[MaxKojote]

Fang was listening to the conversation, more than happy to not have to help in negotiations. His ability to actually negotiate was on the bad side of horrible, even if he can read their base emotions. He got nervous or had no idea what to say next. All he really wanted was information, and he could find that on the Matrix with little difficulty. Maps and blueprints shouldn't be too hard, nevertheless any time saved by being given the information would be time he could use to prepare a sprite for the mission. He watched Devil with interest; the male seemed to have an air of confidence that he used well in negotiations,

He had never really worked for a team of this size before. Usually his missions were more simplistic and could be accomplished off-site, or required him to just mess with systems for a small team to complete objectives. As such being around this people made him nervous and somewhat shy, something that wouldn't be too hard to see. Now the thought of the fact he would be working with this people had set in, his previously swaying tail lay limp, his arms crossed almost defensively. He knew he would have to work well with these people, but first he'd have to get over his nervousness with groups.

Actual nuyen wasn't too much of an issue. Occasionally other payments were mysteriously diverted to his bills, allowing him to live comfortably for a while. Certainly he had nothing to do with that. Nevertheless an extra bit of nuyen would be nice to buy luxuries or equipment. Or to pay another technomancer for some lessons in learning complex forms.

[Manse]

Ahnak looked around the table at the team, all trying to size each other and the Johnson up.  Trying to measure, to weigh each word carefully.  This was a time for such actions, but he didn't enjoy them much.  He had always been after a purpose, and he had found it in the shadows. Sitting around a table was not a run, and he would know plenty about the quality of the team Collider had set up once the drek hit the fan.

"I'll need some magical materials as soon as we can get them," he says as he pulls a paper and pencil from his pouch, slowly and smoothly so as not to upset the guards.  He scribbles a few items down, then folds and slides the list to Collider, "Most should be readily available and I think it'd be nice to have an extra set of...hands on deck if we need it."

[Devil]

It wasn't difficult to look deeper. It was Italian for, "The all-seeing eye", a quick datasearch revealed. What he didn't know ws what the crest was for, but it didn't look much like a corp emblem. More like an old-timey family Crest, or maybe that of an organization that he hadn't seen before. He was already running a search on the image and on the description. Drekal O'Kene, Bobesto scandal, Renton triple homicide. This shouldn't be hard. More follow-up searches.

So far, the guy looked like a rent-a-cop, pretty much. As for what he was doing here... Maybe none of the sharks were biting. After all, any law abiding citizen, or anyone with any real money, had their preference of alternatives. It was generally only the people who didn't fall into either of those catagories that would consider hiring a private detective these days, by Devil's estimation. Then again, maybe this Winters character was on the job before he ever walked into the building. The theif 'had' spotted an older Patrol-1 parked not far from here. Coincedence?

[Devil]

His mind wandered to the other members of the team that had been assembled. How did the pieces fit together? If he knew that, then perhaps he would know more about Collider, the man who seemingly knew enough about all of them to get each of them there. Who was the highest profile runner here? A dog boy with a German accent certainly seemed like it would stick out like a sore thumb on the matrix. The young Elven woman was also very striking in more ways than one, but far too pleasant and mannered to be more memorable than anyone with fur. He'd start with the boy, and then check out the silver lady as soon as he could find the time.

Mentally he ran a series of quick datasearches on the runner "Fang" and any accounts of peoples with similar traits. he'd met some real freaks in his day, but he had no idea what this pup was supposed to be. Maybe they were extensive modifications and he just had a thing for that kind of stuff. Devil shuddered at the thought of the surgery that would be required to accomplish such a thing, and not only pondered whether it was possible, but whether it was more likely than the potential alternatives he could imagine. Perhaps a type of Meta that he hadn't seen before, or some poor unfortunate soul that was fused with a canine by some unspeakable magic.

"What the hell are you supposed to be?", he mouthed to himself, thinking aloud in a faint whisper as he searched.

[MaxKojote]

[spoiler=Basic searches on Fang]Any public official reports on possible freaks like Fang seemed almost nonexistent, the data being corrupted or missing entirely. Less official reports could be found on blogs, usually on people commenting having seen some sort of canine walking upright; usually in some of the lower-class areas of Seattle. Some report him in the presence of another canine, this one coloured black and red with the name 'Shade' attributed to the other canine. Others reports are just of having seen him on a plane from Germany to Seattle. No specific names pop up on the reports of having seen Fang in meatspace. No reports on possible surgery or stories of magic had been attributed to 'dog boy' in Seattle, though reports on a couple of German blogs referred to having been at an orphanage with some sort of 'dog-like monster' when the bloggers were younger, along with mentions of a hospital visit.

The reports in cyberspace are little better; although a number of reports of seeing an icon resembling him inside the node of a nightclub known as 'Dark Desires' in lower Seattle can be found. Usually with the same canine as before, or communicating with an odd pale blue ball of light with pixie wings (speculated to be an Agent of some sort). Little other had been seen of him, although most have noted that it was impossible to accurately find anything beyond a basic commlink node on him, despite their best attempts to try. A couple of users report that this user is usually good for finding out information in the matrix, while others complain that the nightclub's node has been significantly harder to hack in to since that icon has been appearing within it.

The last obvious trail of information leads to what appears to be designed similar to a blank wall in the Matrix, only with a horizontal claw slash in it. Below the slash appears the name 'Dark Desires' once again. below that is simply 'Other Services'. Above the slash is simply 'Fang'.[/spoiler]


The subject of Devil's curiosity was utterly unaware of it, having been distractedly doing some research of his own in AR on his possible teammates. First focusing on the attention-grabbing elf, and the male who had that pleasant scent. Both had been taking a more leading role in negotiations, though that blonde had asked a good question. Said blonde was next on his list of research, but his curiosity was first on these two.

[Solodice]

A further dig into the family crest doesn't bring up frag for you... it's either not a real family crest or someone’s gone to some lengths to cover it up.

You find a news article on the Renton triple homicide and says this:

Captain Jack Jackson of the Renton police department reported to the press on Thursday that the closed case on the Renton triple homicide had been solved but not by department means but a outside source that was hired by the police to look into the closed case 3 weeks ago. The outside source goes by the name Winters and we haven't been able to track down the man to get a interview in but his picture was presented to us by Jack Jackson. The case itself was a triple homicide at a residence in Renton on the west side of town and the bodies were that of the Ulander family. The father Eric and Becky were found in the living room, a complete mess, with multiple stab wounds. Their daughter Ann, 16, was found stabbed to death in her bedroom. The case itself died days afterwards due to a little amount of evidence at the scene. However it seems this Winters found things the detectives missed or simply didn't look into. The details provided to us by Jackson were that Winters found a hidden camera in the family’s house, right in the soykafe maker. The camera itself had no footage on there and seemed to be damaged like it was being tugged out of the soykafe maker. Winters went back to square one and pursued the camera itself.

This back track, all thanks to a little camera, led to a apartment complex in Redmond. Nothing of big importance was really found until Winters went between the walls of the apartment. Winters found a safe that had been emptied but also found multiple cabinets hidden in the walls that once held something. Winters found multiple traces of hair in the cabinets and traced them to a man named Samuel Phamn. Winters reported this back to the Renton police and they went to action. They raided Phamn's house in Tacoma and found not only the weapon used in the homicide but other weapons used in previous homicides. The weapons themselves were discovered in the basement of his house located in a hidden room beneath the floor. Simply put this Winters helped to catch a serial killer but he simply solved the triple homicide and Jackson caught the serial killer.

You find a blog post about the Bobesto Scandal:

Sorry Bobesto, but you, and Skinny Man are going to be the new bitches of someone at the local pen... hahaha. Well, maybe not Skinny Man as he might not make it out of the hospital. You might be asking yourself who the hell is this Bobesto and Skinny Man? It's no surprise that you haven't heard of them until now because the operation they ran was a fucking masterpiece and it left no holes save one, but we'll talk about that later. Now this Bobesto is actually Tyler Bobesto a politician from Renton and he had a partner named Johnny "Skinny Man" Neskler, he's called Skinny Man because he was a elf but he also was super skinny for even your average elf.

So why didn’t this scandal hit the front pages of the Seattle Chronicle and the basic reason is that it didn’t really affect Seattle but Renton and only Renton. Bobesto and Skinny Man liked to keep all their business and their operation in Renton and that was to avoid treading on toes they didn’t want to or gain a lot of attention. Problem was that keeping it Renton kept it easy for the man that took a monofilament chainsaw to their air tight operation. That man goes by the name Winters and he only has one picture of himself out there and that’s back 2 years ago when he solved the Renton triple homicide that lead to the capture to a serial killer.

Now the scandal itself was very simple. Bobesto at the time was the Secretary of the Treasury in Renton and Renton itself has a spike in tax income thanks to a recent tax hike in Renton and Bobesto took advantage of the higher tax incomes to the treasury. Basically Bobesto just picked out pennies from the tax incomes. This lead to a small gain for Bobesto but here’s where Skinny Man comes in. Bobesto used Skinny Man and his crew of guys to help scare the other politicians, that weren’t helping Bobesto, to help pass new bills that would increase tax incomes from small businesses as well middle income families. Basically Bobesto was skimming the surface of the water but the water he skimmed was a large amount thanks to the rising water aka money.

Finally someone wanted this to end and for whatever reason. They decided to hire a guy named Winters and he found this one little crack that Skinny Man nor Bobesto saw. It was in the form of the company that does routine pest control at Bobesto’s house. It’s assumed Winters got into this company and into Bobesto’s house. It’s unknown how long Winters was undercover but he came out with the info on Bobesto sometime later. Bobesto was taken into custody but Skinny Man avoided the cops and made his way to Winters… Skinny Man is in the hospital right now. Skinny Man’s crew was also arrested but one of them tried to take out Winters but he ended up with a bullet in his head. I can also report that all the other crew members of Skinny Man’s crew are dead and the police have no idea who it might have been…

Right now the Secretary of the Treasur of Rentony has been taken over by Christopher Olaph. There has been no investigation into any one else that was connected to the Bobesto scandal expect for Skinny Man and his crew (all dead now).

The search for Drekal  O’Kene turns up this:

Name: Drekal O’Kene

Metatype: Ork

Age: 36

Occupation: Private Investigator

Current Address: *Unknown*   

Other Info: On December 17, 2073 O’Kene was arrested by a Private Investigator named Winters. O’Kene was arrested and later found guilty of taking advantage of his clients and extorting
them for multiple things from money, weapons, or other things. Some disgruntled party hired Winters to look into O’Kene and prove the monster he truly was.

[Attachment: Picture of Winters and O’Kene sitting on a park bench]

O’Kene turned up dead however when he was moved from the court to the prison. The guards in the transport vehicle didn’t see or hear anything jus that O’Kene just kind of slumped over in the back and just never got up.

[Devil]

There was quite a bit of chatter about a professional thief named Devil, who's real name was believed to be Adrian Moreau. Much of what can be found about him was written several years ago when he was arrested and hospitalized following a heist in which his crew had left him for dead. Drugged and interrogated, he gave up his personal collection of stolen goods, which turned out to include nearly every piece of valuable art that had been stolen in the area in over half a decade prior to the original investigation. However, he never gave up the identities of his accomplices, despite their own apparent lack of loyalty.

After his recovery he was imprisoned in Everett, but disappeared less that two weeks after his arrival. Nobody knows how, since there was no trace of him making the getaway. The authorities claimed that he must have had help, though there was no evidence to suggest such. Since that escape, it was noted that he was probably responsible for several advancements in the prison's security systems, though the details of such systems were not revealed.

Looking back further, Adrian grew up not that far from there, in one of the worst parts of the Redmond Barrens, which, at that time, was known as the devil's playground. It was believed by some that the location was the source of his nickname. These days the area is called the crossroads by most. Devil's arrest record is said to begin at the age of eight, which is supposedly the first official documentation of the man. It would have been then that he was first assigned a SIN. Currently there was an ongoing search for him, being conducted by local authorities. He continued to not only elude, but to also embarrass said authorities further by stealing back half of the collection that was taken from him.

He was something of a folk hero to a few, while others openly cursed him. Those few people who claimed to have actually met him typically didn't have anything nice to say about him, other than the opinion that he was good at what he did. The word "dick" appeared multiple times, and one person even claimed that the man stole from his partners. The comment was followed by a contrarian claiming that "Devil always works alone", and is "actually a pretty decent guy for an orphan from the crossroads". In short, he was a  a popular subject for local discussion for a short time, several years ago, around the time of his arrest (especially with underworld types). During other periods of time, such as more recently, the information and discussion had been a slow trickle, akin to any runner who demanded minor infamy.

More information could likely be found if one were to look into specifics.

[MaxKojote]

He committed the connection between the names Devil and Adrian Moreau to his memory first off, before deciding to surrender into curiosity and look a bit deeper into the identity of 'Adrian Moreau'. Evidently the runner specialised as a thief, and quite a good one, as well as an escape artist. Perhaps he should see if there were any records of Devil's stay in Everett as well. He didn't really have an interest in the accomplices beyond possible names, it would be good to know to watch out for them.

Other things caught his attention. Stealing from partners, eh? Better verify that. He looked further into possibilities of a case where Devil had performed that action, as well as detains on the objector to the accusation. The only other thing he really wanted to look in to was any possible recent activity of particular significance. Who knows, perhaps later he might try to peek around in Devil's commlink, if he can break in. Now would be inappropriate, also discourteous to Mr Johnson.

[obidancer]

Shira was eager to start planning for that run. Information was key, but if Collider had gathered such an array of people, she knew they all had something to bring to the plate. And if they wouldn't get the info directly from the Johnson, she was sure they would manage to gather it from the Matrix or some quick investigation.

She had decided to let the guy calling himself Devil run the negotiations. Though she knew she was far more skilled than anyone else here in this field, it was a good way to understand and see what her new companions were capable of. Winter was more her type of man but somehow she fell compelled to pay attention to Devil when he spoke. Then it stroke her. Pheromones! Her enhanced pheromones receptors were running aloof, multiplying the effects of Devil's bioware. That must be it! Her dad had decided against this sort of enhancement for her; her clients/targets would not have taken lightly being tricked like this and a simple olfactic scanner could probably identify the unusual exchange of pheromones. Too dangerous to be caught with it. For her at least. Though she could think of a few Johnson she had met who would not be too pleased either knowing they were being victim of this subtle 'drug'. She had to inquire if that was true.

Interesting group. Could she hope for them all being able to work together? Could this be the beginning of a soon-to-be renown shadowrunner team?

[spoiler=About Siroi Tenshi]Maybe because of her past tainted in blood, deception and family drama, Shira doesn't care much about what her teammates' past. She's more interested in what they are capable of. However players may be looking into her past. Very little info is available. A quick face recognition scan would bring up records of Sonya Smith, leaving downtown Seattle, young widow of a Parker Smith, no surviving family, no police records. Parker Smith, an EVO bureaucrat freshly promoted to the Seattle Branch, died two years ago. Fatal crossfire wounds during robbery incident on EVO's premises. Shiroi Tenshi either has had her identity and past well hidden, or she is just a sadden widow who wants what... revenge? adventure?

I guess it's gonna take more than a Matrix search to know the truth about Shira First start would be to find out her real identity, which she hasn't used since leaving Tir Tairngire. Her Dad has never made her disappearance public.[/spoiler]

[Devil]

Devil did indeed seem to have a supernatural magnetism, which served him well in negotiations, among other things. Despite this, it almost seemed as though he was mildly uncomfortable with being the center of attention at times. At other moments he seemed to relish it, like when he thought himself clever. It was a sign of a naturally shy soul, thrust into a habitat with no mercy for such a person who they truly were.

His prison stay was brief, but their records weren't too difficult to access for a being of Fang's talents. In the documentation, Devil looked a little different. The picture showed him with scars and bruising from recent and past ordeals. There were no such imperfections on the man in front of Fang. Perhaps he had some minor surgery since then. The psychological profile marks him as highly intelligent, but unstable, with obsessive tendencies. It was also noted that he showed uncanny resistance to psychoanalysis and interrogation, even about subjects as simple as what his name was. Several major parts of the file had been obviously removed though, and were seemingly unavailable.

Little comes back in regards to him stealing from partners. Some say he wasn't trustworthy and told stories, but they were second hand at best. "My friend said they worked with him on a job and he ran off with the package." That sort of thing, though talking general smack about him seemed to be a fairly popular activity at certain points in matrix history. More common is the story about how Devil was betrayed by his own crew. It was a sort of cautionary tale, whispered in the dark corners of the matrix, where runners and other unseemly types dared to communicate with eachother about the lifestyle, among other things.

The details of the objector are few. Their handle is "ForbiddenFlora". Their local profile lists them as a female that is located in Seattle, and their grammar marks them as having some education. Their exact identity might be available if a person was to delve deeper with some good old fashioned hacking. Then again it might not. Many of the users on such nodes tended to be secretive and had certain countermeasures against such probing

When considering the hack on Devil's commlink, Fang notices that there is no trace of standard wireless frequencies being used by Devil, though the rogue's mannerisms show subtle signs that he is often using AR even as he speaks. Quite the multitasker. Probably only someone who uses a lot of AR would notice.

Recent activity shows little, aside from a short discussion pertaining to a local art theft. Only one piece was stolen from the private collector. The painting known as"Une Mascarade au XVII Siecle", which had been stolen years before and later returned to that collector by the authorities. Its estimated value was 600,000 Nuyen in 2068, when it had been originally stolen. The collector's security system was rumored to be one of the most expensive on the market. The theft was attributed to Devil, who was the original thief, by all accounts.

[MaxKojote]

Fang mentally shook his head in mild exasperation at the lack of information on Shira. He'd eat his tail if that was all the information on her, although it seemed to be all he was going to get without time for a much more in-depth research, which would be easier to do in VR rather than AR. Perhaps after he called on a Paladin for the mission. The name's of Sonya and Parker Smith could be useful however, and he noted them down for later in a file for the team in his datachip.

Moving on to Herr Devil... Another curiosity. Scar-free now, yet scarred in prison records. Granted surgery in this day and age could easily hide it, but some don't always do it. Obsessive? Good to keep in mind on trying to handle him, or not be handled too much by him judging from the negotiations. Won't have to worry about him giving important information under interrogation as well. Information seems to be missing though... Perhaps he has a hacker friend, or is one himself.

Seems to be a bit of a legend from the stories of how he handled being betrayed, alongside how many people seemed to dislike him. Perhaps he should look into Frau ForbiddenFlora later, might be able to get some good information. It'd be a bit rude to go hacking in the middle of this meeting though, he'd have to do it later. Shame really. This was starting to be interesting too. Granted browsing information on the AR wasn't exactly polite either, but it might look a bit more obvious if he started hacking.

He looked at the object of his curiosity now, watching as Devil spoke with the Johnson. The guy certainly dressed nicely, suggesting that he had indeed possibly pulled off that theft recently. Or had been earning well. Or stealing money. Either way, the thief probably wasn't lacking in nuyen. And... Wait.... Fang narrowed his eyes slightly as he watched Devil. Are his eyes... Flicking slightly? He's probably reading AR stuff too. Pretty well trained, no other gestures or movements... Probably has a DNI.

[spoiler=Further info on Fang]Further information about the dog-like monster at the orphanage state that it was once a human kid, but then in 2061, something happened that led to him being taken to the hospital. When he came back, he was the monster that the blogger detested greatly. They were not able to remember any name beyond 'Ulrich' in the log.

Closer to home in Seattle, a bit of facial recognition would link him to the name 'Maxwell Kojote'. His actual Runner career seems to be a bit vague, except for some scathing commentary on his lack of use in actual combat. Other commentary states that Fang had a skill at locating more than just information. He seemed to be very versatile where the Matrix was concerned, and was very alert outside of it as well. Apparently the nose and ears aren't just for show. The agreement on all the people who appeared to have worked with him was to never let the pup handle any form of negotiations, ever.[/spoiler]

A careful look at Fang now might show a slight inattentiveness to the discussion. While he appeared to be observing Devil, his eyes seem somewhat unfocused, as if lost in thought. A scan over him in the Matrix would reveal what appears to be a very low grade commlink in Active mode,  but nothing else; which seems to be at odds with the praise of his matrix skills.

[Teafo]

Mr. Johnson turns to meet Devil's eyes, "I can offer up to 5000 in gear as you request, but only 15,000 nuyen after that. If that is acceptable, I will leave you all now to make your plans. Any further information you require should be directed through Mr. Collider," he waves a hand to the man in the heavy white coat, and departs through the same door you all arrived through followed by his two bodyguards. Collider stays behind to supervise the rest of the initial meeting.

"As for plans for the building, those we do not have. But I trust that Dr. Nelson's guidance will be more than sufficient once inside. If you are looking for air ducts and elevator shafts and such, that will be up to you to find on your own, I apologize for the inconvenience. To answer your question from earlier, about why you, I can only guess at Mr. Johnson's motives, each of you must have some skillset that will be required throughout your employment. Then again, perhaps the overlap is simply to ensure that the mission is accomplished even if some of you don't make it through."

"I now leave it to you as a group to decide on how you would like to infiltrate the hospital, if any specifics are required please let me know how I can help," Collider says with a smile, but the smile fades as he cocks an ear to some sound that he picks up on.


Let's have everyone roll a hearing perception (4) test, if successful, follow this with a running test (results will depend on successes). Please use invisible castle, since it is what I am most familiar with. Let the rolling begin!

[MaxKojote]

[spoiler=Tests]Perception Test - Johnson Meeting (11d6.hits(5)=1). Thankfully not a glitch. Still, one hit?
Intuition (5) + Perception (5) + Keen-Eared (1) + Audio Enhancement (3) (14d6.hits(5)=4)

Moot point anyway. I can roll all zero dice on a running test.[/spoiler]

Fang was just about to go back to researching on the Matrix when an odd sound coming through his headphones caused him to tense up, stopping his browsing of the Matrix.

[obidancer]

[spoiler=Tests] Perception:
9d6.hits(5)=4
Running:
9d6.hits(5)=3[/spoiler]
Shira gave a nod in acceptance of the Johnson money offer. She believed she could have gotten more that what Devil did, but overall was satisfied with the amount.
She stood up from her chair as the Johnson made his exit, as a sign of respect.

She was ready to return to the conversation with her new teammates when suddenly....

[Solodice]

[spoiler=Tests]Perception Test: 13d6.hits(5)=6[/spoiler]

Winters stood up from his chair and stretched as the Johnson left and tucked his hands into his pockets.

He listened to Collider but when Winters notices some sound he cocks his ear in the same direction that Collider does.