Shooting Stars [IC]
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Shooting Stars [IC]
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<<I’m done with the driveway. Anyone else got anything else they want to check over? Any need to check the authenticity of the vintages in the wine cellar — they as old as the weapons? Or should we roll, and check in with our Johnson? I grt the feeling there is more he hasn’t told us.>>
<<Or we could try tracking down the joygirls first. It would surprise me to find them still alive, but miracles can happen?>>
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“Well, Horny specifically said ta call him once we’d searched this place, an’ he’s payin’ the bills. Course, as long as we’s talkin’ to him, yer right, might as well press him fer what all he might be holdin’ back on us. After that, yeah, we find the joygirls we might be able ta find who hired – or killed – ’em.”
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<<OK, I’ll ping our Johnson on our way back to the boathouse, see if he can meet with us soon. If he’s willing to make it a bit easier, I can set up a trid projector and he could just talk to us, but he might want us back in that host or something, so let’s not try and do that while driving.>>
<<And also, just in case whoever did the abduction are watching the house for people like us, Al can you use your evasion tricks? If they are track us with spirits there won’t be as much we can do, but you might be able to confuse them with active heavy traffic; from what I read it is hard to tell similar vehicles apart in the astral. >>
Once they got to the Gov, Preston did his own sweep for matrix presences running silent, and then another for nearby drones.
* Oleg: Media vultures could have drones near the house to watch who comes and goes
* Gamma: If they have enough drone resources they could use one to follow anyone leaving the house
* Coleman: Simple, mark any that I find, make ’em re-boot as we pull away. By the time they wake back up they’ll be far enough back that Al should be able to lose them.Once he was comfortable from the security front, he pinged their Johnson <<Talk time. When/where?>>
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Rebbeca replies “Anthrodrones… it adds up. I identified six distinct traces of auras that touched objects and stuff. There were ten people, four did not leave any astral trace despite the lusty happy atmosphere. The two women that slept with our pron star are different than the rest as they got paid on the spot and made no fuss to leave. I assume they are prostitutes while the rest are Shadowrunners. We might be able to hire these and ask some questions.”
She sighs “Of course I can talk to Paparazzi, and honestly I am more concerned about starting a rumor that I sleep with the trid star than having people think that I robbed his place. Wouldn’t want Roger to get jealous and stuff…”
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Horn replied: <<That was fast. I assume you were just in the house, so let’s meet up at Downtown Park. I’ll be waiting next to the hotdog stand.>>
Preston made sure that the team wasn’t unduly put in the spotlight, although the reporters didn’t seem to be particularly interested in a regularly scheduled cleaning crew.
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Still, Al respected Preston’s instincts and he made meticulously certain their backtrail was sterile before heading toward Downtown Park. “Precious, you gon’ go chat up the paps now, or after the powwow?”
He was really looking forward to the hot dogs.
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On the drive Preston kept busy. First he started running image searches on the presumed joygirls, then he removed his disguise. He changed out of his coverall into more regular clothes, changed his hair to something more downtown, and changed his face for something more ‘corp computer worker’. When he was done he looked at Al, sighed softly, and said “Sometimes I don’t know if it is hubris or genius, but you pull it off.”
Then in the last few minutes he started assembling highlights of the data they had found into a package to provide the Johnson. Which raised the question of how open they should be.
“So here is a question. Do we tell our Johnson everything. I’d say yes on the hidden room, since he might have known. But what about Al’s suspicion that he is an immortal?”
* Oleg: Nobody has any business being immortal. How many of those god-forsaken wandering souls are there?
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“The never-die thing ain’t no suspicion. An’ I’d bet Horn already knows anyhoo. What’s a suspicion is that those humadrones warn’t rigged, but actin’ in they own right. Some sorta faux-sentient replicants or whatever. If the nanites can fake self-awareness, why not high-end anthroforms? But I wouldn’t be surprised if Horny already knew about them, too. He said the house was a test. Holdin’ back’ll jist make us look bad, maybe close the door on further opportunities. Besides, he ain’t the enemy. Not yet, anyhoo. My vote says, he’s payin’ the bills, he gits the straight story.”
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* Oleg: I grew up wanting to be a defender of the truth.
* Monkey: That is so boring!“Copy that. I just wanted to make sure we are aligned.”
Preston finished making a summary package. They might not need it, but he’d be prepared. Im the process he also went through the data from the old security system to grab as detailed recordings as he could get of three non-joygirl, non-drone, elves. Those might or might not be permanent faces, but it was harder to disguise mannerisms or the way you moved.
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Spoiler:
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Once Becky let them know how she planned on handling the paps, Al got them to the park in no time. Even without attracting undue attention with traffic violations, he knew how to work through traffic and find the quickest routes.
A guy with the same face as the virtual butler was indeed waiting by the hot dog stand.
“Hola, kemo sabe.”
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Horn turned around, nodded and handed each runner a steaming hot dog.
“So, what did you find in there?”
He looked remarkably like the avatar he had used in the simulation – just a bit younger and with more, blond hair on his head. -
[Wednesday September 7, 2078; Downtown Park, Seattle Metroplex]
Lily hung back, content to let the others explain their discoveries. She busied herself by scanning the park for threats, pulling the hoody up over her head and making sure the gloves were in place and didn’t show any of her ‘ware. She could have worn shoes but that would have restricted her movement so she would just have to hope anyone hunting for her wasn’t paying attention to her feet…
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#06
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“Well, we found out he likes tequila dnd practices safe sex….Plus a few other things…” and Al’s eyes flicked meaningfully to Preston.
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Preston asked “Ready for a data dump? Same code or different?”
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Rebbeca texts >> Preston, make me some clear face pictures and I’ll ask some of my police contacts to check them out.
She response to Al’s question “Right now would not be a good thing, but I’ll ask a contact of mine to ask the paps for stuff like that. I don’t want to be seen infront of so many cameras and don’t want to spoil the illusion that we are the cleaning crew.”
Once Preston has the files ready Rebbeca sends them to Robert Winter, a senior police officer under the payroll of her Roger. While Winter owes her husband and not directly her. Becky has had some fruitful exchanges with him. Corrupt cops needed good relation with shadowrunners.
>>>@Robert Winter, Rebbeca Jones. Hi Hon, how are you doing? I am doing some PI work, and I could use your help. There are some people I need to find. Please help.
Next, she asks her Blogger contact.
>> Wacky! Girlfriend, I need a favor. Can you quietly ask the paps outside of Veljanov’s mansion if they saw anything out of the ordinary around <date>? I’ll pay with steaming gossip. -
Horn nodded and began reviewing the team’s efforts so far. He nodded again: “It seems the praise for you was more than deserved. Yes, Alex is one of those called “Immortal Elves” – a misnomer since his breathren can die pretty easily – just not from old age.
The tapes imply that he was indeed abducted and did not go on his own free will.
From my end that settles quite a lot of moral problems. I want you to find him and bring him back – unharmed. I do not care what happens to his abducters. If they are indeed affiliated with those mars colony lunatics, you might be able to find them north in the ash fields of St. Helens. If I remember correctly, they have a kind of training facility there.”Becky’s contacts replied:
<<Winter here: That will cost you. A favor for a favor. Who are you looking for?>><<Shit girl, you know what time it is? I just got up. What’s up with Veljanov? Isn’t he that singer that now thinks he’s a movie star? Totally overrated in my opinion. Anyway, yeah I can ask Thommy, he desperately once to get out of being an intern. But payment first: What’s new?>>
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“Piece o’ cake, show-biz kemo sabe, an’ thanks fer the leg up. Now tell me, ya know anythin’ about self-aware anthroform drones?”
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Rebbeca responds to Winter >> Well, this is how it works. I learned a thing or two by now. I need to find these people, anything that can help with that is appreciated. Who they are, when were they last observed stuff like that.
To Wacky she replies >> You know show biz, how much can you do with pics of our movie star in a private party? Things get quite steamy there and none of the paps has such pics.
She takes the hot dog out of politeness, and take a bite. Hotdogs are always nice, though she rarely eats junk food. Still, there is no need to stand out.
“We’ll find him alright.” -
* Monkey: There is something comforting about hot dogs
* Oleg: I shouldn’t let that on, that it is a childhood comfort food says something about my upbringing that could be used against me
* Gamma: Hot dogs are pretty common through all former USA and Canadian territories.Preston tried to enjoy the ‘dog and tried to keep his thoughts on inconsequential things, but it was hard NOT to think about …
AAAA: Sneaking into a secret training facility of immortal elves is suicidal AAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!
Coleman: A professional and skilled team armed with intelligence and a plan would not be a suicide run. I need to supress my initial fear of this portion of the job so that I can focus on execution.
AAAA: MY EXECUTION!
Gamma: I do perform much better when I’m not freaking out
Monkey: And I perform better when I’m on the top-of-the-line performance enhancing drugs! This job may call for them!
Oleg: Cereprax will make my head explode if I use it too much.
Monkey: and it makes Spiders’s heads explode when they see how their hosts just roll over and ask for tummy scratches when I’m running on it.“Do you have any additional information about this facility, at all? It sounds like the sort of thing where intel will be hard to come by, and acquiring it could risk setting off alarms. So anything you can provide will be welcome.”
* Eliza: and hopefully he can provide something that will help me calm down.
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