[Retrokinesis]

SOME TIME LATER...

Richter finally gets tired of supporting the floor and groans a bit. He puts a hand up to his forehead, "Goddam, I haven't had a headache this bad since that Draco Foundation party detail... Evie, have you seen my lungs? I think I dropped them over- "

He goes lock-straight when he sees Jimmy, tension building in every tendon waiting to lash-out. "Well. You're not Evie. Which means either this is hell or I'm not dead. Which is probably a huge mistake on your part but I'm certainly not complaining!" He begins to slowly rise to his feet and massages his neck. "That spirit should go pro with a chokeslam like that. Steelfish definitely knows his stuff".

He leans against the wall and stares at Jimmy. "Wish I had a damn cigar. Used-up the last of 'em earlier. So... did you have a plan, or are we going to stare at each other? Because I figure we'd be having this conversation in a dark alley if you actually intended to shoot me..."

[RHat]

"If I wanted you dead, we wouldn't be having this conversation in the first place - we'd be heading to London without you, and you'd be dealt with by the time we got back.  So as for what I want, it's pretty simple, really - all just a matter of ground rules.  What you did is completely un-fucking-acceptable, no matter what.  So, either you accept the ground rules I'm about to lay out for you, or you can walk.  Now sit your ass down and listen."  He leaned back in his chair.

"First:  You've got a problem with someone else on the team, you come to me about it.  Second: You do not attack anyone on this crew.  Third: It's blatantly obvious someone's gonna have to head up this little group - if there's nobody to reign you and Three Star in, you two are going to get us all killed.  Seems that's gonna be me; if you have a problem following my lead, you say so here and now."

[Retrokinesis]

"Well. That would be intimidating. Except you're not at all intimidating. I've got some problems with that already. First, you shot me. Weren't the first and certainly won't be the last, but I find solace in the fact that I usually get to kill people who shoot me. Second, don't lump me in with that traitorous scum. I've killed better men than you for lesser insults. Third, what makes you think you have what it takes to lead this 'team'? You certainly talk a good game but nothing I've seen leads me to believe you have any actual tactical experience. I'm certainly not going to get myself killed following a strategy you learned from Miracle Shooter".

He leans forward, keeping eyes locked on Jimmy. "Oh! And fourth, did I mention you shot me? You're the one who brought a gun to a fist fight and, judging from those bruises on your neck, Mr. Lightning Bolt didn't just take offense with me. I've got no reason not to just walk and shoot you in the back when you're least expecting it. Hell, I'm sure that illeistic little psycho is wanted somewhere. I could take him down, claim any bounties, and walk with more than I'd get from this job".

He walks forward, closer to Jimmy. "So forgive me for not exactly seeing things from your perspective here..."

[RHat]

"Heh.  You're not really stupid enough to think that it's about what I could do to you.  You might be able to take me down in a fair fight, sure, but you damned well know you wouldn't be able to take the weight of my associates, especially not when your connections dry up and no one's taking your calls - no help, no resupply, no home to go to anymore, can't even get a safehouse...  You might manage to hold out for a day or two, but you're not the biggest fish by a long shot; no matter how tough you think you are you better believe they could get someone tougher."  He leaned back in his chair a bit more, and relaxed.  It was obvious that Marduk was trying to move the dynamic of this encounter to something that was more within his realm, but that simply wasn't going to be allowed to happen.

"What you need to understand about me is that I read people.  I've got a talent for it, and I always have.  And because of that, I can tell a few things.  For example, I can tell that when it comes right down to it, where it really matters, you've got the exact same problem as Three Star does - once you think you've been insulted, you have to get your revenge for it.  In fact, you just confirmed it for me with that lovely little 'killed for less' comment.  He may have poor judgement, but that's not the part that's liable to get us killed.  As for tactical experience, I'll put it to you simply - running's about the only biz I've had going since I hit this sprawl, and that wasn't exactly last night.  And I'm still alive."  He put his feet up on the table, beside his unloaded weapon.

"Now as for why it's me doing the leading, well, it's simple: I'm the only one who's got the experience, knowledge, and interpersonal skills to do it.  You might have the experience, but I'll take odds that you don't know shit all about magic to be able to even point Draco in the right directions, and that's besides the fact that no one's going to listen to you for more than 5 seconds anyways.  You want to see me do more than talk a good game?  That's not going to happen in the back of the bar."

"As for just shooting me in the back of the head some time, well, there's a reason why we're having this chat here.  This room does a wonderful job of illustrating a point that you need to understand.  Take a look on the table.  You'll notice my gun.  You'll notice that the slide is fully open, the chamber is empty, and both mags are out.  Meanwhile, you still have every weapon you walked into the bar with, fully loaded save for the rounds you fired at me.  But what is it you think that means?"


19E5 => 8 | die: D6, ones: 1 - Leadership; as always just consider it an RP aide if you want to use it.

[odd]

Tink went back to his place and decided to try and help out by doing some searching for info and not spying on his cohorts.


Data search for Gangers (rolled 5 times, but got it after 3rd): repeat 5 13D6E5 => 4 | ones: 2 ; 4 | ones: 1 ; 6 ; 1 | ones: 2 ; 4 | ones: 1
Data Search for Spirits (at -1, threshold is 24.  Took less time than I thought, only took 5 minutes): repeat 10 12D6E5 => 4 ; 7 ; 6 | ones: 3 ; 4 | ones: 2 ; 4 | ones: 3 ; 6 | ones: 1 ; 3 ; 2 | ones: 1 ; 6 ; 3 | ones: 4
And of course the hiding of the trail with spoof: 12D6E5 => 6 | ones: 2

[Retrokinesis]

You can practically see the gears in Marduk's head click as he puts everything together. "Ah. I get it now. You're a snake!" He grins, "Not an insult, by the way, I mean metaphorically. You figure you only need to get one good bite on me so, even if I take you down, the venom kills me as well. You feel safe relying on the protection of others, either your mob buddies or that old ork's spirit. Which, by the way, I don't think you've grasped the gravity of. See, I know quite a bit more about magic than you seem to think. Comes with being a walking antimagic field. And that spirit didn't even blink at manifesting into my aura. I routinely banish lesser spirits just by being near them and it weakens the stronger ones quite a bit. But this one? Steelfish has some truly wicked mojo if he keeps something like that in his pocket".

He turns around and begins pacing back and forth, eyes still fixed on Shark. "You're a betting man, clearly. What do you think the odds of any of your 'friends' being willing to die to avenge you are? You don't look like a made man to me so I'd guess you're an asset to them. Useful, but disposable. Maybe they're holding your leash, maybe you've done them a few solids in the past. Doesn't change your status. Like 'runners, really, except the mobs have less business sense than your average corp so are more likely to just cut you out. I figure it would go down like this: I kill you. That's pretty much a given considering our respective abilities. Maybe some of your friends come after me but I'm willing to bet most wouldn't. I kill them too. Maybe their friends for good measure. The whole thing keeps spiraling until I get tired of wasting bullets on ganger scum and go back to Ares. I may not be the biggest fish, very true, but they are. End result: You're dead, your friends are dead, and all I lose is what I came to this damn city for, which I'm not even convinced actually exists".

He raises both his arms and grins. "All this goddam macho posturing of yours demonstrates the biggest flaw with your strategy: You need your targets to be rational. To have something you can poke and prod and exploit to get them to do what you want. I'm not rational, see. I'm the mongoose in our little analogy. A mongoose doesn't hunt a snake for food. It hunts the snake because it can and maybe because it just doesn't like snakes. Spirits are like that too, you know. You can't talk them down or reason with them. Not just the real vicious ones - toxics and the like - either. Even spirits of Man don't think anything like metahumans. Tell me, how would your connections save you from a toxic spirit? From the shaman that summoned it, whose only goal is the total dissolution of everything?"
Tink's Data Search results:
Gangs: You get the same information RHat typed-up a page or two back. Wasn't very difficult to find.
Blood Spirits: This was, though. Someone is definitely trying to keep everything related to blood magic buried. The only verifiable information you could find comes from runners who claim to have survived encounters with blood spirits. Unlike lesser blood magic, which can be invoked through pain alone, summoning a blood spirit requires death. They're notoriously aggressive and difficult to control, and more than one team only escaped because the spirit got loose and turned on its summoner. They have the same capabilities as normal spirits except for an added ability to induce terrible fear and the semi-vampiric ability to consume blood to empower themselves. That last part is their biggest weakness as well; they have to consume stolen life force or they discorporate completely after a few days.

Just a nitpick, but you should do the Spoof test first. It's hiding where you're logging-on from not where you've been .

[umraefein]

Ignazio headed for home, leaving Marduk in Jimmy's hands. He was curious about how Steelfish had that much mojo at his back... If only he'd paid attention when his tutors tried to teach him to read things on the Astral Plane.... He dialed up Slither again, hoping to get some information on what they'd got themselves into.

"Hola chica. Got the details on the job. We're going to the London arc... Was hoping you'd have some info, or maybe even a contact over there for when I hit the ground. I'd hate to leave myself out in the cold by going somewhere I don't know anyone. Gracias!"

[Retrokinesis]

Slither's tone is... amused? "Oh, I do. You may not like him, though. He's a Knight of Rage gang member. A mechanic. They practically worship Celedyr so consider showing them your scaly side. If you're not too shy..." His contact information comes through as well.
NEW CONTACT: Trask, Knight of Rage mechanic (2/1)

[umraefein]

Ignazio laughs at what he hopes is a joke on Slither's end. "Thanks for the advice. Don't know if the team'll be too happy about me feathering up, but we'll give it a shot. Also, thanks for all the help, chica. Don't know where my hoop'd be if not for you."

[RHat]

"You realize that all that actually just makes you a fish, right?"

[Retrokinesis]

Richter is silent for a few seconds, visibly straining to resist pulling his gun. "I think I'm about done with you. The only reason you're still alive is that goddam spirit. I don't give a damn how connected you think you are - and neither does a bullet. You've got about 10 seconds to convince me you're not a bigger ass than Three Star or I walk".

[RHat]

"Because you tried to pump me full of explosive rounds, we're still having this conversation.  Now, I don't much expect you to go waiting on my word like this is some kind of military unit, but I'm giving you two choices here: either we figure out some ground rules we can both abide, or you can leave the advance and walk.  I don't need you to like me.  Don't really care what you think about me.  But if we're gonna be working together a million miles off, we need to settle a few things.  It's really that simple."

[Retrokinesis]

"Ground rules, huh? I've got two: Don't give me a reason to kill you and stay out of my way while I'm working. Hell, if we set up a tacnet with those new milspec smartlinks you won't even have to stay out of my line of fire. I kill things, I get paid. I don't do charity or diplomacy. That's all you. I won't tell you how to do your job if you extend me the same courtesy. Deal?"

[RHat]

"Damn close - I just need two things from you.  One, I need to know you're not gonna go shooting any of us in the back.  You decide you want to walk, that's fine; but that's the end of it.  You got a bigger problem than that, you come to me - and so long as you and I can settle things now, your problem ain't gonna be with me.  Two, while it's not some damned military arrangement, I look to be in the lead here.  I ain't asking you to follow orders or some shit, but if I tell you I need you to cover Draco, I need to know you're gonna do it; the time ain't there in a lot of situations to explain every last detail of WHY you need someone to do something, which you well know.  You honestly got a problem with that?"  He paused for a second.  "As for the tacnet/smartlink setup, I can probably swing that - might need a good deal of gear, though."

[Retrokinesis]

"Eh, I can do that. As long as I keep getting paid, of course. Tacnets... lesse... standard sensor package for each member, hook Tink's drones into it for overwatch. We done here then?"