[Zweiblumen]

The vehicles pull up into something of a crescent centered 15' around the three figures in the center of the street.  The bikes on the pull about 10 feet further ahead then car and truck in the middle of the group.  A couple of the second story windows slam shut as folks decide they should be paying attention to things other than what's going on in the street.  It looks like some aspects of the Barrens are still lingering.

The jazzed out Chameleon's driver door opens and an Ork sized human steps out.  Just as this happens, Expo sees a message from Mickey.
<<<@Émeric [Mickey] *sigh* Always beating me up on the price, nea?  Fine, 18%.  I've sent your contact info and a good word over to TwoTooth.  He'll be expecting to hear from ya.  I'll be following the news on your job, so lemme know when you get paid.>>>

The huge human looks at the trio and says, "You on Chulos' streets.  What the drek do you think you're doing!?!?  You want you some new faces?"  He cracks his knuckles and his massive neck to emphasis his point.

[Tecumseh]

Knucks maintains his composure while simultaneously goosing his reaction enhancers. The ork-sized human sizes up the other ork-sized human in an estimation of ork-sized human combat. Knucks is fairly certain he could have his fist - striking callouses backed by bone density - through the human's forehead and a throwing knife in the throat of another ganger before the rest of them could throw down. How sweet it would be.

But, no, business before pleasure, he scolds himself. Knucks is profoundly upset by the other's man's humanity, and whenever Knucks glances at him he wishes that the Latin ganger would grow some tusks and some pointed ears so that Knucks would not have to suffer such confusing shame each time he looked at him and was reminded of himself.

[badneighbor]

Expo smiles warmly and shows the large human what he hopes is the correct balance of respect and fearlessness. He displays his open hands, demonstrating that he's not here to fight.

Damn, he thinks, this guy's about as big as Knucks, and Knucks is an ork. Must be juicing. Then again, Knucks is juiced up too, so...

He puts the thought aside and focuses his full attention on his new friend.

"Sorry, chummer. No disrespect. We know this is Chulos turf, an' tell the truth we wanna help you keep it like that."

He shrugs slightly.

"Not that you need it. But we might make things smoother for you. This whole thing can be over quick'n'easy. If that sounds like something to you, I'd love a chance to talk with your boy TwoTooth. He knows I'm here."

[Zweiblumen]

A couple of the other gangers hoot and holler a bit as the huge man in the middle cracks his neck.  A few cast a weary glance at Knucks specifically, but the group in general.  They show a solid mixture of ganger bravado and muted respect for the pure brazenness of you three.  You all are able to fit the mold of the street, again with a solid mix of attitude and respect.

At the mention of TwoTooth the giant human raises an eyebrow.  "You know TT?  What he you long lost cus' or sumtin?  And what we need you asses for to keep our own streets?  You think we can't take care of our own!?!?!"  Some of the louder gangers rev their engines or slap their various weapons at the mention of not being able to take care of their own.  He seems to have ignored or not heard your mention of "Not that you need it."

[badneighbor]

“Ain’t like that,” Expo says unapologetically. Extra-polite might not be the way to go here, he thinks. “but I think TT is gonna want to hear us out before you make a move. On us or on the ‘Noids.”

He let the name of the rival gang hang in the air for a moment. This guy probably didn’t expect he’d know about the battle that was about to go down. Maybe that’d be enough to get him taken more seriously.

[Zweiblumen]

The large man knocks on the dashboard of the car twice, signaling something to the person still inside.

"You wanna talk with TT so much, why don't you call him?  You dealing with us.  Right here, right now.  Who you think you be, and why should I care?"

He starts to step around the door of the jazzed out chameleon.  His clothes match the colors on the car.  The rest of the gang seems content to watch their leader before making any moves, but everyone is alert.

[Tecumseh]

TwoTooth? Sounds like an ork name, Knucks thinks to himself. Promising, but what would an ork be doing with all these smoothies?

<<@Team [Knucks] We know TwoTooth? Since when?>> He shoots a glance at Expo, tentatively impressed.

<<Appeal to their credsticks. Gangers are poor, scan? These ain't the Ancients or the Cutters here. Breeders got money-loving hearts too. They don't gotta like us, but they gotta have a reason to care.>>

[badneighbor]

<<@Team [Knucks] We know TwoTooth? Since when?>> He shoots a glance at Expo, tentatively impressed.

Expo doesn’t return Knucks’ glance. He’s keeping his eyes on the prize.

<<@Team [Expo] Since about a minute ago…>>
He sighs and rolls his shoulders. This is going nowhere. Time to lay it out on the table.

“Alright, listen. Ain’t no doubt in my mind these’re your streets, and we’re not trying to step to that. Comes down to it, I bet you and yours can grease us and the Technoids without breakin’ a sweat. Point I’m tryin’ to make is, you don’t have to. Me and my chummers here can help get the Technoids workin’ for you, instead of against you. Doesn’t make much sense to wipe ‘em out, right? Not when they could be earning for you and the Chulos.

“I could call TT about all this, yeah, and I think he’d be down. I will if you want me too. I figure since you’re here now, though, you might wanna be the guy who made the deal. Yeah? Might mean some serious nuyen if you play your cards the right way. Me and my associates can help with that.”

[Zweiblumen]

The brute of a man looks takes a quick glance back into the car to see the woman in there give him a single nod.  He furrows his brow a little at this, then turns back and starts walking forward.  Several of the gangers start to get off of their rides or pull out chains, but he puts a hand out indicating that they should wait there.

Now that he's closer there's less shouting.  As he gets closer he gives Knucks a bit of a cockeye'd look but doesn't say anything, a nod for Uffington as an acknowledgement, and then he looks down at the dwarf and says, "What do you know about our beef with the 'noids?  There hasn't been much talk on the street about it on purpose.  Who's paying you?"  Now that he's closer and quieter, you notice there's a lot less "street" in his speech.  You can tell there's a reason this group follows him, and it's not just his size.

[Tecumseh]

Knucks uses the DNI of his trodes to fire off a rapid response to Expo before Expo says something a ganger would never say. The uppers coursing through his system make him that much faster at things like this.

<<@Team [Knucks] He knows we ain't locals or the neighborhood watch so it's obvious that we're not doing this for free.

Don't say nothing that might suggest someone else is entering the game, or contesting their control. Say something ambiguous like 'a neutral third party that prizes peace and profits, not turf.' If he presses you for a name, say you're being discrete and professional. Gangers seen all the 'runner trids. They know the code.

And if you really need to, lie. And if that doesn't work, punch him in the nuts. I'll take care of the rest>>

Knucks smiles, all friendly-like.

[rednblack]

Uffington returns the nod from the big ganger, slow and stoic.  "Respect," the nod says, the look of two animals that might regard one another as food, but are careful of hooves and horns, teeth and claws.  Or, in this case, automatic weapons, chains, and balls of lightning.  Let's hope things don't get too interesting.

Uffington can see that the dwarf is choosing his next words carefully.  Odd that the gangers would ask about where the nuyen's coming from.  The trio may look "street" now, but they certainly don't look ganger.  He huffs out through his bulbous nostrils, a habit he's formed from communing with Stag.  No whiff of fear, not that he can tell. 

[badneighbor]

The brute of a man looks down at the dwarf and says, "What do you know about our beef with the 'noids?  There hasn't been much talk on the street about it on purpose.  Who's paying you?"  Now that he's closer and quieter, you notice there's a lot less "street" in his speech.

Expo quickly scans Knucks’ message, unwilling to divert his focus too much from the big guy who is now much closer in front of him. Close enough to smell. He has to fight the instinct to wrinkle his nose. He returns the ganger’s look.

“Employer’s confidential, so nothing doing there. All you need to know is, they have instilled in us a real interest in keeping things peaceful and profitable for everybody.”

He puts his right hand up and out toward the ganger, offering a handshake a little like one might offer their hand for an unfamiliar dog to sniff.

“I’m Expo. That’s Uffington, and Knucks,” he explains, tilting his head toward each respective partner. “Whaddya say we go knock on the Technoids’ door together? Up to you how hard.”

[Zweiblumen]

"You three are offering to help us smack the 'noids for nuthin?  You so effective, what's to keep you from shankin' us while we're deep in it?  You're not offering much in the way of motivation to bely trust.  Wiz?  We'd be interested if we know we don't end up with a fight on two fronts on our hands or walkin' into a trap."

He looks the group over and sees that while you've got street written all over you, you're not local.  He shifts into lecture mode, which is particularly odd for a huge man dressed the way he is.  "You set these things up in the street like this so that you can eliminate the unknowns.  If we go waltzing into their home, we are at a disadvantage, likewise if they do the same to us.  We meet out here on the street, and while our territory, it's a more even field.  Now, if you can change the odds in our favor, of course we'd rather not disrupt business and take this to their doorstep.  We crash through a businesses door that we are collected protection on, we loose face.  That's not green, wiz?"

He looks down at Expo and stares hard.  "You prove we can trust you, we've got a deal.  Otherwise, we keep it to the streets."

[badneighbor]

"You set these things up in the street like this so that you can eliminate the unknowns.  If we go waltzing into their home, we are at a disadvantage, likewise if they do the same to us.  We meet out here on the street, and while our territory, it's a more even field.  Now, if you can change the odds in our favor, of course we'd rather not disrupt business and take this to their doorstep.  We crash through a businesses door that we are collected protection on, we loose face.  That's not green, wiz?"

He looks down at Expo and stares hard.  "You prove we can trust you, we've got a deal.  Otherwise, we keep it to the streets."

Dropping his hand unshaken, Expo does everything he can to remain patient. “’Fraid there’s not a lot of time for trustbuilding exercises, chummer. I don’t know what to tell you, ‘cept that if we were here to fight you, we’d be fighting you.” He juts a thumb in Knucks’ direction. “This guy here loves to fight. It’s his favorite thing, his Option A. Not Fighting is his way of being friends.”

He casually looks around the big muscly human to the collection of revving engines behind him, taking an extra moment to peer through the windshield at the woman seated inside. He continues speaking calmly to Big Guy, being careful not to make anything sound like a threat.

“You got any spellslingers in your crew? Anyone who’s been up the hill, y’know, astral-like?” he returns his full attention now to Big Guy, jutting his other thumb at Uffington now. “Cause we do. This guy just went up there, in the ‘Noids’ base. Had a look around. Unseen. We know all sorts of things that’ll give you an edge.”

Expo puts on hand up, palm out, in a display of nonaggression. His other hand very slowly pulls his jacket aside to reveal his holstered Predator V. “You want a show of trust? Take my piece. Only thing I’m packing. We all go up there together. If things don’t look the way we say they’ll look, go ahead and pop me.” He gives a wry smile, “Course that makes me defenseless if they start shooting first, but there’s even more reason for me to try to keep that from happening.”

He stares at the ganger, waiting for his response, and secretly offers a silent prayer to Whoever’s Listening that this is going to work. Cause a stunt like this could get him killed real quick.

[rednblack]

Before the Big Guy can respond, Uffington breaks in.  "Yeah, I was up there, scouting around the mojo, wiz?  Ona 'em's callin' the shots, and I know who.  You got a mojo slinger, have 'em take a look.  I'll tell you what I know, and they can tell you if it's chip.  'Side from that, how you propose we prove you can trust us?  'Sides that, how we know we can trust you?  I don't wanna get pinged in the hoop after doing a good turn, scan?"

Uffington huffs again through his nostrils, a little concerned with Expo offering his piece, but pretty pleased with how the dwarf is handling their biz.  Solid chummer, that one.  Maybe if we walk out of here, he and I can do some more work together sometime.