Episode 1: Chasin' the Wind

Shivering, Puck puts down her commlink. The brutal winters are especially heinous when all you have to your name is a drafty camper and whatever goodwill you can trick people out of. Taking one last long sip of her steaming hot tea, she puts the mug down, missing the warmth as soon as she lets go.

well, time to look the part. At least the meets is somewhere a hell of a lot warmer.

Puck rifles through the small wardrobe of the camper and picks out something fashionable but also warm. After adding on a few layers of thermals and her armored coat she can almost feel her extremities. After checking herself in the mirror and feeling satisfied she sends a message to Bill, a cab driver she befriended not too long after "moving" to chicago.

Hey Bill. yeah, it's me. look, I need a ride to Northside. How soon can you pick me up? oh, that's great! I'll be sure to give you something 'extra special' since it's such short notice. Just honk when you get here.

Strapping on her pistol, Puck realizes she should probably bring a little more firepower... just in case... So she clears out a spot on her dinette table (the tea is already ice cold when she touches it) and lights some incense and calls out to the spirits.Brother Wolf, I have need of your aid. Act as my protector and guardian for one night and in return I shall perform a task of your choosingFeeling the spirit that answered her call like an old familiar friend, she snaps back to reality when she heard the cabbie honking. looking around her RV quickly, she grabs a small can of sage from her pantry and quickly spoons a couple of teaspoons into a small plastic baggie. She leaves, locking the camper door behind her and directly into the heated interior of Bill's cab. Bill is already driving out of the trailer park before he asks where he's taking her.

Pizza place. I'll point it out when we get there.

Pulling the baggie out of her coat she presents it to him with a small flourish

And THIS, my friend, if the special something I mentioned. This is sage. powerful sage. Blessed by a Lakota warchief on his deathbed. You burn this inside a building, and every hostile spirit and malign spell placed on you clears right out. My tribe would use this before a major undertaking. We even gave a pinch of this stuff to Coyote before he did his Great Ghost Dance, and you know how that turned out. My gift to you for being such a great friend. I'd say that this would make us about even for the ride.

Once at the pizza place, Puck places her trode headband on and plugs it into her commlink. She steps outside of the cab and starts buzzing her team

ok, I'm here. anyone else make it here yet?

Ghost exchanges a glance and a nod with her friend, who is currently going by "Widget". She silently gathers her gear. Its just a meet, so she'll travel light: knives, sap, taser, and dart pistol, all hidden under her big black duster. The last step is applying her face: foundation, pencil in the eyebrows, a bit of blush...all to look a little more human. The she pulls up her ubiquitous hood and asks, "Your car or the van?"

Digit rubs her at her eyes as the commlink disconnects, letting out a slow, loud yawn. She stretches her arms above her head, groaning as she switches to AR with a twist of her hand. She surfs the Matrix for a time, checking any recent news, as well as waving away a few ARO pop-ups alerting her to sales on green hair dye. After fully waking, the gnome swings her legs off of the small bed and gets to her feet. Her sleep schedule has been a mess lately, something that she was prone to do when spending too much time jacked into her 'deck. There was something to fix that, though.

Being one to invest her nuyen wisely, Digit's apartment was rather quality; about as much as one can get in Chicago nowadays. Her high-rise was near O'Hare Airport, just outside of the occupation zone that Ares had set up around it. A bit pricey, sure, but with all the furnishings, the vehicle space in the garages below, and most importantly access to Ares' Global Grid, it was well worth the cost. Of course, it helped that she had a roommate, too.

Digit makes sure her commlink is broadcasting the right SIN. It always was, but she had a certain level of paranoia that made her check and recheck every time she thought about it. She tends to switch them around so often, it's best to make sure to know what your name is for the day. Digit hooks her survival knife onto her belt and tucks her cyberdeck into its protective sleeve and then into her backpack before shrugging it up onto her shoulders. Her datajack cord is slipped through a pocket in the backpack and hooked into her 'deck already, giving her access to all of the bothersome AROs that Ares assaults her with while on their Grid. She dismisses them from her field of view with only a thought. Lastly, Digit heads to the kitchen and pulls open one of the drawers. Within is a disorderly stack of Meta Link commlinks, all turned off. Digit grabs two of them to take with her.

Moments later, the gnome pops the caps down on her two disposable travel cups, steaming soykaf filled to the brim inside. She carries the cups toward the door, just as Ghost is coming out of her room and pulling up her hood. When asked about transportation, Digit smiles back and says, "Lets take yours." She hands one of the cups over to Ghost as she says offhandedly, "I'm on Isla today, by the way." Of course Digit is talking about her fake SIN, to make sure she and Ghost were on the same page. Then, as a thought comes to her, she adds, "Oh! And I decided to stick with Digit for one more Run, too. I'll change it next time. Probably."

She'll follow Ghost through the levels of the building and down the elevator, sipping her soykaf and swimming through the Matrix in her mind at the same time. Once in the garage and getting settled in Ghost's ride, an ARO for Puck's message pops up, and with a thought Digit accesses it to hear the message. She smiles brightly, excited that she'll see the Elf again; Puck was one of her favorite Runners she's worked with, after all. She sends a message in reply to Puck at the speed of thought:

Took me a minute to wake up. We're almost there, omae.

It was no secret that she and Ghost were roommates, or at least lived close by enough to carpool, since they were always arriving in the same vehicle. Luckily they didn't live far from the meet, so this drive wouldn't take long at all. "Going to slave your comm," Digit mentioned, grabbing up Ghost's commlink in her cyberdeck's PAN should Ghost not be opposed to her doing so.

Rush gasps for air, as he's woken from a deep, nearly dead, sleep. Loud bangs puncture the peaceful silence of his slumber. Gunshots? Rush throws the blanket off, unsealing the warm cocoon of his bed, and creeps toward the one window in his apartment that isn't boarded up. He slowly lifts two fingers to the blinds and gently separates them ever so slightly. He sees nothing out of the ordinary from his fourth story studio. The usual dealers on the corner. A couple of young kids poking fresh road kill with a stick. Old homeless Dwarves yelling at the boxes they sleep on. Nothing out of the ordinary. Maybe it was a truck backfiring. Rush backs away from the window, half relieved, half disappointed.

Rush clicks a button on his soykaf machine and notices a message on his comm. Alright Ophie old girl. He smiles deeply. Rush forages through the piles of clothing on his floor, and eventually finds a dark blue jumpsuit. Ah-ha! He slips it on and kneels beside his bed, sticking a hand underneath the box spring, and removing a machine pistol. He examines the pistol, makes sure it's loaded, and attaches a silencer to it. He stands and deposits it in a concealable holster in the jumpsuit. He pulls on a blue hoodie, over the jumpsuit and laces up his shoes. He does a few stretches, cracks his knuckles, and pops in some headphones. He shuffles through his music collection, finds the funkiest jam he can, and hits play. He bops and dances as he removes the multitude of locks on his front door, and begins to close it behind him. Right before the door shuts, he reaches through and grabs a set of mirrorshades from a table by the door, and dons them. He moonwalks out of the apartment and seals it shut before walking downstairs.

Rush puts his hood up, and walks briskly to the El. As he enters the train, he checks his comm, and sees a message from Puck. He responds. "On my way, chummer. Be there soon."

Puck settles into her seat comfortable and gives a little grin as the Johnson immediately jumps to business.

cutting right to the chase, I like that. However, going into the CZ isn't exactly a walk in the park, and 4 grand each seems like a pretty bare bones price. I think my team would appreciate a little more nuyen if we're putting our hoops on the line for signal repeaters. And I am assuming you will be providing the hardware for the job as well, yes?

Digit immediately begins complaining about being hungry when she steps into the pizzeria. She happily breathes in the delightful smell of fresh pizza with an excited look on her face. She pulls out a chair and hops in, putting on her best listening face when the Ms. Johnson starts speaking. Of course it was only a face, as her mind was distracted by AR, pouring through streams of data as she tried to search whatever she could on "Quantum Princess," or those very unique eyes, to find out what she could about their would-be employer.

When she has a moment, Digit sends a quick message to Puck's commlink:

I brought a burner with me that we can use in case she needs to get in touch with us. Commcode 6794049932.

Rush tries to stifle the deep growls from his stomach as soon as the aroma hits him, but is unable to resist. He grabs a slice of pepperoni and a large soda before joining his crew in the corner of the restaurant. He takes a seat with a good view of the door and surveys the area.

Coming in through the door, brushing snow off of him, comes for all intents and purposes an elf. Symbiote looks around and notices everyone gathered at a table in the corner. "I hope this is worth my time. I was up to my elbows rebuilding a Lynx. Costing me a lot of nuyen." He sits down and looks at all the others.

Puck gives Symbiote the "I'm in the middle of delicate negotiations" look

Puck smiles her practiced smile

oh, I prefer to eat after biz is finished. 4500 with the possibility of more after the job seems reasonable. After 1500 up front, of course. What exactly would be the details of this job? where are we installing the hardware? what kinds of trouble do you anticipate we'll have? how deep into the CZ are we talking? I hope you don't mind the questions, I'm just looking out for my team's well-being. You understand, I'm sure.

Puck discreetly takes the credstick and places the bag under her chair

and what time frame for completion are we looking at?

Puck nods, then looks at her team

ok guys, we have a job. any last words before we hit the road?

Ghost shakes her head.

Rush slurps down the rest of his drink.

"No ma'am."

"These are normal repeaters? No special access codes or security measures that need to be bypassed. Most important these are your repeaters,yes? Just want to make sure that we would won't have some fragged off Corp security come gunning for us when we are in the middle of things."

Digit not-so-subtly nudges Puck's arm with her elbow, as though hinting that she's forgetting something.

while the exchange is going on, Puck sends a message to Digit via comm

I assume you guys brought the van? if so, go ahead and put the pizzas in there, the smell is distracting. Find any info on our Johnson yet?

As the team Face, Puck doesn't just butter up and fast talk Johnsons. she needs to know her team and their abilities. Digit was a hell of a Decker, but if left to wait too long her fidgeting could get distracting. best to give her something to do while she works her digital mojo. Besides, if the Johnson sees Puck stare hungrily at those pizzas, she might lower the price. Hungry runners are desperate runners, and there's no way in hell that Puck is going to let her empty stomach betray the team.

Utterly oblivious to Puck's true intentions, Digit slides out of her seat and collects the pizzas. She takes a moment to get a long, satisfying whiff of the melted cheese and tasty toppings before hurrying along to the van. She'll return Puck's message:

No, not yet. :( Trying! This Jay is rad, though, getting us pizza and all. Usually they just try to get us dusted.

Once the pizzas are loaded up in the van, Digit does an analysis of what, if anything, she was able to pull up in her Matrix Search on their Mrs. Johnson.

thank you for the information. Well get the job done. Here's a comment code you can contact us at if you need to. How can we let you know the job is done?

Puck nods, then motions to the team as she walks to the van. Whennshe is out of sight she pulls open a pizza box and shoves half a slice in her mouth and chews slowly, making small moans of pleasure at the hot, filling food.

"So are we going from here or does anyone need to grab some gear?" Symbiote asks slipping in the front seat of his Bulldog.

Rush pops into the back and takes a seat.

"I'm good to go."

Puck answers between bites

I think it's reasonable for everyone to get whatever gear they think they need.. oh man, this is good pizza... been a long time since I had real meat.... What does everyone else say?

"Definitely need to meet back up after stopping off at home," Digit says, already with a slice of pizza by the time everyone else comes out to the van, "There's so much that I don't bring to meet the Jay, with good reason!"

She climbs inside, sitting down into the passenger seat of Ghost's van. Her words transmit into the commlinks of those not within earshot, "Did some digging on Princess Johnson." She grins for those who can see her, though her smile translates well into her cocky tone, "She tried to cover her tracks a bit, of course. Let's see.. Chicago native, specifically growing up in the CZ. Ex-Runner, retired now. Not pulling up any memorable jobs, though. She does some job-fixing on the side, too, so it might behoove us to make a nice and shiny impression." Digit takes a bite of her pizza, cutting out of the comms for a moment as she chews happily. She comes back in and adds, "She does some underworld-level mediation, too. People seem to like her, as far as I can find, so that's promising."

"Lots of room. Anyone need a lift?" Ghost asks before climbing into the driver's seat of the Econovan.

Puck sits in the van, grabbing another slice

I have everything I need. let's get everyone else geared up and head to the CZ

"I'm green to go. Got all my stuff in the van here. Anyone that wants a ride can hope in." Symbiote leans back and plugs into the van.

"Am I really the only one that didn't bring everything?" Digit says with a frown, "Drek, sorry, usually we get some prep time."

As soon as she's able to get back to her apartment, Digit will collect her other belongings into a duffel bag as quickly as possible and load them into the van, securing a few items onto her person. Such items include her silenced machine pistol, over a dozen clips of ammo, a gas mask, various chempatches, a small medkit, restraints, a tag eraser and a signal jammer. The serious expression on her face gives the impression that she feels she is in no way overdoing it. The serious expression is replaced by a design of a yellow, wide-eyed smiley with a small blood-splattered cheek when she pulls her ballistic mask down over her face and exclaims, "Ready!"

As the van nears the CZ, Digit unbuckles and crawls back to one of the empty rows of seats. She buckles in once more, but then shifts until she's lying down across the row. She's left her meat enough times to know she needs to be buckled in but with her head down. With a few mental keystrokes her mind goes off into cold-sim VR as her physical form goes limp. Satisfied that her deck is still running silent, she immediately broadcasts a voice message to her team:

"I'm going to see if I can find anything of interest around here. Oh, and if you want me to cover your wireless gear, you need to give me permissions. I can cover, um... my deck should be able to handle about eight more things, besides my 'jack."

Digit takes a moment to set things up before she tries anything illegal. First she grid hops over to the Ares Global Grid to suffocate some of the public grid noise. Then she dresses her icons accordingly to make them look casual and simplistic, and her persona changes into a yellow, large-headed, big-eyed caterpillar. She shifts her programs around but remains satisfied with the current deck configuration as she takes a gander at the wireless world around her.

While back at the apartment, Ghost would have changed into her combat gear (armor jacket and helmet), adding to her weapons her Ares Predator with two spare clips of regular ammo, and her dart rifle. She grabbed her medic pack and binoculars, throwing them into the back of the van before taking the wheel. She drives slowly and carefully to the meet spot outside the CZ, activating her thermographic vision to see through the rain.

Puck will elect to have her commlink slaved to the decker's

Going slow and steady carefully following Ghost.

"Ghost, Symbi, fastest way to the airport is 43 south, then hop off onto the Archer exit. From here, Garfield Park is only a little further away than the airport, but if you want that then stay on this road a ways and then take 50 north to Lake street. Otherwise they're basically on opposite sides of the Interstate. Probably going to take twenty... twenty-five minutes, or so, to go from one to the other."

Digit takes a moment to hop over the CZ Grid to avoid any interference there, attempting to see if she can narrow her search parameters in order to pinpoint the signal repeaters' locations.

"One of the repeaters is in the air traffic control tower at the airport. I'll see if I can figure out anything else on it..."

Digit then redirects her attention to the other repeater, attempting to search it out.

Ghost clicks to the group channel. "Which one first?"

my vote is for the tower. It's closer and we can get a good vantage point to scout out the surrounding area and the area around the second one.

"Tower sounds good to me! Going to see if I can get a view inside the airport, or up in the tower itself."

Ghost nods and steers the van toward the airport, again driving slowly and cautiously.

"When we get closer I can pop out my drone and scout around the place. Hopefully spotting any squatters or trouble lurking about." Symbiote relays over the comm. He follows Ghost going slow and easy.

"The tower sounds good to me. Just tell me what to do and when to do it."

Digit does her best to acquire all of the information she can about what may be within the airport.

Picking up ten devices around the tower. Hoping to find a camera or something, but it could also be something else. I can stay in the van and support from here, unless you want me to come along.

She flips her deck to use its Virtual Memory program, freeing up some extra space to boot up her Fork program as well.

Digit comes back in over the team comms:

Picking up some guns and commlinks around the tower. Two AKs, two Browning Ultra-Powers, and a big Enfield AS-7 liquidizer. A couple things that I can't figure out, either. Could be more guns, or more commlinks, cause I'm only picking up two at the moment, and that's a lot of firepower for only two goons.

She'll take a moment reorganize her programs to make sure she remains unseen while she confers with the group.

"Sending out the flying eye. Going to have it circle the airport and come back. Digit could you check any footage for people? " Symbiote starts warming up both drones. He programs the loop around the airport for the eye and has the doberman on standby.

"Checkin' their guns and tech for anything I can peek through. Unfortunately no working security cameras in the tower. At least not wireless ones that I can see. If I find anything, I can toss it up on the AR for you.

There's a pause before she comes back and says:

"Hey, so, are we sure we know what these modules even do? I mean, I don't know if we particularly care but these new modules might not be fixing the signal repeaters. In any case, is everyone sure that I've got everything slaved up that needs to be protected? Smartguns, cybereyes, commlinks... smartguns... cybereyes..."

Digit's digitized voice trails off.

could be trouble. I can go astral and check it out. Digit, where are the signals coming from?

"Just around the control tower, where the repeater should be."

I'll go check it out. don't move the van until I get back. I need to know where my body is.

Puck will get comfortable in the back of the van and astrally project. she will investigate the area around the tower for spiritual and other activity.

The flying eye revs up and takes off.

Symbiote captures a still of the men from the drone and sends it to the rest of the group. "Seems like we have ourselves some squatters here."

"The shotgun is going to be tricky, but those AKs have smartgun systems. I can reprogram them to eject the clip when they squeeze the trigger, unless there are other ideas."

Ghosts asks quietly, "How many? Are they guarding the tower?"

Digit comes in over the comms:

Just those two in the picture Symbi sent. I don't see the one with the shotgun, so he's around there somewhere, too.

Digit goes back to try and decipher any information about the two icons she had trouble getting a read on moments ago. As she does, she sends another voiced message to her team:

"Gimme the word and I'll figure out what they're doing here and get access to all their goodies.

Puck stirs and sits up inside the van

They have a mage and spirit with them too. be careful.

"Could we perhaps talk with them? Just ask and see if they would let us fix the repeater. Any better matrix connection out here has to be better than what's here now right?" Symbiote lands the flying eye and powers it down.

Digit comes back over the comms:

I'd prefer that, for sure. I can figure out their commcode and we could give them a call on the burner. It's in my left jacket pocket if someone wants to grab it. It'd blow our chance of surprising them if they don't go for it, though.

suddenly hacking their comms and talking to them might get their guard up. I can talk to them as long as you guys stick close in case there's any trouble. how does that sound?

"There'd be nothing sudden about it, nor anything to do with hacking, and certainly less surprising than just stepping up on them. You'd just give them a call on the commlink and they'd, presumably, pick up and answer. Keeps you out of danger, Puck."

Digit sounds worried this time.

Puck nods if you can dial up their comms, I can do the talking and we can stay hidden. Wiz idea, omae.

Digit sends a message to the team that contains nothing but a big smiley face. She then goes to take another look at the commlinks, trying to decipher their commcode.

" If Digit is unable to get the comm number I can back you up with my doberman. He's packing and can watch your back. Especially when I'm driving." Symbiote sends this to Puck over the comm.

Ghost offers, "I can also try and put them to sleep with my rifle."

Digit comes back over the comms once more, sounding excited:

Okay, I've set the commcode as a Contact on the burner. The burner is in my left jacket pocket, so just grab it out of there.

Whosoever accesses the meta link in Digit's pocket will find the only contacts in it are "The Jay" and "Those Fraggin' Drekheads."

Ghost fishes out the meta link and tosses it back to Puck.

puck catches the 'link and dials those guys.

Yes, hello? Hi, my name is Puck and me and my team would like to fix the matrix signal relay in that tower that you're currently guarding. Would you be amendable to us doing so if we can show that we have non-violent intention?

I understand where you're coming from, chummer. how about a show of good faith? I can stay under guard by you and your friends while my guys fix the relay. I'll be unarmed.

Puck quickly summons an earth spirit before going out there

Mother earth, send me your child so that it may protect me.

ok, everyone else, make it to the tower and install that relay. I can take care of myself. Buster, take my gun with you.. just in case.

"I'm not sure how I feel about this..."

Digit's voice mutters into the comms as Puck steps out, though she's unable to see what happens from there.

Puck is going to keep the mic open. And she doesn't have any other weapons on her (she would have given her small knife to buster too)

Since she has permission, she motions "all good" to the team


so, you boys spend a lot of time out here?

"Maybe I should stay where I am... y'know, just in case."

Digit seems uncertain once more, and adds:

"Could just tuck me under a seat, or something."

" I'm assuming I'm up. I can install this no problem." Symbiote grabs a repeater and his tools kit. He walks slowly toward the group. "Hoi chummers. I need to get to the tower on the roof to change this out." He open the tool kit and places the repeater on a cloth so they can check it all out.

If I get paid to meddle, I meddle. You always so rude?

Ghost murmurs, "Go back in the van. I will watch from above.". She climbs on top of the van and unlimbers her dart rifle.

"I've got image link on these mirrorshades, keep me in the loop, so I can see if anything goes down." Rush will join Ghost atop the van.

Symbiote packs everything up and makes sure the repeater is secure and starts climbing the stairs.

Puck gets comfortable and schools her face into an expression that is unconcerned and maybe a little bored. in reality, she's looking for signs that they might want to cuff her or geek her

Digit will run the drone picture of the two people with AKs at the base of the tower, attempting to run them through a Matrix Search. She'll combine the facial features with voice files from the comm link call. She'll also add the search tag, "Rude."

She switches her programs around until she has: Sneak (Program Carrier), Search, Browse, Signal Scrub, Smoke & Mirrors (5).

Symbiote sets out his tools kit and gets down to work.

there, see? nothing to it.

Puck stands up and brushes herself

Now if you'll excuse me, gentlemen, I won't take up any more of your hospitality.. such as it is.

Symbiote packs up and heads back down. He throws a nod to the guards on the door and goes back to his vehicle."So the other one is in some park? Lead on."

Rush makes a confused face and leans over to Ghost.

"Well, that was easy. A little too easy..."

He keeps an eye on the guards as Halaron returns.

Puck starts walking towards the van, looking unconcerned. She trusts the spirits that she has watching her back.

Ghost nods. It did seem too easy.

Once people are packing back into the van, Digit will come back up with directions:

"Garfield Park isn't too far away. Twenty minutes or so. Just head north on Cicero. Hop off on 31st and head right. I'll try to figure out where it is in the park."

Checking that everyone is back in their seats, Ghost pulls away slowly and follows Digit's directions once more.

we're currently in the middle of another job right now, do we have time to finish up?

Puck puts her link on mute and mouths the words NEVER. DEAL. WITH. A. DRAGON. to the team

Speaking over the team comm."I don't like this. Why the rush? And how are we supposed to 'secure the contents'? Something about this is rubbing me wrong. Finally who told Ophelia she could call while we are doing a job?"

Digit, who is unable to see Puck's mouthed words, sends a message:

Sounds fun to me.

She then spends her time trying to search up anything she can find on Janus Industries and what they were researching there.

ok guys, job first, then we discuss. I don't like the idea of us working for a dragon. nowadays you give a wizworm the time of day they say you owe them your first born

"He held for us specifically, though. We should consider it, right?"

After a pause, she sends another message over the comms:

"Oh, right. Discuss after the job. Sorry."

Digit will load up one of her agents and set it on the task of searching information on the lab. Instead, she'll do what she can to find any icons near the signal repeater in Garfield Park.

"How about a check for any dangerous critters? Don't want some devil rats gnawing at us while we fix this thing."

nothing dangerous out there that I can see in the Astral. just a half dead bum

"Well, I've got the location of the relay in the park. Passing it to you guys now."

Ghost inspects the case, and after a few moments is able to open it.

Puckpulls out a nail file and keeps herself occupied in the warmth of the van

Symbiote pulls up at an angle blocking some of the wind for Ghost. A small door pops open and a flying eye comes out of the van."Sending the eye out and doing a quick recon of the grove here."

Digit will check in on her Agent's progress every now and then, eventually deciding to do her own search on 'Simon Andrews.'

Ghost connects the sequencer and connects it to their LAN to get a wireless signal.

Ghost steps back with a satisfied smile. "All yours."

Digit's mind swims through the data, trying to gather it all into an analysis:

"This Simon Andrews is a bit of a creep."

Would you like to share with the rest of the class?

"Sure!"

Digit's cheery response almost sounds as though she hadn't considered that. There's a pause before she explains:

"He's Lofwyr's new rep in Chicago; a changeling. Th-that's not why he's freaky, though; I don't discriminate. He's got some weird inclinations when it comes to women, and apparently he's kind of always been that way. Found a significant amount of files here of women complaining about his snake-like attitude, and that's not a reference to his looks."

Not to mention that he's connected with the Big L. I don't think we need to get involved in that mess.



...on the other hand, it might be interesting to get a hold of data that a dragon wants....

"Found some info on Janus Industries too, but nothing too terribly interesting. Had some changing of hands insofar as who owned it. They were successful in the 50s, but I wasn't able to figure out any specific achievements."

Ghosts asks diffidently, "Halaron? You're better at this, but I can try."

"No I'm on it. Let me in there." Symbiote pulls out his kit and starts working.

Is everything okay? Might just be a weird bug, but that repeater didn't look happy on my end.

" No...no...no nono no. Frag it all! Yea it's all good." Symbiote sucks on his burnt fingertips. "Backup battery is fried though."

"Fragging wind. Fragging snow. Makes everything short out here." Symbiote mutters under his breath as he continues to work.

"Work you fragging piece of slitch." Symbiote smacks his big wrench against the metal casing a few times until the lights blink on and the booting program runs.

Digit sends a message to her team:

"Oh! A missing persons. That sounds helpful! Lets do this one."

But is she missing or on the run from Lone Star? Maybe their intentions are not so good

"Oh."

Digit's voice sounds a bit disappointed. There's a bit of a pause.

"Well, four-thousand nuyen is pretty nice."

"Did he just order us to find and deliver this missing woman? No questions or negotiations? I don't think so. I'd need some hard answers first. I'm not liking all these 'jobs' just suddenly coming up now that we are in the CZ." Symbiote climbs back in his van and starts warming up his hands. He looks at the others or the other van and waits to see what they decide.

"I think it's on a 'your mission, should you choose to accept it,' sort of basis."

To accompany her voice message, a few smiley emoticons pop up in AR.

Puck chimes in on the comm call

Senor, thank you for contacting us. before we can accept this job we're going to need some ground information. What was this woman's last known location? do we have a name, a picture, maybe? and where is this lone star officer located? are you aware of any dangers that we might face other than the usual ones in the CZ? And does this woman want to be found?

mad scientists and explosions sounds awfully dangerous. I don't think it's too outrageous to ask for a bonus in terms of hazard pay.

"He sure dodged that 'does she want to be found' question pretty well."

Knowing that it's a long shot, Digit will set her Agent on a quick search under the keywords "Samantha" and "Maker's Collective," using her description to supplement it.

Over the team comms, "Is that anywhere near that lab place. We could kill two runs with one kind of thing here."

Already got a search running. We'll see what pops up.

Puck mutes her comm thumbs up or down on the samantha job guys?

"I'll go with the group decision Strength in numbers."

"Hold up."

Digit's voice sounds unusually serious for her typical manner. It's only a few moments before she comes back over the comms:

"Okay, hear this: Girl named Samantha Carroll that matches that 'script disappeared in the '50s. People thinkin' she got grabbed up by some Corp suits. As weird as that is, the girl I'm hearin' about now looks to be a homeless, mid-20s female, sprung up in the CZ about a week ago."

There's a pause before Digit continues:

"Look, I'm reading all this drek about how she's seen walking around in scrubs and some Janus Industries street armor that doesn't fit her. She's in the Maker Collective, alright, but is this some kind of escaped test subject? I change my mind; I'm not alright going into this blind. If... if anything, we.. we should help her."

"R-right? I mean, that's.. what we need to do, right?"

"And.. and.. what's with this connection between Janus Industries and Aztechnology now? Can't be a coincidence that we're getting paid to grab some data and then some other girl we're to find is wearing a jacket with the same logo. Two presumably unrelated jobs come up on the same night and have a connection like this?"

Digit sounds undeniably worried, more so than one might expect for the given situation. She's never good at hiding her emotions, and something is certainly troubling her.

Still on mute, Puck says

right. so are you voting we take both jobs and solve a mystery? Remember that dead 'runners can't spend nuyen

"N-no.. I'm not saying that, but we shouldn't turn this girl back to them. I'm not going to. Maybe we can do the other thing, but after that I'm going to look for her.."

Digit... you're letting emotions get in the way again... it's just biz. If we take a job and don't deliver it will tarnish our good name, nobody will hire runners whop have gone soft, and you'll starve to death. is that what you want?

"I'm not saying we take the job and don't deliver. I'm saying thumbs down to the job in the first place. I'm.. I'm not helping with this Samantha one. I'm not. Let's just go get that dragon's paydata instead."

For those that have worked with her in the past, Digit, while typically not one to advocate killing others, has killed without complaint. In the past, she's been okay doing a lot of questionable jobs, to the point that this one probably shouldn't seem like as much of a big deal as she's making it out to be.

Puck sighs

ok team, the johnson's bound to get antsy I've had him on hold for so long. we got one vote against Azzie job and one vote for dragon job. everyone else?

Digit jacks out of the Matrix, coming to in the backseat of Ghost's van. She sits up straight before settling low into the seat once more.

With a quick, curious glance at her friend, Ghost nods, "I agree. Pass."

Digit exchanges a meaningful glance with Ghost, her lips frowning slightly and her large eyes worried.

Buster. your vote?

Buster sighs heavily and lifts up his mirrorshades.

"I don't know about you guys but I could really use the nuyen. I say we do both."

so buster and I agree on the first job, digit and ghost both vote no, and halaron doesn't care. I'm making an executive decision since the johnson's been on hold too long

Puck switches mute off

Hello? yes! Hi, sorry about the hold, we had some small signal interference but it seems to be gone now. We would love to take the job!

Digit scowls at Puck, "You should hire another Decker for it, then. The Collective isn't really friendly with unprotected wireless gear."

Ghost sends a message just to Digit.

Digit's eyes flick over to the ARO that came up over her own field of vision, and though there is no outward motion, she returns a message with but a thought.

Ghost replies.

Digit exchanges a glance with Ghost, looking less angry and more curious.

Puck ends the call

Ok, Digit, I think you need to start trusting me more. There may be a way we can help this girl, get paid, and not have to hand her over in case it's a sketchy situation. We can pull a prank that would make Raven proud.

now, what about the dragon job? I still don't like having anything to do with a dragon, let alone the big L....

Digit frowns at the elf, "I do trust you Puck, and I trust what you say to me. And you said, 'if we take a job and don't deliver it will tarnish our good name.' That says to me that if you take a job, I'm to expect you to deliver on it." She turns to look out the window, but continues talking, "If your plan all along was to fake out the Azzies and save this girl - should she need saving - then you could've said that to me instead of 'too bad; executive decision." Digit's tone is less angry and sounds more hurt than anything. "I'll tag along in any case, in case we do this paydata job, and to keep some wannabe from bricking your shit. If this girl is some escaped lab pet though, I'm not turning her over to the Azzies."

"Well why don't we go to that Janus place and see what we can find out. If it turns out the girl isn't a lab pet then do the other as well. Two runs one end goal of being paid." Symbiote is slowly following Ghost in the lead vehicle.

Ghost nods in agreement, more for Puck and Digit since Halaron can't see her.

I'm thinking on my feet, it's a bit slower the colder it gets. If we're going to Janus, let's go

ok, how are we going to play this?

Symbiote pulls up alongside Ghost."Let's me send out my drone first. There may be squatters here, judging by that open door. See if Puck wants to do that magic stuff." Symbiote jacks into his RCC and opens the van window allowing the drones to exit and quickly seals it back up.

I can walk in while invisible or by looking like I belong there. Not going to use magic as long as drones can do the trick

Rubbing at her eyes, Digit will lean against the inside of the van and jack back into the Matrix. Her body goes limp as her mind begins to piece together streams of data.

Immediately, she tries to take in whatever she can as far as what might be around her...

Symbiote circles the perimeter and checks for signs of people or creatures.

"There are some cameras inside," Digit relays to the group comms.

Puck watches the feeds of the drones as they zip around. She will use her photographic memory to help her get her bearings once inside

Digit does a quick shuffle of her programs and systems before she goes in and starts doing her job.

"There's, um... there's definitely something in there. Some irradiated canine, maybe? It's big and doesn't look cuddly."

puck watches the video feed

Rush's eyebrows arch.

"Whatever it is, I can't wait to punch it."

"Cant see anything but snow. Bringing her back and sending out Trixie." Symbiote brings the flying eye back and sends out the doberman.