[Bewilderbeast]

"A problem? My own kind?" Looking genuinely confused, Eight-Stone moves to set aside his shotgun for now, placing it on the bag behind him. He leaves the flashpak in place, though, just in case. "I don't got any problem."

Eight-Stone rolls his eyes as Censor slips into VR. "What's up with these two, anyway?" Eight-Stone jerks a thumb at the limp forms of Censor and Stryker as he tenses up, keeping his eyes trained on the rear van doors.

[Boer_Kommando]

"They work best away from reality it seems." Mata says as he continues his scan of the situation behind his sunglass. "Good then, you got the Troll then and who ever else is dumb enough to get between you and him. I might be able to talk the honorable men behind and to our side out of rash action."

[Kot]

Stryker opens his eyes, his attention drawn away from the mental link, but his will not faltering, still matching the Spirit's demands. "Hey, I'm still here?" He waves his hands slightly, and fixes his eyes on the Triad group and points at them. "Just remember, Mr. Small Talk. These are honorable too. Don't get too one sided here. We're planning to avoid fighting two groups, not just one."

[Boer_Kommando]

Smiling "Or get one side to fight the other for us. Remember Omae, the enemy of my enemy is my friend and the honorable men from the Nightsky are more similar culturally to me than those others." Mata waits patiently, but not without some nerviousness for the pending event that will unfold before too long.

[Bewilderbeast]

"I'm with Stryker," Eight-Stone said, switching to subvocal speech as the tension mounted outside. "Let's see how this plays out, see who wants what, before we pick sides." After Eight-Stone said his piece, he seemed to drift off for a moment as he focused his attention elsewhere.

<<txt 2 Claw: hey claw on a job... you heard about anything weird going on between the yaks and triad? turf disputes, slights, any stuff like that? or have they been cooperating at all lately? storm's a-brewin outside, maybe, trying to figure out what's going on>>

Eight-Stone wasn't sure what Claw knew about this area's underworld politics, if anything. Still, it never hurt to ask. If they were at odds lately, then maybe Mata Tabi's plan could be a pretty effective plan B. If he thought he could get on their good side, then sure, why not? But if they were cooperating, then that might mean they were teaming up to take whatever was in that package. And, if that was the case, then Eight-Stone and Company were all kinds of screwed.

Eight-Stone looked at Mata Tabi assessively. "I missed the whole introductions thing at the meeting with Mr. Johnson. You any good in a fight? I like your plan, but let's call that our contingency. We should avoid a fight outright if we can."

[Boer_Kommando]

Mata smiled slyly "As much as I like to play up both my ego and my capabilities, this isnt the time. So, no. I'm packing an Asp revolver and hoping I can talk my way out of this." Mata Tabi let the statement hang in the air like dead weight before adding. "Feeling any better about our odds,yet?"

"On the up side of things, I'm really good at talking my way out of things. By street vanacular, I'm what you'd call a Face, and the wonder-twins back there in semi-comatose states are our Hackers and Magical assets. So......" Mata Tabi says with a smile "Feeling any better about our odds yet?"

[Chrona]

Cursor finished firing bolts into the gaps in the firewall, the barrier dropping for him and letting him into the node. He snapped his fingers, breaking off the trace that started.
_subvoc"I'm into the car guys, it's ours. If we need to leave fast tell me and I'll make it reverse. Always wanted a Limo."

(OOC: Cursor will hang tight for now after using his last simple action to call his Sleuth sprite to the nightsky's node)

[Sentinemodo]

This isn't your turf An, want a bullet or twenty in that Trogface for showing here? I can put them one by one, maybe I'll even hit that tiny brain of yours. So ka?

The group that got off the car is led by slender man standing about 1.6 m in height appearing to be in his early twenties.

He speaks softly with a mild Japanese accent. His face wears a constant sneer, his black hair parted to the side. He walks with a constant swagger. His two Sliverguns are positioned in shoulder holsters, but he leaves his jacket open, making no attempt to conceal them.

Cut dat drek or I'll smoke that japass of yourz. I go where I want. Now pack your smoothies in da car and buzz of. I got biz wiz dem.

The other party looks like being led by the troll called An.

He stands at 2.5 m tall. His single horn juts from the right side of head, and from the way it glistens, it’s clearly been waxed recently and well maintained.
He dresses in a lined coat, which is heavily embroidered with Wuxing symbolism. It’s pretty much impossible to estimate his age.

Nobody tells me to buzz off Trog. Got biz? Buy yourself a ticket and take a place in queue. The sneer on the Yak's face angled sharply. His eyes focused on Troll, and hands danced around his guns.

Don't fuck with me Jonny, I kick assez like yourz everyday - and just like that a stream of fire jumped between hands of the Troll.

Jonny with his fellows, sided your car from the rear left side. An team sided from the front right. Behind you is abandoned Nightsky.
Leading Yak approached few meters from the van doors and announced loudly.
I see you omae. I know you have a package from Koshari for Mafia. Give it to me, now. I'll cover the cost of your trouble. Let's say 7 thousand nuyen for you and 7 more thousand for the gaijin I see you surround yourself. Wakarimasu-ka?

The troll roared: Just try fragger', just try to give it to him and you won't leave dis car living. Jump off the package and be fast wiz dat. I'll pay you 14 grants no problem. On Troll's signal a human woman accompanying the him waved a hand holding several credsticks.


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[Chrona]

_subvoc"Well this is basically what we hoped for. Hit them with your Social-Fu chummer."

Cursor just sat in the node waiting, his body still sitting straight in the van.

I do so hate being called a gaijinn in North America.

[Kot]

Stryker covers his mouth, so his laughter can't be heard by anyone except those who're connected to his subvocal mic. "Oh my. Those guys are a real number. They'll go at each other throats at a nudge."

[Boer_Kommando]

"Eight Stone. Remember what I said earlier...now would be a good time." Mata Tabi says in a hushed tone before yelling out "Since it's a matched offer, we'll only be in a position to consider an offer from .....whoevers left standing." Mata lifts his leg up so that the holstered Asp is within grasping while he watches the 'china-town' stand off evolve.


"Oh and grab the cred-sticks from the slitch."

[Chrona]

_subvoc "Whoah! Hold your horses, that sounds like you're onna fight too Mata! Depending on who you want to grab the sticks at least.
I hope you know what you're doing."

[Bewilderbeast]

Eight-Stone stared at Mata Tabi in disbelief. "Yeah... let's stop and think about that. Eight-Stone, go get the troll and the cred sticks! Oh, okay! Let me just grab my axe and jump out, surprising a bunch of gangsters! Hopefully they won't all turn and shoot the charging troll out of reflex! Oh, wait, they did. And now I'm dead. The end." Eight-Stone folded his arms in front of his chest, letting a pregnant pause hang in the air. And, then, explanatorily: "That... that was sarcasm. I ain't doing that. I'll happily mop up the surviving side, if necessary, but I'm not sticking my head out of this van until I get some assurances that at least one side isn't going to summarily shoot me."

Still, things were heating up, and a peaceful solution seemed less and less likely. Both groups seemed interested in package, and Eight-Stone wasn't interested in giving it up. He picked his axe up off the floor of the van just to be ready, feeling the familiar, nerve-crackling hum of his wired reflexes switching on.

[Chrona]

_subvoc"I'm with Eight-Stone Whole-Heartely there."

Curor was getting worried about their face now... A background check is feeling more and more in order.

[Boer_Kommando]

Keeping his face and motions still "Everyone knows to geek the mage or the Troll first...pretty much in every playbook, even the ones written in crayon. So, seems we just got lucky and its a two-fer-one special on magey-trog here." Mata slows his breathing and words, he was edging close to losing his cool. "I can deal with the Yakuza, I'm not in part of this group, but I definately have the Fragging club patch. So pretty fragging please...waste the fragging mage."