[gilga]

Solo texts: <<The family is secured...time to bamf - before the police comes.  you are concealed with magic.   >>

It seems that the action is about to be over so there is no reason to go back. Solo drives at a safe distance from Al on his growler. Trying not to make it obvious that he is following them, ready to interfere in the sign of troubles.

He look at Tobias and text >> You are something special... see if you can find out who he is. At least we'll know who wants us dead.
 

[Aria]

[Thursday June 18th, 2076, ~01:32, Central London somewhere]

"Well, reckon I don't know a lot, but I know a little. We was told this was a willing extraction, an' by the way y'all come so easy, I'll take that much fer gospel. An' I know the place we was supposed ta drop y'all off felt wrong from the git-go an' did indeed turn into an almighty clusterfuck - pardon my French, ladies.
 
An' near as I kin gather, now correct me if'n I'm wrong, ya were workin' fer NeoNet. So what I wanna know from you, Perfesser, an' right this damned minute, is exactly who it is ya think yer jumpin' ship to?"

The good doctor looks decidedly flustered, not least due to Spike’s drool landing in his lap, but doesn’t give the impression that he is trying to conceal anything… “NeoNet?  No, I don’t work for them.  I work for the University, although my project was funded mainly by Mitsuhama with some additional Renraku monies.  I thought you were working for Evo, they were the ones that contacted me initially…but if they couldn’t even be bothered to send a corp representative then I’m not so sure… Look, just get my family safe, my career prospects can wait until that is resolved at least!  You are going to see us somewhere safe right…?”

***
_#20

[adamu]

[Thursday June 18th, 2076, ~01:32, Central London somewhere]

"Yeah, doc. Better or worse, you an' yours are with me now. An' you'll git safe or I'll git dead."

He puffed on a cigarette and let a yellow-toothed grin wipe the serious off his face. "An' ol' Al ain't gon' git dead."

Al turned on the stereo, calling up some some soothing lounge fare, and shifted the balance to the rear speakers. It would let him talk to the professor with a modicum of privacy.

"Now ya seem calm enough, so I'm gon' be straight with ya. We was told we was the ones from, well, sounds like it's Evo. But now, well, I wouldn't swear to it. Don't know at this point who we was workin' for, an' far as I'm concerned, we's now workin' fer you. So you gotta work with me, help me figure out how ta keep yer family safe."

He puffed contemplatively on his Lucky as he wove through late night traffic and kept an eye out for the next ambush. "Tell me this, doc. The Evo team, when they came fer ya, how was you gon' know it was really them?"

[Crossbow]

Smiley gathered up the others and left the combat zone on his bike.  He was glad he wouldn't have to abandon it since the OpFor seemed to have already bugged out, but the real problem is getting everyone back together and going to ground until they could figure this out.

He had been relaying as much as he could to Torrent about what had gone down, but the fixer seemed more pissed about his reputation than the immediate problems.

"TORRENT! Brother!  Focus!  We have operatives in the open and at least three of us don't really blend into London street life. Some of our vehicles are fragged and we still have the targets to consider.  We need a crashpad, a BIG one, off the grid! NOW!" 

[gilga]

The idle time the adrenaline that goes down a notch. Solo always wanted a more intimate relation with spirits, but what was this higher bandwidth telepathic link? I think I can do stuff a bit differently he thought as he prepared himself for spirit summon.
[spoiler]
Improve Logic: 15d6t5 3
drain logic: 10d6t5 2
highten concern used to help with sustain cast logic
Improve willpower: 15d6t5 7
drain willpower: 13d6t5 5

summon a force 7 spirit of man: 15d6t5 7
spirit defense: 8d6t5 1
drain summon: 17d6t5 6

6 services gained, no drain.
Solo takes -2 that cancel his specialty in spirits of man.
[/spoiler]

Nothing prepared Solo for what was about to happen. He understood that theoretically it is possible to summon spirits in some other... more intimate way he tried to do so. At first he thought he failed as there was nothing in the astral, but the link was there stronger than ever.

"Hello Sweetie! did you miss me?... haven't seen you for like half an hour or so."


Solo jumped... that communication seemed close, he nearly crushed the bike into a parking car.

"You... you are inside my head..." He mumbled embarrassed.

"I hope your girlfriend is not jealous ... because I got way farther with you then your underwear."


"What have I done... thought Solo... this is too much"

Technically... you channeled me... sounds dirty right? Anyhow, I am sharing this body and mind with you... my powers are yours for 6 services... In return I can have some fun with your thoughts and emotions... feeling scared already?
Solo was distracted, she was hugging him? closer than that they became a combined entity. He felt her emotions, desires he got way too graphic visuals of what happened with that mage.

"So... we share body and mind... This is incredible. " The feeling was like standing really close to the most attractive woman he have ever encountered. The spirit was so powerful that Solo was not sure how come he is in charge, but there was something about her... Spirits wanted to get to know him all his life... She was waiting for this moment as well.

It will be a bit ironic to call myself Solo now. Solo thought to himself. He could feel Mellisa giggling.  Perhaps Duet? or SaM short for Solo and Melissa. Seems right... I'll introduce us as Sam. He thought understanding that he is simply unable to be alone. Even in the privacy of his own head.

His body felt more alive. He felt stronger, agile and healthy. The feeling was addictive and Solo could already understand that he is going to like it. Not many people could enjoy such an amazing spirit in their mind, but Solo prepared himself his whole life for such a deeper understanding of his magical powers... At least when he was not hacking stuff.

"You do know that I waste half my time in the matrix... M, I may not be such a good partner for this ride"

"Oh... don't be modest S - you are the most interesting person in the world to me... if only I could tell you why."


Solo summoned his first spirit at the age of 10.
"After 50 years of questions you are still not going to tell me why I am interesting ?"
Was it 50 years... time works differently for us... we do not age like you do... but you are an elf - you might be lucky to be old enough to understand one day.

The feeling of not being able to think a private thought was very limiting. Not many people could endure it, but he was also aware of the spirit thoughts. He could not understand them but he could feel her glory inside of him. He will have a lot to explain to Tammie when he return home.

[Jack_Spade]

As soon as he could be sure, that the opposition had stopped gunning for them, Isaint got on his bike, hid the rifle as well as he could under his lined coat and stuffed the face mask into his pocket, before he restarted all his equipment to lose any MARKs he might have acquired despite all his counter measures. That done, he let the engine roar and took off from this far from safe house.
<<Transport team from Isaint: We have evacuated the premises. As far as I can tell, we had no casualties in our ranks. We should try to get to a safe place to regroup. Has anyone a big enough hiding space?>>

Intentionally, Isaint did not ask nor try to find them at their current location. Instead he tried to vanish into London's hectic traffic to lose any trails he might still have.

[adamu]

[Thursday June 18th, 2076, ~01:32, Central London somewhere]

The Professor started to answer, but Al held up a hand that looked like melting plastic.

Hearing Isaint's request, he hesitated for just a moment. These all seemed like stand-up people, but he knew from watching countless episodes of Tales of the Red Samurai and Shadowhunt that beneath their professional exteriors at least half of them were predatory pedophiles.

Still, he'd thrown in with them, and now there was nothing for it.

<<Not much fer creature comforts - or any comforts at all fer that matter, but I got a place off the books inna Docklands that'll keep us all dry an' outta sight.>> He flashed the address from behind his Caliban's flash firewall. <<Think of it as a last resort if'n ya can't find nowhere else>> he couldn't resist adding.

"Now, Doc, you was sayin'..."

[obidancer]

The Frenchman had no intention on staying here any longer than necessary.
Hoping Hallucination had droped her spell on him, he joined with the small team in the building.
Merci Beauté. He told Mel as he grabbed his Coat and put it back on. Let's get the hell out of this mess before the authorities arrive.
He led the three other runner back down and invited them to get in the car.

He cursed internally upon seeing the car damaged, but he knew that was only cosmetic and he would easily be able to get it fixed at any repair shop.
Once everyone was in, he pressed on the gas, and they escaped in the streets of London. 

Frenchman to team: where to?

[Triskavanski]

[Tobbis -Thursday June 18th, 2076 - By the bloody stars - Little Car - Current condition 0 Stun damage -In VR- Silent - At snow's feet]
There we are.. Tobbis thought to himself. Now lets see what you've all been up to, you naughty people. continuing to hide in the shadows of matrix, he began working slowly, but surely to get the information on these people. It was a simple little bit of hacking, one he hoped didn't turn foul on him..



[spoiler]24 posts worth add to sheet - 36th Post
So far Solo and Hal have cameras 8/10 cameras left in my possession.
Hal has a Datatap of mine
Every combat round Tobbis spends 10 Initiative points to go into total matrix defense so his willpower is added to all his defense tests.



Defense vs Matrix Perception: 12d6t5 212d6t5: 2 [12d6t5=4, 2, 1, 5, 1, 3, 3, 6, 3, 2, 4, 3]

I wasn't suppose to put rule of six on this, but accidentally did. Luckily it puts whatever explodes into brackets with the first number being the one actually rolled. So its just 11 hits on my brute force defense.
Defense vs Brute Force: 21d6h5 12 21d6h5: 12 [21d6h5=[6, 6, 4], 1, 2, [6, 4], [6, 1], 5, 4, [6, 4], 1, [6, 1], 3, 5, 1, [6, 1], 1, 3, [6, 1], 3, [6, 1], 1, 5]

Hopefully he tries to brute force me. Cause this was less than spectacular. However, I would spend edge on this if needed to reroll lost hits.
Defense against Hack on the Fly/Dataspike: 19d6t5 319d6t5: 3 [19d6t5=4, 4, 2, 1, 3, 6, 3, 4, 4, 3, 1, 1, 3, 2, 5, 2, 1, 2, 5]

Hack on the Fly: 13d6t5 3    13d6t5: 3 [13d6t5=3, 2, 1, 1, 2, 1, 1, 1, 5, 4, 5, 2, 6]
I do have a wireless datajack and three levels of flencal fabric.

[/spoiler]

[HydroRaven]

[Thursday, June 18th, 2076, 〜01:32, Central London somewhere]

Mel always liked confrontations where others did the fighting, or in this case shooting and climbing. The slender elven woman had tried to look around at who was pulling the strings, but hadn't been able to pinpoint anything, which annoyed her somewhat. She prided herself on being able to read situations well, but was unable to find the puppet master this time. Her frustration quickly vanished when she reasoned the encounter had been successful and she had come out of it without a scratch.

"How do ya move, shugah? This thing weighs a ton!" chuckled Mel as she handed Frenchman his coat back before following him down the building.

[gilga]

Solo replies Frenchman: >> just hanging around in parts where expensive cars are acceptable... if you and Mel are ready to be seen in public I'll give you a location. We are waiting for some new safe house trying not to look suspicious.

[Jack_Spade]

Isaint watched the discussion pass by on his feed. It seemed he'd need to gear up before the next confrontation.
<<Team from Isaint: I'll catch up with you in an hour or two at Al's location. Need to replace some ammo and find a bit of hardware to improve operational security.>>

With that he turned right and drove towards Darren Colby's warehouse. The old fence would have exactly what he needed...

[spoiler]#60[/spoiler]

[Aria]

[Thursday June 18th, 2076, ~01:33, Central London somewhere]

"Tell me this, doc. The Evo team, when they came fer ya, how was you gon' know it was really them?

Now, Doc, you was sayin'..."

The doctor looks confused and distressed… “We hadn’t got that far in the negotiations.  The first thing I knew about it all was when the first team barged into my office this evening…err, yesterday evening.  I logged into my Career Expander profile around seven and there was a message from the Evo recruiter saying he’d like to discuss things further… I, I don’t know what to do…my family comes first, whatever happens…but if you’re working for me then I’m going to need somewhere to go.  I don’t have ready access to cash, only what’s in here…” and he taps the side of his head…

"TORRENT! Brother!  Focus!  We have operatives in the open and at least three of us don't really blend into London street life. Some of our vehicles are fragged and we still have the targets to consider.  We need a crashpad, a BIG one, off the grid! NOW!"

The orc fixer seems somewhat disgruntled at your tone and his acerbic British accent makes that even more clear “I am not your brother!  Whilst this mess can’t be entirely laid at your feet I brought you together as a professional crew who should be able to handle these kinds of situations.  Are you telling me you can’t?  If it weren’t for the fact that Art is incommunicado I’d let you swing.  You are damn hot at the moment…causing a chopper crash in central London wasn’t the subtlety I was after!  No doubt you took adequate precautions to ensure the authorities can’t trace you quickly but your signatures will be all over the scene and they will, discretely, move heaven and earth to ensure you don’t upset the peace again.  Not to mention whatever the corp will do…  I can fix you up with something, probably, but I may need to split you up… a group your size is too conspicuous. Let me think about it and I’ll get back to you…”

***
_#21

[gilga]

With some idle time at hand Solo had time to think... police drones he had change his appearance.  He stopped at a small shop bought some cosmetics, his target was an old cooperate buddy. He does not look like that now he looked like that many years ago as Solo does not exactly age like humans. He looked at the mirror and was happy with the results.  His next stop was a bike shop, he bough a Suzuki Mirage straight from display new wheels and new look.

"How do you like that M?" he thought. "We look very handsome I wonder how fast we can make it go." She said.

When he got back to tailing Al - it wasn't hard to find him because the flying eyes did their job well. He hoped that he won't freak him up... then again it was a good way to test the disguise. Al did not seem like the type to open fire in the middle of a good part of town. At least he hoped he won't.
[spoiler]
Improve intuition spell: 15d6t5 11
drain: 18d6t5 3
drop willpower/logic stay use highten concern to negate sustaining complexity.
Disguise+facial sculpt: 15d6t5 5
Impersonation: 6d6t5 3

Total of 8 hits for disguise.
[/spoiler]

[Crossbow]

Smiley chewed his lip as he rolled through the streets, he was not happy, though you couldn't tell to look at him.  Even though his thoughts were racing and going over angles, he still had the mask of the party boy firmly in place.  He even managed to flirt meaningfully with a pretty ebon-skinned woman in a Dodge Scoot at a traffic light, revving the Harley's engine and cocking an eyebrow her way.  The dazzling smile she returned as she prepared to 'race' him almost made him want to blow off the rest of this nonsense.

What he should be doing is covering his own hoop, head for the NAN embassy and hole up there in protective extraterritorial amnesty until he could head back to the Emerald City, but there were two problems with that.  One was named Sarah.  He wouldn't be able to hide her at the Enclave, not that he wasn't sure she could handle herself, but he wasn't about to bail on her, too many people had done that to her already.  The other was named William, he had personally plucked that boy out of his nice safe life, he couldn't walk away until he was sure that things were okay.

Turning away down a side street, he left the Scoot to win unchallenged, trying to be patient and wait for Torrent to give him something.  He went over what happened so far, looking for an angle, when he suddenly remembered, THE MAGE!  He quickly composed and fired of a text to the Matrix assets on the team.

<<When the cops start looking around the crime scene we just left, they are going to find the wagemage that brought the walking landslide to the party.  Any chance you net jockeys can find out about him from the authorities?  It might be a long shot, but we might figure out who the bad guys are besides us.    >>