[gwilym]

"I'm going to need some reagents and fetishes, some foci too if possible, I'm a shaman if you need a label" dynamyt stretched. "I'll ask some of my gang contacts if they know what happened with this new gang."

[Beta]

Tipperman looked at the two dwarves, one human, and one orc, and suggested "Before deciding on a vehicle type, we might want to decide on a driver.  It is difficult to have a vehicle ready to be driven by a dwarf and by any of the taller races."

His face twitched then he dredged up the new names
" Dynamyt, Omen, do you drive?
Grudgingly, or does it bring you alive?
0-Day, how about you? 
If it is up to us shorties, how would you do?
Vans have more space
Vans are harder to mod for dwarves
If a tall driver, I vote van"

[ZeroSum]

"I can out-maneuver GridGuide on a clear day, but piloting isn't exactly my forté." Viktor paused and glanced at the bar, where he had parked one of his minuscule MCT drones in order to gain a high-vantage view of the room. "That being said, I can remote control any vehicle with a Matrix connection. Seats and comfort doesn't matter much to me, I can drive from the trunk if I have to. Don't ask..."

A notification appeared in his AR view, indicating that the search algorithm he'd been running on the Reapers had returned something.

"Formerly known as the Greystone Crew, under some tool called Absolution who's no longer around. Intriguing; mental note, follow up on leadership and name change. Could be avenue for exploit. 20-30 members of mixed metahumans; known public activities include pushing drugs and an active protection racket." With a mental command he compiled his preliminary notes into a trapped file^*1, and offered it up as an AR icon to Mr Johnson and the other team members along with the commcode of his burner link.

"Some preliminary intel on the Reapers; note that you'll need to use this passcode to access it. If you value your commlink, make sure you remember." Pausing his search, he quickly rebooted his deck to ensure GOD wouldn't come down on him like some n00b on his first outing.

^*1Set Data Bomb (illegal) Electronics 6 + Logic 7 + Overclock 1; Wild Die;  vs. Device Rating 5 x 2: 14d6t5 7 1d6t5 0 10d6t5 6
Spending the bonus Edge and one of my regular edge to make the 4 rolled for the Wild Die into a 5, giving me 3 extra hits for a total of 10 vs 6. Resulting data bomb is rating 4
Overwatch Score increased by 7; base 6 hits on defense test, plus 1 for using an illegal hacking program (Overclock)

#6

[Jack_Spade]

Omen shrugged: "I drive well enough - more instinct than anything else though, so don't expect me to parallel park.
And yeah, some kind of van would be nice - we might have to bring an involuntary guest with us."

[Beta]

"To Summarize:
Lie to your son that 'Beth' sent us
You'll give us an intro to Doc Grace,
-- a Doc who might know who is doing what around there
You'll provide a step van for use during this,
And can arrange some off-scene accommodations
Although The Tribe will also offer hospitality
300 nuyen now, more later.
And intros and discounts with some of your contacts.
Anything I missed?
"

[Aria]

[21:00 ish, Monday November 13th, 2079; Downfall, Redmond, Seattle Metroplex]


“No, I don’t think you’ve missed anything important.  Here’s my commcode if you need to contact me, oh and you’d better have a pic of Beth in case Tom starts digging about why you’re turning up out of the blue… <file>…where do you want the van delivered to?  It’ll be coming up from Puyallup so somewhere in Touristville is probably sensible but you pick a spot…”

***

#08

[Beta]

"Call us with when to meet the driver. 
Park upwind of Stinky's Shawarma Shack.
Thank you for this opportunity
We'll take it from here,
time for you to fade"

Once their Johnson provides their initial credit sticks and leaves, Tipperman orders another round for their table.  While they wait for that, Tipperman provides to the others the code for his good link.

Once they are drinking he tips his glass to the others, then suggests
"We need gear and gossip
We need to go to our own places for gear
and to our own sources for gossip
Shall we meet again at the van?
Share our info then make our ... scheme?"

[Jack_Spade]

Omen shrugged as he did so often in recent times: "Not much gear to fetch. Got everything in the bag with me. As for the scheme: Let's go there and ask one of them what's going on and why they are having a turf war there."

[Beta]

Tipperman nodded along with Omen's words -- but then his bursts of speech argued otherwise:
"I at least have gear that isn't here.
And yes we'll end up asking.
But who to ask, and how?
Knowing a piece helps find the whole.
And so some research
Since we have some time.

[Jack_Spade]

"Watch out for colors, wait for one to go take a leak, knock him out, drag him into a cellar and beat him up till he spills the beans. Or one of you can go talk with him - whatever..."
Omen replied laconically

[Beta]

Not that Omen's approach didn't have merit, but Tipperman truly did need to determine what gear to bring with him and to make further arrangements for his ward, so after he finished his drink he rode off into the night.

**********

His first stop wasn't too far, just south in Touristville.  The Horrible Harpoon had nothing much to recommend it, but it was the preferred watering hole of Detective Pat Billings.  He could feel her watching him warily from the time he entered the bar, but he took his time, ordered drinks, tried to make small talk with the bartender, looked at the Speed Hockey game that was for some reason on the trid, and finally made his way over.

He placed a glass of the bar's least bad whisky on the table, and helped himself to a seat.  She broke the silence first 
"You. Again.  I thought you were busy dying."
"Yah, I got interrupted. 
Someone I'm trying to keep alive,
and that means I'm working. 
Work means I'm looking for info."
"Someone?  Knowing you it is someone human and female, your type never changes.  Anyway, I don't owe you anything these days."
"Yah, you do, and you know it.
Besides maybe I'll owe you.
North Redmond, group called The Tribe
Gangs up there are maybe getting restive
Know what's going on?"

Billings took a long sip of her drink, considering what to say.

**********

When he finally left the Harpoon, Tipperman didn't immediately head through the ruins of Redmond to return 'home,' instead he took a loop through some of the better parts of the sprawl, eventually finding a dark corner of the parking lot of a Stuffer Shack where he felt reasonably alone and safe, and there he hunched over on his bike and let tears run down his face. 

He couldn't even talk right at the meet!  Oh, when he was pulling up old lines from topics he knew well it went OK, but then it would go all funny when he tried to be more free form.  And all that he couldn't remember how to do anymore, all the resources that were lost to him.  Once this job would have been handled in two phone calls, or if he wanted to get involved personally he could have arranged the whole operation to run smoothly.  Now he couldn't even make himself run smoothly.

He desperately wanted to crawl back into a hole and wait to die, but he had someone depending on him.  So he just got angry instead.  And on cue he saw a couple of young punks carefully approaching, like they maybe thought he wouldn't notice them, like they could maybe get him to empty his pockets out to them

**********

Back in the shipping container house he was surprised to find Elga disturbed by the knife cut he'd received, but apparently at least somewhat aware of the principles of first aid. He assured her "Don't worry about it, I can patch myself up, besides it a good reminder that I'm sloppy and slow these days.  There was only two of them, punks really, I should have broken both of them before they could touch me.  I still busted them up, but I got this souvenir."  Despite his words, he let her help clean the wound and wrap it.

**********

The next morning he gathered up some minor bribes -- a few water bottles, some tofu, a bit of weed, and went looking for the Isotopes.  It didn't take him too long to get passed on to Marie 88.  As they walked along the roof of an old low rise office building, assessing its condition, he told her again "I got to you way too easy.  You need better people around you, insulating you from time wasters like me."  She just rolled her eyes at him and kept walking. 

Tipperman hurried to catch up to her longer legs, and got to the point. 
"Reapers?  Slaughterhowzers? 
Know anything about their latest?
Up north, not the biggest or the closest
But I know you talk with other gangs,
Have your own sources of intel.
If you have the good stuff I'll trade you
How about training time in unarmed
Most of your members need it."

[Aria]

[Tuesday November 14th, 2079; Isotopes’ HQ, Seattle Metroplex]


Billings had been a waste of time more interested in the crap alcohol and keeping her head down than answering any questions.  She’d made it clear that her remit ended at the Touristville border and she wasn’t interested in the goings on of tinpot gangs further north.

Tipperman was left hoping that Marie 88 would have a better understanding of the situation and he wasn’t disappointed.  After the usual bickering about the price of paydata she got down to it

“The Slaughterhowzers aren’t a bad lot, bit stuck on their racial purity angle but that’s mostly a tag to keep their members in line.  We’ve dealt with them from time to time.  It’s backfired on them this time, Flint’s sister has shacked up with one of the Tribe…proper Romeo and Juliet shit, and we all know how that one goes.  Good luck trying to unravel that shit!

The Reapers are a different story…they’ve suddenly turned nasty and they’ve got the bang bang to back it up from somewhere. It’s not that they’ve got it in for the Tribe, at least any more than they’ve got it in for anyone in the neighbourhood.  They don’t seem to be interested in profit, just hurting folks.  It’s never good when a gang goes rabid, we’ve got enough crazy in this part of the ‘plex without needing more.”

***

Other team members’ contacts had come back with similar intel, nothing entirely concrete but enough corroboration to make it plausible.  So, two very different targets with very different griefs with the Tribe…maybe it was time to renegotiate with Watcher!  Either way there were heads to be busted and new wheels to check out…

***

#09

[Beta]

“OK Elga, you should be set for a few days.  If there is trouble, or if I don’t come back before supplies are running out, contact Marie 88, I put her number on that link I gave you, remember?  And if you want to go outside, take the Geiger counter with you, you never know when something will stir stuff up and I want you to stay away from anything that ticks quickly.”

Tipperman did one last check of the gear packed on his Harley.  First aid kit and various slap patches, plenty of ammo, some electronics, and his fedora.  Double checking his body he had his taser and Inga, his head was loaded up with glasses, earbuds, respirator and helmet.  The pockets of his long coat held his two tiny drones.  He was good to roll. 

As he kicked Bella into motion a broad grin hid behind his respirator – preparation was done, it was finally go time.

%%%%%%%%

He met the others at the van.  It looked at least ten years old, one side door wasn’t quite the same dirty white as the rest of the van, it only had one hub-cap, the tires had barely enough tread left, the back door was badly dented and some rust was showing through above the wheel-wells.  “This is what I call perfect for our needs.”

After they had compared notes there was really just one decision to make
“Where to first? 
I’d love to go bust up some Reapers,
But maybe scope out The Tribe first?”

As he talked he was smacking one fist into the other palm, his black leather biking gloves smacking together loudly.

[ZeroSum]

Viktor finished his drink and left with the others, intending to finish his basic Matrix recon of the two gangs while waiting for the van delivery. Instead of heading back to his doss he spent the night in a cheaper than cheap no-tell motel, using his lined coat as a pillow and the thermal blanket from his survival kit as a blanket. All in all, not a bad place to rest for a few nuyen.

***

The location of the van delivery had been a brisk walk from his overnight location, but at least the rain had relented for a little while. The vehicle had definitely seen better days, but it looked like it would run well enough. Could use a coat of paint and a tuneup, though.

"Hoi, Tipperman" he said. "I'd definitely like to meet with this Tribe before we go after the gangs. If they don't have any more intel, they can at least tell us who they deal with in the gang, how much they pay them, and other incidentals our background checks might have turned up. Speaking of which..." He once more made his research notes available as an AR icon.

> Reapers; AKA Greystone Crew. Former: Absolution (ousted through mutiny). Current leadership may include a Technomancer named Recall and/or a Rat Shaman who goes by Ridde. Estimated total size: 20-30 members, mixed metahumans. Unknown influx of resources after name change could indicate corporate or criminal backing by other org. Known criminal activities: drug dealing, protection racket.
> Slaugherhowzers; no known previous alias indicates upstart gang. Currently lead by Flint, second in command Red Shadow. Presumably violent, as nickname alludes to blood being spilled. Estimated total size: 40-50 members, primarily orks with some trolls. No known ties to other orgs. Known criminal activities: drug dealing, prostitution, extortion (tolls), carjacking.

Viktor looked around for the others and realized that so far only the two dwarves had made it to the van. "Once the others arrive, we could always take a look at the respective gang turfs. I might be able to sleaze a backdoor into neighbouring surveillance equipment, if any, to give us a better idea of what to expect. I'd also like to see if we can't figure out why these low-lives have decided to take more aggressive action as of late.

[Jack_Spade]

Omen stepped off the bus and walked towards the two waiting runners. He still smelled faintly of booze and sweat - but that was not that unusual.
The car was ok for their purpose. He nodded at the two other runners:
"Yeah, hooking up with the tribe first sounds like a reasonable idea. Maybe we can swing it that they are paying us too. Our Johnson can't be the only one who has a problem with the gangland stuff. After that let's take a look at those Reapers. Seems like they have too much cash floating around for a bunch of animals."
He grabbed the keyfob for the car and got behind the steering wheel.