[gilga]

changes. It is...most un-Goodnight like. "You assume you know me, know my sister, know our lives. You assume you know my world better than I do, and that just because you say things with a smile that people will go along with them. Guess what? That doesn't work down here. Torrent paid me to guide you, so I'm guiding you. Trust is a two way street and down here, you're in my world, so you have to give a little to get a little. I am still here because I am a professional and because I want to see this family safely out of my domain, and that is it."

"Well, you still haven't gave me your opinion on why it is a bad idea to leave. You just gave me a little lecture about my bad personality - I am not a good person get over it. I maybe annoying or arrogant for trying to reach out for you or your sister - but I am not discussing personal stuff with you.  I am asking your opinion about how to behave in this world of yours -  I ask for your opinion because I respect it - but you give me that you are an asshole do what you want and die - I couldn't care less approach."
His voice is still friendly and pleasent when he say these things. But is body is a bit more relaxed now.

[Kinkerbell]

Goodnight sighs, a long-suffering, resigned sound and rolls her eyes. To Isaint, she says, "I suppose we did. Do as ye like then. I wash my hands of it." She saunters over to Victoria and puts an arm around the banshee's shoulders. "If you will excuse us, I need to attend to my sister's needs. Blood holds more currency with me than nuyen or good intentions. I will hopefully catch you in the market soon enough. If not, here is my fixer's contact information. Her name is Erica. She can find you another guide if you so choose.". She ignores Solo. She's done arguing. There's no point. Instead she quietly leads Victoria out the door, headed back to her kip in order to feed her little sister's thirst. Hopefully she will survive, as she has before.

But perhaps not.

[gilga]

"I said interrogation - not torture. Didn't we have that discussion recently?" Isaint shook his head sadly.
"If you can do it quickly Solo, sure, why not."


#160

So no opinion, just get lost - I guess she just don't blend with us. Oh well, will continue to do things as we understand.

Solo sits down and clear his mind, he places his hand on the forehead of the dwarf and begins concentrating. The dwarf mind is a metaphorical iron fortress - just sensing it is difficult. Solo probes it for a while looking for his way in - but dwarfs are strong willed and do not easily spill their beans. But there it was, an emption - shame and sadness Solo leveraged on the opening and was inside the mind. He could feel his mind probing various aspects of the dwarf, his reacent memories and motivations. Solo was after who hired the dwarf and why is he looking at the hotel.   He however, got more than he bargained for. Minds are like that sometimes you never know exactly what memories you will encounter while trying to satisfy your answer. After a short while Solo decides that he knows enough on the dwarf to determine that he is no imminent danger. 

[spoiler]
Solo will cast the spell using 10 reagents - to push the limit.
Mind Probe: 15d6t5 3
This will not do the trick Solo will expend edge to reroll faliures because I feel that knowing exactly who he is is important.
Mind Probe (reroll): 15d6t5 6

I am not sure how much defense to give him... it is willpower + logic (lets give him 10 dice?)
Dwarf adept defense: 10d6t5 3
A net of 6 hits. Solo knows everything about him including his darkest secrets.
Drain the force of the spell is just 2 so:
drain: 11d6t5 5
no drain.
[/spoiler]

Solo wakes up from the spell a little dizzy, he grabs a glass of water and after a short time say"First he is not related to the NDM... he is a private contractor looking to make some jing... probobly saw us entering the hotel and decided we are worth something to someone. 
We can leave him here and by the time he wakes up - our run will already be over. We can cuff him a little more and gag him just to make sure. Or even drug him a little bit - but there is no sense in hurting him further."

[spoiler]I am just guessing... Aria need to give the details.  [/spoiler]

[ScytheKnight]

Not having any eyes inside the first inkling Nitro has of anything going down is Goodnight and Vicky striding out of the hotel together. Wait, What the frag is going on here? His drones watch the pair moving towards the tunnel back to Goodnight's doss, as they get near the rigger begins to make a half step out when the combined glamour hits him, Vicki may not be int he same emotional state, but she is kin and resonates.

An wave of emotion his like a glacier... cold, pitiless and grinding anything in its path to dust. It was cold rage nearly personified.

His heart skipping a couple of beats he flattens against the wall into the shadows and does something he's almost never done since he first bought and tested the armor. He pulls the hood up over his head and activates the Ruithmic Polymer Coating's stealth settings. Watching them pass he didn't see a dangerous runner and her tragically infected sister... he sees a living weapon walking stride in stride with a soul devouring huntress of the night.

It's not until even his enhanced hearing can no longer hear their footsteps that he dears even subvocal to the group, his voice shaking. "Alrigh'... summon' wanna fill me in on wha' tha frag juss' 'apened?"

[gilga]

Solo answers in subvocal still trying to process all the bits and pieces of the mind probe. "Goodnight is going to feed Vicki her own blood... I am not sure she wants to come back. She just waved her fixer name and told us to get another guide. I hope this odd couple survives.. you seem to be a bit shaken, are you okay?"

[ScytheKnight]

A slightly nervous laugh coming through he sub vocal. "I juss' saw 'em pass by... lemmie jussay if anyone was stu'id enough te try mugin' 'em I dunno if there' be enou' lef' fer tha rats..."

[gilga]

Solo laughs casually. These are not the dangers to these couple, Vicki has only Goodnight to sustain her... Goodnight is not very functioning -  Vicki will be Facing the real consequences of her condition, when Goodnight is gone and with the way she seemed determined to make enemies - Solo is not very optimistic.

The horror Vicki might feel having to seduce, damage and kill just to survive. Solo can relate a little bit but eventually it seems that every broken person is broken in some different way and they all seem to be lonely.
"It is not the mugger I am worried about... They are darker than anything in these shadows - it is their own nature that  endangers them. " Hissed Solo softly.

Goodnight was right, for her feeding her sister was all that mattered. For Solo it was just another day at an awful run that gone wrong. The troubles of a teenage banshee or an emotionally challenged beautiful mage are distractions.  This is not therapy, nor it is about making friends. For all Solo knows tomorrow he may have to assassinate the darn banshee girl - it will pay great and he may need the money.  It is not about relationship advice and not even about the family finding a job they like - despite what Al and ISaint may feel about it. This run is only about getting paid. The family will all die without active protection and if the NeoNet deal blows up, then Solo is comfortable of selling the family to the devil himself. As long as he does not actively kill them - he is game in all scenarios.

At the end of the day Solo could have also been recruited by SK, the NDM or any other interested party - who knows who initially recruited him to begin with and how dark were their intentions. It is difficult to make real friendships with other runners when you know that tomorrow you might be the one fighting them. Some things may just take time.

[ScytheKnight]

Another nervous chuckle "Ye missun'erstan' me Solo... 'ere ain' gonna be enou' lef' o' tha mug'ers frr tha ra's."

[Jack_Spade]

"Damn. Mages really don't last in this team."
Isaint reshuffled his gear. "We are again down some magical assets. This doesn't bode well for our coming confrontations.
But we are rested, we have increased the competition for our product and we are about to be late to our own VR-meeting. So let's gear up and roll out."

[gilga]

Another nervous chuckle "Ye missun'erstan' me Solo... 'ere ain' gonna be enou' lef' o' tha mug'ers frr tha ra's."

"I completely understand you... Standing in their way a bad idea."
A little nostalgic Solo do not comment on ISaint comment. This is why he learn how to do anything on his own. Solo is never missing a decker or a mage,  or a relatively skilled gun man. In the future he'll also be a reasonable rigger just reasonable- sometimes good amazing is difficult to pull as there are so many areas to master and so little time.

"Lets just make the most out of what we have." Said Solo, he did not like to be the only mage the team had, nor did he like the fact that a lot of the matrix stuff was on his shoulders, but Solo got a lot of milage of working alone. He planned his runs so the mojo matrix and muscle required were within his skill level. He found unique ways to approach problems.
With his geeky throdes he begun to prepare the meet. Connecting equipment, setting up firewalls, augmenting his willpower.
To Al - "Since Goodnight had no rational reason why she wants us to remain in this hotel - I take it we trust our intuition and leave this place before more people come knocking on our door."
To everyone:
"Do you want to put the doctor on the Growler? if we are attacked he will be the prime target -  we may want him in the most mobile position. We can have two riders - a body guard and the doc with Nitro jumping in if there are troubles - Security is not my strong point so just tell me if it makes sense."

[adamu]

Al was dismayed to see the sisters go. They had been damned useful.

On the other hand, well, volatile would be the nicest word he could think of, and Goodbye's presence had taken a psychological toll on the team. Maybe something had had to give.

He was surprised to see the last straw was Solo - he was about the only one she hadn't fought with. Maybe that was why.

Still, he could see himself working with either one again. This line of work was making him into a downright paragon of open-mindedness, and he silently congratulated himself for it.

For now, they were out of the compromised hotel and in motion towards the place Goodbye had recommended. Solo was making the arrangements, and in nine minutes that wouldn't go fast enough, they might be making a deal that could end this nightmare. He allowed himself a flash of optimism.

As for the Growler: "Reckon it's your ride, compadre, yer askin' ol' Al's opinion, its yours to ride. Had a lot o' real bad experiences with splittin' groups up, an' I'd jist as soon keep these four together, come hell or high water, as have whisked away ta safety while leavin' the others at threat." He shrugged. "Ain't never been no one's pa, but if'n I was the Doc, reckon I'd feel the same way."

[pistolgrip]

"If we need to move the Doctor, the bike seems like a good plan. I'd drive. No bullets are getting through this." Aaron says, patting his armor proudly. I hope...
As the group did some kind of matrix wizardry to prepare for the meeting, Aaron turned on his comm for a bit to check his messages. Much to his surprise, there wasn't a single angry message from Madezyne. Not even from her assistant. Odd.
He swirled some variation of coffee in a plain white mug and stared at it. This seems like a good crowd to help me with those "lenders"... but an awfully bad crowd to owe anything to. He glanced up at Solo.

[Aria]

[Thursday June 18th, 2076, ~10:02, Nightside Market, London Below, London]

The group have squirreled themselves away as far from the hustle and bustle of the market as possible within a cramped eatery.  The signal is strong here, routed from the surface via fibre and mesh networks.  The distance to the Seattle host is passed with barely a thought and those attending the meet immediately see fairy twinkle dragon amidst the other personas using the host for various library services…the high res icon is a dracoform made up of swirling constellations and nebulae…

***
_#48

[adamu]

[Thursday June 18th, 2076, ~10:02, Nightside Market, London Below, London]

Al's stomach felt like it was awash in a North Sea storm, with the stacks of books looming up and threatening to crash over him in virtual waves.

Except he'd been in North Sea storms, and they'd never made his gut feel like this.

Maybe it was everything in his stomach that was tossing about like a storm at sea, which would explain why the plastic bag he'd hastily swiped from a fruit stall was already half full.

Still smelled like those tasty meat skewers.

But there was Fairy Twinkle Dragon, so time to look sharp. He'd never bothered upgrading the persona on his Fairlight from the default UMS, but the comm was bleeding edge enough that his faceless silvery silhouette would likely translate his body language, so he needed to stay frosty.

He was just really only halfway there, having opted for an AR overlay through his image link, partly to lessen the impact on his digestive tract, but mostly so he could stay aware of his meat surroundings. The damned druids knew where they were, no reason their other hunters weren't just as close on their tail. But even in a ghostly AR overlay, that icon was one-of-a-kind.

Except of course it wasn't.

No way to tell just by looking at her.

"Well met again, yer miladyness. Been a while since that casino down in Stuck."

[obidancer]

Riding a bike in a underground maze is bound to quickly take you to a dead end. I'd vote for remaining on foot. Better chances to disappear in the crowd if you ask me.

The crew made it to the eatery. The Frenchman could plug a cable to his datajack and partake in the virtual meeting. Part of him was curious to meet again with that  Lady. But, Matrix and Virtual worlds were definitely not his forte and with Al and Solo justifiably in charge of the meet, there was no reason to make himself known. Plus he'd rather stay with the family on the look out for any sign of trouble. With ISaint and Jackhammer around they were well protected, though he felt ISaint was also hesitating whether to enter the meeting or not. 

All he wanted was to get out of this place... That all 'underground' idea has not been much of his liking. With his blank memory, he couldn't tell if his uneasiness with this place was due to past experiences or simply  a bad feeling he was getting.