ALL THE BRICKS - Prologue: What Rough Beast

[Shayuri]

"Mmmno," Otter says to Herald. "Sorry but mmmmmno. Okay, look. The turncoats said they were going to take Woodley to someone else. Didn't say who, but the gloating said somewhere unpleasant for her. They weren't going to take her to Mac, or the Johnson."

"It seems to me like someone else got to them, someone outside. Made them a new offer, swung them to their side."

"So the KADRILLION dollar question is..."

She swung her eyes over to Woodley. "Why's everyone got such a wicked hardon for you right now? What were you DOING for Evo, and why'd you decide to get out?"

 

[Rubberneck]

Faust listens to the 3rd degree everyone is giving Woodley but doesn't seem to care about any of it. He simply sits back and refills his spent magazines with fresh ammunition. He glances at his watch, damn this run is taking far longer than he would like. He knows that Melody would have a lot of questions for him when he got home. She doesn't know exactly what he does anymore with his free time. He doesn't exactly lie about it but he also isn't forthcoming with the details and for the most part she accepts it for what it is, a means to an end.

"I think Otter is correct. Why betray us if the final destination is the same? I don't think Johnson is our problem. Mac maybe."

 

[TillForPie]

Woodley glances at each of the runners. She's clearly frightened by Herald's gun, the group's interrogation of her, and the talk of betrayal. Everyone's heard of shadowrunners but this is almost certainly her first time seeing any in the flesh.

She follows Herald's directions and with a shaking hand offers her Hermes Ikon - a popular commlink, considered the cheapest of the luxury models.

"Gene therapies," she says. "Our team was working on developing treatments for genetic diseases disproportionately affecting metahumans. Especially orks." Nothing unusual here, this is right up Evo's alley. "Pensodyne never highly prioritized what we were doing. I'm moving to a Co-Head of Research position... elsewhere." She's clearly been threatened not to tell the runners which corporation she's moving to. Again, this is standard. It wouldn't be too hard for you guys (Herald especially) to crack her but there's nothing unusual about her reluctance to name who's hired her. This is why anonymous Mr. Johnsons exist.

"We lost all the stuff." She's referring to the swag that was supposed to be her payment to Mr. Johnson in exchange for hiring you. "Everything's still going to be OK, right?" We'll see.

 

[Mosier]

"Mmmno," Otter says to Herald. "Sorry but mmmmmno. Okay, look. The turncoats said they were going to take Woodley to someone else. Didn't say who, but the gloating said somewhere unpleasant for her. They weren't going to take her to Mac, or the Johnson."

Herald fixes her with a steady glare. "Are you willing to bet your life on that? Personally, I'm not even willing to bet my payment on it. Imagine for a moment that this Johnson could get his prized scientist without paying a single nuyen, and all he has to do is kill some vagabonds on a rooftop who are already wounded."

He lets the hypothetical sink in for a moment before continuing. "Even if he did not betray us, you must admit that he will, if he can get away with it. No, my dear. We do this my way. The rest of you stay with Woodley. I will meet the Johnson and give him Woodley's comlink. He'll pay us, and only after I'm safely away from him will you release Woodley, and send her coordinates to her comlink. Any plan that gives the Johnson a convenient way to kill us and take her will surely end badly. Besides," he says, flashing a perfect smile, "it's only business, n'est ce pas?"

He neatly snatches the comlink from Woodley and tucks it into a jacket pocket. "Thank you, my dear. Chin up! They didn't go through all the trouble of extracting you just to kill you over some paydata. You're worth much more alive than dead."

 

[Shayuri]

"Sure sure, go...do whatever you want with the Johnson," Death Otter said dismissively. "The point though, is that whoever frakked up so spectacularly in trying to steal her away isn't just going to give up. So I'd like to know who's going to be coming for her while you play whatever-ball with the idiots who hired us."

She looked at Woodley again.

"I'm betting you have a pretty good idea who it is too."

 

[GlassEye]

Lum the Mad

Lum is listening but is more interested in driving and keeping tabs on the drone. With his attention split three ways his focus on the conversation is minimal. "Too many options," he mutters, thinking of people who might want to take control of Woodley and the research she was working on. He continues to drive, going nowhere in particular, until some sort of consensus or decision on a plan is reached.

"I'm ok with playing it Herald's way but I'd want a drone in the air. Or two."

[sblock=OOC]Medkit 3 (1/3 remaining)[/sblock]

 

[TillForPie]

Subway Terminal

There are shouts when people spot the gun-toting drone and the badges hurry to take cover as it buzzes by. But it isn't sticking around and in the next moment it's disappeared around a corner on its way to the surface.

Moments later it's flying over the city toward the van - it won't catch up until after the runners have stopped.

The Van

Woodley shrinks under Otter's accusation. "I don't know what's going on!" she pleads. "I was barely worth my salary to Pensodyne. I was just happy another corporation was willing to pull me out - and even then it took a sweetener." The swag. "That's probably what your friends wanted." She's obviously trying to convince herself. Probably not lying - just another broken piece in the game corps and runners play. "Whatever you do, please don't screw this up for me. Pensodyne was all I had - if I don't wind up with a job I've got nothing."

 

[Shayuri]

Otter laughs out loud at that. "You're asking US not to screw it up? Oh...I can't tell if you're stupid, or if you think we're stupid. So let me get this straight right now."

"You're at Pensodyne, working some relatively normal corp job, but you mysteriously decide to leave. Now it seems to ME like that logical next move is to put some quiet feelers out not to ONE corporation at that point, but SEVERAL. Get a few interested, have them compete for you and the swag to drive the price up."

"But only one wins that and gets the prize. So my question is, who's the loser? I mean, I know you can't tell us your new boss and that's fine because I DON'T CARE. THEY aren't the ones who're trying to kill us right now! Who got outbid? Or did you seriously go with the first corporation that made an offer?"

 

[Rubberneck]

Faust slides the last bullet into the magazine and slams it home with a loud *chck*

"Enough. Let the girl be. Who cares about any of that bull?"

Faust slides his pistol back into it's holster.

"It's done and as soon as we're rid of her then we cut ties and we are home free. If more come then we f***ing kill them like we did the last batch. I want paid not her life story."

 

[Shayuri]

"Know thy enemy," retorts Otter. "Or, in the paraphrased words of Sun Tzu... Git gud."