Assembly After getting together a few runners, some on the team took some time to rest while Edgar and Koskov called other runners in for the job. They all gathered together at the Penumbra club again for a headcount. Killeroo called in a tall, dark haired netrunner named Burn, a hybrid war buddy named BB Wolf, and a germophobe, gas mask wearing medtech called Doctor Z. Edgar reached out to a legendary Chinese netrunner and business man called Ping and a mysterious infiltrator named Lian Bian while Burn himself called in two former female associates; the carefree burglar and infiltrator, Swift and the no-nonsense former corp security trigger puller, Gristle. Koskov was sent a hitman named Unlock by Foxwell. Apparently, his services were recently utilized and he was found to be thorough in his work. Everyone showed up, had a drink and engaged in friendly banter but no one saw hide nor hair of Lian Bian. Ping, as Koskov explained, was going to join the meeting from his remote location in Asia. Following the two Russian mercenaries, the team walked into an anteroom located in the rear of Penumbra where they were better able to conduct business in private. The concierge who ushered them in was a white haired man in a gray suit. When Koskov went to shut the door to the private room, however, the concierge barged in and casually made his way to one end of the room. "Well, I suppose its about time we began this thing, isn't it?" the man asked no one in particular. "Anyone up for a drink?" "No thank you," Doctor Z commented from the corner of the room where he stood by himself. "Keep your germs to yourselves..." Perplexed, Koskov asked what the man was doing. "Shut the door, will you?" the white haired man beckoned. As the door shut, everyone noticed how the man's face and hands flickered and began to fade away--revealing someone else entirely. The concierge was actually Lian Bian. Koskov clapped his hands, genuinely impressed with the master of disguise's ability to infiltrate his own job interview. Standing before the group, everyone saw that Lian used a state of the art helmet, polished and featureless, that allowed him to project a holo-likeness of his choosing. The Russian merc then went around introducing everyone to one another, calling each runner by name. Calling on the hitman-for-hire Unlock last, Gristle spoke up. "Unlock," she repeated. "You the guy responsible for the job in Bali last month?" There was a short silence in the room as the tension derived from the tone of the question rose. "Yeah, that was me. Were you there?" "Yeah, I was." Koskov threw a curious look at Gristle. "I was on bodyguard detail for a high profile client when someone broke into our hotel, killed our client and left a bomb to cover their tracks. Hotel blew up in our faces. Lots of dead security everywhere. Caught up with our boy here and squeezed a few shots off but he got away. Lucky." "Good," Unlock corrected. "Very good. The best around, in fact." "Is that going to be a problem?" Koskov asked. Gristle just shook her head slightly. "No. No problem at all." Unlock smiled and leaned back in his chair. Koskov explained what the job entailed; an infiltration into Yokono corporation's metroplex arcology and the theft of a prototype cyber technology that was in its final development stage. He also posited that it might be beneficial if the team split up into two groups and ran a separate run that would help the second team accomplish the infiltration into the hyper structure. Burn flirted with Switch and Unlock joked about how much harder it would be to get into Gristle's pants than it would be to break into the arcology. Gristle shot Unlock an unnerving glare and saw that the hitman was checking her out. "Fuck you looking at?" she said. "Ooh," Unlock crooned. "I think she likes me already." The former corporate security specialist fixed Koskov with a serious look. "Let's talk about money. Because if you're setting me up to work with amateurs, I'm going to be charging your client double for whatever job he wants me to do." "Amateur? You want to see how much of an amateur I really am, sweetheart?" Unlock slammed the table and stood up. "Hey, stop acting like a bunch of children!" Killeroo roared. "We're professionals here, remember?" "Some of us are." Gristle said, glaring at Unlock. "Easy, children." Koskov warned. "To answer your question, Gristle, my client is willing to pay fifty large per head. This figure is likely to go down if the team size at the end is beyond six. Nevertheless, you all will be well compensated for your unique skills." Unlock smirked and made kissy faces at Gristle, who ignored him. Finally, the hitman calmed himself and sat back down. Wolf saw Killeroo staring off into space and realized that there was something troubling his friend. He leaned in close to Roo while others in the group talked about the mission. "What's wrong?" Wolf whispered. "I'll tell you about it after this." Lian explained how few runners ever managed to get in and out of an arcology alive. "One guy, out of an entire team, made it out from an arcology in Cambodia ten years ago. No one's heard from that guy in just as long. Then there was the time I got in and out of one. You didn't hear about it, sure, and that was the point. It's not impossible. But its no cakewalk, either." He also talked about how it might be easier to change the biometric information on the corporation's network systems, making it so that the team's genetic information is sufficient to get inside, rather than tracking down an employee, taking their genetic information, etc. Most approved of Killeroo's plan to HALO jump onto the roof of the arcology and set up a transmission receiver where they could receive information from the other team after their job at the other Yokono location has finished. The timing had to be perfect, but if it worked, the arcology infiltration team would have the intel necessary to gain entry into the arcology. Burn pointed out that there's always some sort of paper trail to follow; the people who were contracted to build the arcology, set up its interiors, etc. "Surely Yokono has those records available somewhere..." Koskov nodded in agreement but pointed out that since Yokono's recent troubles with runner groups raiding their offices ended in a very public mess, they've beefed up their physical and cyberspace security protocols. "Netrunning on Yokono's servers via the matrix is no longer an option. They're not stupid. Since the metroplex disaster a few months back Yokono has begun internalizing all of their network systems. If we're going to gain access to any of that information, we're going to have to break in and do it manually." "We should hit both places at the same time," Unlock suggested. "That way we don't tip off the arcology boys that we're coming." "Good idea. It won't be easy, but I think this outfit can handle it." Ping commented. The concept for the other run was for another team to infiltrate a separate Yokono corporation office in the sprawl and hack the network's systems for intel regarding the arcology itself. After some initial back and forth about who should be on which team, the roster for each run was written up. Koskov looked over the rosters and went over the overall plan so that everyone was on the same page. "Killeroo, Doctor Z, Lian Bian and BB Wolf will infiltrate the arcology while Burn, Gristle, Switch and Unlock will go for the other corporate office. Burn, when your team hits that office you need to jack into their network. Since Yokono only uses internal networks, Ping, Edgar and I can't help you deal with any ICE. You'll be on your own. Once you're in, you need to download all the intel on the arcology; personnel files, biometric data--everything. Get the intel outside of the building and send it to us. The three of us will sift through the data and isolate the intel necessary to send to Killeroo's team. Roo, once you make landfall on the roof of the arcology you need to take the time to set up a receiver so that we can communicate and send you the data you need to gain entry inside. Lian, you're certain you can use any employee biometric data to fool the security at the arcology?" Lian said that there was a way to bypass it, but it would be difficult. "Wait, you're putting me to work with this asshole?" Gristle asked Koskov and pointed at Unlock. The hitman grinned at her from across the room. "Once your team is in the arcology, the job will be to locate the nano machines Yokono keeps in a laboratory. Use the schematics and information we will send you to navigate your way to their cyber laboratories." Eventually everyone agreed to the plan, Koskov adjourned the meeting and maintained that they would be communicating with one another and the run would commence in a few days time. Burn and Swift stopped by the club's bar for a few drinks and Unlock failed to get one of the waitresses to follow him back to his room. He settled for two young female poseurs on the dance floor who had a few drinks in them, instead. The couple waved at Unlock as they walked out of the club. Unlock raised a drink and smiled at the two girls on either side of him. Old Acquaintances After leaving club Penumbra, Killeroo confided in BB what had been bothering the hybrid. "You've seen that vid on the matrix of that cyborg getting tortured?" Roo asked. "Oh yeah. That's the same guy who aced that CEO from Babylon, right? Yeah that was fucked up. Guess he had it coming, huh?" "No BB, that guy was part of my team. He risked his life to save us and then he got captured by these racist assholes who tortured him." "Wow, yeah I had no idea about that. Who did this to him?" "Its those Heidegger fuckers. They took him because he's a cyborg, you know? They fucking hate anything that's not human." "Shit. What can you do, right? Fucking terrorists." "MC was with those two Russian guys back there--Edgar and Koskov. I don't know what happened to him after they met up with Koskov's client. They called me before they went in to meet with him. I didn't go because I was looking after Catelyn." Killeroo explained what had happened to Catelyn on his last assignment in Israel. "Sorry to hear about Catelyn, Jake...what do we know about these two Ruskies?" "Not much, really. Just that they have this rich client who wants some cybertech prototype from Yokono." Roo stopped walking as he neared his motorcycle and began checking his communicator, looking through a list on contacts. "What's up? Making a call?" Wolf asked. "Yeah, I know a netrunner or two and a fixer that might be able to dig up some information on these guys." Killeroo stared at the com in grim silence. Neither of his contacts were picking up the call. "No one home?" "Looks that way," Roo said as he started mounting his cycle. "Time to go pay them a visit." "Ok, but I'm coming along too," Wolf insisted. "Gotta stick together, right?" "Fine, just follow my lead." The Killing Floor Arriving at the wharfs on the portside where Sharkey's place resides, Killeroo and Wolf notice that the netrunner's home entrance is uncharacteristically open and lightless. Slowing down his cycle as he approaches Sharkey's, Wolf slides off the vehicle and begins reconnoiting the property, looking for signs of trouble. Roo, armed with nothing but his claws and wits, parks down the street and moves carefully and quietly up to the rectangular building. Smelling faint traces of blood in the air, the hybrid also notices Sharkey's fence has been demolished. The single defending auto turret has been destroyed and the building is pockmarked with bulletholes. Finishing his recon, Wolf joins his war brother and reports that there's no movement in and around the building. Both hybrids then made their way carefully into thedarkened building. Immediately they spotted several bodies strewn around the main floor and the general state of disarray. From the way everything had been tossed, the people who made their way here were after something. Once they found a hollowed out droid's head stuck on a gurney's upturned leg, both Roo and Wolf decided that no corp sec team was responsible for this massacre. "Shit," Wolf breathed. "Look at this droid, Jake. They pulled this thing's limbs out, hollowed out the head and stuck it on a spike. And they call us animals?" Killeroo continued to scan, his nose picking up familiar scents of old acquaintances, blood, decay and days old residue of gunpowder. Reaching the end of the room, Roo located Sharkey's dead corpse, her body riddled with bullets and her large water tank sporting a large gaping hole. Her cyberdeck was missing. Nearby the pale body of Glitch lay untouched on a stretcher. Thinking her already long dead, Killeroo continued into the adjoining room where he found Jazz facedown in a pool of her own blood. It was clear to see that she was riddled with bullets, shot from behind. Close to her was the open hatch for Sharkey's small underground bunker space. Not too far away Roo also spotted the other familiar face of Barret Cantos, the drone operator he worked alongside the first time he had met Jazz. Though no bullet markings were evident on his corpse, he was most certainly dead. Wolf crept close to Glitch's body and checked for a pulse. "Jake!" the hybrid whispered loudly. "This one's alive, barely." Checking on the body, both runners saw that the young netrunner's pulse was slow but steady. "Let's get her out of here right away." Killeroo said, looking to the large battered doorway out of Sharkey's. "What happened to her?" Wolf asked, noticing the heavy amount of unfinished cybernetics that were grafted unto her body. "Long story," Roo said. Both hybrids mounted Roo's cycle with Wolf slinging Glitch over his large shoulders. "Yeah, they were definitely after something." Roo said. "Maybe it was AIKO." "AIKO?" "Yeah, an AI Jazz had us steal from Yokono corporation a few months back." "Wait," Wolf said as the motorcycle started. "That was you?" "That was us," Killeroo corrected. Z Clinic Something was up. With Glitch in a bad state, Killeroo and Wolf agreed on taking the comatose netrunner's body to Doctor Z's small clinic. After waiting in the quarantined chamber that is required to pass through in order to gain entry into Doc's clinic, the gas mask donning germaphobe waved his hands exasperatedly when his eyes fell on the dead looking young cyborg craddled in Wolf's arms. "Vas is this, eh?! Please tell me you're not going to bring the police here!" Doc Z screamed. "Relax, Z," Roo said. "We need your help with this girl. She's comatose and she hasn't been hooked up to a machine in days." Curious, the medtech leaned in and began examining Glitch's body after Wolf placed her onto a gurney. "How is that even--?" the doctor began before interrupting himself. "She certainly looks very dead." "Can you help her?" Roo asked. "I don't know. I don't know anything about her condition. I'll need to check her vitals first. Now get away from here, shoo! You're infecting the patient and my work area. Unacceptable!" Moving away so the doctor could work, the hybrids watched as Z hooked Glitch up to a series of monitoring devices. Most showed her life signs to be weak but steady. "How is she still alive if she's been disconnected to any care for days?" Z asked. "Not sure, Doc." Roo began. "Her mind was trapped in the matrix after a run gone bad." There was a moment of silence as Z digested what the hybrid said before shaking his head ans stating simply; "That isn't possible." "Afraid it is, Doc." Wolf commented, leaning on a cabinet. "No, not possible. She should be dead!" The medtech proclaimed, shaking his hands for emphasis. "Hey! Get your hairy hide away from my medical supplies!" "Something doesn't add up here." Killeroo stated, deep in thought. The trio discussed Roo's thought about not trusting the two Russians who called everyone in for the arcology run. How MC had disappeared around the same time Edgar and Koskov offered the cyborg a spot on the arcology run and the coincidence of MC's torture at the hands of the Heideggers showing up on the matrix days later. With Roo's old associates having been killed--presumably because of their possession of the AIKO AI program--it was possible that either Yokono's own people or the Heideggers were behind the attack. "Those corpses we found back there were not corp sec," Wolf offered. "Whoever was there took a lot of time to fuck up that droid. Corp teams don't do that shit." "So it vas the Heideggers, then?" Z asked, somewhat following the conversation as he studied Glitch closely. "Maybe so. Either way, we don't know anything about any of these guys. I'm going to call in Burn on this," Roo said. "Wait, can we trust him?" Wolf asked. The hybrid nodded and began calling up the netrunner on his comm. Between the Sheets Burn was lying in bed with Swift when Killeroo's call came in to the netrunner's comm. "Don't you even think about answering that damn thing," Swift warned. "Sorry, it won't take a second--promise." The hybrid soldier explained to Burn what the situation at Sharkey's was like and how he and BB Wolf had driven over to Doctor Z's clinic in District 7. "We need your help over here." "Uh...I'm kind of in the middle of something right now. Can this wait?" "No, it can't. We're in some shit right now and I need someone here I can trust." The netrunner sighed and assured Roo that he would be down shortly. "What?! No, you come back here and finish THIS!" Swift said, pointing to herself as she lay naked across the hotel room's bed. "I'm sorry, but I have to do this. I'll be back later though, promise." He said as he pulled on some clothes. Swift's only reply came in an upraised middle finger. "Fuck this," she said exasperatedly. "I'm getting a bottle. Or, actually, maybe I'll try calling that Unlock guy. Last I checked he wasn't doing very well trying to get laid." "I seem to remember seeing him talking to two girls back at Penumbra." Burn recalled as he finished dressing. "Why not make it three?" Swift teased. "I'll send room service around," Burn said before winking and heading out. "Be back later." Swift picked up her comm from the side table and called Unlock. "Hey 'Lock, you busy tonight? I got an itch..."