[SgtBoomCloud]

Marissa stayed pretty silent whilst Wraith and Hopeless conversed, listening while casting a sidelong glance at La Sombra, who seemed to be busy with her call.  Shrugging, the human finished off her cinnamon ice cream with a smack of her lips before tilting her head just in time for Wraith to say her bit about finding one of the targets' comms.

"Good going, good going.  I like the way you think.  I'm going to keep an eye on ya"  Winking, the Phoenix relaxed a bit before turning to Hopeless.  "So...what you're saying is, don't expect a fireball or some healing, but if we had mojo spirits eyeballing us right now, you'd let us know?"  Shrugging, she seemed to be not too upset by that revelation.  "Since we talking shortcomings, I might as well admit mine: I'm kinda new to this town.  Yaks I get...no matter where you go, those asianos always got their hands in drek, and get violent when things don't go their way.  What I don't get, now, is these Feathered hoops.   Someone able to and wouldn't mind filling me in on these guys?  Symbologies, habits, looks, drek like that.."

"As for a safehouse...feel free to shoot me down, but my place didn't ask for a name, and I only paid out for the month anyhow.  It's a little ways from here, but without deets, I can admit that the Stars don't shine much there.  Catch my drift?  As for your hack, hmm..."  Getting an idea, Marissa grinned.  "Would having your meatsuit mobile help?  If so, we can continue this meeting on the road.  I got a ride"

[JackVII]

[05 MAY 2075 | 20:35 | DFW | Rio D's]

Wraith pursed her lips. "As far as the safehouse, if I'm not planning on doing much work from there, all I'm concerned about is relative safety. If it is located in one of the poor areas in town, the lack of reliable wireless might impair my ability to get things done. The mobile part could work, although moving too much could move us farther away from the target, which also could cause connection problems. We can give it a shot though... I can try to MARK it to get a location on it and then we could move closer to it, parking somewhere with low ambient noise."

While the woman spoke, she kept her senses focused on the commlink icon she had spotted, wondering what secrets it might contain.

[Jayde Moon]

As her commlink chirps, Gabriella looks down at it, then back up.  "We're in luck, my guy says he can get us some payday on these choobs, but it won't be cheap.  He's asking four and a half.  That's for three of em.  He says the last one... Sato... is too hot for him to want to involve himself in, so that's something to consider."

She looks over the group.  "So that's one and one each and I'll eat the remainder.  Probably throw him a bonus from my pocket to keep on his best side.  You up for it all?"

[JackVII]

[05 MAY 2075 | 20:35 | DFW | Rio D's]

Distracted by Minami's icon, Wraith muttered, "Yeah, sounds wiz. I'm not even counting that advance as part of our pay until this deal's over in any event. Figure we just vote on how we want to spend it and then split whatever's left over at the end."

The anticipation getting the better of her, the woman mentally adjusted her deck to make hacking easier and decided to test Minami's defenses.

>>The ghost-like figure reached out two insubstantial skeletal hands and placed them on the shoulders of Minami's persona. The icon didn't respond as dark mist rose up from here the hands touched the persona. Fading from existence, the hands left two skeletal palm prints.

Pleased with herself, she reported to the crew, "Alright, good news. I've got Minami's connlink MARKed. He didn't have much in the way of defenses, so I figured it was safe to try it from here. I'm going to take a few seconds and jump into VR to see if I can trace where the commlink currently is and see if I can setup a snooping algorithm on his commlink to intercept calls and messages. Be back in a sec."

With the mirrored sunglasses covering her eyes, the only indication Wraith gave to going full VR was her head and shoulders slumping down as her weight fully settled into the chair.

>>The grim icon settled in to work. Wrenching her left hand off, Wraith cast it into the air. The bones separated and fell into an incomprehensible pattern. Incapable of frowning, the icon still appeared unhappy. The disconnected bones faded away and she repeated the attempt. This time, the bones fell into a pile that, when read correctly, identified a specific geocordinate. Pleased with the result, Wraith tied the geocordinate to a map icon for the rest of the team to view. Not quite done, the undead icon looked over her shoulder and spotted her shadow. Eyes glowing red, the shadow separated itself from the icon and flew through the Matrix, attaching itself to Minami's persona icon. Satisfied, Wraith slipped back into AR.

Shaking her head as she came back into the real world, the decker mentally opened an AR window and called up a live stream of any messages or calls sent to of from Minami's commlink. She also called up her Baby Monitor program and set it to send an alert whenever it looked like GOD was taking too much interest in her. "OK, that's a start. We've got Minami's location. Looks like he's at the Heron on the 3rd floor. I also have a lock on any messages or calls running through his commlink. I can probably keep that up for about an hour."

[Poindexter]

"I was just askin', y'know?"

Ok, so there's one who knows you're a fuckin dork, already... He turns a little red and feels his temperature rise another half a degree. Finally, he breaks her gaze and glances down at the table. "Wiz."

"So...what you're saying is, don't expect a fireball or some healing, but if we had mojo spirits eyeballing us right now, you'd let us know?" 

FUCK! I fuckin knew I was forgettin something! Quickly, Ian opens his third eye and looks around the room. Noticing Salsha seated comfortably in the corner, her giant shelled form, considerably smaller now than when they'd first met, Ian feels a bit more calm about things. He quickly addresses her in a friendly tone.

"Pardon me, Salsha; but these ladies and I are alone, more or less, right? I mean, there's no spirits listening in on us or anything like that, are there?"

"You know more about this employment situation than any of us, so I'm happy to follow your lead. A safehouse sounds like a good idea, I doubt any of us want to use our own homes. Thing is, some of the stuff I'll probably be doing has the chance of being traced back to wherever I happen to be physically slumped over, so if I'm going to do any hacking, I'd rather not try it at a safehouse. I'm probably going to look into getting a cheap hotel room, maybe a coffin hotel room and pay in advance."

Oh yeah! I knew that. Duh! See, this is why I'm not the decker, yet. He listens and nods his head, concentrating on both the spirit world and the physical world. The three women start talking about contacts and info and payment for said info, but Ian figures they'll get all that worked out without him. Besides, it's easier to not talk when he's got his third eye open and he finds he comes across way better, the less he talks. He doesn't pipe up until,

"I'm not even counting that advance as part of our pay until this deal's over in any event. Figure we just vote on how we want to spend it and then split whatever's left over at the end."

"Yeah. What Wraith said." A few minutes later, she starts talking about hacking the commlink of one of their targets, just to take a look around. A moment later, she says,

"Alright, good news. I've got Minami's connlink MARKed. He didn't have much in the way of defenses, so I figured it was safe to try it from here. I'm going to take a few seconds and jump into VR to see if I can trace where the commlink currently is and see if I can setup a snooping algorithm on his commlink to intercept calls and messages. Be back in a sec."

Then, mere moments later...

"OK, that's a start. We've got Minami's location. Looks like he's at the Heron on the 3rd floor. I also have a lock on any messages or calls running through his commlink. I can probably keep that up for about an hour."

Ian is stunned. This woman is amazing. Then, his amazement turns to discomfort. This is exactly what the Putas did to us last time. I mean, c'mon. It had to be that technomancer, right? She's probably trying to do it again, right now. Well fuck her. Mister Hopeless doesn't keep anything at ALL on this crappy metalink. He doesn't even run AR on it, just uses it for texting. Hack it all ya like, you're getting nothing, fucker.

"That is good news." he says with a raised eyebrow, and in spite of his best attempts not to, he smiles a bit. I think I know who the team leader is...

[SgtBoomCloud]

Marissa grinned as the results started pouring in, resuming her relaxed, almost Hyborian style stance seated in her chair.  Excellent.  Professionals all around.  Glancing over to the orkette La Sombra, she gave a nod of affirmation with the others, gesturing towards the credsticks.  "No arguments from me.  Or anyone else by the sound of it.  Go for it."  Shrugging, she glanced over at Hopeless, who seemed to be concentrating elsewhere.  Despite being an Awakened herself, the Phoenix understood little of how astral energies worked, or even if her being an adept would show up on his vision.  If it were so, she would imagine her aura to be as if wreathed in a warm flame, burning with her enthusiasm.  Glancing at Wraith, she raised a brow.  If not leader, this one definitely dealt with information quick...plan architect maybe?

"That quick, huh?  Well, good if we want to learn some initial stuff, but doubt we gonna be doing this all in the next hour, wiz?  At least we know we can link up pretty fraggin quick and that's cool.  As for now though, I think we should continue this thing in a clandestine manner, y'know?"  Getting up, the Phoenix adjusted her coat about her form and picked up her hat, donning it over her auburn locks, muttering just audibly enough to be heard.  "The night is coming, and I feel the need.  The need...for speed."  Making sure she was being followed, Marissa led the way out of the restaurant, tipping her hat politely to the hostess on the way out.

The warmlate-spring evening air, complete with threatening of thunderstorms, greeted her as they left the establishment, the lady leading the way to her vehicle, identified as a sleek black Shin-Hyung, looking far more valuable than what anyone living where she suggested she lived could afford.  "Y'all can pick which seats to take.  Wraith, can you do me a solid and give me a map ARO detailing where you want me to stay around?"  As she spoke, the Phoenix was popping her trunk, fiddling about with the contents of it as she deposited a few of her weapons into it from her person, keeping her Predators and the stun baton for the car ride.

[Jayde Moon]

"Right, I'll push it through."

She slots a credstick and transfers a full five thousand over to the account Stokes had set up for this sort of transaction, then sent him a ping.

Henry, you'll see I've made a donation to your favorite charity.  I look forward to their good works.

She looks up and nods.  "Yes, I believe this place has worn on me, by now.  She shoulders her backpack and walks out with the others.  She nods as they arrive at the car.  "Nice ride."

"Y'all can pick which seats to take.  Wraith, can you do me a solid and give me a map ARO detailing where you want me to stay around?"

She smiled.  "With no objections, I'll ride shotgun."  As the Phoenix opened the trunk of her car, Gabriella unshouldered her bag.  "Mind if I stow this in the back with your gear?"

[JackVII]

[05 MAY 2075 | 20:35 | DFW | Rio D's]

Wraith happily got in the backseat. If she was going to go rag doll, it wouldn't really matter where she sat anyway.  The decker mentally tagged the Heron on a rudimentary ARO map of the southeast DFW. Then she drew a circle with a 1km radius around the hotel. "That would be the ideal location. With that said, unless y'all want me to hack more things on his comm, there's really no need. Now, if we want to try and figure out if  Oshiro's there too, we may want to get closer to cut down on the static."

[SgtBoomCloud]

She smiled.  "With no objections, I'll ride shotgun."  As the Phoenix opened the trunk of her car, Gabriella unshouldered her bag.  "Mind if I stow this in the back with your gear?"

Marissa could barely suppress the resulting grin from the offer as the ork lady got a full look at the trunk.  The smuggling compartment was opened, putting on full display the human's full arsenal of weapons and firearms.  Each piece had it's designated spot indented into the protective padding for the guns, most of the melee weapons strapped to the underside of the lid.  By each gun, an indent lay with each spare clip and ammo boxes stacked up.  In one corner, her grenades were organized in small bundles, and in the other were her "work" outfits, neatly folded.

Smirking, the Phoenix gestured towards her shotgun, a Defiance T-250 pump action, in a cheesy play on La Sombra's words.  "Knock yourself out, heh.  Just remember...driver picks the music"  Winking, the young woman shut the trunk after all business was cared for and hopped into the vehicle, bringing the engine to life with a roar as she drove the group out of the parking lot.

"Map's perfect.  I'll keep us in that range.  Be there in about...15 minutes, I'd guess."  Marissa made sure to drive casually...she didn't like it, but best not attract the Star so quickly.

[Poindexter]

"Everything's nice and quiet here, youngin," the turtle spirit gently says to him and he feels a little bit better about things. He won't forget again. Another minute or two goes by and everyone has finished their ice cream and seems to be getting antsy to get going. When the three ladies stand up and start gathering their things, Mister Hopeless follows suit, picking his Texas AM&M bag back up off the floor and throwing it over his shoulder. I Guess Phoenix is the wheels. On the way out, he glances one last time at the happy middle class families eating their meals and discussing their trivialities. He feels a mix of envy and disgust as he imagines what their lives must be like.

Phoenix has a gorgeous car and once the group reaches it, she pops open her trunk, inviting everyone to stow their gear inside.

"Y'all can pick which seats to take." 

"With no objections, I'll ride shotgun. Mind if I stow this in the back with your gear?"

As Ian passes behind the car, on his way to the passenger's side rear, he takes a look inside the miniature arsenal the redhead modestly calls a trunk. He'd never seen so many guns in one place at the same time. Noting the grenades, he again wishes he'd had the guts to bring one of his own with him. Maybe the drone, too. After about two blocks of driving, he's given the mental order to his jacket to drop the "cowboy fringe" pattern he'd been rocking for the bar, replacing it with "flat grey". By now, map AROs have been exchanged and plans for routes are being discussed. It seems like this group is itching to get moving tonight. This is a possibility Ian had known of, but had bet against. He really doesn't want to sound like a dork again, but his caution gets the better of him. The last thing he wants to do is get caught flat-footed if some bullshit were to pop off. He, somewhat apprehensively, speaks up again.

"Uhhhhh, I hate to be a pain in the ass or anything like that, but ummm, I didn't really like, come equipped for action. Before we get into anything tonight, mind if we run by my neighborhood? Lemme pick up my gear?"

[Jayde Moon]

"Spirits!  What a pain in the ass!!! Gabriella blurts out.  She turns to look at Hopeless and, seeing his expression, quickly softens the jab.  "I'm kidding, of course!  I guess it's up to our Chauffeur, really."  She indicates the Phoenix.

"Or maybe our net runner, there.  He's plugged in, if we take too long she gets the boot of GOD, doesn't she?  Anyway, we're not moving on anyone just yet, mostly getting a look-see, right?"

[JackVII]

[05 MAY 2075 | 20:40 | DFW | In Phoenix's Car]

Wraith looked up toward the front seat. "Oh yeah, absolutely. I definitely wasn't planning on doing anything too invasive, definitely not anything involving guns. We swing by there, I can take a look and see if Oshiro's commlink is there too, maybe do a little snooping on Minami's 'link, and then get the frag out of there. I definitely want to see what La Sombra's contact comes up with before doing anything dramatic. At best, I'm going to get an hour and a half to snoop on his link before GOD intervenes."

[SgtBoomCloud]

The side banter must have been entertaining to the Phoenix, if her quiet chuckling wasn't any indication from that.  From the looks of it, Hopeless is quite timid..and the rest of us aren't.  Either he's gonna unshell, or us snitches are gonna break him.  Fun.. Nodding in response to Wraith's explanation, she cleared her throat.

"Righto.  Vibe I was getting that we are just poking a bit.  I just keep my drek with me cuz it's safer than a bank.  after this poke, I gathered this would be it till tomorrow when we really get cooking."". She paused a bit, rounding a couple more blocks and getting into the area Wraith had requested.

"i ain't for beating bushes, so I think this is good timing for drek, and I'll admit since I'm not from here I'm curious.  Hopeless, you think this so good time to give the rundown of what you know about stuff?"

[rednblack]

On their way out of Rio D's, one of the security guards apprises this very unlikely scenario playing out in front of him. There's this skinny little caucazoid chummer, hair still a little wet, looking like he took a bath out in a fire hydrant or some drek, and get this: omae is flanked by not one or two, but fraggin' three hoops of the female variety, dressed to the nines and looking to kill  Course it looks like one might be playing bodyguard, but the other two are room workers for sure.  Damned if that chummer ain't got his shit figured out f'real.  He locks eyes with Hopeless as he walks past, and gives him a solid nod.  Respect, omae.

Once everyone has piled into the Shin-Hyung and the car is put into motion, La Sombre gets a ping from Detective Stokes.

<<@La Sombre [Stokes] The orphan troll baby seals of the SOX appreciate you.  Should have a gift of reciprocity in the next day or two. Stay in touch.>>

Minami's commlink is silent for the next twenty or so minutes, at which point a short call comes in.  The conversation is clipped and in Japanese, and is followed by a short text exchange from the same number.  The only definite piece of information that Wraith is able to piece together without any sort of equivocation or guesswork, is a time: 21:15.

At the time the text is sent, Wraith notes that the Shin-Hyung is about 10 minutes out from The Heron.

[JackVII]

[05 MAY 2075 | 21:00 | DFW | In Phoenix's Car]

Wraith stiffened next to Hopeless in the back seat. "Head's up, folks. Minami just got a call. I'm recording it right now. Uh... does anyone speak Japanese?" Wraith listened to the conversation, hoping someone on either end of the line would speak some fraggin' English but, after about a minute, the call ended. While Wraith checked the incoming commcode to see if matched any of the numbers they had been given, she said, "It looks like something might be going down in about 15 minutes. 21:15 was appended to the conversation in a text message."