Haha... Miss post

Lei Ne had set off a round of brainstorming. She listened, but not with any real interest. It wasn't her area. She knew she had to know what everyone else was doing, if only for insurance purposes, but she didn't have to have the absolute lowdown. When Thorin complemented her she could help but look a little bit pleased. And if she added in a little blush for modesty's sake, who was to know? Despite the little bit of preening, mental and other wise, Lei Ne was still focused at her task. When the mage was brought up, the Asian sighed.

Lei Ne hadn't minded Old Soul. He was rather charming in a boyish way. It was a pity he wasn't here. Mainly because that meant he was either dead or probably being hunted down. Then again, those were risks you ran as a runner. Lei Ne sighed again as everyone seemed to agree with the suggestion of a disposable mage. Not that Lei Ne was a saint or anything, but going out to kill someone? That was even out of her purview. So she was glad when Red rejected the idea. Red had somehow become leader of this defacto group. Something Lei Ne didn't mind.

The pretty Asian listened to Red as the woman agreed to get her a list of employees. Though she was partially distracted by Thorin as he stood, shuffled away and disappeared into the adjacent room. Well, not completely, the red glow of a smoke gave him away, highlighting his eyes as he stared at her. Daring her to do anything. A corner of her mouth lifted into a crocked smile, but she failed to rise to the challenge. She turned her attention back to Red.

"That's okay. As long as I get it soon." Lei Ne shifted back in her chair finally settling in. The difference was small, but if you knew what you were looking for you'd see it. A deliberate message. I trust you. (False, but hey, she wasn't known for her honesty anyways. Right?)

Silence had fallen around the table. This was Red Five's least favorite part of a job: the awkward silence as everyone's mind churned before anyone actually began brainstorming. In the end, she decided she needed some air.

"I might know someone to take Old Soul's place. Not too experienced either, but she's got talent. I'm gonna go talk to her." She looked at Lei-Ne. "I'll send you the public list of employees."

She walked down the corridor (taking a moment to appreciate her own figure in the feeds still visible to her) and discreetly left the building. Auburn had fully woken now, and the bustle of mostly honest work was a pleasant backdrop as she sent a message to a young shaman she knew.

Mouse. red5 here. I'm working a job and our mage quit. We need someone for magisec. Can we meet?

Her agent chirped that it had finished compiling a list of the publicly visible employees. With a quick mental command she sent it back to the node in their new safehouse.

Bliss... what an aptly named drug. That was the only thought that went through Mouse's head as she sat there in her near empty apartment relaxing to some nature documentary about drop-bears. Smiling, she let the high take over, in this moment she wasn't running out of money, there wasn't a gang looking for her, All that existed was her, and the drop-bears. That strange euphoria was however brought to an abrupt end as a chirping noise erupted from across the room. It took her a solid minute to arrive back in the real world, and another half-minute to realize the noise was coming from her commlink. As soon as the realization finally hit her Mouse rose to her feet and darted across the room. Generally speaking, she wasn't one to so abruptly kill a good high, but even in her current state of mind it was hard to escape the fact that she was strapped for cash, and as long as there was a chance that whoever was on the other end was offering much needed money, she was gonna jump at the opportunity.

As she picked up the commlink her hopes were validated, Red Five, a hacker she had met awhile back was in need of a little magic. Mouse was ever eager to oblige, not even considering the fact that she very likely might not even be up to the task.

Definitely, heading out now. Where am I going?

Mouse quickly threw on her holsters and did a quick check to make sure she had anything she needed. Still she was halfway out the door before she realized she was just wearing socks with no shoes. After quickly remedying that situation she rushed out the door of her apartment, destination, unknown.

6 Hours earlier...

The sounds of metal hitting soft flesh echoed throughout the darkly lit room. The only source of light was a neon logo for some strip club that peeked its pink and blue neon aura through a dirty skylight. A single aluminum chair sat it the center with a fairly well dressed lump of meat tied with his hands bound behind him. One fairly large troll and a human stood on either side as they took turns making sure he was well tenderized....

*THUNK!* "Talk!" *THUMP*
"Hrumpf!... fuck you!" *CRACK*
"I believe the Troll said talk." *THUMP*

"Yea, now where's the Cypher?" The oversized troll said, taking a break to clean the blood and spit off his knuckles. "We know your sister gave it to you before she tossed you out that window." The room started to spin as Rin was about to blackout again, but the Human leaned in forward to grab Rin by the jaw."HEY IM FUCKING TALKING HERE! Answer!" Holding up his jaw he gave a quick backhand with a set of brass knuckles.

"I have no idea you fucking gorilla! Now let me go!" Rin's voice gargled as it was filled with blood. He gave a quick spat at the trolls face in which he quickly figured out was a bad idea.

*THUNK* *CRACK* *THUD*

The other human had to step in the way so that they wouldn't accidently kill Old Soul. "Woah woah Nelson...if the kid says he don't have it then maybe he don't have it." The guy spoke in an obvious sarcastic tone before pulling out a cigarette and striking a match off the trolls skin.

"Now look... we don't HAVE to kill ya-ya know, all we want is the Cypher. Rumor has it your sis passed it over to ya before she tossed you out... care to elaborate on that?" The guy kneeled down to eye level with Rin. His white suit tinted a light purple from the neon glow and light spatters of red streamed the lower portions. Rin coughed up a mouthfull of blood and tried to focus on the spinning image of the man in white. "I told you I don't have any cypher... the only thing she handed me was a gun in which if I had right now id turn your fucking jaw into swiss cheese!" Rin screamed as he attempted to use the blood surrounding him to open a demon door, but his body was too weak and the multiple concussions he most likely suffered from really messed with his concentration.

"You mean this old piece of shit?" The Troll said pointing the revolver at Rin's head. "Your sis must not of liked you very much if all she gave you was THIS." The troll pulled the trigger several times and watched Rin flinch at the click of an unloaded gun. Both of the thugs just laughed as the troll crushed the gun with his bare hands and tossed the broken parts behind him.

A slow clap echoed from behind them in the shadows....

"Who's there? Were busy here so get the fuck out!" The man in white yelled out into the dark corners of the fairly large room.

"Oh there ain't no rest for the wicked...
Money don't grow on treeees...
I've got bills to pay-I've got mouths to feed.."

A fairly business like dressed man walked out from the shadows and gave a unusual bow. "Your boss sent me to make sure Ol' Soul brother here don't turn into an actual soul, hear me?" A smooth and slightly rhasp voice echoed through the room. "What does the the Ol' Soul have to say? Good things I hope." The mans voice started to turn a serious note.

"Look, he's not giving up nothing." The man in white said. "Maybe he's telling the truth?" The troll added. "Shut up Nelson! He's obviously hiding it." The man quickly snapped back at the troll.

Jack couldn't help but laugh. "Yea... Nelson." He walked right in between the two thugs and bent over ace to face with Rin. "Didn't your momma ever tell you not to believe everything you hear?" Jack gave a wink before he pulled his pistol and fired off two rounds over each shoulder without a second look or a flinch. *Tha-THUNK!* "Your welcome Ol' Soul brother." Jack turned on his heel and stepped over the two bodies towards the broken gun. "So you say she gave you this right?" He trailed off picking up the pieces of the broken gun. A small datastick fell out from the handle in which Jack caught before it could break. "Well Ol' Soul... guess I found what I was looking for, it been nice knowing ya."

Jack turned heel one more time and tossed a scribbled piece of paper onto Rin's lap. "Better hurry up, your sisters waiting." He said with a smile before walking out the door.

Pulling up a secure line on a disposable comm, he fiddled with the datastick as he waited for someone to pick up on the other end. "Mr. White, Mr. Black.... Intel proved good and package was secured. They all managed to kill eachother before I could get there though." Jack stuffed the datastick in his pocket as he walked back towards the nearest dropzone. "Very good Mr. Contrakt, I'll transfer the funds to your account now.... oh! By the way, I know its short notice but another job just opened up.... interested?"

"Have I ever turned down a job?" Jack pulled the commlink out of his ear and tossed it on the sidewalk. The sound of his shoes tapping on the concrete echoed through the alley as he made his way towards the site.

"Ohhhh there ain't no rest for the wicked!
Money don't grow on treeees
I've got bills to pay-I've got mouths to feed..."

Red Five weaved her way through the crowd (her steps the familiar dance of everyone used to the bustle of Seattle's streets), quickly forming a plan for her meet with Mouse. First things first. Dodging a particularly large ork, she composed a message and sent it to the shaman: You know the Cathode Glow? Mage;decker place, pretty private. Meet me there in 30?

The Cathode Glow was right on the edge between Auburn and Renton, about a twenty-minute walk from where she was. Gave her time to do a moment's recon before actually meeting with Mouse. She hadn't seen her since the small they'd done together. It hadn't gone well. She might have to

While making her way toward the CG, a hunch formed in the back of her mind, likely computer-assisted. If Koch-Huang knew McIntosh was in high demand, they were likely taking a proactive stance on security. The safehouse itself seemed pretty, well, safe, but she wouldn't be surprised if some of their muscle took a bullet in the next few days. Semi-consciously, she devised a contingency plan. Step one: another message. Red attached the location of the safehouse—encrypted, of course—to a new message and sent it to an old friend of hers.

Mr. Black. Might need a triggerman for a job. Pays about 6k. You got anyone good on call? red5

Jack's leather shoes continued to make a distinctive clicking noise as he walked towards the designated safehouse. Directions issued via conference link between Red five and Mr. Black through his retinal interface. Gesturing to him turn by turn directions like a Garmin for dummies. Not the most advanced tech but worked well for him. Files from Red five regarding each other member was in the top left corner including quick cliff notes for each member updated in real time. He was listening to the recorded audio of the team voicing their opinions that she managed to send over as well and decided to stop by an old safehouse of his that may have a couple things that may be of use. It wasn't far off the beaten path and most of what he needed lay in the trunk of an abandoned car that was obviously rigged with traps in case someone messed with it.

Upon arriving at the red beat up old Caddillac, he pressed in one of the headlights and tapped on the hood in a rythmic pattern for a couple seconds. Instantly the trunk of the car opened up and a small staircase popped out leading to a tiny underground storage shed. Jack ignored the many rifles and explosives lining the walls of the shed and quickly grabbed two dufflebags from a nearby locker. Upon leaving Jack grabbed a sawnoff shotgun rigged with a grappling hook and spool of synth-fiber wire and stuffed it into one of the bags along with what goodies lay inside.

Jack arrived shortly after at the hideout with dufflebag on each shoulder. Watching the stares he received as a suited man with two dufflebags made his way through the apartment complex and arriving at the safehouse door, he gave a soft rythmic knock and slowly opened the door. "Don't shoot, I'm unarmed." He said cautiously as he made his appearance. "Okay, I lied... I obviously have two arms... kinda, but I won't use them without sexual consent." He gave a smirk as he walked in and dropped the two dufflebags on the briefing table. "No need for introductions Red five here was nice enough to bring me up to speed already. I'm your extra muscle....Names Jack, or Mr. Contrakt if you feel like being formal and mysterious." He said sarcastically taking a seat next to Lei-Ne, pulling out a cuban cigar and lighting it with an old fashoiond gold plated zippo. "In the bags you find some assorted parts and boards to give our Rigger a half-chub as well as some broken rifles I'm sure he could work with. In the other bag is various industrial uniforms from my old jobs, mechanic, plumber, hazmat, may even have a lab coat or two in there." He put his feet up onto the briefing table and leaned the chair on two legs, taking a puff of the cigar. "There's also a toy in there that may prove usefull if you plan on going in from above... I call her Sally." Jack turned his head towards the tall glass of green tea next to him. "Sally is a custom piece of work but apparently so are you, id gladly forget her name if you tell me yours." Jacks smile spread from cheek to cheek showing off his pearlie whites. He already knew it but that didn't stop his attempt at flirtation.

Lei Ne nodded her head when Red said she'd send a list. When the woman walked out of the room Lei Ne pretty much dismissed her from her mind. Already she was thinking about her next move. She completely missed when the street samurai stood up and vanished. It wasn't until later they all realized he wasn't coming back. Lei Ne picked a little at her carefully enameled pale green nails before going back into stillness. Her white hair was starkly reflected in the room's lighting. Then she sighed loudly. She stretched, causing her shirt to ride up around her waist. It pulled a little right below her bra line and if one was looking carefully they'd notice the cause was her Ruger.

Lei Ne took a few moments after her cat stretch to get up and move her legs. Not that there really was anywhere to move. Then the computer bleeped. Lei-Ne froze and turned to look at it. Red was apparently very quick. There was a new icon on the screen that proudly stated it was the employee list. The slender Asian woman smiled broadly. "About time." She announced for the hell of it. Quickly she took her seat and scanned over the names. She whipped out her phone and transferred over the information. She was just about to take her own leave when the door opened.

Lei Ne looked at the door expecting it to be Red, but it wasn't. In fact it was some guy in a suit. And two duffel bags. Odd. Lei Ne's mind went to her gun, but didn't bother, someone else would get him before she could. After all she had set herself up as rather 'helpless' when it came to weapons. When the suit kept talking and used Red's name, it was obvious he was here to stay. The woman sighed mentally as he had to take the seat next to her. She repressed a cringe and instead went for her award winning smile. Though she didn't stop there. She reached out casually to the cigar and plucked it from his fingers as he asked for her name.

"Sally isn't the only piece of work in this room I assure you Jack." She dropped the cigar on the ground and snuffed it out. "Smoking will kill me so kindly refrain." She smiled all her pearly whites in return. If the samurai was still around he would have been having fits, telling her she should have asked first. When she was finished with him she turned away and made a show of leaving, sparing one last look for Jack.

"See you later sweet cheeks. I got work to do." And with that she swaggered out of the room, hips swaying.

Whoever thought that the smaller drone's were any easier to control than their larger cousins was either an idiot. Or had never picked up a control rig in his lifetime, Probably both. Minidrones were agile, fast, and could easily get out of hand if you lost concentration for even a second. They could fly into a wall, Get crunched under a boot or wheel. Sometimes animals liked to take swats at them as they flew by. There were a lot of things to keep your eyes trained on to fly one of these things properly and out of any detection grid's notice. On top of all that, he was doing it twice.... At the same time. Trying to pilot two of his minidrones at once was a chore to say the least. But this way if one was caught then he could still get away with the information he needed. it was a risk, he could easily make a mistake with one of them but for the benefit of twice the vision range he was willing ot take that risk.

As for whatever it was his compatriots were doing back in their hideout. He hardly gave a dam. As long as they were working and not bothering him with idle conversation or a never-ending stream of questions he supposed they could do whatever it is they wanted to do.

Both of his precious dragonflies were zipping through the air trying to map out the complex that his team would be trying to break into. His van was parked in the farthest alley he could find from the Koch-huang complex while still trying to retain the fastest possible response time and the strongest connection to his machines. The Van itself was dark and any windows it had were heavily tinted to stop as much light as possible from coming through and affecting Thovren. His Doberman was set on an automated overwatch and kept it's assault rifle trained on the back door, ready to shoot the first humanoid shape that dared to break the lock and open the doors. The only real light in the vehicle was coming from his control rig and the glare from the AV goggles in his mask as he hunched over with his ass on the edge of his stool.

What he saw through the eyes of his Drones was not exactly comforting. The company had at least a dozen men between the patrols and the standing guards on the roof and the two security towers manning the single fence gate in and out of the compound. Just to get in he had to pilot his drones over an electrically charged steel fence, tipped with a tight weave of Razorwire that he had no real desire to try and climb over. There was probably a handful more taking positions in the windows of the main building itself. He risked moving one of his drones closer to a security tower. He tried to avoid the gaze of the guard who would probably guess the dragonflies true purpose in a second. What he did see even from his darting movements did not make him feel any better than the fence. The guards in the tower unsurprisingly were armed to the teeth with and as he ducked to a safe position underneath the tower he noticed there was a hover drone with a fairly serious sub-machine gun that was currently inert and ready to deploy probably as soon as an alarm was triggered. Most likely the guards were carrying IFF signals to stop the drone from butchering everyone it saw. Only intruders. A quick move the other tower with his second drone told him that there was yet another drone in a similar standby position.

he tried to take notice of patrol routes, timings. But if this company was any good it probably had it's men change such things on a weekly basis or less to throw off shadowrunners and thieves.

He decided to risk moving into the research building itself before at of the guards became to suspicious of the small darting forms moving through the air for the past ten minutes. For one he found an air exhaust vent and wasted no time in plunging the tiny drone down. With the other he found and open window and zoomed inside. Now things were really difficult. They weren't even on the same floor anymore so he had no shared landmarks to pilot both of his drones in semi-unison. He took a deep breath and split the singles from the control rig, letting each of his hands independently control one of the drones. This would be a true test of piloting.

His bionic hand responded far easier to the task but it was still difficult. With the constricting hallways he had to really fight to find hiding places to hop to. Every now and again he had to kill the rotors on one of the dragonflies and rest it on top a vending machine or something similar if he thought a passing scientist or security guard was becoming curious of a strange noise or sight. This definatly wasn't a small building. And it went for at least two layers underground. One of the drones had the good fortune of entering through a vent and was able to stay relatively hidden. These vents were to small for anything larger than a maintenance robot, probably an intentional design on the part of Koch-Huang. it gave him and the team one less option of entry.

He moved further and further along. One of his drones was entering increasingly risky territory. The one in th ventilation managed to work it's way into the first level of the underground but before it made a move through the ventilation grate Thovren heard something through the second drone's sensors. "Shit!" he yelled into darkness of his van. One of the scientists seemed to notice an odd metal glint in the air as Thovren made risky jump to another hiding spot while so focused on the other drone. Within moments There was a shout for security and Both dragonflies were put into full reverse and were zipping through the air with all speed for the nearest exits. He let the one in the vent's die down and focused both hands and all his attentions on getting the second one out fo that building. Security doors were being closed and he was barely managing to get through some fo them in time.

"Dam. dam, dam, dam!" he was getting worried. He didn't want to destroy one of his precious drones but he may not have a choice in the matter. But as more and more doors closed he realized he may not have a choice. If they caught the drone they could trace back the signal, if they weren't already starting that process. there was only one thing to do and he hated the very idea of it with every fibre of his being. With a loud grunt He put the drone into full speed towards the farthest wall and reluctantly sent a signal to overload the circuits and effectively fry the entirety of the wiring and internal components while letting the momentum carry the drone headlong into the wall and crunch itself into a useless heap. Thankfully he was unable to see the effects or pain of his drone when the signal was cut out.

He leaned back heavily against the workbench and removed his mask with a sigh. That was far to close of a call. And far to high a price to pay. Other people didn't understand how close one could become with their creations and drones. They were like pets only.... Better. More obedient and responsive. There wasn't a rigger alive who wouldn't feel a sense of loss at the death of one of those pets.

he gave himself a minute or two before slipping the mask back on and repowering his first drone and piloting it back through the vents and towards home. Luckily most of the security attention seemed to be sweeping the hallways for any further drone activity. There was a maintenance drone or two that he passed. No doubt deployed to search the vents for him. But by the time they caught sight of him he was already past them and out of the vent's altogether. Once he was in the open it was next to impossible to detect a drone of that size and he flew as high as he possibly could. Ignoring the somewhat hazy signal from the altitude and making it's way back to the van where the doors were pushed open and a cybernetic hand was outstretched to delicately catch the drone from the air. He got some information back at least. it was better than nothing and he could always try again in a week when the security was a little more calmed again.

For now though he moved himself to the drivers seat, jacked himself into the navigation and moved off with all speed towards the safehouse. He would need to law low for a few days at least after this incident.