The sun had barely begun to rise over the skyline of Megacity-01 when the alarm clock went off inside a tiny studio apartment on Metro Street. Almost instantly, a hand shot out to slam down the snooze button with more force than intended. Johnny groaned as he groggily pulled himself up from his bedsheets. One could tell by the bleary look in his eyes that he was recovering from a hangover and the lack of proper sleep the last few nights wasn't helping anything either. Despite the semi-inebriated state, Johnny pulled himself out of bed and began doing warm-up stretches in his apartment. Even though the cybernetics in his body were keeping his form in a physically fit state, the ex-enforcer had never quite forgotten the routines he developed during his time in Black Maria.

After finishing his morning workout, Johnny searched around the apartment until he found a pair of pants that didn't smell like last week's beef bowl at Shimazu's and threw them on alongside a shirt and his jacket. After last night's bender he didn't want to think about doing anything else but go downstairs and have and easy day looking after The Bodega. However, that all was about to change when his GEO-ID activated upon sensing its user was awake.

"Good morning, Johnny! Would you care to hear the morning news?" The device chirped as Johnny descended the stairs to open the shop for the day. Rubbing his face in his hand, Johnny found himself wishing - once again - that he could just mute this thing. Nevertheless, the news cycle just happened to be where he got the most tips for work. There was usually something he could look into.

"Fuck it... What do you have for me today, Geo?" He didn't ever bother to look at his GEO-ID while the device began to spout off the usual listings of bland sales, the new products from the Corporations, and other pointless news. However there was one story that caught his attention as he unlocked the door.

"Finally, there was a body discovered on Mobius Street near The Spire. No GEO-ID was found on the body so it was likely a member of Sk8te. According to reports from MCPD, the cause of death was a sniper shot to the head. Witnesses cla-," The voice didn't get to finish before Johnny gave it his full attention.

"Stop! Run that back, Geo," Sk8te members randomly turning up dead was far from an unusual occurrence. Usually some cocky newbie would get a big head and try a route that was far too dangerous for their skill level. A murder case on the other hand... that was something worth questioning. Most of the major factions viewed Sk8te as a tool at best and a nuisance at worst. Going for a kill meant something was wrong.

Briefly forgetting the store, Johnny placed his GEO-ID on the counter and pulled up his AR map of the city. Tapping his temple, he activated the Skynet overlay and watched as various Sk8ter routes and territory maps overtook his vision. Looking over to the photos being shown on his GEO-ID's news feed, he saw right away the blue hair and body tattoos on the corpse were indicative of the New Wave cell.

"A New Wave? Near the Spire?" Looking over the map, Johnny knew something was up. New Wave's territory was practically on the opposite side of the map! "What's some kid doing running on the rooftops near the most policed section of the city?" Looking over the news story, it seemed as though no items were recovered from the scene or on the Sk8ter's body. If the kid was carrying something, the assassin clearly took it. Johnny was about to close the shop early to go investigate when he heard the electric buzzer signaling the arrival of a new customer. Quickly closing his AR map, he put on his best fake smile. "Mornin'! Welcome to The Bodega!"

"Okay...then...next!"

And a leap, a daring leap, first there was concrete, and the ledge of a building, and then nothing but air. 200 or more feet of air. Air cars racing above , street cars far beneath.

"Sir you are falling. Do you need assistance?"

The person rolled in the air, looking to their side, and one of the cities auto-remote assistance bots is pacing them.

The person cackles, "Naw! I'm fine lad!" The bot doesn't seem to believe him as it starts to catch up it's four long grasper arms reaching out.

"Alert upon your appropriation, you will be bill..."

The bot never got to finish, as the person spun around again, angled their hips, and with a bang a spike and a long high tensile wire lanced out. And moments before the bot tried to grab the person the spike bit into the far side building and the person is whisked off with a whoop. High and higher. Leaving the bot behind.

And the person climbs. Landing on the side of a building across the way, and the second of the two wire launchers fires, allowing the man to run up the side of the building while the first wire is detached from the building and spools back into the launcher. Reaching the end of the second wire, the other wire is fired. But soon the person has to duck onto a ledge and resume running as another bot approaches this time with blazing lights.

Yet still they climb even as the morning light begins to cut through the gloom.

Up up and up! Higher and higher.

The person hurdles the high fence over a sky walk, landing among the early morning pedestrians. The person keeps going, waving and calling, "Hi! Sorry just passing through!" And racing along the sky walk until they reach a good spot, climbing the safety wall, and with a push and a blast of the launcher, on they go swinging along and still climbing.

Right up until they reach a ledge and they are met with a TexCor, sec team in a low level hover truck. "What the hell do you...oh you feckin' Sk@ater prick! You've set off 20 alarms! We're taking you in! Hey were!" The person laughs, "Sorry lads guy has places to be." The man leaps, jumps off the top of the truck and then leaps out into the open again, soaring and doesn't seem like he's going to make anything until another fast moving hover car races by and the man catches it, "Bye!" He shouts as he's carried off, far enough that he uses his launcher again to climb even higher and before the driver notices him and activates the counter measures.

And finally, the man the Sk@te punk reaches his destination.

And Caelan Maxwell plops onto his rear at the apex of a hab spire, and watches as the first light of day reaches Mega-City One.

With a smile he nods, "Good morning folks, and welcome to another day in paradise!" With a blaze of light the Morris Road Sk@ter, gets up, and hurls himself off the building diving down with a woop of joy, before catching a ledge with his line launcher and off he goes, breakfast time, things to do.

Home... Sweet Home...

Baba O'Reilly stood high, perched atop a loft overlooking Metro street. She closed her eyes in a gentle musing as a light breeze carried across the skyline. With a feline stretch, she yawned in a low tone; though the first rays of sunlight were only beginning to cut through the smoggy fog that hung over the city, Baba had been awake for several hours already.

In need of respite from an early morning of prowling and job running, she had made a beeline towards Home. Now, a quick jog across the roofs of the Megacity later, the abode of the Retros Orphans sat a few buildings away.

She stretch again, touching her toes, feeling the relieving pull in her lower back and legs. Feeling loose, and rejuvenated in the rush of a second wind, Baba strode to the edge of the rooftop, and looked across to the next one over. A twenty-foot gap and a single story drop stood between her and the next landing spot. Her right hand drifted toward the grappling gun holstered on her hip, but stopped short of removing it. Recoiling her hand, she backtracked. Thirty feet from the ledge, she propped herself into a starting-line stance, and broke into a sprint. When she reached the last two feet of solid surface, her legs contracted, and sprung forward from the edge of the rooftop.

The muscular implants would do their job as intended; the alleyway passed hundreds of feet beneath her, though she had long taught herself not to look down. Her bound easily crossed the gap between the buildings. When her descent reached the next building over, she landed in a smooth tuck and roll, moving seamlessly into a continued run. The roof tops in the Retros' neighborhood were packed tightly; she ran and jumped the distance with trivial effort before stopping at the building next door. As she approached the end of the last roof, a rain of bodies dropped, all tucking and rolling themselves, and running by her; she recognized them immediately as other Retros.

Weird. Freebird doesn't usually send us out this early. She took up her grappler, firing it off and hooking to a fire escape attached to the Home building. In rush of air to the face, she zipped across the way and onto the escape landing and climbed her way to the top.

Home was empty, save for one slender figure standing on the far side from Baba.

She approached with urgency. "Yo. Freebird. What's up?"

"Burning the midnight oil again Baba?" Freebird spoke with their usual nonchalance, though a layer of tension hid under the surface of their words.

"What's with the early start?" Baba ignored her leader's comment.

"You should really get some sleep." Freebird's tone shifted to a more pointed sternness.

Again, Baba ignored the commentary. She ducked away into a canvas tent, where she sifted about. "Is there heavy shit today?" she called out from inside the tent. She opened a minifridge, pulling out a half-full cup of chicken ramen. She popped it into a nearby microwave. A minute later, she walked back out, slurping up a mouthful of noodles.

"I'm guessing you're not gonna go to sleep."

"Probably not." Baba downed a sip of broth.

"Someone from Vale Court stopped by about an hour ago. Said something big went down last night.

"What kind of big?" Baba had been out for a while already, and hadn't heard much beyond the normal affairs of the Megacity.

"Someone from the New Wave cell... dead... gunshot wound.

"The fuck?" Baba nearly spat out a helping of noodles. "Legit? That's some shit right there."

"I don't know if it's true though. So I got everyone out early. Gotta figure out if this is for real. And if it is, get a plan together."

"Right." Baba dove back into the tent. When she emerged, the cup of ramen had been replaced by her jetboard. "Gonna go down level, Bird. If it's the lowdown we need, I know the guy."

"Ryker?" Freebird practically laughed. "I don't care much for the guy. If you think he's got a read on things though... Fuck it. Talk to him. But keep it cool."

"Don't worry bro. I gotchu." Baba left Freebird with a wave. She slung her jetboard over her shoulders and descended the fire escape.



Baba's board hovered to a stop after a ten minute ride up the street. Dismounting, she folded the board and slung back onto her shoulders as she entered the old school storefront. Instantly, her ears were met with a catchy, 20th century tune humming low in the background of the shop.



"Mornin'! Welcome to The Bodega!"

"'Sup, Ryker?" Baba asked coolly, perusing the collection of records in the middle of the store. "Recovered any good tracks? Been trying to get my hands on some more Floyd."

Johnny rolled his eyes as he saw the battered green parka enter his shop, "If I did, you do realize I'd only sell you digital right? Giving physical media to you Sk8te kids is asking for someone to drop it off the side of a building." Granted the Retros girl was one of his only consistent customers, but one look in her eyes told Johnny that she wasn't here to exchange pleasantries today.

Cocking his head to the door at the back of the shop, he motioned for her to step through. "Of course, we got a shipment of new stuff in the back. Booth's all rigged up if you want a listen." Without waiting for a reply, he stood up from the counter and slipped through the door. Inside the back room, there was a simple desk and terminal with chairs for Johnny and his 'clients'. Johnny switched the computer on as Baba followed through the door. "So to what do I owe the pleasure this morning? Are you looking for jobs, new MCPD routes or.... well I'm assuming you already heard the news this morning?" Reaching into his jacket, Johnny felt around for a few minutes before producing a pack of gum. Smoking had turned into too much of an expensive habit for him...

"We don't have all day, you know."

Cosima bristled, mechanical fingers tightening around the bone saw as she leaned over the table, continuing her dissection of the corpse. If not for her cognitive enhancer allowing her to maintain focus, she'd probably have made a mess of the autopsy by now thanks to the cops' nagging. It was rather as if they wanted her to rush it. Funny, that.

"He does," she replied with a shrug, gesturing to the body. "I'll bet this screwed up any plans he had for today." She kept her eyes zoomed in on the exposed tissue, noting every detail while she worked at it, but could hear the drawn-out huff of the officer standing over her.

"Dr Driscoll, a case like this isn't a usual occurrence," the man continued, the irritation in his voice barely concealed. "We need answers, and we need them fast."

It certainly wasn't. Murder was, but not under these circumstances. Even so, the cop's words did nothing to ease Cosima's suspicion. "Well, one thing's clear." With a pair of forceps, she held up the large bullet she'd just extracted. "That's quite some excessive force for taking out one Sk8te kid. Overkill in the literal sense."

The officer grumbled as Cosima dropped the bullet into a small plastic bag he held out. "Finally. We'll figure out what we can from here."

She knew full well they wouldn't. The justice system in Megacity-01 was about as useful as a solar powered flashlight. Every gang conflict, every theft, every unsolved murder, every other daily criminal occurrence made that much obvious. And yet in med school, they preach at you to preserve human nature at all costs, she thought. "Glad I could be of help," she replied, concealing her distrust behind a mask of courtesy, before resuming her search for further clues.

---

Well, that had been a less than pleasant start to the morning. Once Cosima had cleaned up and bade the police goodbye as they left with the body, she returned to her office, its polished surfaces and pristine order in stark contrast with the chaos that routinely broke out in the outside world.

Why would anyone have it in for a Sk8te kid this badly, she wondered, sitting at her desk. For all their reputation as an annoyance, Sk8te were far from a major threat. And what had he been doing in a heavily policed area? The logic didn't add up, and all she could conclude was the grim likelihood that greater trouble was brewing. It took a lot to unsettle her these days, but her eyebrows creased in the slightest of frowns as she tapped the back of her left wrist, searching Geo for more news while she waited for clients.

Baba continued to peruse the shop floor as the keeper spoke; she ignored the tome of disdain in Ryker's response. Shrugging, she said, "A little bit of wishful thinking never hurt anyone." Giving another shrug, she veered away from the wears she had been using to front her visit. Ryker had turned around, though Baba had caught his gaze to see he knew she wasn't there for a casual shopping experience. She fell quickly into step behind him and followed into the office.

She leaned her board carefully against the wall behind her and fell into the seat on her side of Ryker's desk. "You know I'm always good to run jobs; just depends on what you've got and what I'm gonna score when it's done." Baba leaned back in the chair, drifting into a more casual mood. She locked eyes with Ryker as he brought up the 'news.'

"Assuming we both got the same four-one-one, yeah. Freebird heard it from some kid over on Vale Court. He had everyone at Home rolling early this morning. Looked like he had most of them out in pairs too. You got any leads on it?"[/color]

Gretchen had been tasked with getting an important piece of data for Arasaka. She thought sounded like a simple job, infiltrate the Biotechnica building and fetch an important data chip. The location of the data chip was inside one of Biotechnica’s labs. And from what she was told it would the lab would be heavily guarded. So it would not be as easy as walking in and taking the data chip. But the company was paying good money so it must be important to the CEOs. Driving towards the location while listening to one of her favourite German opera called Der Freischütz. She parked her car a few streets away before getting out. She only brought her silenced pistol since she didn’t think she would need her sniper rifle. She also brought her mask which she uses to conceal her identity.

She hid her pistol and mask away from any passersby because she didn’t want to raise any suspicions Walking down the street and towards the laboratory stopping beside a street lamp. Watching the guards patrolling the area and or talking to each other. She had cased the place beforehand along with studying the floor plans of the building. Slowly walking from the street lamp to the back of the laboratory. She knew from casing the place that the fence had an opening. For a well-off corporation, they did not know how to secure every spot of their laboratory. Sneaking through the hole and behind a stack of crates a few feet away. She put on her mask while pulling out her silenced pistol.

Gretchen watched as some guards walked past her armed with assault rifles. Moving in the shadows from crate to crate and noticed a large metal door where shipments would be delivered. Gretchen also noticed that it was opened slightly. This was a stroke of good luck for her since she could just crawl underneath it. After some close calls with the guards, she was finally able to get inside the lab. From what she had read about the laboratory the data chip would be in the laboratory fifty-seven. The location of the laboratory was located on the third-floor basement. The elevator was in the middle of the building between a few laboratories.

Hiding on top of the elevator watching some employees get on and off the elevator. She got off the elevator when it got to the third-floor basement. So far she had done a good job going unnoticed, but she would still have to be careful.

[[I will add extras to the post when I get home after work I'm inspired to write though right now]]

Just gotta keep moving.

Those are he thoughts running through Caelans head as he hurdles railings and kicks up and around fixtures. A breakfast sandwich hangs from his mouth. A trip of donuts half squished in his left breast pocket and a paper towel wrapped around several steps of cooked bacon in his right.

And behind him several angry members of a food cart he nabbed the food from on his way passed. Things like "God damned scum skater!" And threats of harm come from the people as Caelan runs. Until with a heaven hrs sailing outing the open air. The cart opener stopping at the abyss and watching carlan disappear into the air. Safe!

And soon a bang as his wire launcher fires and he's swinging on to safety. Landing on the far side well out of danger. Finsing himself a place to sit, nearby a public news kiosk playing a short story about a sniper kill, wait dis the anchor say it was someone in another Sk@te cell? Oh that doesn't bode well. Caelan munched on the sandwich and bacon before he turned and with a grunt threw himself into the air again. Only one place he might be able to hear more around here. Or we'll two really he could head home to Morris Road, one of the elders may have heard more. But right now there's somewhere else he can check

The Bodega.

It takes him a bit to get there. But soon there's a clatter on the rooftop of the building and a thump as Caelan slides down the front of the building and slips into the door, "Morning folks." He's not a regular but he's been through a time or two, "Puck up anything by The Tragically Hip of late?" He calls to Johnny as he picks his way towards the counter, "Or hear any juicy news? Maybe?" Caelan quirks an eyebrow curiously and smiles at Baba in greeting offering first Rielly then Johnny one of his donuts while munching on the last one himself.