The guy with the broom gets kind of wide eyed as Wraith gets in close, and stands kind of stunned for a few moments afterwards. When he finally moved, he pops his device out of his pocket, and hits a few buttons. A bluish hologram appears, looking like a young woman in a go-go outfit from the pre-rifts 1950's.
"Yes sir? she coos in a sultry voice.
"Uh, can you wake up DeX? Tell him he's got some visitors. Tell him they're the serious type."
The girl nods, in a motion that somehow manages to include both her hips and her breasts, before vanishing from sight.
Turning back to the group he says, "Um, DeX might be a while; he was in it pretty heavy last night. Can I get you anything while you wait? Coffee? Stim-shots? Blastwave?"
He sets the broom against a table, and moves over to the bar, which looks unusually empty, most of the glasses, taps, and containers empty or absent, most likely back in the kitchen for their daily clean. Whatever else you might think of the place, DeX seems to take some pride in his establishment.
Arsenio checks with everyone else while their new companion grinds on the guy.
"Anybody seen Hyper? He said he was going to explore last night but it doesn't look like he came back. Did he just forget to check in with me?"
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"Ooo! I'll take a coffee! Actually, can I get an Irish coffee? Hey, it's gotta be 5 o'clock somewhere, amirite?"
Wraith pours herself into a barstool like an old habit and keeps chatting the guy up. "It's polite to introduce yourself. I'm Anya, what's your name? You worked here long? Do you like it?"
Of course it's just part of her playbook to get out of trouble. Having gotten herself into a situation that she can't easily get out of, she HAS TO impress the team she's with, AND she doesn't "technically" have any fragging clue who the balls this "Dex" guy is.
"Hey, cool," she starts to weave her conversational threads, and, after establishing two levels of rapport, she moves on to learning something she actually cares about.
"Hey, I haven't really talked to the Dexy Baby for a while. How is he? What's he up to? Everyone says he's quite the big To-Do around town. That true or just smoke to berserkide his biosoft, erm, ah, make him look big and important?"
Whew.
The TechnoMancer looks up excited. "Coffee, Real coffee? Freeze dried or fresh?"
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Jace smirks at the idea of coffee as he watched this new woman work. It didn't matter if she spoke some mish-mash of American and Techno-can, a woman's wiles translated to all languages. When he spots the giant jar of peanuts behind the counter though, he digs in, not even bothering to ask.
Androva accepts a cup of coffee and settles in.
Ace also takes a cup of coffee (regardless of its type), and sits down as well.
Unfortunately, no one else has seen or heard from Hyperkinetic either. He did not check in with anyone this morning, and has not responded to hails over coms. His com still reads active though, so it might be possible to triangulate it by pinging it from multiple locations.
The sweeper moves behind the bar and starts preparing coffee.
"It's synthetic, you know?" he says, "We bought the matrix off a guy out of Lonestar. It's made by a single celled organism engineered to produce all the active ingredients of real coffee. There are a few different strains out there, but a lot of the nicer places in town use it. We have one of the better versions, I think. DeX lives off the stuff, so he paid extra for the best one he could afford. The cream is made the same way. Tastes just like the real thing, but lasts about four times longer without spoiling."
He powers up an odd steam powered contraption, and produces a variety of coffee beverages, made from foamed "milk" and the synthetic "coffee." If you have never tasted real coffee, this smells and tastes pretty much like what coffee is said to smell and taste like. If you have had real coffee, this tastes pretty similar, but is just a little bit off, in the same way instant or decaf coffee would be, but not really like either of those. It is not unpleasant though.
The wait in the lounge ends up being about half an hour. When DeX emerges, he appears from a secure elevator located in the back. He appears to be youngish, maybe in his mid twenties, though the pointed ears and long limbs paint him pretty obviously as some sort of D-bee, so the relation of his appearance to his apparent human age could be completely irrelevant. He's wearing leather pants, no shirt, and has a throw blanket draped about him. He stumbles over and sits at the bar with his back to the group. The bartender moves a very large cup of black coffee in front of him without being asked, though it has enough liquor in it to hardly smell much like coffee at all. A second later, the bartender moves around to the other side of the bar, and injects Dex in the side of the neck with something from a bright red hypospray.
DeX just sits there quietly, drinking his coffee, shuddering a few times as he continues waking up, and as whatever drugs were in the shot kick in.
Finally he turns around and faces the group. He regards everyone with eyes with cat-like pupils and an annoyed expression.
"Alright; who the hell are you and what are you doing here at this ungodly hour? Don't you people sleep?"
'Thumper' nods and listens along right up to the point the man move to the espresso machine. at which point he loses all interest in the living things in the room. If allowed to touch it he will try and take it apart, if wisely kept away he will work to create a sketch of the device.
Jace stops munching for a moment to give DeX an answer. "No, sleep is overrated. Couple of your girlfriends made sure of that. We heard you were the man to talk to regarding getting a hold of some less than reputable things. Is that true or is this just a big top show for the kiddies?"
He then resumes munching, almost finished with the jar of peanuts.
"Well, that's the beauty of the Kingsdale Market, isn't it mate?" he responds, "Nothin' is truly off the market here. Everythin' you might want is just a matter of 'ho you be willin' to piss off to get it. So far, I'm readin' that you want sumpthin', and you don't care about interuptin' me beauty rest to get it."
"Come on, you and I both know an entrepreneur like yourself gets more out of wheeling and dealing than a little sleep, right? It's for the weak, and all that, and you don't seem like a weak guy."
"Now, that depends on the nature of the business at 'and. So, wot is it you've woken me at the bloody crack of 9 to acquire?"
"We heard you're the guy who knows other guys around here. We're looking for someone; Dragon Juicer. Pretty memorable if you've ever seen him. We've got some unfinished business."
"Ok luv; so you lookin' for an introduction, or is this more of a where 'e 'angs 'is 'at, kind of question?"
"The second, preferably. We're already acquainted. I'd like it to be a nice surprise when I drop in on him." he says, with a look in his eyes that makes his intentions pretty clear.
K-8 attempts drinks an espresso beverage in an attempt to get a boost. All of this sitting and talking is driving him crazy. He came here to punch Juicers, and since the fight with the demon things, there hasn't been much action. Unfortunately, his internal filters remove most of the caffeine, leaving him with not much of a buzz.
Still, he is agitated, and wishes he could get to punching that Dragon Juicer. Punching him real good.
Ace sips his coffee, content to let Arsenio handle the negotiations.
"I see," DeX responds, "Wouldn't want to ruin the surprise now, would we. I think I know the fella. Big blighta; hangs a with a Borg and a bunch of disposables; mean with a sword."
He pauses for a minute to sip his coffee and let that sink in.
"So, what are you offering for this little bit of info? Cash or kind?"
"Favor for favor sounds like a good deal for both of us. Have any pressing business you need done?"
"I'm an information broker, Captian Arsenio Doloso of the Tomorrow Legion, I trade in secrets. Do you know any that someone like myself might find interesting?"
Arsenio looks surprised, but only a little.
"So you really do have your ear to the ground? Good. I'm going to level with you: I'm not sure what information I have to trade. I could tell you what I know about the attack; more than what's been reported on. It could be useful if you're going to be living here still."
"If you want any sensitive information about the Legion, I'm not authorized to give it. If you prefer cash, I've got some on hand and could probably requisition more, but it'd be a wait. Give me a little something to go on for what you want and I'll see what I can do."
"I'm laying things out on the table here because you're the easy way for us to find our guy, but not the only one. I'd love to build a rapport with a guy like you; information brokers have always been priceless for me in my line of work. But push comes to shove we could find out the hard way from someone else."
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"Hey, bartender, buy a lady a drink?" she says to the janitor, bartender, holding up her empty cup.
While waiting for her coffee, Wraith despairs at how the negotiations are going. It's true, they didn't actually have anything DeX needed, and to have to start to inform on the Tomorrow Legion would put them in a tough spot if they ended up owing a favor of information. Trying to help, and seeing the opening DeX was offering, she turns her attention to DeX. "Or, if we're putting 'the Hard Way' on the table, we could, possibly, be persuaded to start building a relationship right here. I mean, as a solid, upstanding information broker like yourself, you must have rivals, hai--yeah? I've been known to slap a guy for a nickle, and, since we're going to be such good friends, DeX, we may as well start now.
I mean, me an' the team could even do it quiet-like, none the wiser.
Mind you, my muse for such wetwork doesn't get moved just on an open secret like where a guy hangs. Me chummer Arsenio said we can get that anywhere, and we might. But we're here, so if you offered that -and- sweetened the pot with some cheese, well, who knows what other person might find themselves having an 'unfortunate accident'?"
The slender elfin man looks askance at Wraith for a moment and says, "Let's put a pin in that for a sec, luv. Dougy, pour the lass another drink."
Turning back to Arsenio he looks at him with a deep thought on his brow, "You know, you do have something that might be of interest to me. That business at the West Gate yesterday has the whole city in a titter. Now, I've already got the police reports and all that, but what I don't have is the direct account. Let me scan that oot o' your noggin, and I'll pony up the info you want. Just a wee frontal lobe tango with a mind reader, and I'll see the whole shebang through your eyes. You keep the memory too, but I get the ground floor story. From your P-O-V, that's basically free. 'Ow's that tickle your fancy?"
Androva crinkles her nose. "I'm not too keen on someone dancing through my brain, but I'll not object if someone else wants to volunteer."
Arsenio nods his head.
"Yeah, I can work with that. Just tell your guy not to go rooting around anywhere he shouldn't. Who's your guy?"
"Thumper" looks over, What sort of fire suppresent do you have in this place? I am pretty sure the bosses brain is made of napalm. If your mind reader gets things wrong this place will get very hot very fast."
Almost before he can finish speaking, Thumper hops down from his barstool, folds his hands under his armpits so his arms make wings, and starts strutting around the bar, cluck-clucking, and pawing at the ground with his boots.
The bartender says, "And my boss doesn't like threats, especially from folk come asking for favours."
Dex laughs at the sight and then turns to 'Dougy,' "Give over, mate; wasn't that bad. Can't be robbin' everyone o' dignity, now can you?"
Thumper stops mid-scratch and suddenly seems to realize where he is and what he is doing.
"Dougy's my boy," Dex says, "And he's no lightweight, but 'e'll do the job right. Just concentrate on the memory you're sharing, and he'll pick it up. The whole thing now, that's the deal. If he treads outside the memory, you'll feel it, 'specially bein' a psi yourself."
When Arsenio nods that he's ready, Dougy stares at him intently for a moment, while Dex looks back and forth between the two. After a moment, Dougy nods.
DeX smiles a big grin, "Can't wait to see that, but I'm sure it can wait. Dougy says the image is good, so time for me to square up. The bloke you're looking for is called Arnan Drustov. Most people just calls 'im 'ides on account o' that dragon skin business suit o' 'is. He's a bit of a queer one, even as Dragon Juicer's go, and there ain't a lot o' their ilk. Ex-coalition; served 6 years in their Juicer corp. Since you folks obviously know at least a thing or two about Juicers, you will also know that it's the odd Juicer that lives 6 years, let alone lives to retire. Where it gets weird is that 'e was a regular juicer them six years; Coalition types wouldn't take anything that smacks of magic. Six years on the sauce and you're going 'ave a tough detox most wouldn't survive, and nobody... I mean NOBODY survives it to go from being one type of juice-ball to another. And yet 'e did. 'E's got a contract working with them folks in the Monolith. Either, 'e figured out 'ow to jump from one type of juicy to another and they want the secret, or they offered 'im the prototype procedure, and 'e's workin' off the debt. Aven't quite cracked that nut yet, but either way, good money says that's why he was 'untin' them dragon babes and their mum."
"I'll jot down his digits on a scrap 'ere for ya. Lives in a 'ighrise in Midtown. Dependable doorman. Tight security. Not the very best, but pretty good digs for a workin' man. That about square us?"
Jace's ears perk up at the idea that someone found a way to keep juicing and live past young adult. "Sir, that sounds like right up my alley. We should talk to this guy hard core. For a couple of reasons." He rubbed his healed arm as if to punctuate the point.
Androva nods at Dex, glad that she was not the subject of the brain scan. When the scan is concluded, she looks at her fellows. "We have a name and an address. Shall we go to speak to Mr. Drustov?"
"The man sounds insane, but that squares with what we know. Pleasure doing business with you Dex. Hope you don't mind if we bounce, but it looks like we've got more recon to do."
"...Any chance I can get a cup of that coffee for the road?"
DeX lifts his own cup on salute, "Fill your boots, mate."
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Wraith drains her cup and jumps spritely up, ready to go.
"Alright, DeX, we're off, but if you ever wanna get a leg up on the competition, well, we're not hard to find."
Once the group is out if DeX's place, she asks them, "So, what exactly are you guys wantin' to do with ol' Arnan? You just wanna talk, or you wanna bring him to the the Castle in chains, or you jus' wanna put him down, or you wanna bring him flowers and candy, or some combination of all of the above...?"
Jace looks at the woman with a glare in his eye. "He owes me an arm."
The TW heads over to Dougy, "Was not my intent to threaten you or your boss, I really was hoping to avoid a fire. Can you clone that coffee matrix for me?"
"No hard feelings I hope," the man says smoothly, "The coffee is a bit of treat, isn't it? Fraid I cant clone it though; that's part of the terms of sale. I can give you the guy's info though, of you want to buy it. Warning, it's out of the price range of most of us working types, so unless your old lady is loaded, you're probably out of luck."
DeX pipes in from his spot at the bar, "It's even worse than that, clucky. What Dougy didnt mention is that they're engineered to maintain a fixed population; only reproducing enough to replace natural cell death. Remove some, and you permanently lose part of your production capacity. Not only that, but the colony starts to malfunction, and pretty soon the whole lot of 'em die off. We learned that the hard way, didnt we Dougy. Pretty good product security in a world where contracts are 'ard to enforce, eh?"
Dougy turns a bit red in the face and busied himself refilling DeX's cup.
DeX takes it gratefully, "Dougy, can you wrest those birds out of my bed upstairs? I cant remember their names, and I need some shut-eye."
"Sure boss."
Dougy fixes an extra coffee for anyone that wants one to go, putting them in paper cups. He then heads over to the elevator, and out of sight.
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"Okay, he owes you an arm, got it! So can we get him to put that on a re-payment program or something? I'm just asking because that doesn't actually answer the question. Sounds more like 'we're going to assassinate him first chance we get' to my ears. Just so we're clear."
That said, she goes to a certain highrise in midtown.
You leave DeX's place, the D-Lux, without any further issues or incidents. Concerned about Hyperkinetic's location, Arsenio steers you back by the hotel so you can check for messages, or to see if he is back in. Unfortunately, there is no sign of him. There is however a message from Inspector Micheaux, tagged as urgent.
When you bring it up, it is a video call in which she just says, "Captain Deloso; I've run into something very strange that I would you to look at - it may have something to do with the attack on the gate yesterday. I'm not sure, but I think one of your men may have been involved. You'll understand when you get here. The address is in the message details. Get here as quick as you can."
On the way back, Arsenio tries to talk with Jace for a moment out of earshot of he others.
"You doing okay? We just went straight back into it after your last brush with the guy, you didn't have much time to process. I just want to make sure you're not making this too personal, losing focus."
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Arsenio nods as he watches the message.
"Okay. I'll go down there alone; no reason for the rest of you guys to waste time there. In the meantime I want you guys to do some subtle recon at this highrise. See what kind of security they've got. Manpower, tech, magic, even psi. Could be any and all kinds of obstacles there. Or maybe the guy's so confident he thinks he can just take anyone who comes after him alone. I don't know, but I want to before we move on him. Keep an eye out for any friends the guy might have."
Going to the highrise. What can we see from a distance (far enough away as to not attract attention to ourselves)?
Jace listens to his squad leader and nods. "I understand your concern, sir, but he did take my arm. That said, I know we are on a mission and I am focused, sir." He pauses for a moment. "May I speak frankly?, given the go ahead, he will continue. "This guy is technically out taking dragon's blood from dragon children to make himself stronger. Imagine if it was human children. How would you feel then? When we get to him, if he won't go quietly, I want first dibs at taking him down... sir."
Later, Jace will start talking to the locals around the highrise to get a feel for the place.
You wander in through Midtown, headed towards the location of the city's inspector. As centrally located as the name implies, Midtown is on the way to the address Micheaux texted you. You walk past the building once, staggered out so not to draw attention to yourselves, and meet up a block or two away from the high-rise to sum things up before breaking off.
On your trip past, you get a quick once over of the building. A quick count shows 18 floors, with taller buildings nearby to the south and west, and shorter ones North and East. The exterior is solid black wall of glass, though it is probably not glass, as nothing inside the building is visible. The structure is roughly square in cross section, about 40 meters (43 yards) on each side. The front entrance looks more than a touch restrictive, with a heavy borg doorman standing next to an initial doorway. His armour is styled to look akin to a mechanized tuxedo, but he has no visible weapons. A CityNet access port is visible on the exterior of the building, but it looks like getting through the outer entrance would only get you into a small security lobby, where visitors can be vetted more closely, without them being able to leave, before being admitted to the building or ultimately expelled. Unauthorized visitors could be detained while one awaited police (or your own private security), without even leaving your apartment.
There is a vehicle entrance served by a ramp leading down below ground level, and periodic hover-vehicle traffic makes it appear there is probably a third access point to the building on the roof.
While heavy weapons are restricted inside city limits, there is no similar restriction on Mega-Damage materials, and you would have to guess this building is very sturdily constructed. Chances are, it would take a good deal of Ace's glitterboy's ammunition payload to force his way through those armoured doors. Restricted is also a funny term, as it does not mean prohibited; there are always exceptions, and isn't it funny the way they always seem to happen on behalf of the city's wealthier citizens.
After seeing all this, the group regroups about two blocks away, before Arsenio, and anyone accompanying him, split off to go see the Inspector.
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"Wow!" Wraith exclaims as the group re-convene. "That...is a LOT of security. I've seen places with lots of security, but that is a LOT of security.
We may be forced to come up with a semi-legitimate way of getting inside, if that's our plan.
It might almost be easier to ask around about him more and try and set up some kind of hit outside his living quarters. Waiting outside someone's favorite bar with a sniper rifle has always a kind of appeal to me.
We can't really scope out the place, as he could leave in any of the three ways, and we might miss him.
We could always ask DaX if he knows anything else?"