Official Tensided Cyperpunk RPG Campaign

[Gerard_Paloma]

Dirk nods at Mikal. "Sounds good. We can both keep an eye on it." The corner of his mouth turns up in a half-grin.

Dirk turns as he notices the Bel Air pull up. He moves his left hand up to grip the BAR more firmly as he waits to see who steps out of the sweet ride.

EDIT: Acknowledged Mikal.

[Hotfoot]

Mikal was certainly pleased to see the additional armament in the back of the van. While the temptation to take them all was great, the PSG-1 alone screamed out for Ernesto's loving care. Oh, to be sure, Mikal could make quite good use of it, but it would be like a gift between two comrades who had not seen each other in some time. The M29 certainly looked inviting, though the machineguns were a touch...well, without style for his tastes. He would have to take stock of the assault rifles and grenades, however, as they could come in quite handy...especially the grenades.

Once he had gotten the car running, he went around to the back and picked up the PSG-1 and brought it into view of the group. "Hah! Ernesto! I know it is not the Sniper Rifle of the Gods you had back in Cuba, but is certainly a few steps up on the stairway to heaven, da?" Mikal grinned mischeviously with the rifle in his hands. Unless either the scowling cowboy or the lovestruck durak had a level of skill in sniping, this should be a fairly safe claim. He already had most of the guns he needed, though obviously he'd be coming back for whatever he could sell later.

"If you want to drive, feel free. I suppose I will come along to make sure that Ernesto's new baby makes it to the RV safely. You will thank me later, trust me. In his hands, this weapon shall become a legendary engine of destruction, but enough chit chat. Let's move."

[CorSec]

Relieved that the Russian had eased the tension with his enthusiasm, Blaine decided that, yes, indeed breathing is good. He then turned his full attention to the cherry '57 Bel Air that screeched to a halt a moment ago. He tightened his grip on the Ruger. Even though it was in his off hand, it probably didn't matter. Between the three killers surrounding the van anything that emerged from the car that was remotely threatening most likely wouldn't make it two steps before becoming so much pink mist in the wind.

"Friends of yours, Stacey?" he asked hopefully.

[Arthur_Tuxedo]

Turn 16

Stacey answers Blaine's question by running over as the slightly pudgy man gets out. "Joseph!"
He responds "You're hurt!"
She smiles "Yeah. Thank god for the pain filter. I can't feel a thing."

[Utsanomiko]

Stavis mulls over the shirt-guys words for a few seconds, then glances out the window.

"Alright, I'll tag along, but it'll cost you two hundred dollars," he emphazes 'two', as if he had demanded three a moment before. He steps out of the car and shuffles his coat and its weight a bit. "And that's my final offer."

[Alyrium Denryle]

"You drive a hard bargain, but I think it is doable"

Dr. Lennox didnt really like messing with is friends head, but it was necessary, and he didnt cause him any real harm...

[CorSec]

Blaine recognizes Dr. Ham. Ham looks a little greyer and little older than the last time he saw him, but that's probably because a life on the underside doesn't agree with anyone. He feels a momentary stab of jealousy as he watches Ham and Stacey ((mmm... ham and stacey... maybe with some deli mustard?)) interact. He's quick to supress the emotion, and thank the makers for the circulatory regulator.

Instead, he busies himself first by poking the Ruger into his front pocket. Then by watching a passenger egress from the vehicle. He is surprised at seeing it was the Kid from in front of The Third Degree earlier this evening. How the heck did he get roped into this?

Looking through the windshield of the car, he sees there is a second passenger. At first glance, he seems achingly familiar. Blaine thinks he recognizsd him but he is drawing a total blank. 'Maybe he just has one of those faces,' Blaine muses and shrugged it off.

"I hate to inturrupt the reunion," Blaine looks at his left wrist where a watch would be if he had one, "but we really should get the heck out of Dodge."

[Alyrium Denryle]

Dr. Lennox exited from the vehicle and took in the sights around him, and his jaw dropped when he saw Blaine, not only was he cute, but he definently recognized him. He was a security guard at that pharmaceutical place he "neutralized" a while back.

"Why hello... Joseph, please introduce me to your friends... I have not had the joy of meeting them... We have much to catch up on it seems"

[Gerard_Paloma]

Dirk relaxes his grip on the Browning as the new arrivals are presented as friendlies.

More mercs, eh? More firepower, but less equipment to go around. Oh well, they might not live through the standoff...

"Yeah, hey, Joseph, is it? And Stacey? Blaine's got a point. We can do the introductions on the road. The sooner we get to the compound, the sooner we can prepare for the attack. So can we get going? Now?"

[Alyrium Denryle]

"Oh, dont worry abot me... I am a shitty shot, but then again... when they think their weapons are made of snakes, they wont be doing much shooting"

[Utsanomiko]

Aftter fixing his coat, Stavis stretches his shoulders and looks around.

"Well, itsn't this a mess?" he comments on the battlefield. It didn't sound like sarcasm. He turned to look at the ponce who just said something about getting the hell out of Dodge. "Oi," he nodded at him. "You're that door-guy from my bar, aren't you?"

He leans against the Bel-Air, rests his bare elbow on the roof, and throws a quick nod in the direction of the other two who arrived with him. "These guys friends of yours? Apparently they're paying me to come along for somethin'. Some kind of corporate trouble or attack. Got any details?"

[Marcao]

Ernesto

Everything seemed to be in order until Dirk narrowed his eyes. At that moment, he was not quite certain what was going on but he made sure that the barrel of his G36 was aimed at Dirk, and that his right hand just happened to rest dangerously near his rifle’s trigger. It was like bringing a condom to an encounter with a prostitute. You just had to be sure. When Dirk began to speak, he listened arching a brow when he spoke, a moment later his eyes glanced for a second towards the van. Unlike Dirk and Mikal, he had no idea of the contents within it. “Excuse me? Are you implying that Mikal is not trust worthy?” His tone was flat, laced with irritation and dominated by an accent that would never go away.

When he continued to speak, his eyes slid over his face for a moment. “Let me get this straight, you imply that Mikal is not trust-worthy enough to drive that van but you think that you are? I don’t know you Dirk, but I know Mikal. Why should you drive it when you obviously lacked the skill to hotwire it or lacked the vision to think of it first?” He took a deep breath, when he continued. The fact that he wanted everyone else to drive along with him in that van taking away did take away a bit of his suspicion. “If you don’t like my Van, just say so.” His tone was unchanged as he spoke, but a part of his mind reminded him that his van had seen better days. It made sense for them to take the other van. When Dirk continued he shrugged. “Your concern is touching. Just make sure not to try and lose me. I will be following you as you drive that van.”

His eyes did not leave Dirk as he waited for the others to get the fuck away from his van and begin their walk towards the other one. The truth was that Dirk was irritating him with his implied slander of Mikal. When Mikal came into view holding something familiar, his head turned slightly keeping Dirk in his peripheral vision before he heard Mikal’s words and chuckled. “hijo de puta! Alguien aya arriba me quiere mucho.” He nodded his head towards Mikal, using his left hand to flash the ok sign. Ah, so that explained it. Dirk had seen the arsenal on the back of the truck and wished to claim at his own? His eyes slid towards Dirk now, a bit more understanding shining in them. Greed was a perfectly normal emotion, although his expression all but stated that they had done their share of the work, as the bodies lying about the street testified. If Dirk thought he could bully his way into getting a bigger share of the spoils in that Van, he was going to find out thirteen reasons why he was wrong. He still had nineteen bullets on his magazine. Bullets were cheap.

The screeching of the car caught his attention then, a deep breath taken as he muttered between clenched teeth. “si son pendejos los voy a matar.” A second later, Stacey was speaking and her tone and pitch suggested that she knew the car and its driver. He watched as Dirk and Blaine and the new arrivals did their thing, his keys slidding into the ignition as soon as Dirk had left the vehicle. Shortly there after, he was trying to turn his van on and get ready to follow Dirk and the others. He wanted to put some distance between this place and the police. Furthermore, he know had one good reason to wish they made it to their final destination. He had not held a PSG-1 in quite some time. It would certainly bring back memories…

[CorSec]

"Oi," he nodded at him. "You're that door-guy from my bar, aren't you?"

Blaine nods back. "Yeah. I'm the door-guy."

"These uys friends of yours? Apparently they're paying me to come along for somethin'. Some kind of corporate trouble or attack. Got any details?"

Blaine considers the peculiar statement. He glances at both Dr. Ham and the other passenger wondering, among other things, why neither told this guy what he's in for. Secondly, he wondered why he agreed to get paid without knowing what he's in for. Blaine hates both math and logic problems so he stops trying to figure it out. "Long story short: They're paying us to keep them safe." Blaine indicates Dr. Ham and Alvarez.

Blaine doesn't immediately hear what Ernesto says, but even a deaf mute would know what his tone meant. If this were happening in his club, Blaine would offer everyone a round on the house. Not only was his favorite defusing tactic not available, he was almost sure that it wouldn't work on the Cuban or the Russian. They seemed immune to any persuasion that didn't involve cash - and lots of it. Seeing as there wasn't much he could do, Blaine simply boards the van. "We can have our pissing contest later, gentlemen," he quips as he passes between Dirk and Ernesto. He gives Dirk a look hoping he'll understand it to mean Just get in the van and drive.

[Utsanomiko]

Stavis nods and smiles with a wave of realization. "Ahhhh, I see," he says. He watches the door-guy head for the van before adding "Well, that makes my job a lot more easy!" He straightens his black tie and stretches the collar a bit.

Stavis then turns back to his former carpool buddies, puts his fists on his hips, and sighs. "Well, where to now? Going somewhere safe?"

[Arthur_Tuxedo]

Turn 17:
The approaching sirens serve as a more forceful reminder that it's time to get going. The compound is about 30 minutes drive from here.

((Indicate which of the three vehicles you're riding in, and feel free to interact with each other on the way. Go ahead and assume nothing unusual happens during the trip. You might as well talk to each other, because it's highly probable I won't be back on for two days or maybe three.

This might also be a good time to calculate/spend XP. Anyone who doesn't feel like calculating successes and failures or who didn't make many skill rolls can just assume 5 XP from that.

Oh and Heath, remember to update Dirk's inventory to take into account the loss of the Charger *teardrop* and whatever ammo you left in the trunk))

[CorSec]

Blaine finds a clear spot at the rear of the van and posts himself there. As advanced as the regulators are they only account for adrenaline being added to your system. There's still the big crash when it begins to dissipate. He lets himself feel tired, overwhelmed, angry, sad and emotions inbetween that don't really have identifiers. Luckily, Stacey had opted to ride with Dr. Ham and his entourage. He wasn't in much of a mood to interact with her or anyone right now. Well, he'd probably be himself in a few minutes. Depression or whatever he was feeling right now doesn't seem to suit him. He lays his head back and closes his eyes. As tired as he is becoming, sleep is still elusive. His mind whirls where it will.

The other passenger with Ham, the one who seemed familiar had graciously given up his front seat to her. I don't know that it would have done any good to do otherwise. Her last experience in a back seat made her adamant that it wasn't something she wished to repeat. But back to the train of thought: I know I'm not supposed to think about it, but he still seems familiar. I was going to write it off as him having one of those faces, until I heard him speak. Now, I know I've heard that voice. That combined with his face, well, I can't ignore that. But dammit, where? Who is he? This damned hacked memory upgrade! Is it possible to have one of those voices, too? Shit, I don't know.

I've got to get this Ruger back to Dirk. It's nice and all, but a little old school for my tastes.

((There'll be more when I know where everyone is.))

[Utsanomiko]

((The only vehicle that isn't packed sems to be the Bel Air, so I guess my character will stick with the guys he rode up with.))

Stavis listens to the sirens for a couple seconds, and then hops into the car.

[Gerard_Paloma]

Dirk shoulders the BAR and begins backpedaling away from the new arrivals. He indicates the man in the Hawaiian shirt. "You. Stay the fuck out of my head. This is your last warning." He then does an about-face and stalks towards the weapons van. He catches up to Blaine.

"So do you know where this compound is, or should I just follow Joseph?"

[CorSec]

Blaine shakes his head to answer the first question. "I've never been there, so I guess we're following Dr. Ham."

[Marcao]

Ernesto

He watched the arrival of the new group with disinterest, taking notice almost immediately that they did not seem to be fighting men. His attention was mostly on Dirk and with good reason, you always paid those that seemed as if they could handle themselves a healthy amount of attention and he was still a bit irritated at his implications. When Blaine passed nearby and spoke he did not waste a second before replying. “podemos hablar de esto mas tarde.” His voice was dry and tone as pleasant as he could make it. His attention slid towards Dirk then, words formed into sentences in his brain before the familiar sound of sirens manifested was picked up by his augmented senses.

It was time to go; his hands left his G36 and pushed it aside into the passenger side seat. His hands reaching for the steering wheel as his right foot squeezed the gas pedal. The engine of his van roared in its usual manner, and he took a deep breath as he waited for the convoy to get started. His right hand moved, flipping on the radio. It took him twenty two and a half seconds to find something that appealed to him, a salsa that reminded him of his island nation. He was good to go; all he needed now was someone to follow to what would arguably be his new home for a while.

[Alyrium Denryle]

Dr. Lennox gets in the Bel-Air with Dr. Ham and Stavis. So, a corporate attack on a fortified compound... this should be intersting. He was a lousy shot, better than someone who had never handled a gun, but he couldnt compare to a cop or trooper. No, he had other, possibly more useful talents.

He sat back, and tried to come up with nifty ways to make a corporate cops life a nightmare... Demonic hallucinations, cold hands... oh the mental calamities he could produce

[Arthur_Tuxedo]

After a moment's hesitation, Stacey gets in the Bel-Air.

[Alyrium Denryle]

"Hello" Ben said to Stacey

"My name is Dr. Benjamin Lennox, I am an old collegue friend, and student of Joseph. I am most pleased to meet you"

[Hotfoot]

"Such a pity dura will not be joining us three gentlemen, eh? Well then, let's all get comfortable. Since you'll be driving," he nods to Dirk, "and you'll be taking the back," he nods to Blaine, "I guess this means I once again have shotgun," he finishes with a grin. Not that he had any reason to be particularly friendly or jocular around these two, but it would help to ease the tension in the air somewhat, and perhaps one or both of them would let their guard down for a moment and let some snippet, some tidbit of information out that they might not have released otherwise. An old holdover from the days of learning and practicing human intelligence out in the field...as were his ways with women, something he was very grateful held over from Russia's cold war practices.

"Do not mind Ernesto, he has some difficulty interacting in large groups. That's what happens when you are trained as he was. Very good in isolation, not so good in groups much larger than two, and women count double. He'll warm up eventually, assuming we have not all grown as cold as corpses in the meantime," he turns directly towards Dirk, raising an eyebrow inquisitively. "I am curious, however, the new arrivals...what is it you said to one of them, 'stay out of my head'?" For a moment, a brief moment, Mikal is ever so tempted to say, You know, you really should not be so hostile to psychiatrists. You obviously need all the professional help you can get, my friend. But no, he was attempting to endear himself somewhat to these people, and that would have quite the opposite effect, and with a potential telepath in the group, well, things could get interesting. "A telepath, I take it? Pfeh...how annoying."

[Utsanomiko]

"Hey, how's it shakin'?" Stavis greets the new female passenger as he looks her up and down. "Been a rough night, eh?"