[SgtBoomCloud]

Yelena smiles at her friend.  "Yelena know Arc help.  Is Srui.  Stronger than blood.  Last forever.  Yelena sleep now.  Arc have good time family of rigger man.  Not be nervous.  Jaime family love you.  Talk other job when see Arc again.  Limited time to do.  Less than 56 hours now."

Yelena strips and climbs into bed.  She is asleep before she finishes getting the covers all the way up.  She sleeps like the dead and even the ghosts cannot disturb her rest this time as she is too exhausted to listen to even them.  Knowing this, the ghosts remain silent, biding their time.  She is completely oblivious to Arc getting ready to go out or leaving.

56 hours...frag that isn't a lot of time...especially given what she Likely got hired for..huu.... Taking a deep breath, Arc stood up straight as the cool shower water poured over her body, washing away her distractions and giving her mind a moment to regroup.  Cleaning her hair as thoroughly as possible, the human ended her shower with a pause, the bathroom'a silence only broken by the slow drip of water from her body as she looked at herself in the mirror, hugging the towel to her as she assessed the situation.

We are on our own, turned loose with gears in motion to take on a fragging club what be snatching people up, likely one or two of our own.  Our direction on what to do next is gone, So we gotta go with what we knew of the general plan: work our way into the Stardust machine, poke holes until we figure out what they're after, where they actually operating from, and if Sam is really gone, then put a stop to it.   It's crazy...frag, it is.  But I think we can pull it off...we have people now...

That PI dude...Jed, was it?...he seems super legit.  We hired him to track down Sam, yeah, but I barely mention our interest in the Stardust and bam, he is on board.  Respect, and again for tangoing with some drekking toxic mage.  Sure, he had hospital time, but hey so did I, and I had help.  I don't doubt that whatever we need he can find out.

Ambrose...Dude seems to not pay attention to me at all...whatever to that, but what he does do, he does well. Fake drek for access, precise explosives, and class?  Man, I can make drek to make things work, but his drek is way more useful..frag, am I jealous?

Marco...he's really coming through in spite of himself and his fears.  I worry that he might be going in over his head, but he's finding his niche quick and it's almost scary.  The fact that he can slip in places as anyone...a mini Sam I guess...combined with our Intel and gear is almost perfect for this job.

The just leaves us two Sruiken Kal..blood sisters.  Neither of us have much in the way of helping in the Intel department (besIdes my bugs in some cases)...or in the prep at the moment.  No, most likely our talents will come into play when we make our move.  Until then, we got our role to fill...make money to fund the others by working for the club, and in turn form an in...work it from that angle to keep eyes off the others.  Yelena seems to be working with their pusher to do work...and taking the role of hard partyer with the head hostess to gain trust.  It's working...but the drugs and lifestyle are eating at her, I can see it.  She can't keep this up at this pace for any major length...

And then me.  What can I do?  I'm no charmer, I know...I'm decent with providing transport and remote eyes as needed, but is that really it?  No...my in is the local Barrens girl with money troubles looking for a Way to make some decent cred.  NineLives is a part owner, and sympathetic to drek like what I look like I'm in.  My job is to build trust, and if we are suspect, being forthright in appearance and having a fairly normal life will do well to throw them off.  Heh...maybe taking a Vrukart works in my favor that way...not that I did it for that reason...hmhmhm...

When Arc opened her eyes again in the mirror, she caught herself smiling.  "Enough of that.  Tonight ain't about that.  Tomorrow we deal with that.". Nodding and shivering a little, the short girl toweled off and dried her hair, stepping quietly back into the bedroom.  Grabbing a clean pair of jeans and Jaime's shirt, she slipped them on over her undergarments, noting how passed out Yelena was.  "...Sleep now, you earned it..". Typing up a note for the elf, she left it on a datastick by Yelena's cot, explaining that she aimed to he back home by morning and to call if needed.  Slipping some shoes on and donning a jacket, she played with her hair for a bit, finally settling on keeping it down and pulled back behind her ears to frame her face.  Nodding in affirmation, she tiptoed out of her apartment, grabbed and slipped on her gun, hopped on the Scorpion. And took off to the road.

Distraction gone, Arc was able to focus on enjoying the ride for the first time since they took on this job, and it felt good.  The thrum of the engine beneath her, the smell of the road, the pull of the motion with each turn and curve...she made surprisingly good time, and was waiting. for Jaime st their arranged meeting place with a few minutes to spare, the human grinning from ear to ear as she leaned against the bike with hands in her pockets.  " Bout time you rolled around..."

[Mercy Merchant]

Yelena sleeps well for three hours before waking with a renewed sense of purpose.  She sees the note from her Srui and smiles.  Getting dressed, she takes her gun case from under the bed and the Predator from where it had dropped when she had stripped and goes out into the garage.  Working on her weapons has always helped her think and she needs to think now.  She opens the case and pulls everything out.  She goes through the exacting motions of cleaning and reassembling all three of her weapons and reloading all of her magazines.  Her thoughts are heavy on the mission she has taken from the club.  Yelena balances the pros and cons of the hit and realizes that she has been at risk of straying from her self.  She is what she is, an assassin.  She has taken money and agreed to kill a man and doing other than that would be........wrong. 

For just about the only time since she began working for gangers, she does not fully trust her employers.  Some of the gang lords she has known have been almost pure evil, but they have all treated Yelena as an asset they could trust to get the job done without having to worry about cleaning up after her.  There had always been a shared mutual respect between her and her bosses.  Some of that was missing here and she could not quite put her finger on why.

The bottom line was the bottom line.  Without Sam and his support, she and the others still had to survive and this was a chance to contribute to the common pot.

Decision made.

After Yelena puts the rifle and smaller pistol back in the case, she straps on the Predator and goes outside the garage to smoke.  She brings one of the garage chairs with her and sits with her back to the front wall as she watches life in the Barrens go by.  She nods to various people that she has come to recognize, sparing a word or two in passing with several.  At the same time, she calls up the plans of the house and the dossier on the man she is going to kill.  Once she has a rough idea of the layout she pulls up the commcode of the club matrix girl and sends her a message.  <Data Dancer.  Is Wanderer.  Hank and Gregor say you help Yelena with special job.  Yelena looking at data now.  When can Data Dancer talk about plans?>

After sending the message, Yelena finishes her smoke and goes back inside the garage.  She moves into the small living area she shares with Arc and nods.  It is more like home every time she looks at it.  And to think that a few weeks ago, home was not a word in her vocabulary.  She sits on her bed and calls up the data packet again, going over the details of the house and what was provided about the man.

[gilga]

With the hospital map ARU, Marco begins his visit with the hospital by returning the original card. Phoenix had a card copier in his kit, so the fake should be able to do exactly what the original does. It just fitted him a lot better.,. If he pulls this gig correctly, he'll have an hospital key card to use when he needs direct access to medical information. "Not bad... Marco not bad..." he thought.   He replaces his nurse costume with a real one... while not being a ‘sexy nurse’ costume it wasn’t exactly the kind they wore in this hospital.  The best customer is always the real deal. He quickly get dressed, and done the name tag, and key card.

While looking at himself in the mirror... he seems different but it is not the disguise. He did what he is terrified of doing... it was too much pressure to stick to his principles. Not only Marco is a shadowrunner - he actively seeks for ways to achieve his goal. He does not just follows a script dictated from above. He knew that he will make an excellent shadowrunner, but with his burning desire for power and influence, can he stop before it is too late? He wasn’t very good at stopping his desires... They were strong and difficult to control. The only way to fight them effectively was with boundaries, lines not to be crossed. He managed to stick to his script with Cinan but he really did not introduce himself in a very attractive manner, but with Sam disappearing Marco felt like he just had to embrace his inner shadowrunner to find him.

What will happen next? Intuitively he begun to understand that there is no going back, his window of opportunity for backing out and fleeing this terrible destiny was quickly closing. Soon he’ll have expenses that he could not satisfy with a legitimate job. He’ll need new identities, fake SINs, new safehouses to cool inside. Stashes of equipment scattered around waiting for that terrible day where he has to disappear forever. He wanted to be a real person... Living his entire life in a place that formally does not exists, have left him with a deep desire of existing... not a master of many masks. But since yesterday he barely was himself, and he was not working even.  “I hope you’ll appreciate how far I have gone for you... you terrible nameless faceless person... ” He thought, with just a tiny bit of anger. For a second he had the passion to find Sam just to make sure that he is gone forever. It made no sense, how can he both love and hate at the same time. One thing was clear... at this rate there will be very little to confess about the past... his previous crimes  will be nothing compared to how dirty he is going to get down the road.

[SmilinIrish]

While Marco was changing in some real scrubs, Jed decided to do a little scouting.  He walked into a mostly empty waiting area and took a seat in corner away from the few people who were waiting.  Leaning his head back against the wall he puts his fedora down over his face. He relaxes back as if taking a nap. Drawing the mana around him like a cloak, he shapes it into the form he needs.  He floats forward, or at least his vision does.  He cast his awareness outward looking for a good terminal for Marco to access. He finds something a little out of the way on a unit on the second floor.  Hopefully their idea of playing family member asking questions will work and they won't be interrupted.  He swiftly returns to himself, opening his eyes. 

[Mercy Merchant]

After spending some time reviewing the data she has, she decides to contact Jed to see if he is available.  She thumbs through her contact list and sends a note to the PI.  <Jedediah.  Is Yelena.  Please contact when have time.  Yelena need talk about second mission.  Need help with know about man and house.>

[ismilealot]

@ Jededaih  Knife responds, >>We had this person brought to our attention by Wanderer as a person of potential interest and are making sure we know all the dandelions in our garden.<<

@ Marco  >>I did the checking into the first accident that you asked about. I can't find any info on the fatality in that accident. Original report had KE keeping the ID under wraps until the family was notified. But, no ID has been released as of yet. Still, it's only been a day, so maybe they'll release it soon.<< Dr Kawagishiri finally answered. >>You can pick me up at 18:15 Friday. And see if you can get some of that LaunchCode and PayLoad from the club you took me to. I enjoyed that explosion.<<

@ Yelena  Data Dancer answers, >>I can drop a little of the security. But only one layer at a time, and not for long. The algorithms rotate every 5 seconds. Once you've killed him and we're in I can do more from inside, especially since we won't have to worry about him calling KE or private security anymore after that.<<

@ Ambrose  Shopping at the Hobby Lobby was relaxing. Just poking around and looking gave him so many ideas for new devices. A new Maria Mercurial doll out . . . . pricey, but the AR components in it could be very useful. And that model of train could easily hide a number of useful items . . . . . Still, he was here for model rockets. But, it couldn't hurt to look around. You never knew what you might need in the future.

@ Arc  Jaime smiles when he sses you and whistles at you, a low teasing wolf whistle with a look in his eye that makes you blush. And then he does a turn around the bike and grinning mischievously says, "Wow, that is one beautiful bike."

[Mercy Merchant]

Yelena smiles to herself and sends a reply to the matrix girl.  <Wanderer just love target who is careful.  Do you see any weakness Wanderer can use?  Time is moving.  Wanderer think tomorrow is good.  Data Dancer be ready at 2300?  Information say man has no living guards, only computer.  Is what Data Dancer sees?>

[gilga]

Marco texts Tammie in response of the doc’s message.
>> Dear Tammie,
How are you doing? must be a bit rough in that club every night.  I myself am going through some rough patches in life right now. Not a moment for myself always have to work.

I could use a little solid. That doctor guy that bailed on me when you just made me a VIP asked for some special drinks that can be taken out for a private date.  Any chance for helping me out a little bit? He is currently my highest roller.

Yours truly,
Marco

[SgtBoomCloud]

Through the blush, Arc managed a returned grin as she stood up, embracing him for a bruef moment before letting him survey the Scorpion, tilting her head a little.  "Thank yeh.  It's on loan tonight.. it's Yelena's, but it's a piece of art now because of yours truly, heh". One could tell the pride in her voice at the last bit. Nodding to him, she brushed a stray hair from her face before swinging a leg over the seat and grabbing the handlebars.  " Wanna see it in action?  Hop on, you can tell me how to get to your fam's place"

As she plugged in to the Scorpion, the engine roared into life, and it didn't take an expert to realize that this machine was beyond top shape, kept in care with love and almost obsessive dedication.  And the human piloting it showed her true talents once they were on the road, taking each turn with an expert's touch with a smile on her face.  She blushed a little as she felt the man cling to her a little tighter as she weaved through traffic, which only encouraged her to drive more, getting to their destination a little faster than intended...

[gilga]

Somehow Jed just knew where to go... As if he downloaded a map of the hospital and browsed it while Marco was dressing... that was a sensible thing to do... Marco will remember that for later. Focusing on what little he could comprehend from the first aid... his mind wondered to picturing Yelena and her friend under the combined influence of drugs and magic...  The images were very vivid, and it took Marco some dedication to suppress them and keep his mind focused.  "they are going to have so much fun!!!" was his last thought on that matter.

[Triskavanski]

Ambrose continued to look around the hobby lobby. While trains and dolls could be useful for something, it was important to act on more logical and less whimsical methods. Hide a detonator in a teddy bear, as no one would think to see one in there. Hide explosives in plastic reindeer because again, no one would think to look in there. And with Consumer day fast approaching they wouldn't look out of place at all.

This month it was a particularly cold day, though the old man hardly ever noticed with his heavy coat and clothing on. The heat of the electronics in his coat helped things as well.

What he needed more was practical things. Rockets would allow the transport of payloads, or in a pinch the engines could be used as explosives. Exacto knives, woodburners, and the more to really make those things look professional drugs. Like something even more highclass than Stardust's.

[ismilealot]

Tues Dec 8, 15;40
@ Ambrose If people had any idea just how easy it was to make and hide explosives they'd never sleep at night. he thinks to himself as he shops carefully at the Hobby Lobby. It's easy to shop for the more common things he needs for the explosives here. ID'ing those drugs for Marco had been a far more tedious and time consuming task. If he only knew just how fast things went in and out of the fads, and most things were just knock-offs of earlier things. It's rare that a new drug came out that was really new. The ones that Marco had brought him had been a mix of things, most of it had been To the Moon, a cheaper and less effective version of Bliss. About a fourth had been BangBabay, Babay for short. It was an effective male enhancement drug, at least while it lasted Ambrose thought to himself with a snort. Only problem was it made you sweat badly and was known to give a guy some serious problems pee'ing for a few days after. And a very small portion had been Slut. It was supposed to make a girl so crazy for sex she'd rip the clothes off of you and take you right then and there if she had to. Only problem was it smelled so strong and tasted so foul that it was hard to believe any guy could sneak it into anything a girl was eating or drinking without her consent. And if she was consenting, well, how much could you believe the stories? And Ambrose wanted to rebrand it and sell it huh, well, gotta give him entrepreneurial credit for the thought. Ambrose stood in line patiently to pay for his items. Trick with getting away with almost anything is to look like you're bored and just running errands. Although the woman with the kid two baskets behind needed a DNI. Nobody should have to listen to every detail of Jasmina's last three break-ups with her baby daddy's and how she should put a restraining order on the ef'er that was beating her this time.

@ Yelena  DataDancer replies, >>I'm thinking the weakness is that the security is so tight. It makes people relax and not check things. I can't do 23:00 but I'm green for o1:00. And I don't know who said that about no bedroom. Place is a fraggin' mansion. There are three bedroom suites and a separate gaming room off one of them. But I'm betting he's in the one that's the largest. It's at the back and overlooks the pool and topiary rose garden.<<

Tues Dec 8, 18;20
@ Marco  Tammy replies as you're getting out of the car to go to the hosp. >>Maybe, depends on what they are. The owners are proprietary about a few of the drinks. Let me know which ones and I'll be able to tell you yes or no,<<

Tues Dec 8, 18:30
@ Jedediah  Escher comms you to let you know he got the drop and that the searches for the info you requested are underway and he's sorting the drek from the data.

The casting felt good, tiring but good. He'd been up for awhile and as weak as he'd been, and still was really, he'd had to husband his strength. But the second story alcove should be good for what they wanted. It was a rehab unit by the looks of it, and he still remembered some of the family members and the way they harassed the nurses for info when a phone call ahead of time to family would have told them their Aunt Sally or Grandpa Joe wasn't there anymore. Now he'd get to put that to good use.

Tues Dec 8, 18:39
@ Arc  A young stocky orc girl of about eight rushes out the door and barrels down on you even before you've fully stopped, "Uncle Jaime!" she screams and does a flying tackle. Jaime jumps off leans hard and low towards her in an attempt to brace against the tackle but the girls got enough moment and mass that he stumbles backwards into the bike and the three of you almost go over, "Angelina! Stop!" You hear to late in the bull roar of a male orc. Not that it seems anyone is paying attention as a second body flies into, "Uncle Jaime!" Only this time Jaime does go down and lands in the street, your bike thankfully stopping them from going further into it. You hear, "HAH! I'll get you two hellions for this!" And you see Jaime's hands darting to tickle the girls who are soon tickling back and the front yard is a mass of rolling bodies and giggling for several minutes. The male orc looks down at the roiling mass and shakes his head then reaching down in a quick darting motion hauls up, Angelina? and says, "Momentum and mass young lady. Learn yours! That'll be extra trigonometry homework for you tonight. I want to see ten problems on the mass and momentum it would take to take down a target weighing 76 kilos upright and what positions said target can assume that would resist that force and what force would be necessary to overcome it." She pouts and says, "That's 32 angles daddy!". "Yes it is, so that maybe next time you think twice about getting my youngest dau and my brother killed in the street." "And Maya, the same for you but add the G-forces on Mercury, Uranus and Io." you hear, "But I've got a GalaxyForce Competition tonight! You know my guild is in the finals!!!" he growls at her, "And so you should have known your added force would take your uncle down and adjusted your trajectory 7 more degrees." Both girls open their mouths to argue and then you hear a stern feminine voice say, "Girls, you can stand hear arguing with your daddy while dinner gets stone cold or you can go spend 20 minutes doing as he says and turn it in for extra credit when you need it in math class to get out of an assignment. But dinner is getting colder every minute we stand out here so make a decision." You see a young, attractive human woman with a baby balanced against a hip come to stand next to Henry.  He's still got his milk tusks so he can only be a few months old, and she's still got a bit of baby flab on her, and enough tats to rival Yelena. Arc recognizes a few from the Devil's Advocates, and when she smiles Arc sees the teeth. No horns, or scars where they should have been, so she'd never made it into inner ranks, but she'd been in deep enough, Arc thought to herself.

[gilga]

Rehab... was indeed an ironic twist, and Marco walked with confidence - he was born to act and felt like fish in the water...“Okay... so we made it to the terminal.”     “Name please?” ask Marco with a tired voice. It’s been a long shift and the last thing that nurse needed was to check for a missing addict. He obviously seemed to have done so previously, and could not care less if this niece of Jed was alive or not. In the background however he looked at admissions... admissions that seemed related to the accident.  He wen’t over them briefly showing them, not even reading them. He did not have to.... his expensive comlink had a camera built in so it was enough to just show the required screen for a short while and he could move on.  After no more than two minutes he said:  “Can I have some ID sir...?... Are you sure that lady is your niece? Whats her birth date?” He hoped that the genuinely confused look on Jeds face will be enough to preserve their cover.
“Okay okay... you don’t have to be this sarcastic.,I was just doing my job... my shift is over now... find some other victim to harass”
Marco texted Jed the video file of the search for future browsing and went back to get dressed, he felt as if he belonged there. For a minute he could actually imagine what it was like working in this place and his job was just so much cooler.

[Mercy Merchant]

Yelena considers the hacker's words and sends a response.  >>OK.  So DataDancer can hold security as Wanderer goes into yard to house.  Can open lock on door?  Then Wanderer goes through house as DataDancer drops security in front and lets it back up behind.  Can talk by 'link to coordinate.  Deal with target then let DataDancer in.  So time of meet is 0100 on Thursday, 10 December.  Wanderer send meet place now.  DataDancer think of other idea contact Wanderer.  Personal Question for DataDancer.  Are club property or freelance?  Wanderer freelance.<<

Yelena sits back against the head of the small bed and closes the data files for the hit.  She has learned from long experience that one can look too long at the data and that it is better to take a break and go back to it with a fresh look.  She thinks for a few minutes then sends a note to Bella.  >>Bella.  Is Yelena.  Bella know casino in Seattle?  Yelena like to gamble but not have time find good place and not like cheap bookies.  Maybe Stardust have special casino place for guests?<<

After sending the text to Bella, Yelena flips on the trid and surfs the available channels until she finds "Hard Seven", a serial about a freelance assassin that is popular at the moment.  She enjoys the continuing saga of the totally unbelievably handsome UCAS agent that gets into and out of every tight situation thinkable.  The plots are laughable and the agent relies on too much gadgetry to be real, but the acting is decent and the hero always gets the most beautiful foreign agents to work with and sleep with every week.  Yelena has been following the adventures ever since she came to the UCAS several years ago.

[SgtBoomCloud]

Arc barely had enough time to unplug herself from the Scorpion, the data cable retracting with a small sound to the base of her skull and ending with a click, to see the hurtling ball of force that seemed to be a miniature orkette collide with the dismounted Jaime not unlike some sumo-style engagement.  The human girl instinctively lifted her leg up, bracing it against Jaime's back to keep him from going over.  Then the booming voice barked out, her green eyes darting up to see the smaller mass joining the fray, and she knew she had to react quickly.  Turning the bike's front wheel towards them, she swung out behind the bike and planted her feet, flesh hand on the steering column, cyberhand on the side of the seat, just in time for the three of them's momentum to come into a halt.  Good thing too...a couple cars passed by just moments later, and they didn't need anymore risk tonight.

As Jaime and his nieces wrestled, she stood up and leaned her elbows onto the bike seat, looking them over.  The older one...Angelina...and the younger one...Maya?...seemed so overjoyed that their uncle had come over.  She allowed herself to get lost in thought...

Daddy, Daddy, look what Mommy helped me make!
Aww, sweetheart, that's wonderful!  I'll save it and plant it right here on the wall
yeah!  Hey, come on, I wanna play
Oh, can you give me a moment, dear?  I just got home, I need a moment..
Aww, that's what mommy said too..
..Oh, alright, let me put my things down...

Arc snapped back into reality hella quick after that flashback, her eyes widened a bit as her breath caught in her throat.  Angelina was around the age Arc was before...well...everything happened that made her the young woman she was now.  Catching herself, she looked up to see the father...Henry...joined by what she could assume was Jaime's sister.  Arc's smile returned a bit as she saw the little tusker baby on the woman's hip, looking her over as well, eyeing the tattoos and the sharpened canine teeth with a raised eyebrow.  Devil's Advocates...rough gang, big on self-perpetuated protection rackets...torture and violence are their initiations...strong woman, no doubt Henry picked her for that aspect  She eyed the two of them together, seeing the mutual love in their unspoken body language.    Wonder if I'll ever get that feeling, hehe.  Girl can dream huh?  Three kids too..dayum...not looking too bad after this one either..least she got an excuse, I don't got that hehehe  Smirking a little at her own joke, she listened to Henry drill the dau's on what seemed to be high level trig for those tykes while helping Jaime up, and for a brief moment Arc felt a pang of envy...once the Howlers took her in, school really didn't work for her.  Everything she knew came from tech manuals and whatever others would teach her.  As the girls nodded halfheartedly and darted back into the house, Arc patted Jaime's back as they approached.  "Energetic bunch...like em already"  She muttered with a smile as she felt a bit warm from seeing the family like that.

When they got to the steps, Arc felt a pang of nervousness as she looked up at the both of them, green cybereyes blinking little as she brushed a hair from her eyes with her right cyberhand.  The young lady broke the ice first though, and mustered up her best Or'Zet to give a respectful greeting.  "Al'eth narukah jun varay et ereth" (Ancestor's blessings to yourself and your family)  Maybe they should have factored in the 350 or so extra kilos braced right behind him, eh?  I mean the bike."[/b]  She elbowed Jaime in the ribs before he could make the expected retort.  Bowing her head a little bit, she gave a warm smile.  "Thank you for letting me in your place.  Name's A..."  She paused, trailing off a bit.   I've known myself as Arc for so long..it's a tough name, a street name...I don't feel street here..well, I'll have to apologize to Jaime later for not setting him up for this one...  "...Tessa.  My name is Tessa.  Heard good things about you peeps...like how you all put up with Jaime's hoopla and stuff like that.  So, I heard you got the best grub this side of Seattle, hm?"  She turned to the mother, not yet catching her name but giving a nod of the head with a flick of her jaw to one side...a street sign of respect that any Advocate would recognize...the intent wasn't menacing or trying to dig up drek, but simply that of respect and recognition.