A Time for Secrets

Its early Monday Morning, YOu had Just gone to sleep not more than five hours ago. The morning sun in shining, like it shines in Seatle into your little sleeping alcove where you crashed the night before. An annoying beeping in the background is what awoke you, at first you just think "Will someone shut that frelling thing off!?" and after a few more beeps you come to the realization that it is your own comlink that is producing the annoying sound.

The sound is definately not a default sound on the comlink for messages nor is it the sound that you had set for it either, this sound has all the feeling of someone scraping there fingernails across a chalkboard managed to fit into a beep that lasts a half of a second but is just repeating every second untill you answer it. Upon accnologing the message you here the following

"*static*... no.... can not ... *static* ... omega ... *static* ... disapeared *static*...*dead silence*"
A voice now speaks directly to you, the voice is one of a Male, by the sound of it is would seem its a male in his mid 20's and almosts has the feeling that its not of this world, almost too perfect however this beeing 2070 and the method of comunication beeing the Trix you dont realy even bother to note it becasue with the Trix you can be and sound like anything you want when talking to someone else
" Gretings [characters name] my name is Watashi and i have been watching you for some time now *chuckles*, you have impresed me wiht your recent ... shall we say exploits? and i believe i might have something that would require your specific set of skills, if you are at all interested in some simple work then i will invite you to meet with me at resturaunt LaIbella at 21:00 tonight, we will have much to discuss"

with the message ending there is just one final message that dominates your screen that asks if you will be atending [yes/no] you select yes and it displays and downloads directions to the restraunt onto your PAN then all traces of the message ever having been on your comlink vanish. you check the time and it its only 09:00, you have twelve hours before you are suposed to meet with this person

Faust shook his head as he saw the message delete itself from his commlink. Damn hackers and their games. That was the kind of thing he expected Rhapsody to pull, but she wouldn't use someone else's voice. They'd known eachother too long for those kinds of games. Yawning, Faust turned to the mirror, and saw the blue disks of his cybereyes staring back at him, and those five black bands upon his arm. No matter how much he washed, he'd never be clean of that mark.

Sighing, he turned, and went about getting ready for the meeting tonight. He wasn't a hacker by any means, but he at least knew enough to get to one of the public data search programs out there, and put in the restaurant to see what came back. He would have to go in his 'civvies'. The armor he could keep in the car, in case it was needed, but it would cause WAY too much attention for a meet if he walked in there with his armor. And drawing attention to a meet was a good way to not get any more work.

As he waited for the results of the data search to get back, he launched into his morning workout, which took him about an hour to finish. A shower and shave later, he was dressed, and eating breakfast. Time rolled on, until it was time to head for the meet.

He arrived at the restaurant at 20:30, exactly, wearing a long lined coat, and fairly nice clothes. He left the weapons in the car, for obvious reasons. No sense tipping people off. He just hoped that someone on the team had a bulldog. It was inconvenient going around in the armor in his Shin-hyung. The little car blended into the Seattle landscape, which was good, but it wasn't built for men wearing combat armor.

Faust's Data Search for the restraunt pulls up a plethural of information, most of it unimportant such as the history of the restraunt, notable figures who have dined there as well as how long the establishment has existed, the names of teh staff and teh owner of it now. However some things in that information stand out such as it being a high class restraunt that has a waiting list for reservations almost a mile long and reservations made almost months in advance just to get a table. Its notable for the fact that the food they serve and there drinks are not soy based or synthohal. The only way someone gets in is by being connected, very well conected infact.

The meet had come at a good time Lil'T needed the work, And was happy to see fate on his side for once he'd not had a job for a little while. Besides Watashi said it was simple work. He grinned it was almost never simple. He figured 99.9% of the time it was harder then they wanted you to believe. Then they could pay you less. We shall see he thought to himself. Better get in my work out he said out loud, and so he did. then started his daily calorie intake for the day (which oddly enough was increasing). He meditated for a couple of hours, but that image from his nightmares that horrible face! The terrible roar from that that thing. He took a shower... and threw on a large pair of black jeans with black wife beater, and a pair of black boots, topped it off with a lined Sim Leather trench coat (also black). After popping the collar he proceeded to walk to a better side of town. Where he could actually hail a cab. Took about thirty minutes before he was on his way to his mentors house. When he got there he ran his fingers over his corn rowed hair due, and licked the one prominent tusk he on the left of his face. he rang the door bell. Come in the scratchy voice said. So he did pushing the door open and closing it behind himself and walked into the back room...

iv got a job sir he said. Not sure on the details yet but i wanted you to know. The 45 year old man working on a ship in the bottle set did not reply... Then T turned to walk out. As he did he heard the man say how are the nightmares in a low scratchy voice? Then he heard the man inhale the cigarette that had been burning in the ashtray. Lil'T was frozen in his tracks. But immediately answered fine. ill live. After that he left and closed the door behind him. tsk tsk the man said as he sat in the apartment alone. That boys just like his father hot headed....

Later he reached the restaurant the place looked ritzy kinda place didn't like trolls on there guest list. He huffed at the anticipated problem at the door, and wished we would have worn something more appropriate. But it was to close to game time. So he started that long walk to the door, and opened it here we go he thought. Into the establishment he went. thanking who or what ever was listening that he did not bring any weapons.

He was hungry and alone. Yet there was food nearby, if only he were quick enough. Stealthy enough to sneak close. Just a little ways away through the dense vegitation on the river bank he could spot a capybara that had wandered away from the group just a little closer to shore to graze. Fortunately the wind was in his favour this day, and he found himself down wind. He could just smell the meal to come. Savouring it even as he slowly inched closer, bit by pacient bit through the jungle.

And then, he pounced.

The capybara reared up, noticing him as he was mid leap and screatched. But the sound was... wrong.

It was...

Unnatural. Sharp claws uppon slate.

Startled he tried to turn away, landing so his head cracked agianst the wooden flooring with an audible dull thump, his leg caught up in the blanket he had wraped himself up in his sleep. An angry growl at being woken so suddenly. He twisted and kicked, freeing himself from his tangled blanket. One forleg reaching for the comlink changing as it did into a hand. A hand that annoyedly picked it up to switch it on to audio mode only. He wasn't ready by far to take a proper matrix call and the voice, unfamilar and unexpected worried him.

Yet as he looked about the dingy appartment he knew he could not afford to turn away the offer of work. No matter how annoyed he was, nor how wary he was of it being a trap. The appartment was beneath him. Not befitting some one such as he, but.. it was all he could afford. He was not provided for by The Company anymore, and as quickly as he aquired money he often spent it. At least this place was.. decent compared to some. Short on certain things however. He had almost no furniture to speak of, just the most basic of utilities. Few electronics beyond his comlink and assorted equipment. He lived a fairly spare lifestyle, though he did not mind that so much. He did wish he could afford real food however, real meat. The smell of soy and krill based foods often turned him off, and the flavour was not so much better no matter how much flavouring he tried to put in. Indeed too much of the flavouring and it would only be worse still.

Artificial. Not real. It did not let him taste the blood, the meat. The texture that he remembered of so long ago. Wearily he got up, made his way to the bathroom and brushed his teeth, showered. And then spent almost an hour cleaning the appartment for the 23rd time this week. Always something. Dust, dirt, bugs, cobwebs.. maybe a few water stains here and there where the roof or the windows leaked ever so slightly when it rained. Not to mention the hair he often shed. Then he donned his trode headset, slipped in his contacts and worked his hands into his AR gloves, linking up to the Matrix and running a basic search on the location he was to attend. Simply seeking out what ever was publicly available. The results left him a little... miffed.


As he looked at himself through slitted eyes in the slightly (and permanently, much to his dismay) stained bathroom mirror he let out a soft sigh. He lacked any properly fancy clothing. Such things were still.. a luxury he could not afford. Well, perhaps he could have if he had not spent so much money on other things. His armor, his weapons, his motorcycle. All of it flashy, as if he were made of money. But he hated base models. Cheap.. ugly. Dirty looking most of the time. No, it was worth it to buy the sleek, neat and fancy. But he had not yet managed to get the money for such clothes.

He looked to his closet, checking his credit balance. He barely had enough for a few, very cheap meals. Certainly not enough to buy anything proper for such a setting. And so he resigned himself to far more mundane dress. Slipping into his Urban Explorer jumpsuit. At least it was neat, clean, tidy and a little sleek and sporty. Certainly far more elegant than showing up in his chameleon suit. The latter would be good for showing up for a meet with a J in a seedy joint out of public view or perhaps on a military base or similar setting. But it did not work well for a fancy restuaruant. With a certain degree of reluctance he also decides to leave his weapons behind. Oh they would work well as a flash of wealth, but the few 'wealthy' individuals he had run into, if they could even be called that, did not generally apperciate weaponry on the whole. Swords then were out of the question. As were the shotgun and rifle...

Pistols.. hmmm... maybe they would have a weapon check at the door, but no doubt such things would still be frowned uppon. The wealthy afterall, hired bodyguards who they could leave outside or something like that.

No, for this meeting he would have to, unfortuantely, go in weaponless. Something that did not sit well with him, but he had little choice. So he simply suited up, made sure his hair was properly smothed back, and made his way out to his motorcycle. He'd go for cherry red with black highlights today and told the onboard computer controling the bike's chamelon coating to switch over. Starting it up he gave the heavily customized multifuel engine a few revs and then letting it ramp down so the engine purred rather than roared he knocked the kickstand up and made his way towards the meet, lightly thumbing the spoofer chip over to a new plate after he was a few blocks away from his home. Just in case.

He would arrive punctually, a little early at the very least to try and minimize the negative impact of his general appearance. Though at least the customized and highly flashy and stylized motorcycle would hint that he wasn't totally poor, even if his dress pegged him as a joe nobody with grand aspirations.

The information he got was not particularly enlightening. Well, at least he would be appropriately dressed. His clothes weren't up to the level of most who went to such places, but at the very least he would be better off than most people who ran the shadows. The weapons remained in the car, with his heavy armor in the back. Walking into the restaurant, he scanned the place with his blue cybereyes, waiting to see if anyone jumped out at him. Hopefully there would be a face of some sort at the meet. He wasn't good at negotiations, unless they involved intimidation, and that was not the way to start business. There was an art to extracting information from someone by force. It was one of the few things he'd learned at the SCIRE that he didn't regret. Much.

The car had sat perfectly still the whole night, the windows rolled down in the garage that Trian had rented out as his personal apartment, with time he had cleaned most of it up so that it was at least respectable to look at and not cringe at the beauty that was the object of his attention. "Alright Eleanor, I've got a another puzzle for you, just tell me when you are ready." His rough voice matched his looks, a blue shadow clung to his jaw as his closely cropped hair was brushed clear of dust with a calloused hand, sliding out from underneath the titanium black cars undercarriage, he stood up and brushed himself off, the dingy set of coveralls that he worked in barely did her justice, but it worked to keep everything else clean and orderly. Everything he owned had a place and a purpose, they had a reason for being and so did he, checking his commlink to make sure that the funds had been transferred over to Sarah, his reason, and that his bills were paid.

"I'm ready Driver." The barely mechanical but feminine voice was a clear contrast to his, like silk sliding over glass. The car was a sleek black being of steel, almost seemingly carved from solid granite as it sat motionless in the brightly lit workspace, but motion was what it was clearly designed for, every surface polished to a high sheen, even the three doors that were cleverly hidden on the vehicles three sections. "I'm sometimes half, some times whole, I'm round but not always around." He took the time to marvel at the vehicle he had named Eleanor, she had taken him to freedom and had given him everything he wanted, wanting barely anything in return but an occasional recharge and tire change, he was proud of Eleanor for giving him the ability to fulfill his wishes to support his family, even though it was forbidden for him to ever see them again.

"That's an easy one you've used before, it's..." Her silken voice interrupted by the gentle scrapings of gears blasted through her stereo and his connected comm link. "Can I shoot who ever did that?"
Both were clearly annoyed, but the message held promises of work, and he needed it, money was merely a means to an end for both of them, but it was still a vital tool. "Depends if he is telling the truth, and if he breaks any of the rules. Otherwise, we treat like any employer." "Spoil Sport."

It took him a few minutes to shower, shave and dress up in his very neatly kept suit, underneath was the armor plates and the form fitting suit that also gave a very large amount of protection. He made sure everything was kept neat and tidy within the car, the pistol in its holster in the glove box and Eleanor parked in front of the club till five minutes before the meeting time as he entered the restaurant, keeping a clear eye on everyone else as he was lead to the meeting.

Faust arives at the resteraunt 30 till, upon walking in there is a beep on his comlink and the matradee looks down at his reception dest and looks up, Ah Mr.Landburgur we have been expecting you, your party is just this way he signals to a watress to take you to your table, following behind her she leads you to the second floor private rooms and opens a door at the end of the hall in what would look like the largest private room.

the table setup is set as a U shape wit hthe open end facing the door, at the back of the room is an AR diplay window facing out on a lush garden, all the seats are facing twards the center of the room where there is a somewhat large holographic progector resting there. the places on the table have an old style lestherbound menu to choose from with there drink menu spaced between every few seats, the watress statesthat upon leaving that you can order as much as you like the bill has alredy been covered by a Mr. I

The next to arive Just ten minutes after Faust is Tiamat, Upon his entering the restraunt his comlink beeps and the matradee looks down then up and speaks *whispers to himself* whats with these people i thought rich people dresed nice all the time; Ah its so good to see you Mr. Nethaniel the first guest has arived only ten minutes ago he motions for the previous watress to show you to the room plese follow her and she will show you to your room

Just after Tiamet arived Keslan comes through the door his comlink beeping and the matrade going though his motion of checking the name of who entered on there guest resestry Mr. Black were honored to have a man of your standing dine with us tonight enev though you are with a party she comes around his desk and motions for you to follow him with a wide sweeping bowlike guesture if you would please follow me and i will show you to your dining area

From Driver's vantage point he can see that in the span of 15 minutes from 20:30 that three characters have walked into the restraunt, the obviously look like they dont belong however they do not come back out the door after 10 minutes so its obvious that they havent been kicked out, wou wouldnt be suprised if these characters are the ones youll be working with, THe second one to have walked int othe building was quite obviously a troll, nothing would beable to hide that mass. You walk up to the door five minutes before the meeting time and upon walking in your comlink beeps. the matrede looks at his bord then back to you, by this time some suspicion in his eyes as your the fourth person to walk thoug hhis doors obviously not dressed in what he considered apropriate attire, however he makes no coment about it becasue who is he to tell the rich how to dress Mr. Jones we have been expecting you, the rest of your party is waiting for you upstairs, please follow this young lady to your Dining Area

(i will be using cyan to convey GM info ingame so please dont use this color)
The entire party is now in one area, having staggered times of arival, all of you now have an R6 Fake sin

Faust nodded to the host, and followed along behind the waitress. Their employer clearly was someone in the know. He'd seen a couple fake SINs in his time working security, but he'd never spotted one this good before. Quickly Faust began running through a list in his head of the possible things people may be wanting someone like him to do work for. Of course, getting in and out of the ACHE had been his specialty for the last couple years, but he did branch out, when there was work to be done.

Once in the room, he took a seat where he could see both the door and the window, and ordered the steak, with real mashed potatoes and green beans, with a glass of the 2059 Merlot. He might not be a connoisseur, but he knew something good when he tasted it, and he didn't get to have all real food too often.

The fake way the man dealt with him was off putting. Still he had treated him better then most people. So Lil'T smiled in kind, and followed the waitress. As she opened the doors to where the first member was waiting he noticed the decor again the less then full size (but still large by human standards) troll smiled and licked the one prominent tusk on the left side of his mouth at the same time he patted the corn rows on his head making sure to go around the horns. and stepped in nodded to the already seated man whom he noted was dressed better then him.

He sat in a shadowed corner and took note of the others as they entered. Before the waitress left he spoke to her. Hey could you bring me about two pounds of your best I don't know something rare and a pitcher of something alcoholic to wash it down with thank you very much. He was not about to miss this opportunity to have a real meal with real alcohol.

Kesslan had to work rather hard not to show surprise at the name assigned to him. Not so much that he had been assigned a fake name to allow him entry, but that it was all so very, oddly, fitting. The all too obviously catlike slits of his oddly bright yellow eyes the sole outward telltale give away, but then his mannerisms didn't fit the human appearance he put forward most of the time. The dark haired and darkly tanned South American man paused briefly before simply nodding and offering a slightly curt 'Thank you" sounding like the afterthought it was to the waiter as he followed him with a certain sense of weariness.

As he arrived in the dining room set aside for the meeting he paused near the entry way to coolly assess the others present before accepting what ever seat was offered to him (Or failing that simply claiming the nearest unoccupied one). However as food was apparently the main start to the day he wasted little time at the opportunity to place his own order for the first real food he'd seen much less tasted in.. probably over a year if not longer. His own order however consisted of an oddity beyond the man's obviously unnatural (probably biomod) eyes, two slabs of Kobe beef steak, a pitcher and glass of water, no side dishes.

If this was the trap he had feared, well.. he might as well enjoy it while he could.

Cleared his throat at the mater die's discomfort, but blew it off as someone having a bad day with a usual sardonic smile he followed the waitress, counting each individual that he saw as he closely scanned the room, checking for threats, taking a careful stock of who was on the other side of the door from the one he was being led through. If you are going into a trap, its best to know exactly where your foot is getting taken off at.

The sight of the other three gentleman eating had caught his attention, they were possibly the most mismatched group of individuals that he had ever seen, definitely those that wouldn't simply share a meal at this posh palace of decadence. A calm and quiet, "No, thank you." being all that he paid the waitress as he sat with the other three men who dined seemingly quietly. At least the troll was a bio mod, the man with the slitted eyes was either a mod as well or some kind of meta, the last one was a bit of an oddity, he didn't give anything off visually, so he would leave him a mystery for now. Silence served no purpose as far as information gathering so with merely a word, he sought to gather more information. "Watashi?"

As Soon as everyone entered the room and when Driver utters the na,e "Watashi?" the doors open and a figure walks into the room. At first glance this man looks amlost boyish in quality but almost far to hansome, an Elfin face yet has rounded ears, that almost seem to change between pointed yet when focused on are as round as anyother humans. The Japanese term Bishi seems to fit him far to well. His hair Long and Silver, his height just bareyt above 6'3" His dress hints at someone with alot of money behind him though from his looks it would seem like that money is not entirely his. The feeling that someone, most likely family is his backer but in most cases you cant judge by age expecialy with the super rich beeing able to afford special health benifits in these times.

i would like everyone to rol a perception test, one for visual and one for audio

in a voice exactly like the one on the recordin earlyer today this person says"You called?" He looks pointedly at Driver and grins "Now, Mr. Jones if you would please take a seat and relax. Order somethign to eat, its not everyday you get to eat real Meat, or drink real Alcohol. and i will get down to explaining why you are all here."

This man, whom by all accounts must be this Watashi walks to the center of the room not even the slightest care that whe walked right pased someone and they are now at his back he begins to line out some details of what he has called everyone here for "Now, i usualy dont like to get strait down to buisness but the job that i called you here for is not an ordinary one, but would be quite lucrative for you should it be completed without a hitch. Unfortunately for you i cant give you nearly enough information as i would like, simply because i havent found out anything more than what im about to tell you." He looks at each individual and smiles. "So, Before i begin any questions? I will answer the most obvious one first, being why i brought you here; My employer wishes something found, what it is i dont know and where to find it i cant say. but i believe you all have the skill to find that which i cannot."

Perception: 1 Audio, 2 Visual

Faust shook his head as he heard the Johnson telling him that his boss wanted something found, but that he didn't know what it was or where. That was just slotting great. He hadn't heard news this good since he got his eyes in. Sounded to him like they were about to get screwed, and hard. Still, a job was a job, and might as well roll with it. "So you don't know what it is, or where we can find it. What do you know about it?"

He took a moment to look at the rest of his team. This wasn't the best of situations, but it could still be a lot worse. He'd have to talk with them before they headed out, in order to see what it was they could actually do.

Lil'T did not like this guy he did not like anybody with a permanent smile across his face. The part of town he was from no one smiled. No one had a reason too, but he did his best not to let it on. After all the guy was paying his tab. Better still was paying him. T did not believe that a smile was the best way to dilute a tense situation. He believed truth was. Shut up and get the bread he thought to him self and he looked around but kept one eye and ear on the man this Watashi center stage...

Perception roll called for:

vis perception 4 intuition 3: 7dice: 3hits

aud perception 4 intuition 3: 7 dice: 4hits

Visual Perception Test: 1 Hit
Audio Perception Test: 3 hits +2 Spatial recognition (If locating source of sound) 0 Hits

As this Watashi enters, Kesslan momentarily focuses more on his astral senses than his physical ones, cautiously keeping an eye out for any sign of spirits or other astral presences not visible. Hardly a difficult task generally speaking for a creature that lives on both the astral and physical realms at the same time. Indeed, such a state makes it extra important that he makes sure to check such things, for unlike actual humans, he cant just 'turn off' his astral self, which means he's always vulnerable to attacks from both sides of the equation no matter what he does. For now he simply watches and listens to what ever the man has to say. He remains suspicious but at least his suspicions are allayed ever so slightly by the mention of the job. Even though it's quite vague at the moment, given the others present, he's at least certain it's not a trap set out just for himself.

That made at least one less issue he had to concern himself with at the moment, but that did not mean he didn't have plenty of questions he'd like to ask, he just.. did not know what specifically he should ask.

--
Perception
visual intuition 5 + perception autosoft 4 + visual enhance 3 = 6 hits
audio intuition 5 + perception autosoft 4 + audio enhance 3 = 6 hits
--

Driver had taken a seat and kept a close eye on the elf, a raised eyebrow as he announced the mission was retrieval and delivery but without any intel what so ever, could be worse. Looking over the menu that was laid at the table he selected a simple glass of water, paranoia had served him well over the years, no reason to change now. "I do not mean to be rude or disrespectful, I'm just not that interested in food at the moment so much as our mission. I'm assuming that since you have very little information for us that you have the first bread crumb to lead us to grand mother's house?"

T decides that something is afoot though he is not visually startled or sure what it is. so he throws his astral site up, and takes a look at the four corners of the room again. To see what exactly lit up on there hosts entry was it lights for effect or, candles reacting to something foul etc. etc. Then he takes a good astral look at his employers retainer. So as to try and shed some light on him, and his being.

Watashi looks at all four guests and states his responce to the question of his information "the only information that i hae that might be of some use is a picture of the subject taken ten years ago" he sends each conlink the image of a young boy with medium length black hair

Tiamat's astral sight reveals that there Johnson has no astral form

Kesslan remains somewhat confused about the nature of their host, the dual natured being frowning slightly as he regards their 'host' on both planes of existence. All his life he'd only ever encountered a few specific things that moved about the world without also having an astral signature. Cars, cleaning robots, assorted... mechanical things. But never a person, or an animal. Spirits were perhaps the sole exception in that while he would sometimes see them astrally, he would not see them physically.

But he'd never encountered the reverse.

He almost flat out asks the Johnson what the man was, but catches himself, yet still frowns slightly. Though it may give the impression he's frowning instead on the subject of the target and he at least naturally enough follows that up by asking something a little more appropriate. "Is this an extraction then? Or are we only to locate the present whereabouts of the target?"

Leans back in his chair as he pulls up the image from his commlink, immediately forwarding it to his UCAS contact Jacob, with the forwarded tag of that the image is a decade old and that the person is more than likely missing. He needed an updated image, even a computer enhanced image would work for now. The johnson was another mystery, but he was at least glad that the man was smart enough not to appear in person. "Alright Mr. Holographic Watashi, would you kindly tell us if you are a live feed or a recording. My guess is simply a recording, because if you were live you would be able to give us any and all information, and since you mentioned the lucritive part of this job, you wouldn't want to keep anything important from us would you?"

His voice was kept calm, and his face a solid granite as he waited for a response from the image.

Watashi looks over at Driver and smile, "Ah, it apears that we still need to do some work on the projectors, yes this form you see is a hologram however this is not a recording. The enformation i gaveyou is pretymuch all ive been able to track down, that beeing the photograph of theis child, or i should call him a man now seeing as he should be somewhere around 20 now. also i had found that his last known location was some where in Japan, Quite posibly Neo Tokyo, however that was 10 years ago so that inforamtion my not help you. and as far as a reward for succesfuly finding this person you will each be payed 4 million NuYen. That is what my employer had offered to pay for finding and securing this person."

4 MILLION? Faust chuckled at the thought of everything he could do with such a payday. Still, this would be a difficult run, to say the least. "Do you at least have a name of this person? The picture helps, but a name will help even more, allowing us to narrow the search."

He still didn't know the capabilities of the team. If they didn't have a hacker in the group, he'd have to call in a favor or two to run down this information. Still, she'd probably help out without too much persuading. Especially if he got the others to help cut her in on a piece.