digitalscribe’s description. Be a nice extra if we can take him out of play for the moment, cause knowing him as I do he can’t be too far behind us."
Turning to look at the rest of the people in the van he continued.

"Now Firewind your role in this is very important for as a Medic I'm hoping you may know how to whip up something to knock Mery Deth out cold to make her easier to transport. Once Spiff has hopefully used his skills at persuasion to have gotten a lot of the Wild Things out hunting for us somewhere other then where we really are. BullsEye, and myself use the Silenced SMG’s from the cops and Coyote using Preacher’s Silenced SMG move into the building and extract you guys and Mery Deth. While we are doing this Spiff and Peacekeeper take out any guards around her and Firewind drugs her so that once we get there we throw her over a shoulder and head out of the building. With Preacher just around the corner in the van with the engine running waiting for us to make it out, once we are all hopefully safe in the van with Mery Deth off we go.
So any questions."
As Croaker awaited any such, he also hoped for some good input from the others as to maybe refine the plan so that it would work better. The whole plan from start to finish was risky but with the clock ticking time was against them....