The Redmond Barrens is a pretty drek place to hang your hat at its very best, but this? This couldn't be considered its very best.
Nestled so deep in Redmond that even the gangers start having second thoughts, The Bear's Den is the very definition of a dive bar. The drinks (rightfully) taste like they're cut with anti-freeze, the interior is primarily decorated with bullet holes and the old, heavily scarred, fat troll in a Hawaiian print shirt behind the counter looks like he can barely stand from dipping into his own stock.
But then that's the point, isn't it? To keep the riff-raff away.
The owner, Big Bear, prides himself on providing a very specific service to very specific clientele: The ability to speak to your client without a fear of prying ears. To that end, the place is a smashing success. Tourists don't come this far into Redmond unless they're stuffed in a trunk, after the fifth local went blind Big Bear's mixed drink they stopped coming around and even the craziest ganger thinks twice before picking a fight with a saloon full of runners.
The bar has only three patrons, though with the way they cast glances at the door they're expecting a fourth.
The most eye catching is an elf wrapped in a white wolf's pelt, a wolf-like mask hanging from the front of his belt and a katana strapped to his side, a bow and quiver of arrows draped across his back. His features are sharp and predatory, his long white hair matted and unkempt. He introduced himself as Shiro.
The next is a human wearing aging black dress clothes, a tan trenchcoat and matching tan fedora. His dirty blonde hair is slicked to the side and the combination bags under his eyes and 5'o'clock shadow suggests he's been roughing it lately. He introduced himself as Art.
The last is a young man wearing a black vest and cargo shorts, an assault rifle slung across his back. Blonde haired, blue eyed, slight British accent. He introduced himself as Helios and he's the only one drinking the complementary drinks.
The wild elf sniffs his drink, it smells like a mixture of pineapple juice and kerosene. Wrinkling up his nose, he takes a sip...unsurprisingly, it also tastes like pineapple juice and kerosene. With a gag, he spits it back into his glass and slides it away from him.
Art smirks and takes a swig from his silver flask, checking his watch and confirming that the Johnson should already be here.
"You fellas in the UCAS really don't brew for drek, do you?" Helios asks, wiping his mouth. "I swear, you need to be introduced to a decent lager before this stuff kills you all."
The elf nods his head in agreement, but before they can further discuss the proper way to kill braincells (and/or render themselves more flammable) the door opens up a party of three steps through.
The first is a redhaired man in an immaculately tailored blue suit with a light pink shirt underneath, a lit cigarette held in his hand.
The other two are a pair of that make old Big Bear look like an ork; easily 10ft tall and chromed out the gills. They're awkwardly dressed in trench coats to hide their features, but even through the coats their unnatural bulk makes it easy to tell that there's not much left of them that's natural. Even the bull-like horns sprouting from their skulls are made of steel.
One of the trolls stays by the door, while the other escorts the Johnson to their table.
"Apologies if I'm late gentlemen," Mr Johnson says, pulling up a chair to their table. "The neighborhood takes a bit of navigating after dark."
Shiro and Helios glance at each other with smirks on their faces.
"Yeah, nice robots." the young Helios says with a laugh. The troll glowers with red, metallic eyes, but doesn't otherwise react to the taunt.
"No worries, I'm sure it's worth our while." Art replies, casting an irritated glare at his new partners.
"Yeah, about that..." Shiro chimes in. "Just how worth our while is this gonna be?"
"How does one million Nuyen each strike your fancy?" The Johnson says with a broad smile. The entire table sits up straight at this figure.
"My fancy's out the fragging window mate!" Helios sputters excitedly. Art's eyes go wide, but he controls himself.
"Sounds like a lie." Shiro says bluntly.
With an easy laugh, the Johnson shakes his head. "Whether you want to or not, I'm sure you've all heard of Cherry Star." he points out, referring to a 17 year old elven pop star who's particular sickly sweet brand of music is primarily enjoyed by tweens and middle aged men not usually allowed near tweens.
"Obviously." Art confirms with a nod of his head.
"Wait...you want us to kill her?!" Shiro asks.
Holding up his hands, the Johnson replies "No, no, no. Nothing so drastic. I'd just like her concert tour to end here in Seattle; at least for now."
"What do you mean 'end'?" Helios asks.
"He means kill her." Shiro insists.
"I want you to kidnap Cherry Star, then I'll ransom her back to her label. Three million even sounds like a reasonable sum for someone of her station, wouldn't you agree?" the Johnson explains. "I have no interest in the money...well, not THIS money; so whatever they pay is yours. I only want her tour delayed and ultimately cancelled."
Helios raises an eyebrow. "You not a fan?"
"You could say that. Mostly though I'm just interested in shaking things up for her label, Yamaki Records." the Johnson says.
With a nod, Art asks "Have anything to make this easier?"
Drawing out a folder from his suit jacket and tossing it to Art, the Johnson says "Her itinerary for the week and a dossier on her security personnel. You'll need it."
"Tour dates are public record, what hotel is she staying at?" Art asks, flipping through the folder.
"She'll be staying at the Bellevue Hilton, checked in as herself...she likes the attention." the Johnson replies. "She has a handful of appearances during the week, followed by the concert itself Friday night; after which she'll be leaving town."
"Forget the appearances!" Helios cackles. "I want to fragging break into a concert; how B.A. would that be?"
Shiro bristles like an offended animal. "Don't be stupid." he spits.
The laugh dying in his throat, Helios glares at the wild elf. "What did you say?"
"What do you think I said?" Shiro replies, his hand moving to the hilt of his blade.
"I think you said that crashing a concert was stupid, but I know that can't be right, because that's fragging amazing!" Helios shouts.
"That's some Wilson drek Omae." Art agrees soothingly, trying to calm everyone down. "You want to actually live to see our credits, right?"
"Yeah, you stupid AND suicidal?" Shiro asks.
Helios grabs the Fichetti pistol at his side and starts to draw at the same time that Shiro does likewise; the Johnson's perpetually amused grin doesn't abate, but Art leaps to his feet and hisses "Fighting in a runner's bar is bad form Chummer, but fighting at a meet is going to kill your rep."
The two runners continue eyeing each other, but eventually sit back down; returning their weapons to the proper place.
"Mr Johnson," Art starts, "Let me sincerely apologize for...this, whatever this was. Please, continue. Is there anything else we should know?"
"Completely understandable." the Johnson says, his smile never wavering. "Before you go after Cherry, keep in mind that this isn't her first altercation; she has a security team that makes ME envious. Make sure to check the dossiers before you go after her."
Still holding the envelope, Art nods his head. "I assure you Mr Johnson; bypassing security is among my specialties."
"So I've heard." Mr Johnson replies. Removing a credstick from his pocket, he tosses it to Art. "Ten thousand up front, for expenses. I hope I don't have to be so forward as to remind you that if she leaves town then me and my...associates will be expecting our deposit returned. We'e had runners attempt to take advantage of my generous nature before."
"Of course Mr Johnson, if we can't bring her in then I'd say you're entitled to a refund." Art agrees, eyeing the massive trolls.
Mr Johnson proceeds to slide a phone across the table. "Once you've secured Cherry then you'll need a place to hold her until I can broker a ransom. Call me on that line and I'll know to proceed. Afterwards, I'll leave your payment with your fixer and you gentlemen can ditch the girl wherever seems convenient and retire."
The Johnson stands and motions towards the troll at the door who quickly ducks outside. He reminds the runners that they've only got five days before Cherry Star becomes somebody else's meal ticket; he then takes his remaining guard and exits the Bear's Den for brighter pastures.
Once the Johnson's gone, they quickly settle their tab and move their meeting to Art's place. Since they don't know each other, they debate their preferred methods of handling this as they head to Art's small apartment on the outskirts of Redmond; Art quickly comes to the conclusion that the others are completely suicidal after hearing several plans involving burning down everything and hoping for the best.
"Running is only as hard as you make it Chummer," Art insists "Subtlety is the name of the game here!"
Shiro nods his head in agreement "Oh definitely, I'm all for subtlety, so long as something catches fire."
"Have either of you ever actually walked away from a successful run?" Art asks incredulously.
"I've done alright." Helios insists.
Shiro taps the wolf pelt draped about him, "I'd say so, if these burn marks are anything to go by." the savage elf smirks.
Art raises an eyebrow. "That's...not how I would gauge success." he points out with a shake of his head.
The rest of the trip is in comparable silence until they enter Art's home and start laying out the folder's contents. Helios snatches up the itinerary while Art goes through the dossiers and Shiro pokes and prods around what turns out to be the first apartment he's ever been in.
"Where's the computer?" Helios asks, glancing around the tiny apartment, filled with pulp magazines and not much else. "I'll case her appearances virtually before we go in meatspace."
Art explains that he doesn't have anything like that and Helios is instead reduced to checking over Cherry's blog on his phone. He already knows she'll be appearing at a local radio station for an interview, but figures that the devil's in the details.
Art quickly pores over Cherry's security and doesn't care much for what he sees. The least of their problems is a four man team from a small security firm called Olsen-Reyes; their reputation is just north of standard, but they're still professionals and should be considered dangerous.
Next is her personal driver; a man named Joseph Harlin. His relationship to Cherry is unclear but he's served as her chauffeur since before she was big; he's a quiet man with a reputation for being a rigger of some skill.
Third is her manager, Samuel Borne. He started off as a magical security consultant that somehow made the switch to agent. He accompanies Ms Star on all out of town appearances.
Last, but certainly not least, is her personal assistant Francine Charleston. Originally a B-list bodyguard primarily hired by businessmen wanting a little arm candy with a concealed carry permit, she was hired by Cherry to provide low-key protection during an awards show.
It made national news when a deranged fan charged Cherry with a phosphorous grenade and Francine leapt in the way. She suffered 4th degree burns all over her body and lost the use of her extremities...along with most everything else. Cherry paid out of pocket to have Francine put back together with state of the art chrome and ever since, she's become the center of Francine's world.
Art notices a handwritten notation that mentions losing the last four man team he sent after Cherry to Francine before the others could even get involved. They underestimated the scarred little elf and were sent home reduced to their component pieces.
As Art reads the details out loud, Shiro volunteers to handle the mage; revealing himself to be a Wolf Shaman if it wasn't obvious already. Art pulls a pack of Lucky Strikes out of his desk drawer and lights one up.
"What do you think?" Helios asks, turning his phone off.
"She'll be at the radio station tomorrow right? I say we case the joint chummers." Art replies.
It's one in the morning when they pile out of Art's Jackrabbit a block from the station and nonchalantly make their way over to it. Each of them splits up to get a better view.
Art and Helios make note of three into the six story structure; the front door, a side entrance leading into the alley where they dump their trash and the parking garage. They also note the fire escape leading up to the roof.
Shiro meanwhile Astral Projects himself into the building to snoop around. He finds only a handful of security personnel walking the halls and manning the front desk, in addition to a pair of janitorial staff and half a dozen wage slaves working on the first three floors. The 4th and 5th floors are home to the sound booths and are where the actual recording happens; the 6th appears to home to management.
None of the building is warded and it makes sense; its not exactly a high profile target, after all. Having already heard from Helios that Cherry will be appearing on Nino In The Morning, Shiro tracks down Nino's booth and gives it a more in depth searching before declaring it all clear.
With the basis of an idea in their heads, they flock back to Art's place to finish preparations, however Shiro pleads for sleep and Helios agrees, so instead they set an alarm and pass out for a few hours. They arrived at home around 4am and find themselves back outside the same radio station by eight with only four hours to go before Cherry is due to arrive.
They're exhausted, but if this goes the way they hope it does it'll be the easiest million Nuyen they'll ever see.
They quickly scale the fire escape, but discover that the heavy rooftop door is locked from the inside. They're disappointed, but weren't really expecting it to be open in the first place. Shiro Astral Projects once again and quickly glancing around, discovering CONSIDERABLY more people than last time, as well as the shimmering Astral aura of a Mage covered in fetishes and erecting a ward.
Quickly returning to his body, Shiro explains what he saw.
They convene and a plan starts to come together...
When Cherry Star arrives in her oversized Mercedes and followed by an unmarked van, the three of them immediately begin descending the fire escape to get into position. They manage to see Cherry, Francine, Sam and a pair of her security personnel get on an elevator before they rush to the parking garage.
Art positions himself near the spacious Mercedes and Helios lingers near the van; checking his watch and discovering that it's already 11:45. Only fifteen minutes until Cherry's interview.
Shiro slips behind a car for privacy and projects himself into the lobby; conjuring and directing a Force 3 Hearth Spirit to guard the front door and not allow ANYONE to leave; hoping to channel Cherry into the parking garage by blocking the entrance with a panicked crowd. He also orders the spirit to wait 10 minutes and then pull the fire alarm to get the party started.
Shiro snaps back into his body and exchanges glances with his partners. The plan is that on three Helios and Shiro will take out the men in the van while Art incapacitates and then impersonates Cherry's driver.
In all the confusion of the fire alarm and panicked crowd, Cherry should rush to the safety of her car and directly into their waiting arms. Then all they've got to do is sit back and get rich.
Of course that's the plan. Even the slightest misstep at this point could cause the rigger to call down the big guns and instead of getting rich, they could just as easily bleed to death in a Downtown parking garage, but then, that's life in the shadows...
With a deep breath they get ready.
One.
Two.
Three.
Nestled so deep in Redmond that even the gangers start having second thoughts, The Bear's Den is the very definition of a dive bar. The drinks (rightfully) taste like they're cut with anti-freeze, the interior is primarily decorated with bullet holes and the old, heavily scarred, fat troll in a Hawaiian print shirt behind the counter looks like he can barely stand from dipping into his own stock.
But then that's the point, isn't it? To keep the riff-raff away.
The owner, Big Bear, prides himself on providing a very specific service to very specific clientele: The ability to speak to your client without a fear of prying ears. To that end, the place is a smashing success. Tourists don't come this far into Redmond unless they're stuffed in a trunk, after the fifth local went blind Big Bear's mixed drink they stopped coming around and even the craziest ganger thinks twice before picking a fight with a saloon full of runners.
The bar has only three patrons, though with the way they cast glances at the door they're expecting a fourth.
The most eye catching is an elf wrapped in a white wolf's pelt, a wolf-like mask hanging from the front of his belt and a katana strapped to his side, a bow and quiver of arrows draped across his back. His features are sharp and predatory, his long white hair matted and unkempt. He introduced himself as Shiro.
The next is a human wearing aging black dress clothes, a tan trenchcoat and matching tan fedora. His dirty blonde hair is slicked to the side and the combination bags under his eyes and 5'o'clock shadow suggests he's been roughing it lately. He introduced himself as Art.
The last is a young man wearing a black vest and cargo shorts, an assault rifle slung across his back. Blonde haired, blue eyed, slight British accent. He introduced himself as Helios and he's the only one drinking the complementary drinks.
The wild elf sniffs his drink, it smells like a mixture of pineapple juice and kerosene. Wrinkling up his nose, he takes a sip...unsurprisingly, it also tastes like pineapple juice and kerosene. With a gag, he spits it back into his glass and slides it away from him.
Art smirks and takes a swig from his silver flask, checking his watch and confirming that the Johnson should already be here.
"You fellas in the UCAS really don't brew for drek, do you?" Helios asks, wiping his mouth. "I swear, you need to be introduced to a decent lager before this stuff kills you all."
The elf nods his head in agreement, but before they can further discuss the proper way to kill braincells (and/or render themselves more flammable) the door opens up a party of three steps through.
The first is a redhaired man in an immaculately tailored blue suit with a light pink shirt underneath, a lit cigarette held in his hand.
The other two are a pair of that make old Big Bear look like an ork; easily 10ft tall and chromed out the gills. They're awkwardly dressed in trench coats to hide their features, but even through the coats their unnatural bulk makes it easy to tell that there's not much left of them that's natural. Even the bull-like horns sprouting from their skulls are made of steel.
One of the trolls stays by the door, while the other escorts the Johnson to their table.
"Apologies if I'm late gentlemen," Mr Johnson says, pulling up a chair to their table. "The neighborhood takes a bit of navigating after dark."
Shiro and Helios glance at each other with smirks on their faces.
"Yeah, nice robots." the young Helios says with a laugh. The troll glowers with red, metallic eyes, but doesn't otherwise react to the taunt.
"No worries, I'm sure it's worth our while." Art replies, casting an irritated glare at his new partners.
"Yeah, about that..." Shiro chimes in. "Just how worth our while is this gonna be?"
"How does one million Nuyen each strike your fancy?" The Johnson says with a broad smile. The entire table sits up straight at this figure.
"My fancy's out the fragging window mate!" Helios sputters excitedly. Art's eyes go wide, but he controls himself.
"Sounds like a lie." Shiro says bluntly.
With an easy laugh, the Johnson shakes his head. "Whether you want to or not, I'm sure you've all heard of Cherry Star." he points out, referring to a 17 year old elven pop star who's particular sickly sweet brand of music is primarily enjoyed by tweens and middle aged men not usually allowed near tweens.
"Obviously." Art confirms with a nod of his head.
"Wait...you want us to kill her?!" Shiro asks.
Holding up his hands, the Johnson replies "No, no, no. Nothing so drastic. I'd just like her concert tour to end here in Seattle; at least for now."
"What do you mean 'end'?" Helios asks.
"He means kill her." Shiro insists.
"I want you to kidnap Cherry Star, then I'll ransom her back to her label. Three million even sounds like a reasonable sum for someone of her station, wouldn't you agree?" the Johnson explains. "I have no interest in the money...well, not THIS money; so whatever they pay is yours. I only want her tour delayed and ultimately cancelled."
Helios raises an eyebrow. "You not a fan?"
"You could say that. Mostly though I'm just interested in shaking things up for her label, Yamaki Records." the Johnson says.
With a nod, Art asks "Have anything to make this easier?"
Drawing out a folder from his suit jacket and tossing it to Art, the Johnson says "Her itinerary for the week and a dossier on her security personnel. You'll need it."
"Tour dates are public record, what hotel is she staying at?" Art asks, flipping through the folder.
"She'll be staying at the Bellevue Hilton, checked in as herself...she likes the attention." the Johnson replies. "She has a handful of appearances during the week, followed by the concert itself Friday night; after which she'll be leaving town."
"Forget the appearances!" Helios cackles. "I want to fragging break into a concert; how B.A. would that be?"
Shiro bristles like an offended animal. "Don't be stupid." he spits.
The laugh dying in his throat, Helios glares at the wild elf. "What did you say?"
"What do you think I said?" Shiro replies, his hand moving to the hilt of his blade.
"I think you said that crashing a concert was stupid, but I know that can't be right, because that's fragging amazing!" Helios shouts.
"That's some Wilson drek Omae." Art agrees soothingly, trying to calm everyone down. "You want to actually live to see our credits, right?"
"Yeah, you stupid AND suicidal?" Shiro asks.
Helios grabs the Fichetti pistol at his side and starts to draw at the same time that Shiro does likewise; the Johnson's perpetually amused grin doesn't abate, but Art leaps to his feet and hisses "Fighting in a runner's bar is bad form Chummer, but fighting at a meet is going to kill your rep."
The two runners continue eyeing each other, but eventually sit back down; returning their weapons to the proper place.
"Mr Johnson," Art starts, "Let me sincerely apologize for...this, whatever this was. Please, continue. Is there anything else we should know?"
"Completely understandable." the Johnson says, his smile never wavering. "Before you go after Cherry, keep in mind that this isn't her first altercation; she has a security team that makes ME envious. Make sure to check the dossiers before you go after her."
Still holding the envelope, Art nods his head. "I assure you Mr Johnson; bypassing security is among my specialties."
"So I've heard." Mr Johnson replies. Removing a credstick from his pocket, he tosses it to Art. "Ten thousand up front, for expenses. I hope I don't have to be so forward as to remind you that if she leaves town then me and my...associates will be expecting our deposit returned. We'e had runners attempt to take advantage of my generous nature before."
"Of course Mr Johnson, if we can't bring her in then I'd say you're entitled to a refund." Art agrees, eyeing the massive trolls.
Mr Johnson proceeds to slide a phone across the table. "Once you've secured Cherry then you'll need a place to hold her until I can broker a ransom. Call me on that line and I'll know to proceed. Afterwards, I'll leave your payment with your fixer and you gentlemen can ditch the girl wherever seems convenient and retire."
The Johnson stands and motions towards the troll at the door who quickly ducks outside. He reminds the runners that they've only got five days before Cherry Star becomes somebody else's meal ticket; he then takes his remaining guard and exits the Bear's Den for brighter pastures.
Once the Johnson's gone, they quickly settle their tab and move their meeting to Art's place. Since they don't know each other, they debate their preferred methods of handling this as they head to Art's small apartment on the outskirts of Redmond; Art quickly comes to the conclusion that the others are completely suicidal after hearing several plans involving burning down everything and hoping for the best.
"Running is only as hard as you make it Chummer," Art insists "Subtlety is the name of the game here!"
Shiro nods his head in agreement "Oh definitely, I'm all for subtlety, so long as something catches fire."
"Have either of you ever actually walked away from a successful run?" Art asks incredulously.
"I've done alright." Helios insists.
Shiro taps the wolf pelt draped about him, "I'd say so, if these burn marks are anything to go by." the savage elf smirks.
Art raises an eyebrow. "That's...not how I would gauge success." he points out with a shake of his head.
The rest of the trip is in comparable silence until they enter Art's home and start laying out the folder's contents. Helios snatches up the itinerary while Art goes through the dossiers and Shiro pokes and prods around what turns out to be the first apartment he's ever been in.
"Where's the computer?" Helios asks, glancing around the tiny apartment, filled with pulp magazines and not much else. "I'll case her appearances virtually before we go in meatspace."
Art explains that he doesn't have anything like that and Helios is instead reduced to checking over Cherry's blog on his phone. He already knows she'll be appearing at a local radio station for an interview, but figures that the devil's in the details.
Art quickly pores over Cherry's security and doesn't care much for what he sees. The least of their problems is a four man team from a small security firm called Olsen-Reyes; their reputation is just north of standard, but they're still professionals and should be considered dangerous.
Next is her personal driver; a man named Joseph Harlin. His relationship to Cherry is unclear but he's served as her chauffeur since before she was big; he's a quiet man with a reputation for being a rigger of some skill.
Third is her manager, Samuel Borne. He started off as a magical security consultant that somehow made the switch to agent. He accompanies Ms Star on all out of town appearances.
Last, but certainly not least, is her personal assistant Francine Charleston. Originally a B-list bodyguard primarily hired by businessmen wanting a little arm candy with a concealed carry permit, she was hired by Cherry to provide low-key protection during an awards show.
It made national news when a deranged fan charged Cherry with a phosphorous grenade and Francine leapt in the way. She suffered 4th degree burns all over her body and lost the use of her extremities...along with most everything else. Cherry paid out of pocket to have Francine put back together with state of the art chrome and ever since, she's become the center of Francine's world.
Art notices a handwritten notation that mentions losing the last four man team he sent after Cherry to Francine before the others could even get involved. They underestimated the scarred little elf and were sent home reduced to their component pieces.
As Art reads the details out loud, Shiro volunteers to handle the mage; revealing himself to be a Wolf Shaman if it wasn't obvious already. Art pulls a pack of Lucky Strikes out of his desk drawer and lights one up.
"What do you think?" Helios asks, turning his phone off.
"She'll be at the radio station tomorrow right? I say we case the joint chummers." Art replies.
It's one in the morning when they pile out of Art's Jackrabbit a block from the station and nonchalantly make their way over to it. Each of them splits up to get a better view.
Art and Helios make note of three into the six story structure; the front door, a side entrance leading into the alley where they dump their trash and the parking garage. They also note the fire escape leading up to the roof.
Shiro meanwhile Astral Projects himself into the building to snoop around. He finds only a handful of security personnel walking the halls and manning the front desk, in addition to a pair of janitorial staff and half a dozen wage slaves working on the first three floors. The 4th and 5th floors are home to the sound booths and are where the actual recording happens; the 6th appears to home to management.
None of the building is warded and it makes sense; its not exactly a high profile target, after all. Having already heard from Helios that Cherry will be appearing on Nino In The Morning, Shiro tracks down Nino's booth and gives it a more in depth searching before declaring it all clear.
With the basis of an idea in their heads, they flock back to Art's place to finish preparations, however Shiro pleads for sleep and Helios agrees, so instead they set an alarm and pass out for a few hours. They arrived at home around 4am and find themselves back outside the same radio station by eight with only four hours to go before Cherry is due to arrive.
They're exhausted, but if this goes the way they hope it does it'll be the easiest million Nuyen they'll ever see.
They quickly scale the fire escape, but discover that the heavy rooftop door is locked from the inside. They're disappointed, but weren't really expecting it to be open in the first place. Shiro Astral Projects once again and quickly glancing around, discovering CONSIDERABLY more people than last time, as well as the shimmering Astral aura of a Mage covered in fetishes and erecting a ward.
Quickly returning to his body, Shiro explains what he saw.
They convene and a plan starts to come together...
When Cherry Star arrives in her oversized Mercedes and followed by an unmarked van, the three of them immediately begin descending the fire escape to get into position. They manage to see Cherry, Francine, Sam and a pair of her security personnel get on an elevator before they rush to the parking garage.
Art positions himself near the spacious Mercedes and Helios lingers near the van; checking his watch and discovering that it's already 11:45. Only fifteen minutes until Cherry's interview.
Shiro slips behind a car for privacy and projects himself into the lobby; conjuring and directing a Force 3 Hearth Spirit to guard the front door and not allow ANYONE to leave; hoping to channel Cherry into the parking garage by blocking the entrance with a panicked crowd. He also orders the spirit to wait 10 minutes and then pull the fire alarm to get the party started.
Shiro snaps back into his body and exchanges glances with his partners. The plan is that on three Helios and Shiro will take out the men in the van while Art incapacitates and then impersonates Cherry's driver.
In all the confusion of the fire alarm and panicked crowd, Cherry should rush to the safety of her car and directly into their waiting arms. Then all they've got to do is sit back and get rich.
Of course that's the plan. Even the slightest misstep at this point could cause the rigger to call down the big guns and instead of getting rich, they could just as easily bleed to death in a Downtown parking garage, but then, that's life in the shadows...
With a deep breath they get ready.
One.
Two.
Three.
