[Novocrane]

"Mei guan shi, Mr Wizard. Last I checked modern medicine irritating your chi made bandaids as difficult for you, as augmentation does for me."

He hadn't removed his gear, but Tian mimed doffing his mask for those staying back.

"When you need something heavier than a rifle to hit centre target, these hands are the ones you should put it in. Not that you should mistake that for a lack of restraint or subtlety," he said, raising an eyebrow in Mclane's direction.

[irisheathen]

Patches rolled his eyes and walked out into the noise mumbling to himself  "Great I'm working with the newest rendition of the odd couple.” Once they were out of the stifling noise of the club and in the parking lot Patches slide open the side door on his van with a thought. It was a bulldog that looked a few years old; flat black with a large sign for “Chopstixs Chinese Soy” covering the left side. Inside was a plain but clean interior and the last row of seats had been taken out and was filled by a Renraku Stormcloud and some various other equipment easily assessable from the back doors. “It's not amazing but it gets the job done.”

[obidancer]

Yey, yey, wúlùn nǐ shuō, huǒjì* simply replied McClane to Tian Lu, in as good a Chinese as he could remember.

He waited for his two new teammates to get their weapons back and walked out. The van was nothing amazing indeed, but all they needed was to go to a concert in Redmonds, that was perfect.
He took the front passenger seat, leaving the more space in the back to the taller Ork.

Tell me Patches, how good are you with hacking a 'link or a node? How about you Tian Lu?

_{*means: "whatever you say, buddy"}

[Novocrane]

"Ni hui shuo Zhongwen ma?", he asked, new questions popping up. "Yatjung yuhyihn wihngyyuhn batgau ... how many languages can you guys speak? Read? Any chipped?"
Could come in handy, he figured, even if languages weren't exactly safe codes.

Seating himself near the door, he took note of the equipment and utilitarian look while while refitting his Dex Shockers and talking.

"With the right software, I could. As is? Well, some horrible things could happen to someone who tried to hack mine."

*Can you speak Mandarin? (Mandarin) One language is never enough (Cantonese) (I'll add that my OOC knowledge is pretty limited if anyone actually wants to converse in either ... it just slipped in)

[obidancer]

I got some basic Cantonese, and know Russian too. Said McClane to answer Tian.
Patches, what about you, can you hack a 'link?

[irisheathen]

"Spanish and a little Sioux." He started the van with a thought and plotted a course to Redmond as he continued. "As for straight up hacking, no; but I'm pretty good at finding and fooling programs. I'm also good at protecting my own." He turned to face his new companions as the van started to pull itself on to the street, mentally setting up some alarms in case the pilot got confused. "So whats the plan to get to Nabo? I'd like to avoid getting on the Black Flag's bad side tonight if I can. And I'll tell ya'll right now I'm shit at sneaking around."

[obidancer]

Mmm, I wish Hitch would have come with us... seem like the computer guy... thought McClane.
No Frill, Kid. He added to Patches, we're just going to watch a concert and see if we can get a chat with the lead singer. We're just some fans.... If we can't sneak in, we'll need to get tickets. Even better backstage tickets.

[irisheathen]

"So how much experience do you guys have in the business?" Patches glanced through the windshield hoping for a quick trip. With lite traffic we could be in Redmond in 15 minutes.

[obidancer]

The question brought memories in McClane's mind. Unwanted memories. He's had experience in the Shadows for some time now considering the life expectancy of runners, but it has been mostly solo work or temporary partnering with a couple more runners. His belonging to a full team, skilled and experienced, has been few and apart, resulting in both case in the death of pretty much all his teammates. Sure, teams are usually involving harder and more dangerous jobs, but McClane was just bad luck and dangerous scenarios usually turned into catastrophic ones around him.

It has been a few years... I am usually hired for my magical expertise and analytic abilities enhanced by a cerebral booster. Not much of a gun blazing kind of guy. I can only handle my machine pistol because I'm chipped. Skillwire system. Speaking of pistols, I left my Ceska home... see pretty lousy gun man, huh?
He turned in the seat to be able to look at Tian and added:
See, Mr. Li, not so much anti-cyber as one might expect from a magician.

Back to Patches, he asked:
How 'bout you kid, you're no Rookie, right?

 

[irisheathen]

"Depends on what you consider a rookie. I've got plenty of experience dealing with runners; usually when they are bleedin' and cussin'. I'm also no stranger to haulin' ass out of a shoot out tires squealing... but actually being a runner? Naw, not something I've been doin'  to long. " He looked expectantly at McClane and then to Tian waiting for a reaction.

[jonathanc]

Arriving on the outskirts of the Redmond Barrens, you can see the venue for Nabo's show clearly now. It's a large warehouse that would be non-descript were it not for the enormous crowd of people gathered around it. The line to get in wraps around the block, and the drone of a thousand conversations is loud enough to intrude on your own conversation, even from across the street.

Scalpers are easy enough to find, as are security, who look exactly as you would expect: black t-shirts stamped with "SECURITY" worn by thickly muscled orks bearing gang tattoos.

[irisheathen]

Patches killed the engine. "Here we are. If you gentlemen wouldn't mind giving me a moment to change into something a bit more fitting for the situation." He pulled a duffel bag out from under one of the seats and loosened the tie he had been wearing. "I'm sure there's a scalper out there with some backstage passes."

[obidancer]

I'm gonna start to worry about what we can find in this van. Don't tell me you have a fanboy outfit hidden in that bag.
McClane looked at his surrounding trying to figure out all the possible ways to get in, relative to the security around. Sure getting their hand on Backstage tickets would be great, but he had to think about plan B.
This was no concert hall. A simple warehouse converted into a performance stage. The warehouse certainly had a back entrance, probably one leading backstage. He looked up to see if he could spot any drone flying around, and watch where the Security was stationed.

Hey, Rookie, why don't you drive around the block once, maybe we can convince someone to let us in backstage already. If all else, I also have a Press License, maybe they'd let me cover the event.

[irisheathen]

"No fancy boy outfits, so sorry to disappoint" instead Patches pulls out a black jumpsuit and a light pistol in a concealable holster. As he pulls on the change of clothes he mentally guides the van slowly around the block.

[obidancer]

After years of seeing that happening, one thought you'd get used to it, but the mental driving thingy Riggers could do always freaked McClane out. He was more of a grab-the-wheel-and-drive kind of guy, and that was not about to change.
But apart from the brief jerk as the vehicle started moving without a physical driver,  McClane remained still and silent (yeah, that's a change )