---

“Bloody Hell,” Andrew swore as his data pad chirped out a new work order for him. He knew what it would be before looking at the pad. It was Mrs. Tsao Ming, she probably poured grease down the kitchen drain again plugging the sewer of the entire apartment building. Worse, she probably did it intentionally as she had a thing for Andrew. Sure enough the work order was Ming complaining about the sewers.

He leaned over the card table that functioned as his desk, work shop, and lunch room.
“Fifteen minutes and I would be off, now I get to spend an hour cleaning out curry coated grease,” He said to Tommy his partner who was heading to a new job working for some corp.
Tommy laughed at him and said, “I leave this entire kingdom to you!”
Andrew had been slowly making the garage into a real workshop. He had been building and rebuilding equipment and making parts to fix things.

As Andrew got into the utility truck, turned the key, and then beat on the steering wheel.
“I’m to smart for this.,” he yelled.
The truck started.

Andrew was one of the neighborhood good guy’s. If something broke Andrew would probably help you out.

The sewer project was as bad as he expected. Rotting white chunks of grease filled the line as he cleaned the lines, then he hit something. It had snagged on the line and he was able to pull it back. In the slums people flushed all sorts of things. Drugs, guns, bodies just to name few.
Finding a bag with cash, a vibroblade, and data chips was a surprise. He wrapped the items in plastic and carried it and his gear back out to the truck.

If Mrs. Ming found out what he found the entire building would know. He wanted to keep it quiet.

@Sniblet@Eviledd1984



"Overlord, this is War Thunder. We are en route to the BemaTech facility, break. ETA: five mikes, over."

"Copy, War Thunder. Be advised, NCPD personnel have been spotted outside the facility. Do not fire on them unless ordered. I say again, NCPD are not to be treated as hostile unless otherwise."

"Roger, Overlord. War Thunder out."

"All callsigns, this is Warlock. Our target is a netrunner. Codename: Acid_Burn. Female, Caucasian, early twenties. Possible ties to a cybercriminal organization known as Black_Sun. She is in possession of a data package stolen from the BemaTech. Our mission is to locate Acid_Burn and retrieve the data before she sells it to her clients in the Yamagata Zaibatsu. Once we've recovered the data, our orders are to eliminate the target. Any questions? Good. Let's do this."

The blackened skies thundered above Nova city with the galloping sound of nearly tens of hundreds of Milicor Mi-68 transport helicopters, flanked by AH-71 Lakota gunships as they soared over the towering buildings and skyscrapers awash in a sea of glowing neon and holographic billboards. Pretty soon, they began their gradual descent to a lower altitude as the fleet closed in their destination.

Desmond took one last drag off the cigarette he was smoking before flicking it casually out the open door of the chopper's fuselage. He then loaded a fresh magazine into his rifle, racking the charging handle and flipping the weapon's safety to off. A brief looking over of his equipment and his squad's before they were ready to disembark.

"Thirty seconds, gentlemen!" The pilot yelled back over the rancorous chopping winds that vibrated the entire fuselage. Desmond quickly gave a curt nod and stood up. "Alright, men! On your feet!" He shouted over the roaring and buzzing of the chopper. "Remember! Do not fire on any NCPD unless I give the order! Are we clear?!"

"SIR! YES SIR!" The men all shouted back in unison. By that time, the choppers were already descending upon the facility, hovering over the NCPD squad cars in the parking lot, their flashing reds and blues culminating with the hazy green emanating from the large BemaTech building. Desmond soon gave the order to drop the ropes and rappel down. "GO! GO! GO!"

One after another, the Milicor mercs, clad in full military regalia and combat gear, slid down the ropes fast, taking up defensive positions just as immediately as their feet hit the ground. Desmond followed shortly after, his boots eliciting a resounding clop as his soles landed firmly on the concrete drive and his AR interface suddenly lit up his vision with tactical data of his surrounding area, linking up with his rifle's holosight. "Team One, set up a perimeter around the building! No one gets in or out! Team Two, I want you to secure the server room and report any intel to me! Let's move!"

His men quickly snapped into action upon his orders. Meanwhile, Desmond calmly approached the two mercenaries for hire who were cuffed outside and sitting on the curb nearby. Already, there were three NCPD officers about to load them up in the back of the paddy wagon before Desmond stopped them, "Hold it right there, mate. I need to speak with those two." A firm, gloved finger he pointed towards the two men.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Wait a fuckin' minute! What the hell are you assholes doin' here?!" Loudly one of the officers protested, evidently taken aback by the sudden appearance of so many Milicor mercs. "You can't just barge in here like you own the goddamn place! This area's under our jurisdiction!"

"Not anymore, mate." Said Desmond with a stern glare aimed at the fat cop's boisterous face. "These men have committed a security breach of a facility owned by the BemaTech Corporation. Under our longstanding agreement with BemaTech, Milicor Defense International provides the corporation with top of the line security. That includes my men and I."

"Listen, bub!" The cop replied poking his chubby finger into Desmond's chestplate, thus earning him another vehement stare from the merc. He continued to rattle off in Desmond's face, only making the man angrier by the second. "I don't care what Milicor or BemaTech says! This is official police business! Now you order your men to back off or things are gonna get real fuckin' nasty here! Capisce?"

"No." Desmond returned snarling through clenched teeth. He leaned in closer to the bulbous officer, hissing a dire warning, "And if you ever touch me again, you fucking wanker, I will paint the outside of this building with your fat fucking corpse! Now I won't tell you again! This facility is under OUR control! Leave now!"

"Hold up there, Rambo! Are you threatening me?" The officer spat back with equal venom as his jowls puffed and flapped. Things were about to get heated between them until Desmond's comm cracked with static, followed by the voice of one of his men.

"Warlock, this is Team Two, over."

Desmond shot the cop one last menacing glare before squelching his mic and replying, "Go ahead, mate. Gimme a sitrep on the server, over."

"Server's wiped clean, sir. All the files have been downloaded. ICE is compromised. Whoever did this was no amateur."

"Too right, mate." Bitterly Desmond sighed into the mic, his hand reaching to vigorously yet briefly massage his left temple. "Do we have an ID on the hacker?"

"Affirmative, Warlock." Replied the merc on the other end. "Intel gathered by cracking the security feed in the building has given us a positive ID on the target. We're sending it to you now."

Suddenly, the picture appeared in Desmond's vision. Although it was slightly grainy, he was able to pick out the face of the woman he was after.

Desmond was quiet for a moment, lost in thought. His brow furrowed as another breath of air was exhaled from his lungs in a bothered sigh. Soon, he answered the soldier on his comm, "Contact one of the Regulator cells nearby. Have them intercept the cruiser but do not, I say again, DO NOT harm the target! Do I make myself clear?"

"Roger, Warlock. I'll send an APB to any nearby Regulators ASAP. In the meantime, our UAV is showing another Milicor operative in the area. According to the radar, it's Callsign Pink Dot."

"Fuck!" Desmond muttered annoyed. "Fine. Have her regroup with our squad until further notice. Warlock out." With that, he squelched the mic again and turned to the two mercs sitting cross legged on the sidewalk. Suddenly he whipped out his service pistol, firing two shots that splattered blood and brain matter all over the three cops standing by. Quickly, they too drew their guns on Desmond, which only led to their swift and grisly demise at the merc's skillful hand.

As the last body hit the ground, Desmond looked over them with ill contempt in his glaring cybernetic eyes, hissing under his breath as he holstered his sidearm, "That's what you get for fucking with Milicor."

---

Meanwhile across the city, Emma's cruiser was still stuck at the intersection, halted by a red light that seemingly refused to change. Irritated, she huffed and drummed her fingers on the steering wheel, glaring up at the light in disdain. "Oh, come the fuck on already!" She grumbled. "I've got a perp to deliver back to the precinct! What, is this light painted red or something? Jesus!" She was becoming visibly annoyed by the second, not just from this damn red light but also the snide comments of the netrunner in the back, a familiar face to Emma, yet the older woman didn't let it show.

Indeed, there was a time when Emma went against the law rather than upholding it, when she outright challenged the corrupt authority, the rich bastards and the oligarchs who used their power to abuse others and take what wasn't theirs. Alas, she had found out the hard way her rebellion would have a price. A price she was not willing to pay, hence why she abandoned Maggie and her crew to become a cop. Emma could recall clearly Maggie's last words to her, the biting, vicious insults and slurs that spewed from her mouth like toxic waste from some drain pipe out in the ocean.

Lo and behold their paths would cross yet again.

A bitter sigh escaped her lips as she glanced in the rearview mirror at the young woman, scowling at her with eyes so sharp they could cut the detective to ribbons. Emma then turned and looked over at the blonde beside her, Nina shutting her eyes and frowning as Maggie turned her hostilities onto her. Yet another girl she threw under the bus for doing what she thought was right.

"Don't let the bitch get to you, rockstar." Emma cooed, albeit with a hint of sass. A wry, assuring smile she offered to Nina in a small attempt to comfort her. "Sooner or later, she'll realize you did the right thing."

Nina returned the kind gesture with a slight nod. "Thanks." Sadly she whispered, her own smile somewhat fading. "What's gonna happen to her now?"

"Hard to say." Emma replied frowning. "My guess if the corpos do bail her out, she'll sell the data to them. However...they won't have much use for her afterwards."

"You mean...they'll..." Nina gulped, her face losing all color in an instant, leaving only a chalky white complexion. Her eyes widened in horror as she hastily whipped around and began laying into Maggie in the backseat, "Goddammit, Maggie! I warned you working with the corpos was a deal with the devil! If they bail you out, they'll kill you! End of story! They don't care about you! Only whatever you stole from BemaTech! They'll throw you away like trash once they're done with you! You remember all the shit I told you my dad did! Why I had to run away from him in the first place! These fuckers are all evil! They're greedy, selfish bastards who only want one thing in this world, and that's power!" The blonde girl's voice hitched a little as her eyes began to well up with tears. "Please, I know you want to do good. I know your intentions are well, but this is not the way to be doing it. Listen to me, will you?"

"Uh, Nina?" Emma stammered hesitantly.

"What? What is it?" Nina whipped back around in her seat, just in time to see a blinding pair of headlights speeding towards Emma's cruiser. Suddenly, a barrage of automatic gunfire erupted from the charging armored vehicle, shattering the front windshield into a hail of glass shards.

youtube.com/watch?v=fjDGv4FambQ

"MOTHERFUCKER! TAKE COVER!" Emma yelled, immediately throwing herself and Nina down onto the floor of her car. Bullets ripped through the metal and zipped past Emma's ears, thankfully not one hitting her or the blonde. She quickly yanked her revolver out of her hip holster and jumped up returning fire. "Fucking Regulators!" She shouted over the thunderous bangs of her sidearm. "What the hell are they doing here?!" The Regulators' Humvee came to a screeching halt, all four doors flying open as men and women garbed in Kevlar vests and wielding Milicor assault rifles poured out and began unleashing hell on the already heavily damaged police cruiser.

While Emma hastily reloaded and returned fire, Nina kept her head ducked down, shielding herself from bits of glass with her hands. This was insane, she thought, but the exact outcome she knew Maggie's lawless endeavors would have. This had the makings of a hit-squad written all over it. Maggie had pissed off the wrong people, and now everyone in this car were going to pay the ultimate price. "Emma!" She screamed over the rancor of gunfire, the vicious barking of the Regulator leader issuing orders to his men to continue their onslaught. "Emma, we gotta get Maggie out of here!"

"You don't think I know that, Nina!" Emma shouted back, shoving another round of bullets into the chamber of her revolver and firing them off one by one. "There's a goddamn death squad out there! I need some fucking backup! You still have that gun, right?!"

"Y-yeah!" Nina quickly nodded.

"Take your little hacker friend and get the fuck out of here! I'll meet you when I can!"

"What about you?!" Cried Nina.

Emma hollered in reply, "Doesn't matter! Go! NOW! I'll cover you!"

Nina hastily nodded back. Amidst the overwhelming volley of lead, she kicked open the passenger side door and crouched as low as she could as she hurried towards the back of the cruiser. "Shit!" A bullet ricocheting off the roof of the police car caused her to yelp. She reached over and flung open the back door on Maggie's side. "Mags, come on!
Let's go! Everyone's gunning for you!"

Meanwhile, Emma continued to return fire. She quickly reached for the radio on her dash, practically screaming her lungs out into the mic, "Dispatch, this is Detective Thorley! I'm under heavy fire at the intersection of West and Fremont! Send backup, over! Nishida, if you can hear this, I need you to get out of whatever pair of legs your between and get your fucking ass up here, NOW! They're ripping us to shreds here!"

Just like that Emma thought, a gnawing, sickening feeling surging in her gut as bullets continued to hail down on her and everyone else, all hell had broken loose in Nova City, all over some data stolen by Maggie.

Ironic, a cop and a worthless prostitute-no a piece of scrap metal to be thrown away with the rest of the cities filth. It was ironic how a detective could make the mistake of getting entangled in a web thick with the strands of things best to be left undisturbed else the spider come crawling to catch it's prey. Indeed, the spider had felt the tug of the web and was closing in to catch the poor fly in the web.

Amongst the light pitter-patter of rain and mist, the light pad of footsteps were muted as Sanguis stepped through the pools of rainwater as light as a feather and the jangle of Hiro's keys flittered through the air the detective wouldn't hear the gun cocking behind him and when the man took one last look up at the red lights of the district the only sound he heard was a gunshot. But no darkness would fall over the detective, death was not his assailant's current focus. No he wanted to toy with his prey first before closing in for the kill.

As the barrel of the old gun smoked, two crimson eyes shone viewing his handiwork "Hm, killing you would be so easy you know that detective?" Sanguis had shot the detective in the pelvic area just below the leg to cripple him for the moment and as he grasped for his weapon Hiro would feel the weight of his assailant's boots as he kicked the man making him drop the weapon "Where would the fun in that be? Enjoy yourself? I wonder if I can make that Sweetie sing too?" there was a hint of mockery in his voice, he enjoyed this kind of torture. Sanguis brought his boot to nudge the weapon away from his victim before kicking the detective again with one last drive of the toe of his boot into his ribs with a crack.

"I'll have to silence her soon but for now-" Sanguis planted the heel of his black boot on the detectives chest putting pressure on his cracked ribs "Detective Hiro, I would suggest you stay far from this case but I'm sure you won't...At least you have seen my handiwork before, right?" a cruel chuckle rattled beneath the bloody mask then the masked assailant stepped back and as fast as he appeared the man slipped away into the darkness only his cruel chuckle echoing behind him.

That sound.
Helicopters...?
Mira pauses her run for the precinct and looks up, then, very quickly, looks down. Oh shit. Those are MDI.
...MDI sent helicopters. That many. Into Nova City.
...bigger than Lt. Brave could tell her, huh?
"Cut the last three seconds of visual from the stream," she whispers, urgently. A clicking sensation in her temple acknowledges the order. "Oh, and activate the... let's try the 'Kouhai' filter." Click. "Let's see what chat thinks."
On the stream's visual, there's a short period of buffering as Mira begins to raise her view, and then the world gets suddenly more... saturated. Mira looks up again, and the helicopters are branded in Japanese. Those who know the language would recognize the former MDI logos as now reading "S-sensei! Noooo!" and "Don't touch me there~!"
"Alright chat, things are getting a little complicated now. Don't worry, you'll still get to see all the action - I just have to hide some identities. Hope none of you can read Japanese."
what the fuck desu??
oh no pinky this is degenerate
i like the pyroland filter better can we go back to that one
i heard them from here, look outside nc folks those choppers are [CONTENT BLOCKED]
>User has been timed out for 30 seconds.

Then, within another minute, a new call: another one from Contractor. Or, to the stream, from Itai-senpai.
"Sorry all, another break."
"NCS947, Brave speaking. Mission update. You're wanted at the Bema facility. Same coordinates as mentioned. Sorry about the confusion."
"Wha- why?"
"Wade wants you. I'm outranked. Just go." Beep.

Blink. Blink. Lenses back down, back to the stream.
"Whew, I hate my bosses sometimes."
She runs a quick mental calculation regarding the right vector to get there from here... it's where the helicopters were going. Oh shiiit...
She sets off to running again.
"You ever had bosses who went against one another? Like a tug of war for your obedience? Do this, no do that, until someone pulls rank and you're doing that when you thought you were doing this. Sometimes it's even your fault, they say, like why aren't you doing this? Like it's my problem you guys can't get organized? I'm following orders! What about this whole singular vision you keep saying we have, you know?"
you're going after the helis? whats happening?
did that store sign say what i think it said
i think that sign was a quote from- i mean i dont know what thats a quote from lol
Don't forget your rifle, Pink
"Don't forget dis dick. He's backseating, mods, get him."
>User has been timed out for 2 minutes.
It's Wade who wants her, and she wouldn't have to go far out of her way, so...
She bullies chat all the way to her equipment stash, and then all the way to the AO.

Team One may be alarmed at the sight of a woman leaping into their perimeter from a nearby rooftop, massive rifle case slung over her shoulder. Mira doesn't mind - startling men with guns is a good performance for the viewership, and Milicor is familiar with trigger discipline.
"Hey, Dez!" she calls. Her chat, through the Kouhai anonymization filter's display of Desmond Wade as an anime boy, hears this nickname only as "Onii-chan!," but still gets to see something near his real physique, and begins barking CHAD and HUSBANDO. This is a ritual whenever a big man is on camera. Not often but more than once, that big man has been Dez.
Mira casts around a smile for the mercs, at the same time eyeing the corpses scattered and splattered around. "This already looks like a place you've been to. So what're we doing today? Where're we raising hell next?"

@Kiragan_Natsuki

Magdalene “Maggie” Harwood

Maggie was glaring at Emma through the rearview mirror. If she was able to, she would be burning a hole through the back of her head. Her mouth opened about to throw another slur her way, but quickly closed it as she didn’t want to spend any more energy on her. All she knew was that she was going to walk away a free woman. “Keep talking bitch, your not gonna be laughing when living under a bridge.” She thought with a smirk on her face. Watching Nina turning her head at her, screaming about how she was going to be killed by her employer. “There could be a possibility that gook would try to kill me after I give em the info. But I’m prepared for such an occasion, I will know if he’s tries to kill me, and if my suspicions are right then that info is gonna go bye-bye.” She was putting on a visage of confidence, when in reality the thought of being shot in the alley like a dog terrified her. She was not sure if her hacker friends could save her from a bullet. “Besides I got friends that are looking after me, So don’t gotta worry about me Nin.”

Her smug attitude was quickly shattered along with the windshield. “Get down Lilith!!!” Trying to grab Lilth’s shirt to pull her down onto the ground of the cruiser. She was safe face down on her stomach, however Lilith was not so lucky. Maggie could see she was hit in the chest and stomach, making her look like swiss cheese. She let out a loud gasp, some of Lilith's blood splattered on her face. And since she was still cuffed, it was quite hard to see what was going on. The mention of the Regulators made her quite fearful, she had heard a lot of bad things happening when they get involved. “Mine uncuffing me Nin, i can’t do shit with my hands behind my back.” Waiting for Emma to uncuff her, after being uncuffed she followed Nina while keeping low to the ground. “If you got an extra piece for me to use, then i can cover you.” She found it highly unlike she was going to let a criminal use a gun. But in this situation, Maggie thought that this would be the expectation. She hoped that she and Emma could get out of here in one piece.

@Dark Cloud

And just like that...

The case had taken a turn down a much darker path, one that even Hiro himself was fearful to tread.

The bullet ripped through his upper thigh, just below his pelvis, amidst a loud crash of thunder that all but silenced the gunshot as he fell to his knees in the chilling rains that poured down upon him. Desperately, he clawed through his coat to reach for his pistol, but too late was he as a heavy boot crashed into the side of his head with all the force of a colliding semi-truck, throwing Hiro dazed into a puddle of water and sending his nine millimeter skittering across the wet, glossy pavement.

"Y-you...!" Weakly he muttered in dreadful surprise, turning his head slowly just to catch a faint glimpse of his assailant, mainly that gruesome, macabre visage that obscured his true self, those two glowing red eyes like the very embers of Hell gazing into his soul.

Another boot came crashing into him violently, this time into his ribs, with the crack of his bones culminating with another crashing crescendo of thunder overhead. Forcefully he was flipped over on his back, gazing bleary eyed at the dull gray skies above, nary a word he could muster through the tormenting waves of pain that pulsed throughout his entire body. The only thing that Hiro could push through his lips was a cough of viscous blood that streamed down his cheek onto the tarmac as his attacker, his cruel, torturous assailant set his heavy boot upon the detective's broken and battered frame, laughing ever so wickedly at his triumph over him.

Soon however, his cackling faded, leaving Hiro in the cold, deathly silence of only the rain pattering across his beaten and mangled body. Everything around him slowly began to dissipate into an inky blackness, the red lights of the Venus District, the occasional crackle of lightning across the darkened skies, the rumbling clap of thunder. It would all disappear from Hiro...as faintly he uttered one...last...word...

"Sanguis..."

---

@Eviledd1984

“If you got an extra piece for me to use, then I can cover you.”

Emma turned her head slightly to answer Maggie's request, but sadly...no answer would follow.

"EMMA!" Nina screamed in horror watching the gruesome, horrible scene unfold so suddenly before her waking eyes. A massive bang erupted vibrating the air all around her, a sudden shrill gasp leaving her lungs like she was punched square in the chest. Her mouth hung agape as she watched the side of the female cop's head explode in a puff of red mist, her body crumbling to the ground and her gun flying out of her hand, landing abruptly at Maggie's feet.

"NO!!" Nina's eyes filled with tears, her throat seizing up so much she could barely utter another terrifying scream. Emma's body was now lying in a puddle of blood on the road, the Regulators stepping over her like she was nothing more than a piece of garbage in their way...as they resumed their advance towards Nina, Maggie, and a badly wounded Lilith.

"They...they killed her, Maggie! They fucking killed her! BASTARDS!"

The Regulators were coming for them next, but Nina...she was frozen stiff, unable to run, let alone move a single inch. She was caught in a maelstrom of overwhelming terror and violent, vicious anger.

---

@Sniblet

Desmond gave his pink haired subordinate Mira a disapproving glare upon lieu of her recent feed activity. God, how he hated that cringy anime filter she always used to mask their operations from the public eye, especially the reactions it got from her supposed fans, a
bunch of perverted degenerates in Desmond's opinion. For the life of him, Desmond still couldn't fathom why Milicor would allow such shenanigans to resume from this girl, such unprofessional conduct that would have even the highest ranking officer court marshalled in nothing flat.

"Christ, Pinky. Cut that bloody thing off for once, will you?" Desmond grumbled heaving a bothered sigh. "In case you haven't noticed, we've recently had a security breach. Classified data was stolen from this facility by two netrunners and their mercs. BemaTech is furious and wants the data retrieved at all costs. I've already neutralized the mercenaries and contacted a nearby Regulator cell to deal with the runners. In the meantime, I need you and the rest of the team aiding them. Chances are this Acid_Burn is craftier than our intel led us to believe, and she may have already escaped police custody.
Locate the target and recover whatever data she stole. Once that's done, kill her and report back to me. Plain and simple."

@Kiragan_Natsuki

Magdalene “Maggie” Harwood

Maggie watched as Emma’s head was blown off by the Regulator’s guns. Even though she was dissing her a few moments ago, she was still in shock from what was going on. “Shit, these guys mean business.” Watching the gun sliding towards her feet, quickly grabbing the gun and firing a few shots at the mercs. “Come on Nina we gotta go, if we stay here we’ll end up like Lilith and Nina.” Pulling on Nina’s police jacket, trying to get her to follow her. Popping off a couple of shots at the Regulators. She was still in shock from what was going on.

“Come on let’s go…” Screaming while firing a few more shots at the mercs. Trying to lead Nina away from the cruiser. One of the bullets whizzing past her face, hearing it whiz past her ear.

"If I cut out the company secrets altogether I lose my enemy spy demographic. Don't wooorry, I'm totally in control of what gets through."
Locate the target and recover whatever data she stole. Once that's done, kill her and report back to me.
Mira carefully does not show her reaction to this order. She blinks. She starts half of a sigh, and stops herself. She smiles and salutes.
"Straightforward as ever, Dez. I'll even bring some brain matter back if you want! Rest of you can follow me if you can keep up, but this sounds time-sensitive!"
She hangs around just long enough to catch his reflexive facial reaction to the offer on camera, then turns and runs off.

As soon as she climbs up to a rooftop out of earshot, she lets out the laugh.
"Chat. Chat, you have no- oh my god. This is why we bring down the corporatocracy, okay? That order he just gave me - however it came through to you guys - it's literally what I was doing anyway before he called me over! This is it, this is why I bring it all down! Get it in your manifestos, people."
She sighs.
"Alright, Faraday. Point me to the nearest Regulator gunfight."
_{"Error 232 failure to parse."}
"Sorry. Faraday, search for current reports of violent activity involving the Regulator gang."
the WHAT gang
pinky please you have to turn the filter off im dying
The moderator team would like to remind you not to repeat the language you are currently hearing at home.

Faraday did not give her a precise location, but when you're looking for Regulator violence, a kilometer or two off course can be afforded. They get real loud, and to a trained ear, no firearm report sounds quite like that of a Regulator custom piece. (Kouhai replaces the reports with Creative Commons gunfire soundclips. The program is begrudged the world over for its thoroughness.)
The last challenge is getting a vantage point. Everything's about the same height around here, so she can't get a truly dominating view of the combat zone... she settles for a rooftop a little ways down the street, takes a quick peek over the side to make sure it's the right one - there's a police cruiser and at least half a dozen men blazing their rifles at it, that's good enough - then ducks out of sight and starts unpacking her own big gun.

"Cutting down my bandwidth. Sorry, chat, probably gonna have to wallbang, I need clear air for visual. Resolution'll be better in post, your clips'll be okay."
She pops open her rifle case.
"Like this runner won't be."
@Eviledd1984 @Kiragan_Natsuki
https://youtu.be/vvBxdpi1d_o
30 seconds to assembly. A connected netrunner would light up like neon on her scope, and Mira knows she's looking for one. Regular heat signatures are harder to see, but if less than two walls or so of combined solid surface is in the way, she'll have an unconditional visual on both of you.
She's still streaming, of course, so an online netrunner could get as much as a 144p direct view of what's coming before she even starts to aim...

@Eviledd1984 @Veyrinday

“Come on Nina we gotta go, if we stay here we’ll end up like Lilith and Emma.”

Upon Maggie's frantic shouting, Nina snapped out of her horrified trance and grabbed her friend's hand, running with her through the flurry of bullets zipping past, the sporadic rattle of gunfire echoing throughout the hellscape that the city street had become. She took one last look over her shoulder at the dead police officer, Emma's cold, vacant stare looking back at her, conjuring in her belly a sharp pang of guilt and remorse. "Dammit! This was all my fault!" She was screaming inside her head, tears continuing to run down her scratched up and slightly bruised face. "I should have never ratted Maggie out! But if I didn't, then those Yamagata suits would've killed her first! Fuck! Why does there always have to be a wrong answer to everything?!"

Suddenly, Nina screamed out, a quick burst of pain erupting from her shoulder with a squelch of blood. "Ah!
Fuck!" She grasped at the tear in her blue jacket, warm, red liquid seeping between her dainty fingers. Nevertheless, Nina grit her teeth and tried to ignore it as best she could, shouting back to Maggie as they kept running away from the viciously pursuing Regulators. "I- Agh! I-I'm fine! Let's keep moving! I think I know a place we can lay low!"

Cutting off the street and into a nearby alleyway, Nina kept running with Maggie in hand. Eventually, the sound of gunfire and running feet was becoming more distant. "In here! Hurry!" She pulled Maggie through an unassuming doorway, slamming the large metal door behind her and bolting it shut.

Unbeknownst to Nina however, she and Maggie had barged into what appeared to be the workshop of a ripperdoc. She fell against the door with her back pressed to it, breathing heavily and feeling like her lungs were blazing hot. "We....we did it, Maggie... We're safe..." Her legs weak and trembling, Nina slid down the door onto her backside, setting down on the cold concrete floor and burying her face into her knees. Sweat poured down her brow in beads, soaking into her tank top as she gasped trying to catch her breath, not knowing of the ripperdoc and his patient, a young Asian woman, staring right at her and Maggie.

---

@Sniblet

"Warlock, this is Team 2. Snipers are in position above Fremont. Looks like we got a goddamn jamboree down there, over. Target has escaped on foot. The blonde's with her too."

"Copy Team 2. Birds are in position overhead. Have the Regulators stand down until further notice. We need to minimize civilian casualties as much as possible, over."

"Roger, Warlock."

Desmond peered over the edge of the fuselage through his scope as the choppers circled overhead surveying the bloody scene, bodies lying everywhere amidst the boiling black smoke emanating from burning cars. Most of the dead were Regulators, as he could tell by their signature body armor and weapons, but it was the last corpse Desmond viewed from above that made his stomach churn and flip. A woman, a cop at that, was lying face down in a pool of blood, her police cruiser riddled with bullet holes. The Regulators showed her absolutely no mercy it seemed. He would have to deal with them later though. Reaching again for his comm, he radioed towards the pilot in the cockpit, "War Thunder, take us down. We'll move through the alley on foot." He then radioed to the sniper team, specifically Mira, "Pinky, Target has moved into the nearby alley. We're going to move in and flush her out. Be advised, biometric scan has shown possible cybernetics installed in her brain. It could be a mnemonic storage device. No headshots on this one, Pink. Do I make myself clear?"

Before Dez could get an answer though, the chopper landed on the road just a few blocks from where all the chaos had gone down. Quickly he checked his weapons and gear then ordered his men to pile out and move on foot towards the alley. "Team One, stack up and check your corners. We don't know if this is an ambush. Skegs, Gryphon, you two take point. Watch the windows for snipers."

"Warlock, this is War Thunder. We're at bingo fuel, over. Heading back to base to refit and refuel."

"Copy, War Thunder. Warlock out. Team, stack up on that door. I'm getting a strong reading from there." Dez pointed towards a large metal door just a few feet down the alley. As ordered, his men took up positions beside it and prepared to breach.

"Remember, we're only after the data. Kill anyone else who gets in the way."

---

---

@Dark Cloud

*Riiiing*

*Riiiing*

As Sanguis was leaving the scene of the brutally beaten detective clinging to life outside of his vehicle, he would hear the faint, polyphonic echo of a phone ringing, a burner phone dropped off in an alley by a young Japanese woman on a custom Yamagata RGZ-1 motorbike before screaming off into the night with only her red taillight trailing behind her.

Upon picking it up and answering it, his ear would be filled with the voice of a much older man, his tone pleasant and thick with an Asian accent.

"Moshi moshi, Sanguis-San. We cannot thank you enough for silencing that meddlesome detective. Unfortunately, we have a few more loose ends to tie up. The prostitute the detective spoke with earlier, we want her dead. She already knows far too much. After you have dealt with her, we want you to locate a young woman. Her name is Magdalene Harwood. Goes by the name Acid_Burn online. She is in possession of a valuable data package we want you to intercept. Once she gives you the data, we want you to kill her and bring the data to us. Your talents have been invaluable to Yamagata-San. He is willing to pay you more than double our usual fee if you accept. Do not disappoint us."

Her radio. Her radio’s talking. Sometimes she forgets she even has that.
”Ah - copy, Warlock. Repositioning to cover exits, ETA 15 secs, should be ready when you are. I might be able to arrange a less-lethal if I don’t get any surprises.”
Rifle, assembled. Streaming persona offline. Scope live. Nothing but stiffs on visual.
WHO IS THAT BEHIND THE CRUISER
WHPSE CAR IS THAT @Pink_Dot READ ME TGE NUMBER
u ok?
@Pink_Dot !!!!!
Chat window closed.
Mira takes a short run and a long jump over the carnage, rifle tightly cradled for the landing across the street.
”Careful with whoever dropped this many Regs. I’d lose to just one.”

@Kiragan_Natsuki @Sniblet

Magdalene “Maggie” Harwood

Maggie helped Nina while they were being shot at by the Regulators, feeling a bullet skimming her side. Letting out a grunt of pain while trying not to fall over and bring Nina with her to the ground. “Fuck.” Cursing loudly, gritting her teeth as blood was running down her shirt and pants. She was not sure if it was a Regulator bullet or a sniper that was set up far away from them. But the most logical choice would be the former. “No point in thinking about whatcha did, we gotta think about them now and not have our heads blown off.” She understood where Nina was coming from, betraying a friend was not a great feeling. Especially when this betrayal caused the death of her comrade.

Once in a while, she would be firing blinding at the Regulators. The shots barely hit the mercs, with most of them easily dodging her incoming bullets. “What are these guys psychic or something?” Maggie was not sure if they would be able to escape the mercs, using her hacking abilities to try and slow them down. Trying to make their guns to stop working, or to blind them so they do not know where they’ll end up.

Maggie was glad that they were relatively safe from behind the large metal door, Taking a quick look at her surrounding she could tell they were at a Ripperdoc. “We're not out of the woods yet Nin, we need to keep moving to truly lose those fools.” Her eyes looked over at the Ripperdoc and the Asian woman. “Sorry to barge in, I and my girl are trying to lose some bad mofos. We’ll be out of your hair in a sec.” Turning her attention towards Nina, crouching down in front of her, “Ya ready to go chicka? I know a guy that can help us out.” She asked now standing up, and holding out her hand for Nina.

---

After some serious consideration, he did what any slob living in the slums would do. He headed for the “Grand Bazar.” It was a place you could get just about anything you wanted if you were willing to pay. Somethings took time to get. It was where the criminal underworld met and corps dumped tech and equipment that was broken. Andrew loved the place because if you were a bit creative, you could make things that were useful and fix things that were longer working.

Andrew walked the cramped walkways and alleyways between stalls. Many of the more “reputable” merchants Andrew knew by name. Some of the less reputable he knew as well, but he tried not to deal with people that wouldn’t pay.

He was after a metal lathe, a milling machine, and electronic repair tools. Andrew did not want to spend the rest of his life cleaning sewers and fixing electrical wire. He had dreams of making it out of the slums, or at least to a better part of it.

These things were fairly easy to find, since he could take them in not completely working order. He also bought drones for parts.

It left him enough to buy some real food and not the lab grown synthetic stuff.