02/14/2075

[Sajuuk]

Netizen and Doctor Shadow follow suit and leave their weapons in the van as well.

Having avoided the need for a confrontation with the bouncer, the group enters the bar and scans the place for Mr. Johnson, hoping they could find him before someone puts him—or them—in a body bag.
All in all, it’s just a typical night in the Redmond Barrens, with nearly everyone in Banshee clearly being scum looking for a tussle: street survivors, muscle, enforcers, wannabe runners, and plenty of gangers. Both the Blood Mountain Boys and the 162s are there in numbers, not currently at war with each other, but keeping well to their own corners.
Mr. Johnson recognizes the group first, presumably he had been given a description by Imaginary Annie when the group agreed to the meetup. He is a thin, somewhat greasy looking male Korean human, with a pencil-thin mustache and a comb over. He’s wearing a lined coat in a dull crimson color over a black business-casual dress shirt and white tie, and has a gleaming datajack on his temple, but no other obvious augmentations or weapons. Introducing himself as Mr. Johnson when they sit, like almost everyone hiring runners, he suggests (sarcastically) that having sampled enough of the place’s delectable ambiance, they get down to business, leans forward and lowers his voice.

“This is a very simple piece of work that I’m sure is well within your capabilities. The only catch is that it has to be done in a very short timeframe. I need an item retrieved from a nearby business and brought back here. Security should be minimal, with no need for overt violence, although I’ll be honest,” he smiles less than charmingly, “I really don’t care at all what you do to get it. The pay is 5,000 nuyen for your group to split up as you see fit. If you agree, I’ll tell you where you’re going and what you’re looking for.”

Normally, 5K nuyen would be a pittance to pay an entire group, but for a single night's work against a target with supposedly minimal security and no need for violence, you know you seldom get a job this easy and simple. Good pay for little work, and it gets you clean with the lawyer.

(Any negotiation attempts before you accept the job and find out what you'll be doing?)

[Squall255]

Weatherman waits to see what his new lawyer friend says, though he looks skeptical of the situation.

[Mr_Praetorian]

During "Mr. Johnson's" preamble, Harvard listens intently, never breaking eye contact, yet never betraying more than casual interest. After the conclusion, He finally blinked, and took a deep breath, looking over towards the dance floor, his eyes focused on nothing in particular as if in deep thought. Then, after a short pause, he responded.

"For a simple job, with no quirks or sizeable threats expected, that would fee would be more than fair. However, is this world, such luxuries rarely. When I began this... line of work, my mentor, a great man, told two important pieces of advice. One, don't make a deal with a dragon, and two, there is no such thing as a "milk run".

Now, obviously, I don't expect you're sending us to collect a dragon's horde. However, going into this job, with the expectation of no bumps is probably not a wise paradigm for either of us. Understand, I certainly mean to suggest you're being unreasonable or dishonest. I'm sure whatever's really going on here is well above both of our pay grades. If we're to perform this task for you, then we're going to need to adjust for possible... future inconveniences. I should think about 2000 per person would be a more reasonable sum, don't you think?

(Negotiation + CHA (+2)= 7 hits)

[azrael]

Hecate remains stone-faced.

[Sajuuk]

Mr. Johnson sits and thinks for a moment after Harvard makes his pitch for higher pay. "All right, you've convinced me you are competent," he says, "2000 per person, half of the payment up front." After slotting a credstick in his commlink for a few moments, he tosses the stick over to Harvard. “What I need is a commlink. It’s currently held by this guy named Oxycode, a real piece of drek—small time pimp, pusher, hustler. I don’t give a fuck what happens to him. He could win the lottery or get sold for parts to Tamanous for all I care. I just need his commlink. He’s at room 312 at the Novelty Hills Sleep & Eat. That means the commlink’s there too. You have any questions? If not you should get going. I need that commlink tonight.”


(The credstick's value is 5,000 Nuyen, half the negotiated payment.)

[Mr_Praetorian]

Harvard collects the credstic just as it finishes sliding over to him, deftly placing it in the front pocket of his jacket. He then nodded at Mr. J, and stood up from his seat.

"Let's make it happen." He stated simply, just loud enough to be heard over the music.

[Squall255]

"Enjoy the music" Weatherman says as he gets up and heads towards the door. The van is already started by the time the group makes it outside and he has one of his Flyspy's beginning to whirr when he opens the door. On the walk back to the Van he opens a matrix window(AR) and does a quick map lookup to find the Novelty Hills Sleep & Eat, checking for distance and to start planning their route.

(Any needed checks will be made later tonight)

[azrael]

Hecate remains silent until they leave, collecting her gear on the way out. "We should have a clear plan for this job. I like plans." She checks her weapons carefully, reseating a few holsters.

"What role do you each occupy on your usual teams? I'm often overwatch or long range removal. I also can get in close and even things up."

[Mr_Praetorian]

Harvard doesn't say a word until they're back in the van.

"It depends on how we want to go about this. If we want to try talking him out of his comm, then I can probably help you out. Otherwise, I'm not bad in a fight, but I'm no gladiator either."

[Squall255]

"I'm the wheels, and provide video and audio feeds normally. Sending two drones to scout the building for us. My RCC has a stronger firewall than any link you can buy if you wanna slave it. ETA is 20 mins. Damn, should have asked if he had any guards with him. I'd be interested in a full extraction. See how many creds his link might be worth to HIM. Maybe our friendly lawyer here can bluff him into buying a junker from us. Or maybe our Tall Strong and Hungry can make a copy to sell back to him." he says, sounding like a kid brainstorming science fair projects, looking to Netizen.

With that he launches Snow and Sleet to head to the hotel at an altitude of ~100m and to stay a minimum of 50m away from the building for initial scans (# floors, using full sensor suite to see if they can determine which room our target is in, # rooms/floor)

[Mr_Praetorian]

"I don't suppose there's enough time to jump into the net and dig up some stuff about this guy? That could give us an angle." He responded, looking at Netizen.

[azrael]

"If we can get enough for you to work with, I'll pick a spot with a view and cover you. If Wheels here can loan me a friend to watch my own back, I like those odds. Things go south, I can clean it up real quick and you can pick me up on the way out." [Meta: I know that's not Weatherman's real nick.]

[Squall255]

"Yeah I think I got a little something to watch your back." he says as he starts unpacking a basketball sized rotodrone with two assault rifles. "Two AR's and underslung grenade launchers with thermal smoke grenades. Should give you some nice cover if things get hairy."

[azrael]

"If we all survive this, you get an extra round on me." Hecate's excitement is palpable and she eyes the drone greedily. "I can take care of myself, but having a pair of eyes with lots of guns watching the other 180 degrees helps."

[Sajuuk]

"Might not be able to find anything on the guy if he's as small-time as Mr Johnson says," Netizen says, shrugging as he sits in the back of the van, "But I'll take a browse and see what I come up with." Closing his eyes and leaning back against the wall of the van, the ogre concentrates for a few minutes before clarifying. "Well, he's got nothing in the public records. I can look more, but it'll take some time to get into those hosts since we're out in the sticks and I'd have to do some hacking."
(Bought a hit on Computer + INT [Data Processing] to auto-succeed on simple search)

"Do we want to sneak in or go in casually?" Doctor Shadow inquires as he digs through his medkit, making sure all his supplies were in order. The job seemed easy enough, but there was nothing wrong with making sure had had the right tools on-hand to treat any possible injuries. "I can call up an air spirit to help us sneak in if we wanted to go with stealth."

Weatherman's FlySpy drones arrive at their destination and give him an aerial view of the locale. The Novelty Hills Sleep and Eat is far from the standard of hotels seen outside the Barrens. Here, in the wasteland of Redmond, a hotel could be as simple as a refurbished warehouse. It certainly doesn't look like a hotel, but the GPS on the drones confirm that this is indeed their location.