Ides of Mars

Game Master Nimon

" Ah Drek, what the frag! " Beta suddenly exclaims

< I didn't to drek to The Roxx, let me know if there's any thing I can do, pick you up or cover medical expenses. > Beta texts to Conex along with a 500¥ transfer.

" Holy drek guys, The Roxx just targeted my fixer, god only knows they even fragging connected him with me, I've only known the guy for a month or so! Or why they're after me in the first place! "

Beta-Axe rushes over to the small barred window that looks out on the street, stands on the crate in front of it and looks out to see if there's any gangers pulling up or heading in to the apartment building.

"Why, of FRAGGIN'COURSE! I get away from the Morellis and the Irish Mob steps in! This fraggin' city, tā mā de!"

Blacksap raises, keeping the sniper rifle close, one clip full of Stick-n-Shocks and another of full metal jacketed rounds.

"They might have a grudge on that blasted Shirow, this is the first time a run goes south before it even starts! We run for it? I've got a place, not any fancier than this but it's pretty hidden. Or we can shoot it out, capture one or two of the goons and ask them kindly why they're out to get us."

I apologize for any mistakes or accidental swearwords if anyone here speaks Mandarin and/or Cantonese, I'm using Google Translate's auto trnaslation to simplified Chinese for Cantonese. Also, activating Wired Reflexes for 11+2d6 total initiative.

"A fighting retreat seems in order. If this place has been compromised, no sense remaining for the bagmen to show up. "

Deacon very calmly pulls his jacket back on, slipping the remaining energy drinks and granola bars into his messenger bag.

He draws a matte black Steyr TMP, checking the load and action, then stowing it back in its holster.

"Aboveground, the target it teeming with life. Wageslaves, CorpSec, plants, who knows. The lower level has a rather significant mana barrier occluding further investigation. If I had to guess, upstairs is the day-to-day cubicles and whatnot. Downstairs, that's where the payday is at."

Deacon breathes in, holding it for a few seconds, and appears tightly focused and intense afterwards.

Casting Increase Reflexes on myself, Force 2 12d6 ⇒ (6, 4, 1, 1, 3, 3, 1, 4, 3, 6, 4, 2) = 38. Drain: 11d6 ⇒ (2, 3, 5, 1, 4, 2, 4, 5, 2, 6, 6) = 40. +2 initiative, +1d6, no drain.

Secretary sighs. I'm not calling O'Malley over something as small as that..., she thinks, as she changes her clip to Stick-n-Shock. "I'll take position on the upper floor. Can provide combat data, and flank when lead starts flying. Good idea on the interrogation, Blacksap, but try to keep composure.", she suggests to the man, reaching into her bag for her Executive Suite, and starts hastily putting it on. If I end up being shot at, I'll be very cross.

She looks through the keyhole for any suspiciously gang-looking individuals. "Beta-Axe, you got an ETA?", she asks, leaving through the door. Only if she can't see anyone. She's going to the fourth floor, above the flat, and taking position to be able to get into cover towards the gangers as soon as they go in front of the door.

"Composure, of course, I'll only shoot them in style." Brat. "B-A, is there a vantage point? Rooftop? Somewhere we can see them coming?"

After ten minutes of sweating bullets, 3 black Ares Roadmasters pull up across the street. The local denizens scatter. Elves in black suits step out and look around.

"Awww man I'm gonna lose my new diggs before I can even move in! I'll keep watch in the hall and attempt to get behind them."

Sweeper heads out into the hall and scopes out a place to hide while still being able to watch for the bad guys.

"Ooooh, drek. We've messed with someone high up." I wonder what would happen if I put a bullet through his head. "Not a nice thing to personally mess with the O'Rilleys. But if that pompous bastard is here, perhaps they don't want to smoke us just yet. Maybe they got some kind of offer, some beef with our new Fixer? How ab-"

"Where the frag did our own elf go?"

Almost on que of Blacksap's inquiry Anika gets a text from her contact, Tommy A.K.A "Tomcat" in the O'Rilleys <"Secretary, not sure what you are mixed up in, but I went to bat for you. Hope it wasn't in error. Can't talk now. You will be visited soon.>"

" The Mob? Looks like they want to talk a little before they geek us... "
Do the Roxx have any affiliation or alliances with the Mafia that Beta knows of?
Boston Street Gangs + Int (mental 7): 8d6 ⇒ (5, 5, 6, 3, 3, 1, 1, 6) = 30 4 hits

"So....we talk with the mob, then? If they wanted us dead, they would've snuck in or rushed us guns blazing. Since they're just standing around jawing, I imagine they're either looking to converse, or waiting on orders. I'm partial to the former, to be quite honest. I do NOT want to tangle with the Irish here in Beantown. That's a losing proposition, even if I can burn these drekheads down and skeedaddle tonight."

" Yeah let's see if we can talk this out... Drek, you take one little pot shot at some Roxx ganger mob enforcer and you get the bosses nephew coming to knock on your drekhole of a door. " Beta says over the com network. " Who's gonna take the lead on this? Secretary? Should we all head down? Probably best to leave someone in a sniper position? Blacksap? "

Drek..., thinks Anika to herself, as she reaches to her commlink. <"Coming in now. I've got this.">" I hope. Slowly walking down the stairs, she taps her commlink once more, Tomcat's face appearing on her contact list. <"Thanks for the HUD, Tomcat. Owe you more than one, hope you didn't get any unnecessary chewing on my behalf.">, her fingers dart over the keyboard.

Knocking on the door, and walking in, she raises her hands to notify it's her, then rushes to her bag. Pulling out a small toiletry bag, she pulls out a set of the latest Zoe Boardroom Amazon make-up set (as unlikely it is someone might notice), and quickly starts applying the bare-bones of a socially acceptable facepaint. "I think it's best to talk it over.", she mentions, wielding the brushes with the speed and accuracy of a Red Samurai wielding his katana. "We're runners. Runners get wool pulled over their head all the time, and I know a person or two in the O'Reilly's.", she mentions, as her mouth opens. "Keep guns out, but don't point them towards them. We know that they want something, and they seem to know we're runners."

She ruffles through her hair, the mess somewhat tangled by the skin-tight hood, as she frantically applies hair-spray. "And with runners, you expect casualties, unless you're stupid. And I'm pretty sure the Mick doesn't allow stupid that high, even if he's family. I hope I can explain it's a misunderstanding." Straightening down her suit, she checks up her social armour. Not my best work, but, drek, I'm out of time. Tapping onto her suit's AR control suite, the sharply tailored threads change colour, into a thin, muted emerald coloured pinstripe. "Keep the fire spirit on a leash, too, Deacon. If they can see it, I'm sure they'll think at least once more." She turns around, staring at the others, as she packs the toiletry bag back into her duffle bag, and hides her pistol in the suit jacket. "How do I look, and are there any questions?", she asks.

As the Mafia approach you notice that "Sparky" has gone missing.

Normally I would hold off on posting so much so others can reply, but I want to get our new rigger introduced. Sparky if you are still there you are welcome to play too and we will just be rigger heavy and deal with it.

Emmet knocks on the door of Beta-Axe's apartment. "Hoi be a good lad and let me talk to you eh? Its bleedin' cold out here." An Irish Boston accent calls out.

" You look fine. " Beta replies to Secretary without even really looking at her.

" Just a second, there's a lot of locks here... " Beta says as he unbolts a few mechanical locks and two electronic ones, looking over his shoulder to check that everyone's ready to receive the guests before swinging the door open.
"Er, come in, sorry bout the, er, yeah. " He mumbles as he gets out of the mobsters way and lets Secretary step to the forefront.

As the group passes and the party lets them in, Sweeper slips in behind the last of the mafia muscle.

"Thanks lad. You are a hard man to find." Emmet's security enters the room and makes half circle around him. Emmet looks around for a moment then adds."Sorry for what happened with Conex, he's a good man. There was a wee bit o'miscommunication. My associates get a bit zealous when it comes to their work. It has been corrected I assure you."

After an awkward pause he looks straight into Beta-Axe's eyes and adds "I believe you know my god-daughter Thomson. Don't worry, your secrets safe with me lad. You did a mighty fine job erasing yourself from the ol'matrix, but Cammy was always the sentimental type and she sent me this." Emmet shows Beta-Axe a home-Tride of him and his ex-fiancé. "She was so happy then. She really loved you, you know, and well I really love her. For a while I thought it was you that was responsible for her disappearance so I had me boys on the look out for ya. Fortunately for you I have found her, so your off the hook lad. Only now I need your help. Seems once you couldn't get your drek straight she hooked up with some drekhead from EVO. Word on the street is you talked with Shirow. If I were a betting man, which I am if the fight is fixed, then I would say you were hired to go into that facility they have. Everyone knows that crazy so-called Martian has a hard-on for EVO. Now if that be the case, how's about you do me a favor and find our Cammy. Ain't heard from her in months, and that's not like my favorite god-daughter to forget me birthday. "

As the confrontation seems to be de-escalating, Blacksap switches the live rounds clip in his pistol with gel rounds, but keeps the shotgun next to him, just in case. He has the good sense to keep quiet as the elf is speaking, just sitting on the armchair and listening intently.

The dwarf dated the god-daughter of a Mob boss? And they're hiring us to find her? At EVO? Fraggin' job just keeps getting better and better. But we may have a contact on the inside.

Beta-Axe tries not to let the mention of his real name rattle him but he cant help but glance quickly at his fellow runners to see if they caught it. When Emmet mentions Cammy and produces the home Tride, Beta's jaw drops.

Frag... He thinks as he absently searches for a crate and sits down.

" Uh, Cough, I... I'll do it... I don't know about these guys but I'll do it for naught... Hell, even if I wasn't allegedly hired to run against EVO I'd do it. You got a picture or a name of this EVO drekhead? " Beta says, starting off rattled but ending with a little more bravado and composure.

Can't believe Cammy is in Boston and I didn't even know...

"As a matter of fact I do. " Emmet hits a few keys on his comm and a lifelike photo appears in AR. "I believe you know this man. He used to work for Neonet. Around the same time my Cammy went missing, he betrayed Neonet for EVO and word is gave up some secrets and access to his new benefactors. Something I suspect doesn't please the people over at Neonet, but that's not really my concern. What is, is this. Deliver Cammy to me unharmed, and I do mean unharmed chums, and geek this wageslave Hanes. I've taken the liberty to hire an extra bit of muscle for your job as well. Allow me to introduce Cav, an associate of mine. He comes highly recommended as wheelman of sorts."

<"We getting paid for this run down memory lane? Corp-deep extraction PLUS wetwork, on a limited time frame and no intel? Should be 5 figures each, MINIMUM. See what you can do, Secretary.">

"A brief question: should we take this assignment, would you be able and willing to produce something of your goddaughter's? A personal effect of some emotional connection? It would make the search easier and more sure."

Deacon switches his pistol back to "safe" and relaxes a touch against the wall of the flat.

One of the elves who followed O'Rilley in is trying but not doing a good job of not staring at Secretary. His long white-blonde hair is pulled back in a short, neat ponytail and his commlink is not currently broadcasting. He's in a suit that's a few years old- not in bad shape, just not the latest fashion- with glasses whose lenses are currently set to clear.

Clearly a wise man, he's mostly just trying to stay out of O'Rilley's peoples' and the runners' lines of fire.

Sweeper leans against the door jam and watches the exchange with a serious look on his face. He stays ready for action, but looks relaxed as he sizes up the mafia muscle.

Huh. Secretary straightens her jacket once more, then throws a glance at the familiar elf... Is... Is that Patterson?, she returns the look at the elf, with a familiar smile. Can this day get weirder. Affixing her glasses, she lets a shudder down her spine, as her pheromones kick in, exhaling with a gasp. <"I'll see what I can do, but as I said, gangs are complicated, especially about money. Family goes first.">, she replies to Deacon, as she smiles at Emmet.

"Of course, Mr. O'Reilly.", she says with a smile, a slight tinge of Boston accent effortlessly slipping into her voice. "You can count on us to do you this favour.", Secretary continues. "It's an urgent matter, and we're not about to go haggling with family on the line. O'Reillys have a reputation of generousity towards those who work with them, after all.", she mentions, as she nods respectfully at O'Reilly, suggesting that she knows exactly how much a run like that would be worth, yet is well-versed enough in Boston Mafia etiquette to not mention money first. "Is there a message you'd like us to give to the target before we eliminate him? Or after?", she asks. Well, I seem to have been acquiring a taste in eliminating traitorous elements. Would be a shame to let that rep go to waste., she thinks, sending another smiling glance at Patterson, or Cav. And hello to you too. Again.

ANOTHER dandelion eater? This just keeps getting better and better, for frag's sake. Good thing they started talking about the money, wetwork usually pays good. And it's nice that no one is trying to geek us.

Emmet is in a mood and not as impressed with Secretary as most are, but she carefully brooches the subject of payment in a respectful way. "Aye lass, you'll all be paid. Once I get Cammy back and she tells me you have dealt with our wageslave 80,000+1500 for Anika's negotiation attempts will be given to each of you in the form of triple A credstix. If I just see Cammy and this drekhead is still about my Boston, half. If Cammy is harmed, well then best you just send her to me and hope we don't see each other again. Clear?"

Emmet takes a deep breath as he reveals an intricate gold chain. "To your question"he says turning his attention to Deacon "This was given to Cammy on her 13th birthday from my Uncle. As you can see it has RFIDs and a GPS tracker embedded in side of it. We found it in a street gutter outside of the EVO facility. A streetside chiphead fingered Hanes on the block with Cammy the night before, and we confirmed it with means I am sure you are familiar with." Emmet gives the necklace to Deacon. "I expect this around my Cammy's pretty neck when she is returned."

"Very well, I expect this item will facilitate my search quite well. If you.will excuse me, I will begin immediately. No sense in delaying, the trail will only grow colder as it is."

Taking the locket gingerly, Deacon pockets the necklace and resumes his lotus seat once more.

Blacksap can't help but shoot his eyebrows high. Eighty grand? Fraggin' Hell, for that kind of money I'd get on all fours and woof for the damn pixie.

That's... almost what I'd have given a whole team for that..., understates Secretary in her head, as her face remains collected, as she nods, then sends another look at Cav, her lips curling up for a fraction of a second. "And welcome to the team, Cav.", she replies, another barely perceptible pause before she refers his new alias. "We got info on above-ground levels, and we know the bottom is guarded, Astral and Matrix. Would be safe to assume physical resistance, as well." If someone calls it meatspace..., she thinks, turning to the squad. "Deacon, how much time would you need for the Astral scan?", she asks the mage, standing up as a serene monk in the center of the anything-but room. "We leave when Deacon gives the all-clear."

I think we're all done, and ready to have several long conversations in the awkward drive there!

"Well what is it the kids say these day? Wiz I believe. Madam Secretary you may contact Tommy when you have completed the job." Emmet turns to leave and looks back one last time at Beta-Axe "Remember dear boy, no harm to our Cammy."

Emmet and his team leave and the streets begin to repopulate.

For handling the encounter with Emmet without violence you can add 1 street cred to your characters. Conex gains 1 loyalty as he is guilty for outing Beta-Axe (and should you be successful his connections will likely rise)Tomcat's loyalty decreases by 1 pending success of the job (he is starting to wonder if you are worth the risk)

Deacon takes a moment to assense the newcomer to the team, before calling up Ol' Burney into astral proximity.

"Spirit of Fire, seek the owner of this jewelry. I have reason to believe she may be below the ground near where we searched together before. If you find her, assense her and inform me of her location and condition."

9d6 ⇒ (4, 1, 6, 1, 6, 3, 6, 1, 6) = 34 Assensing on Cav. 4 hits

Ol' Burney's search roll: Magic (6) + Intuition (7)- Force of mana barrier she might be behind. Threshold is 5, interval is 10 minutes.

Manifesting in the room once more, Deacon addresses the team.

"The girl's a mundane, so I can't just follow her signature from a linked item. Ol' Burney's starting the search, but depending on that barrier I saw earlier it may block his access. Either way, I'm gonna need a ride to Somerville or the closest Orange Line station to grab my bigger gear before we make entry."

As he sends the spirit off to find the target, he returns to his body and resumes consciousness.

Beta just nods at O'Rilley's parting comment
I never would...

" Ahem " Beta clears his throat and looks about the room awkwardly, " Er, if you all could forget the name Thomson... that would be ace... Welcome to the team Cav. " Beta says before excusing himself and heading into the bathroom, emerging about 10-15 minutes later looking a little more composed.

" Right, so what's the plan. I'm gonna have a little search on the Matrix for Mr EVO drekhead, then pick up Deacon's gear and then head over to the facility to do some meatspace recon? I'd like to have a go at actually hacking the host and grabbing a floor plan so we don't have to stumble around looking for the underground lab entrance once we're inside... "

More Matrix searching! I'll do a search on Hanes and see what I can turn up, same as before 15 minute intervals with an overall threshold of 3 for limited interest/not publicised info.
Com 5 + Int 4 + HS 2 - RS 2: 9d6 ⇒ (5, 3, 4, 2, 5, 6, 3, 2, 5) = 35 4 hits

"Deal.", says Secretary, sitting on a crate and crossing her legs. She rolls her eyes as Beta mentions 'meatspace'. "Don't know anyone by the name of Thomson, Beta-Axe. Must've not been paying enough attention.", she smiles, then turns an amused stare at Lan... Cav. "Well, Cav. How did you end up with O'Reilly?", she asks, then shakes her head. "We're on limited time. I suggest Blacksap and Sweeper keep an eye on Beta while he's simmed, and Cav can give a lift to Deacon. I'll tag along too, if you guys don't mind. Have a question or two to our rigger." She pulls an AR map of the EVO lab's area, and designates a street. "We can meet there. Two vans appearing one at a time will draw less attention than two at the same time."

As the Irish leave the room, Blacksap lifts a hand, feeling like there are some points that need clarifying.
"Wait a minute, you all. Wiz that we're actually getting paid, and a lot to boot, but things just got a lot more complicated."
"First, the wetwork. Who's this Hanes guy? Where does he live? What's his position in EVO? Geeking him at home would be extra work, but perhaps worth our while. Especially if Cammy is there."
"Second, and related. If we want to do the two jobs at the one time, we'll also need some timeframe to find Hanes at work. RFIDding him could work, and would surely help me put him out of commission."
"Third. Cav, was that your name? I'm sure you'll understand if I refrain from trusting you. Nothing personal, trust is hard currency in the shadows. I'll trust that you'll work with us, professionally, but that's about it."
"Fourth. Beta-Axe, I don't mean to pry in your personal life, but I get there's history between you and Cammy. Something we should know that may put us in danger?"
"And that's about it for the moment. Still, if you can get into the Matrix from the van, we might drive closer and start some legwork when we get there, before the other van."

It is now late evening, 11pm. Though there is no deadline for this job, there are things going on in the background that are time sensitive.

" Yeah, we were gonna get married. Drek happened and we didn't. Nothing that should affect the job, though I guess she might not be to pleased to see me... I don't know. "

" I've found some interesting things on Hanes. Neonet have a bounty on his corpse worth 20000¥, since we're geeking him anyway we might as well try to claim that. Also looks like he's involved in some humanous anti meta-human group called New Revolution. I'll do some digging on that next..."

@GM: is that arrest date from 10 years ago?

" I can keep searching the matrix while we head there if you want to take the wheel again Blacksap. You coming with us Sweeper? " Beta says grabbing his shoulder bag and starting to head for the door. He stops when he gets there and turns back to look at Deacon, Cav and Secretary.
" Ah, " He digs in his bag and produces a set of keys, electronic and old school. " Lock up when you leave and don't leave anything valuable here. " he throws the keys to Secretary.

Beta hops into the passenger seat of his van and sinks back into the matrix.
< Text if you need me >

I'll do another search on New Revolution, looking for upcoming rallies or if the group is even still active. Hopefully this is Limited interest/Non Publicised info (threshold 3)
Matrix Search, Com + INT + Hs -Rs: 9d6 ⇒ (5, 4, 1, 1, 1, 4, 3, 6, 2) = 27 2 hits
8d6 ⇒ (4, 3, 5, 5, 5, 2, 6, 3) = 33 Total of 6 hits after half an hour

"Thank you, Spirit of Fire. You have done as I asked, please return to your home, with my blessing."

Deacon releases the spirit from its remaining services.

"She's down below the mana barrier I saw earlier. Magical opposition chased Ol' Burney off, had to dismiss him to prevent tracking. Hope I got it done fast enough. Okay, we're on a clock now, let's roll, grab my kit, and be on the move."

Deacon sustains his increased reflexes spell, keeping a close eye out for hidden threats popping up.

Cav quickly realizes there's more going on than the retrieval job O'Reilly had told him about. He doesn't respond to Blacksap's rapid-fire comment about trust, as he's trying to mentally catch up with the rest of the team apparently being on another job already.

He shakes his head at Secretary. "We'll talk about that another time. What's this EVO lab about?" I'll assume he gets filled in about the stuff that happened at the beginning of the thread. Cav nods. "Makes sense. I was wondering why we weren't just staking out this guy's place to catch him when he came home to Cammy. My office is around the corner, let's go for a drive."

Sweeper nods at Beta-Axe and heads to the van in a bit of a daze.

"He said 80K, right? That...that's crazy! Plus another 20K from Neonet for showing we geeked this guy?? I'm not crazy about doing wetwork. Heck I'll kill a guy if I have to, but to snuff him in cold blood...well I just don't know."

Sweeper sits in the van quietly pondering this quandary.

"This whole job is a bit wonky, Cav. The money seems about on par with the task, but why and how the Irish showed up just after we talked with our boy about Evo, I can't twig. One of those grand coincidences we try to pretend don't happen, maybe. Anyways, if you could give me a lift out to Summerville, I gotta grab a few things, like I said back at the safehouse. I have a spare piece, a Colt Cobra with some mods. Either of you wanna use it, you're welcome to it. I plan on packing heavy for this infil, I figure we might be able to sneak or connive our way in, but getting out is gonna be a slitch."

GM Roll: 10d6 ⇒ (3, 1, 4, 4, 6, 1, 2, 3, 6, 1) = 31 GM Roll: 6d6 ⇒ (3, 4, 1, 3, 2, 4) = 17

"Wiz. Let's split and rendez-vous at the scene, there we'll set up a plan. We can stake the exits looking for Cammy."

Blacksap motions towards Beta Axe-s van, ready to drive, while trying to go over several plans.
Best way to take him down would be to just shoot him when he's walking, but that would raise attention. Kidnap the girl and shiv the wageslave sounds better, but where to ambush them? Seccie could lure them somewhere isolated. How about we lure them in an alley, zap the target, get the girl away and finish the job? Would be like a separate run from the EVO infiltration, but could be quick and clean.

Secretary catches the keys, and puts them in her jacket. "Didn't think we reached that point in our relationship already, Beta.", she chirps, then frowns. She shrugs, sending shivers down her spine once more, as the pheromone gland goes back to normal. Whoops.

"Well, Shirow isn't exactly unknown. If they've got a lead that the girl was being held by EVO, they might've tailed him for his connections, then made the approach as he hired a team. Let someone else do the fixing.", she suggests. "Although, Cav raises a good point. Mafia do like their housecalls. Maybe they didn't want to risk the girl, but then again, they could've waited until she left the facility." She picks up her fitness bag, and straps it on. "Unless she doesn't leave the facility..."

Cav nods. "She's sounding less like a girlfriend and more like a kidnap victim, unless O'Reilly's spun it around on us and she's running from him." He shakes his head. "This drekhead Hanes isn't much to stand up against the O'Reillys, though. She had to know her family would come after her if she ran. Maybe she has more than one friend at EVO."

Once they got around the corner, Cav gestures at a utility van wearing Eversource- one of Boston's biggest gas and electric maintenance subcontractors- livery. "My office." Inside, the front of the step-van had a single driver's seat, with a wall and a locking door separating the front cab from the rear.

In back is a small rigger's shop, complete with couple of rotodrones in launch cradles and a Steel Lynx in rest mode, armed with a light machinegun. There are seats for passengers, but the van is clearly optimized more for Cav to service his drones than for the comfort of anyone else.

"Nice ride. Inconspicuous, but versatile and effective. I'm kinda impressed."

Deacon straps into one of the passenger seats and sends a ping to the closest corner to his apartment.

The underground facility used to be part of the ancient Fine Arts Museum, Boston. Exterior Imagine a 30' wall surrounding that building with one gate allowing access. There is 50 yards between that building and the wall of the old building consisting of a park of sorts (those of you who are awakened will identify it as a grove of awakened plantlife)
Interior of ground floor

There is a map of Boston in campaign info

Sweeper nods at Beta-Axe and heads to the van in a bit of a daze.

"He said 80K, right? That...that's crazy! Plus another 20K from Neonet for showing we geeked this guy?? I'm not crazy about doing wetwork. Heck I'll kill a guy if I have to, but to snuff him in cold blood...well I just don't know."

Sweeper sits in the van quietly pondering this quandary.

" I don't like wet work much either, but this, this is personal for me. I'll do it if no one else will, if this fragger hurt Cammy, well, damn I don't know... " Beta says before he drops into the matrix to do his search.

As they pull up near the EVO building Beta is resurfacing, " Well that search was a little less fruitful, found a coded message that may have something to do with the group Hanes was part of. If they're still active they hide thier online activity well. "

" So, one gate in and out, not ideal. I'm going to try hacking the host to have a look at thier security, cameras and other sensors. See what's there. It shouldn't take long and I'll keep you updated by text. If it looks like I'm getting fragged up don't yank my cable unless I tell you to. "

" If you guys are gonna do some physical recon before the others get here make sure you share your visual feed with me so I can keep an eye out for you. "

Beta spends a couple of seconds rebooting and adjusting his Deck, swapping out programs before closing his eyes to reenter the matrix via Hot Sim again.

He uses his wrapper program to redisign his icons so he appears to be a corporate drone and then prepares to hop onto the EVO grid.
Hack on the Fly to Grid Hop (apposed by 6 dice for a global grid like EVO) pg240.

Hacking6+Logic6+Hs2-Rs2: 12d6 ⇒ (4, 1, 5, 3, 6, 2, 6, 6, 1, 4, 1, 4) = 43 4Hits

Grid resistance: 6d6 ⇒ (5, 2, 1, 1, 4, 1) = 14 1Hit
thought I'd roll for the grid as its dice pool to resist is given in the action description (similar to Deacon rolling the resistance of his spirit. If that's not cool let me know.

Once on the EVO grid Beta doesn't waste any time before he zooms at the host trying to slip through its defences.
Hack on the Fly apposed by Hosts Firewall (Pre Edged)

Hacking6+Logic6+Hs2-Rs2+edge2: 14d6 ⇒ (6, 1, 6, 6, 2, 4, 3, 1, 6, 2, 4, 2, 2, 3) = 48
Reroll sixes: 4d6 ⇒ (6, 2, 4, 5) = 17
Reroll six: 1d6 ⇒ 5 7 Hits! To get a mark on the Host.

Running Silent (Logic+Sleaze): 13d6 ⇒ (6, 2, 6, 5, 1, 5, 3, 5, 4, 3, 3, 4, 6) = 53 6 hits on a matrix perception are required to spot Beta Axe

If Beta is spotted by a patrol ice he'll try to use the Hide action pg.240

Sitting on a chair, Secretary looks around the repurposed van. She leans back, starting to tap quietly on her commlink. Hm. Wetwork. Haven't done that in a good long while. Back when it was called 'Flexible Metahuman Resources Management'. She smiles and looks at the Steel Lynx toting the machinegun, her mouth curling. Good back-up, at least. All of them, really. I wonder if I should do some background reading on the decker...

"Nice ride. Inconspicuous, but versatile and effective. I'm kinda impressed."

Deacon straps into one of the passenger seats and sends a ping to the closest corner to his apartment.

Cav smiles as he drops into the driver's seat and gets the van rolling toward Deacon's flat. "Thanks. The setup is like the old rigs I used to work out of back in the day. The camo, though..." He grins. "Best thing about it is it's programmable. I usually roll something inconspicuous like Eversource or Somerville Bread Company- bread trucks are a good reason to be out early in the morning. Most people don't give it a second glance."

He lets the van drive itself, paying more attention to Deacon and Secretary than the road. The white haired elf looks curiously at the team's Face. "So. I don't know who I expected to meet out here, but it certainly wasn't you. Small town, I guess."