[Ren]

Despite having enough of the tension almost physically present in the room, Concrete didn't want to leave without the others. He made another attempt at bringing the group into the same conversation, however, requesting connection through their comms. As he didn't want to disrupt Siren, she only received the invitation as a commcode where she could join whenever she wanted.
"Well, i think it's time for the mutual introductions. My name's Concrete, or Mike where others can hear. Mainly worked protection detail until now in both low and high places."

[Reiper]

"I'm Lasciel, Lash for short. I twirl my little fingers and people do what I want, its like magic. I can cast sling some combative spells, but I prefer a support role". She smiled, "oh and I have a nice butt"

[Padawan]

Trog. Trog for short too. If it makes you squeamish to use a slur just call me Igor or Big Guy. I used to be a pro boxer, good at it too. I'm big and burly, so the little ones might want to stand behind me if guns start firing. My butts just ok. Trog then approximated a wink at both Lasciel and Siren, though it looked more like a weird blink.

[Bewilderbeast]

Siren silently accepted the invitation from Concrete just in time to catch the lingering introductions. She was surprised to hear Lash was a mage of some type. She didn't work with them often, despite her own... talents. But it would certainly help to have one on the team. Butt-evaluations, however, would have to wait for later. For now, Siren's attention was still focused squarely on Ashley.

She decided to ask Trog's question, primarily out of a desire to not piss off a massive angry troll. She doubted it would help much, since they already had a lead on the bouncer that recognized Maria, and Siren was pretty sure she could bluff and schmooze her way into finding out who was working that night (bartenders love to gossip, after all), but hey, it might prove useful. "Okay, Ashley, I believe. Hard questions are over. Just a couple more... do remember what the bartender looked like that night? Was there more than one? Just want to check and make sure nobody tampered with Maria's drink. Also, just out of curiosity, what type of music does Nabo play?" The last question was a background detail, but could maybe give them a bit of forewarning as to what sort of crowd they were about to try and infiltrate.

Siren then sent a quick text message to the group. Hey, everybody. You can call me Siren. Sorry I've been a bit distracted, but I'm good with people and just trying to get what we can out of the poor girl before we send her off to bed. As for my talents, well... I mostly just sing. She couldn't help but be just a little mysterious...

As she waited for Ashley's response, she sent one more message to Massimo. I think we're about ready to go, sorry to stress you and Ashley out, Massimo. There is one thing I want t discuss with you, though, before we go. And that's payment. Promise you'll hear me out.

[Gustovness]

Ashley described the bartender to Siren: a young ork, young probably by human standards, with dark orange skin and an earring.

"Nabo plays ork rock.  It's great stuff, but Maria always liked it more than I did. She was probably really wound up in the music and didn't notice if anyone slipped anything in her drink."

Massimo shot back at Siren, "Look, at least show me you's got a lead to woirk with and then maybe, MAYBE, we can meet up again and when we has a better idea of what happened to Maria, we's can talk about maybe forkin' some more nuyen for any unexpected troubles."

[Reiper]

She sent a message to the team  <<if we can get the security footage at the club from last night we may find out who nabbed her. Although I don't think they will be just willing to turn over the footage for no reason, and I don't think it is in our best interest for them to know who Maria's father was. If this was a random act instead of a targeted one then that may cause it to end badly. Maybe we can bat some eyelashes and drop a couple of tears to get the security chief to get us what we want if our technowiz doesn't want to risk stealing it through the network. And I'd prefer Concrete not to have to bust any heads, well yet. Back in my professional days, my roommate was caught on trideo with a Governor and the Governor was blackmailed, maybe we can pull a con similar where we're trying to find out exactly what or blackmailers have. I'm sure one of us girls can give a good sob story, and Concrete can stomp on one of our toes if we need a real tear>>

But I'm always open to other approaches too, especially if I don't end up with a broken toe.

[Padawan]

Trog sent a message to the team after Ashley's answer. Hmm... Ork Rock, never been sure if I like it. If you want tears Lash I could always step on you, though that might break your toe instead. You sure we don't want to just break down the door? That's always been the funnest way to me. If we go for subtlety though, just don't ask me to lie, I don't lie good.

You're a singer Siren? Anything we'd have ever heard of?

[Reiper]

Trog sent a message to the team after Ashley's answer. Hmm... Ork Rock, never been sure if I like it. If you want tears Lash I could always step on you, though that might break your toe instead. You sure we don't want to just break down the door? That's always been the funnest way to me. If we go for subtlety though, just don't ask me to lie, I don't lie good.

You're a singer Siren? Anything we'd have ever heard of?

<<Busting down doors in a club just to get footage may not be the best option. But I promise you, if we do find out who kidnapped her, I'm sure you'll get a chance to break some noses and hopefully dangle someone off of the side of a building for more information before dropping him>> she smiled at that idea, she didn't quite like people who were mean to women, <<And I'm sure the Don wouldn't mind, might even give us a bonus>>

[Padawan]

Trog began to laugh, "Now who told you about that? That wasn't for information though, he just got on my bad side, something about my mother I think." Trog then stood up. "Well... Are we ready? Let's go see these racist bastards. Or the not so-racist-bastards as Concrete claims them to be."

[Ren]

"I'm OK with going. We'll get back to you if we find anything, Massimo." Standing up, Concrete shot a questioning look at Lord. The others seemed ready to move.
"Can someone give me a lift to Skeleton? Wouldn't want you to wait for me if i used PT to get there."

[Bewilderbeast]

"Ork rock?" Siren's face lit up with something approaching genuine delight at Ashley's response. "I love ork rock. Oh man, I'll have to check him out." Siren couldn't help but feel a little ashamed she didn't know more about Nabo; she used to genuinely be into the ork rock thing. Sure, it'd been a few decades, but she still had a soft spot for it. After a moment, she forced her expression to become a bit more serious. "Anyway, sweetie, you go get some rest. I promise you me and my friends will do everything we can to find Maria."

With that, Siren twisted in her seat to face Massimo and the rest of the group. She kept her communication on the Matrix, however... she didn't want to wound Ashley further by revealing that she was bargaining with Maria's life... which, in many respects (try as she might to ignore it) she was. She did, however, forward her previous message to Massimo and his response to the rest of the group. No reason not to keep them in loop when it came to negotations.

In response to Trog's questions, Siren sent the following to the group: Go on ahead if you really want, Trog. I'll catch up. I'm going to see if I can squeeze an advance out of Massimo. I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm pretty friggin' nuyen-poor at the moment, and we might need it. She then added, privately and just for Trog: As for whether or not you've heard of me... talk to me after the run, chummer. I might have some audio files for you. She added an incredibly tacky AR winky face to the end just for the hell of it.

With that said, she focused her attention squarely on Massimo, fixing her jade-green eyes strictly on his sweating, paunchy face. I hear you, Massimo, and I don't want you to think for a second I don't understand the position you're in. Ten thousand nuyen is a fair price, and we're not contesting that, and everybody on the team is dedicated to getting Maria back safe and sound. Siren sucked in a short little breath through her nostrils before continuing. She made sure to look Masssimo dead in the eyes the entire time, her face a mask of seemingly-genuine concern and worry. She continued to speak to Massimo over the Matrix, however, out of concern for Ashley. But I'm not a wealthy woman. I'm nuyen-poor at the moment. And if we need the cash to do something, buy something, to get Maria safe as soon as possible, I'm not sure I want to wait on you or the even the Don's approval for that. I know you're in a tough spot, Massimo, but all I'm saying is if you can secure us an advance... any sort of advance, even, I can guarantee that it will only go toward assuring Maria's safety. And, she thought to herself silently, making you look good in front of the Don. I'm not asking for miracles here, she continued, being sure to patch the rest of the team through for the remainder of the negotation. I'm just saying it would be good to know ahead of time what sort of expense account we're working with. Keep us abreast of the situation, yeah?

All the while, she kept staring at Massimo with those hypnotic, jade-green eyes...

C'mon... big nuyen...
Negotiation (Bargaining) = (17d6.hits(5)=5)

Eh... good, not great. Let's roll with it and see what happens.

[Gustovness]

Massimo, annoyed, replies to Siren, "I'll give you a grand as an advance to your 10k.  When you find the girl, it'll be another 9k to round out the offer, capiche? Don't slot around with my money, sweet heart.  The Don'll have you singing till your voice cuts out to make back the money if you run off with it."

Massimo walks out the door, giving a subtle gesture to Siren to follow him.  Once outside, he and Siren walk into the parking lot.  Massimo slides into the passenger seat of a black sedan and opens up the glove compartment.  He hands Siren a large yellow envelope.  "Don't you's dare opens this thin' in front of too many people..."

Siren checks the contents and counts 1,000 Nuyen in credsticks of varying denominations.

[Gorean]

Joining his rig his 'link to the group channel Lord gave a round down of what he understood of the situation do far. His DNI to voice software still managed to keep the British lilt.
So this is what we now so far. One. Maria was targeted specifically. Two. There is a bartender that may know if the drink was spiked. Three. We know it all went down outside a club called the Skeleton

So that raises the question of what is the next step. My recommendation is that we go too Skeleton and see if A they have security footage of the alleyway. B security footage of the person that approaches Maria within the club.
I think the strategy should be to try talk/bribe the footage out of them, failing that i'll try hack my way into the system and retrieve the footage. If all that fails I think our Plan Fubar will be to goes in guns hot since we don't have the luxury of time considering who our employer is.

So with that said is everyone comfortable with the level of gear that they are carrying currently or do we need a supply run.
Secondly do we have transport for the team?

[Ren]

Concrete shook his head once while hearing out Lord. I agree with the general plan and i also think Lash's idea could work he replied, then continued with an AR wink Though i don't plan on any stomping. I can be scary enough to make someone cry without it. I still think this might have been a random grab and Maria was chosen because she was more susceptible and less attentive. Anyway, i have everything i need with me. I would appreciate a lift as i said earlier.

Then, like a shock, it hit him. Almost forgot the most important item. Lord, can you get a picture of Maria from the backup data Needle mentioned? I'm pretty sure she will be tagged on at least some of the pictures on her comm. I wouldn't ask Massimo for it if we already have one.

[Bewilderbeast]

Siren followed Massimo out into the parking lot. She couldn't help but feel a bit disappointed when Massimo pulled out a literal fistful of credsticks and shoved it toward her. Actual, physical (stealable) money like that seemed more like a liability than an advantage, but at least it was walking-around money. And the fact that he was willing to give them an advance at all was quite the vote of confidence, despite his griping. Siren smiled at Massimo as she tucked the credsticks into the pocket of her yellow peacoat. "Appreciate it, Massimo. We'll let you know as soon as we have something substantive. I'm going to go meet up with the others, head over to The Skeleton."

Stepping back into the restaurant, Siren rejoined the planning session. "Hey chummers... so we're in agreement, trying to shmooze our way to what we want is plan A?" she said out loud as she re-emerged. She swapped back to Matrix texts for the sensitive bits, though. Don't forget the bouncer, either. The one that recognized Maria? But it's still quite early, he might be off-duty. One thing I should mention... it's possible I might be recognized at The Skeleton. She shot Concrete a meaningful look. Not my usual hangout, but close. With that in mind, I nominate Lash to play the compromised damsel. The one we're trying to get the tapes for. I'm a little worried people might remember not seeing me there, otherwise.

As for transport, she continued, I have a car parked a bit up the street. Can bring three with me... but you, big fella? She turned her attention to Trog. Not quite certain you'd fit.