"Two things. One, here's the cavalry. Second, y'all's ride is back in the driveway. Somebody order pizza?"
The FUCK?! Loki is back?Hopeless turns his head in his seat and hollers across the room at Error.
"Is there a smug lookin elf with even nicer clothes on than you drivin it?"When the female dwarf walks into the room, Ian immediately feels foolish for assuming the local support would be male. He doesn't let it through though, letting a careful smile creep across his face, as the dwarf introduces herself.
"So... like I said earlier, Hoi... I'm Bookworm. Who's who?"
Finally, he sighs and says slowly, all business: OK. Let's start from the top. I'm Error. My presence is required by Johnson. I'm here to catch bullets for you and to kill people for you. I don't leave friends behind and I'm able to carry any of you, - Error pauses for a second looking at the dwarf, - let's be friends, OK? Let's discuss the plan and then I'll chip in a couple hundred nuyen for a motel room. Please think this through while I call my girl and tell her I'm stuck with you, pridurki, here and won't be home until we finish that job.
Pridurki, what's that? Polish? Czech? Some kinda eastern euro somethin or other."I guess I'm required to be here too, for some reason. With at least two Awakened already part of this crew, I'm not sure exactly where I'm going to fit in." Slowly opening her booksack and keeping it in sight of the team, the dwarf reached in and pulled out a small box. The box itself was the business end of a two-button pendant switch used to control lifts in shipping and industrial facilities. Bookworm had scored it, along with a small supply of bricks, when A&M decided to remodel and refurbish one of their older buildings. The switch had two buttons, one reading UP and the other DOWN. Gingerly, she pushed the button marked UP and said, "I do magic."
"Full mage, but I focused my studies on enchanting and spellcasting. No spirits for me." Rotating in place, she concluded, "I can also help out with any matrix searches, but nothing that would require a deck."
"Oh yeah, that reminds me." Glancing over at the two humans, she said, "Error makes a lot of sense about getting out of here. Not sure which one of you is Hopeless, but you sent me a few messages a while ago, in case you didn't know. Someone's got your commlink MARKed up. The MARK iconography resembles coiled snakes, in case that means anything to anyone. I turned my commlink off a few hours ago when I figured out you weren't actually sending me those messages. There may be a few waiting for me if I turn it back on. Anyway, I mentioned all that because someone could trace your physical location with all those MARKs. Say, weren't there supposed to be a bunch more people here?"
Two awakened?! Breeze is an adept? For the first time, Ian notices that he does not indeed have a pair of plugs, the way most deckers do.
Or maybe he's a technomancer! Never met one of those before. Always kinda wanted to. I never read people's auras the way i should. Need to start doing that more often...Not letting the look of slight surprise register on his face, about either the adept thing or the woman thing, Ian stands up when she enters, walks across the living room to meet her, and shakes hands with the newcomer before introducing himself.
"Yeah, I'm Hopeless. I'm the inside guy for this job, and the one with the most to lose if it all turns to shit, so I'm running the show. I'm a decent summoner, a shitty fighter, and a passable bullshitter when i need to be. Breeze here is matrix overwatch and he's damn good at it. If he goes to shit, the whole job goes to shit." He turns to Breeze and grins apologetically.
"No pressure."Sitting back down and inviting everyone else to join him on the couch and chairs, the conversation continues.
"Neither Hopeless or I slings spells, which is where you fit in Worm. I’d hardly even call myself a magic user, it mostly manifests itself in me being an above average athlete really."
Okay, so he's an adept. Crazy."Anyway, does either of you know someone who would want to buy a hot BMW? Dodgy mechanic, fence, whatever. Depending on what has happened to Loki the car shouldn’t be missed until after the weekend. All of my funds have already gone into equipment for this gig so getting some extra cash would be most welcome. If not I suggest we leave it behind when we leave here, and yes, we are definitely leaving this place. It’s been compromised in more ways than I can begin to explain."
He waits until Breeze has finished making his point before answering.
"Ok, yeah, I know a couple people that might take that car off our hands. I'll holler at em and see who gives me the best price. They're both outta town though, so maybe if one of the locals knows someone, that could be a faster option." "I don't know anyone who would buy the car either, but it's pretty nice. "
Turning his head to face the giant chromed ork, he says,
"What about you, captain?"Then, back to Bookworm,
"Yeah, about the comms, johnson clued us in to em being all marked up, but suggested we not let on that we know about it until they can get whoever's responsible dealt with. Said it was a problem even before we left town to come here." He chuckles a bit.
"First outta town job I ever took and it turns into this shit.""Now can we cut the chit chat short or at least take it somewhere else? Anywhere else really."
"Either of yall got any ideas?" Says the skinny white boy, drenched in sweat and looking back and forth between the ork and the dwarf.
And I've suggested we hit a bar - there is enough white noise there to drown a conversation and enough witnesses to dissuade any possible attackers - or we can rent a motel room. So my quota on brainstorming is met for today.
"Uh, yeah, that might not be a bad idea, going to a bar." Bookworm said after reading the text. Holding up her burner comm, she looked at Hopeless and said, "So, someone pretending to be you sent me a message sometime over the last few hours and wants to set up a meet with me at 10PM tonight at a place that's popular for field parties. It's kind of out of the way, for sure, not a lot of Star activity. He wants to know my specialty... what should I say?"
Ian actually takes a decent pause here, looking around the room at everyone looking back at him, waiting for a decision. It's kinda fuckin weird.
Well, you asked for it chummer. Now ya got it. Time to step up.He finishes his glass of tapwater from before, sets his jaw firm, and says to the group,
"Let's have our shit packed up in fifteen minutes, then we're out the door. I'll put the word out on the beemer. From here, we're taking 2 separate cabs. Me and Error are going to his place, then get dropped off near the bar, walk a couple blocks, and meet you two there. You and Breeze are going straight there. I'll have money to pay for cabfare by the time we leave. Any bar will do, Bookworm. Just as long as it's in the same general area as the one he wants to meet up at. We'll stay in contact on the burners during the drive, and finalize our plan once we meet up. As for your specialty... if you got any fame around this area, be honest with him. If not, lie out your ass."As he quickly throws on his armor jacket and secures his things in the pockets and shoulder bag, he sends a few mental commands through the burner comm.
>> Send Message, Send File
>> Contacts: B-Know, Jimbo
>> Message: Hopeless here. Got a high end vehicle on me and no money for partying down here in college station. Highest offer within 10 minutes accepted. I understand if some transport cost needs to come out of my end. NO QUESTIONS ASKED.
>> File: CarPics001