London 2056 - A CyberPunk RP [Game thread - Started]

[Terratina.]

Carmen only lowered the driver-side window out of a sense of curiosity, and perhaps a litte bit of cruelty was throw in there as well; having seen the well-dressed man move from one woman to the other, Carmen was tempted to chew him out. Well, that was basically her hobby anyway. Cue a bit of disappointment as the man spoke.

"Maybe you could help me out. What exactly happened in there?"

Police Constable Jimenez sighed. Was he a journalist or something? Probably worse, probably corp. Those sorts did love their fancy little outfits. Nevertheless, as if to wipe that sigh from existence, she gave the man her special smile.

"Official police business." Carmen beamed, "Now goodbye, I have rom coms to watch."

There was an opportunity here but it was too risky here. Too many pigs about.

The Corp Exec couldn't help but blink at her reply, and his smile took a wry slant to it as he looked her over.

"Rom coms? No offense, but you don't really look the type, Officer. In fact, I'd peg you as more of an action film fan." he said with the motion of one hand before he leaned back and slipped his hands into his coats pockets.

"I'm getting ahead of myself though. I'm Karl Adler, General Manager of CyCorp's R&D Division. I was just hoping you'd be able to help." Karl told her.

"Yes, you are getting ahead of yourself, Mr. Adler." Carmen replied, "I'd pegged you as corp, but I wouldn't expect a manager of all things running about in the rain asking officers about what happened in a certain hotel room, plain as day."

She leaned on the steering wheel. The option to just drive away was still there. Here was a know-it-all and a high up in CyCorp, that was enough reason. Still, if what he said was true, that meant he did have bit of spare change floating around...

"So you're a bit of an odd one as well." She continued, "Hypocrite."

Carmen turned the ignition on. If Karl wasn't quick on the uptake, that was his problem. The windscreen wipers were almost like the hands of a clock.

"And by the way." She added with a smirk (she couldn't resist), "I just find watching people wind each other up more enjoyable than watching a choreographed shoot-out. Speaking of choreographed, I'm sure the inevitable press conference will be of help. Good day."

She revved the engine and slowly began to reverse out of her parking spot.

He rocked back on his heels while she replied, and he couldn't help his own smirk through it all. Oh, I like her. he thought as she called him out as being both odd and a hypocrite.

"What can I say, I like to keep a hand in. I believe in the personal touch when it comes to business." he said, his smirk turning sly.

But when she turned on the ignition of her squad car, he took a few steps back, lest she run over his feet. He got the distinct impression that this cop would probably get a real kick out of it if she did. As she started to back out of her parking space, he tilted his head to once side and smiled.

"I'm assuming that isn't your own car? If you want, I could give you a ride home in mine once you drop that off at the station. You can drive." he added with a pleasant expression on his face.

It was against his better judgement.

"Creep." Carmen muttered in reply to his comment about the 'personal touch'. Was he trying to come off as some big dick corporate pimp or or something?

The last part did interest her though. The police officer didn't get to drive fast, expensive cars all that often on her salary. Assuming Karl had the sense to spend his (probably) bigger salary on the good things in life. Before any of that, Carmen made sure it was safe to accept. Despite it being just a drive home, it could still be seen as a bribe.

The smirk deepened, suddenly a message popped up on Karl's HUD.

3Clubs: Oh? You wanna continue this conversation that bad, huh? Well, I'll guess I'll drain you for all you've got if you offer things this easily.

Karl seemed to ignore her muttered aside, but when a message popped onto his HUD, he quirked a brow and looked at her over the rims of his glasses.

Mephisto: Ha, you're welcome to try. I'll follow behind you in my car, and we can continue this in private. Hope you don't waste the opportunity.

With that, he gave her a casual wave before turning and walking to his own robust black sedan and got in, starting the car and backing out of his own parking space. Then he waited until the cop backed out, and he started off after her down the street. If nothing else, their conversation was bound to be entertaining, he thought with a small chuckle.

As Carmen got back on the road proper, she adjusted her mirror and spotted a familar fellow driving a swish black car. She tutted to herself as she sent a reply.

3Clubs: I won't; if it's one thing I hate it's wasted opportunities. Oh, best if we meet at The Old Queens Head. Your following's painfully obvious.

Mephisto: That's fine by me. I hope your driving is as fast as your wits.

3Clubs: Might be faster, I dunno. We'll see. See ya in a few.

After a few minutes as Karl checked for directions, his car turned away at the next intersection and started off in the direction of The Old Queens Head.

Carmen watched the black car go past and made her turning as well. At least she had a little time to herself now. Well, as much time to herself as she could get away with. Carmen stretched as she left the car then entered the police station and sorted everything out. Being off the clock meant no more interruptions for her little side buisness. They really were quite annoying. With a coffee in hand, Carmen began making her way to The Old Queens Head, taking her time of course. There was no rush. Besides, it was a nice pub and maybe Karl could do with soaking up a bit of the local atmosphere.

 

[Generic NPC 22]

London 2056 | Irina's Flat
And things get awkward...​

"Say, Miss Irina, I don' wanna sound ungrateful or anythin', but why'd ya decide ta bring an alcoholic vagrant such as meself to yer place, especially since I got yer clothes all dirty? 'Tis not like ye know me. Such kindness 's rare nowadays, 's what I'm sayin'."

It took a moment for Irina to acknowledge the maybe-she-wasn't-the-short-one-maybe-he-was-grotesquely-tall man had said anything as she had proceeded to walk to her fridge to remove a glass bottle from inside. Dark brown in color, the bottle held no label, it could have been motor oil for all her how's-the-weather-up-there visitor knew. But it was simply another one of the hobbies that the of-moderate-height cat appendaged woman had picked up while obsessing over the early 21sts, mainly micro-brewing beer, of which she had all the necessary instruments for in what would have been a guest bedroom.

~Ker-shhhhhhh~ The bottle fizzled as Irina placed the cap against the counter and slammed down on the bottle before heading over to a bar stool on the opposite side of a counter to where her guest-from-beyond-the-bean-stalk. Sliding her hand down behind her, there was an audible click as she twisted the base of her tail and plopped the contraption her the counter, forgetting what reaction her abnormally-tall guest might have at the sight of a dismembered cat tail.

"Hmmmmm?" Irina hmm'd as she sat down looking down at the brown bottle.

Why did she bring the stranger there? It wasn't like she had any reason to be gracious or concerned about his welfare. She truly didn't have any rhyme or reason for her actions and yet to send him out of her home now, when he appeared to be in need of assistance seemed too cruel an act for the kindhearted feline femme to consider. She took a slow pull of her beer and set it back down on the counter, unsure of what to say or do or think, just as it had been from the moment she left the set of her show and got word that Sienna was now officially property of some douche bag that Irina used to be married to.

And so, with all that in mind, it sort of made sense why Irina did what she did. She started crying. It wasn't the quiet type of crying that one usually witnesses while in the company of strangers nor was it the false crying that one sees in dramas where a character is attempting to illicit the sympathies of others. This was genuine sobbing. The sort of sobbing that comes when one faces the prospect of never seeing someone you love every again and the sort of sobbing that comes when you have some unknown Corp hacking into your personal augs after you've had a run in with one of their people who were on their way to god knows where to do god knows what on their behalf. It was the sort of crying that you'd see if you were powerless to stop someone who was in power and the sort o f crying that you'd see when you knew that you'd hit rock bottom.

"I... I don't know... you... ~Sniffle-cry-sob~ ju... just... look... like you... needed... help." Irina admitted, her sob wracked body barely able to admit her motivations to her jolly-green-giant of a guest.

Peeling off the soiled peacoat, Irina tossed the piece of clothing onto the floor, revealing a black t-shirt, its sleeves and midriff hacked off by a pair of scissors, it's bold white lettering screaming defiantly "FSCK YOU TO!!"

So how does an alcoholic giant with virus infected augmentations handle a sobbing moderately tall cat-girl? I dunno.

 

[FalloutJack]

[OOC: With help from Generic.]

"I guess I'll take off then. Stay safe then, Ms..."

"Asagi. Karine Asagi."


She headed off as he did, the sirens picking up, heading for this location. In the alley, Asagi mounted her bike and disengaged the lock, ordering the drone to keep an eye on the establishment until the police arrived, then disengaging from her system once finished. She revved up her Mirage and sped off. Immaculate driving skills again, even though the rain was getting her seriously drenched now. Now, the call would be put out to Irina's place. As Irina continued her little demonstration of just how hard a Cat Girl could sob, her mobile rang, the ringtone indicating that the caller was her next door neighbor, Karine Asagi. Sniffling, her bleary eyes young woman answered the call.

"~Sniffle~ He... hello?~Sniffle~"

"It's Asagi. Everything okay?"

Loaded question. Nothing was okay, but to try to explain that nothing okay might have made Irina confirm her worst nightmares of being a mid-twenties drama queen, but she tried anyways. Attempting to explain things while in the middle of a tear-fest, though, was like trying to slide a square block into a round hole. You could do it, it just wasn't pretty.

"~Sob Snort Sob Sniffle~ ---Asshole took Sienna!--- ~Sniffle Sob Snort Sob~ ---kill that fuckin' bastard--- ~More sobs and incomprehensible snot soaked words~ ---Swear to God I'll ~SNORT~ CUT HIS BALLS OFF!!"

The sad sobbing woman tried to explain, though not as clearly as what had just been written. Asagi was driving while talking, which could be heard in the shifts in her voice as she moved. She winced at the last part.

"Irina, calm down. You can't get her back with murder. People have tried. Catch your breath and talk to me."

She knew some things, like about her ex-husband, so she actually got the gist of it, but she needed to be talked down. Which brought us to the next little conflagration that had been raging when it came to Irina Rostikova and Nathaniel Cray. She had, in fact, brought a concealed weapon with her when confronting him. The only thing that stopped her was the presence of that Corp hag that had been servicing that asshole. It wasn't to say that hearing the authoratitive voice of someone that Irina considered her big sister didn't do something, however. A certain amount of focus returned to the woman as she spoke again.

"I... I know. ~Sniffle~ If it wasn't for a potential witness, you probably would have been seeing me on the morning news. ~SNORT~ I... I'm sorry that I unloaded th... this on you, Karine. B... but you've seen Sienna. Sh... she's m... my world."

This, she knew. Asagi wasn't really good with children, just not bad with them either. She then heard Irina talking to someone in the room, saying "S... sorry. It's my... n... ~SNORT~ next door neighbor." before getting back to her.

"Even without witnesses, it doesn't take someone like me to figure out a list of likely suspects. Worse, I know you. They would use me to assassinate you character, because I would be under oath for a professional opinion. It's strange, though. The average of child custody awards in any break-up usually goes to the mother. Also, knowing what I know, this indicates leverage to me."

There was a pause as Asagi turned sharply on her bike.

"I'm coming home. Who's with you?"

There was a sigh of relief from the other side of the line, as Irina heard mention that Karine was on her way home. She was in need of a calming influence, something that Karine had almost always been. When she wanted to go skysurfing? Karine had advised her that it might not be the greatest idea with her freshly-attached augmentations. When she wanted to go on Safari in Africa? Karine had advised her on the mounting tension between the Antwerp Diamond Cartel and the local child militias, led by Joseph Kony II, and the resurgence of Vaccine-resistant Ebola. As the conversation progressed, Karine's voice continued to calm Irina until she was more able to communicate her issues.

"Ummm... someone I picked up. ~Sniffle~ No. It's not that type of pick up. He... he seems to be ... having some issues and I wasn't thinking."

Irina said this before depressing a button on her phone. There was an audible hissing for a moment as Irina's mobile sent an encryption key to Karine's setup and the line went secure.

"And... ~sniffle~ I... think I ran into a Corp agent tonight. I scanned an image of her and now the image is corrupted and the copy that I sent to... an associate... was removed from the mail."

Karine knew what Irina meant by 'associate', a euphamism for any one of the hackers that the young feline-featured young woman had made contact with.

"It had me scared, and then I ran into this guy... or... he ran into me. Knocked me over into a gutter. Something was wrong with him... I didn't know what to do so I brought him home with me."

There was a pause, then...

"We talk of this in person, after I get something."

She knew Karine's parents were CyCorp, retired. After parking, Asagi went home to get a high-end bug-catcher, which would FRY any tiny drones or recording devices (not augmentations) by overstimulating their transmitters. Only worked on tiny ones, though. Can only jam actual drones. She then went next door and knocked. Irina got off her ass and grabbed another beer from the fridge, this one wasn't actually for her since she'd only been able to nurse her's. Walking to the entry, Irina looked at the digital panel next to the door and saw that it was Karine, fresh-faced from whatever it was that she had been up to that night.

BEEP!

~click~
~click~
~click Click Click Click~

As six locks disengaged themselves and the door slid open, ready for Karine to enter. Irina looked through her makeup stained eyes at her next door neighbor and offered her the beer. "You look like shit." Irina commented, calling the kettle black.

"It's raining."

Asagi took the beer from her hand and entered, turning on the device.

 

[CrazyGirl17]

"Didn't expect you to know them. Weird them being together if it's for business reasons, but suppose it could be personal. You know of anybody who might be able to make that kind of a weapon? Outside CyCorp and HA of course."

"I don't know them personally, I've only heard of them." Liam answered, neglecting to the fact that he'd picked up the name under means that... weren't strictly legal.

"As for your question, I don't know anyone who could make that kind of weapon... though I can get in contact with some people who might know." Again, he omitted the fact that the people who could dig up this information preferred to work under the radar, as it were.

 

[Legion]

[hr]
*To: 'T.H.A Jane A'

Not what we expected. We've been digging into Abigail's file and we may have found a connection, but nothing concrete just yet. Abigail is the daughter of one of our Board of Directors. It could be a coincidence, but that'd be a hell of one. That could possibly explain why she was targeted, but not why she was in the room with the guy in the first place.

When you're ready go and check out her place, we want her phone data too ideally but that's locked up in evidence. If you don't find anything at her home we may have to risk it, the stakes are high on this one.

Let us know what you find.*

After sending the message Diana sat back and rubbed her eyes, It had been a long night so far. She'd kept it from Jane, but the pressure to find out the cause and reason for the murder of Abigail was very high from above. She only didn't mention it because she knew she could rely on Jane to work her hardest without being prodded.

She sighed softly and went to get herself a cup of coffee. The night wasn't over yet.
[hr]

A man was walking down a long corridor. A quiet, unassuming man who was neither tall nor short, skinny nor fat and had nothing that could really be call a distinguishing feature. There was also an air of confidence about him, as though he was exactly where he belonged. This subtle charisma allowed him to frequently be in places that would draw suspicion were any normal person there.

Crime scenes, dark alleys, hotels or the CyCorp Ward of the Royal London Hospital for example. This man reached his destination, a room labelled "Dr Bernard Wolf" and walked in without hesitation. He was not particularly surprised to find the room already had a guest besides the Doctor, although this did make things a little more irksome, he'd hoped to visit unnoticed.

"I'd like to speak to the good Doctor alone if you don't mind waiting outside for a moment Dr. Petrosky," the man spoke with a quiet, polite tone of voice, one that was accompanied by a small smile and a look in his eyes that made it ever so clear that it wasn't really a request. Not feeling the need to wait for Dr. Noam Petrosky to leave, the man sat in one of the chairs in the room and turned his attention to Dr Wolf.

"So, Doctor, How are you feeling?" the man asked, with the small smile still etched onto his face.

[hr]

The three men who failed to kill Selene in their ambush were not perturbed. The fact their weapons were silenced as well as the heavy rain meant that they were neither heard nor seen and besides, their target wasn't likely to get very far anyway. From what they could tell she had no obvious augments, this was further solidified by her movements that, despite being professional, were clearly not enhanced in any way.

She was armed though and a good shot, which led them to proceed with more caution than they otherwise would have done. Their main goal, although Selene did not know it yet, was the shell casing within her bag. Her being marked for death was purely due to her knowing about it and where such knowledge could lead.

Unfortunately for Selene, these men were augmented with more than just the kind that made their bodies stronger. They activated their infra-red vision, which thanks to the constant rain causing everything to else to cool down, clearly showed a human shaped heat source moving away from them.

They begun to pursue.

[hr]

The city of London may have been steeped in security and surveillance, but it was also considerably large and densely populated. As such it wasn't uncommon for people to slip under the radar on a regular basis. Mr Karl Adler was a well dressed man out on the town and Carmen Jimenez was a cop, that along with the recent high profile murders meant that even if they did get noticed meeting, the chances of anybody paying much attention was unlikely.

It paid to be a certain kind of person.

[hr]

Ira Soni and Liam Vaughn were slowly running out of time. The first sounds of sirens could be clearly heard over the pounding rain and it wasn't hard to tell they were getting closer. Ira Soni may not have had much reason to find that suspicious given how common crime was in the city, but Liam Vaughn had a secret only he out of the two of them knew about. One that was threatened to be exposed very soon.

[hr]

Unfortunately for Kazuko Wright, he wasn't able to proceed any further with his plans to visit the shop of one of his associates. If the lady he had just met was to be believed, it'd soon be swarming with cops and that's always bad for business. He'd have to try again later if he wanted.

[hr]

DC Trellis' investigation into the murder of Ryan Grey continued, although with the recent message from the headquarters, it was even stranger than the police had originally thought. No doubt it would end up becoming even stranger still.

[hr]

Karine Asagi, Irina Rostikova and Charles Derek May made for an unlikely trio, even though all three of them had the common connection of a history with CyCorp. This unlikely coincidence would have sent alarm bells ringing throughout the H.A Dynasty were they to know about it. Unfortunately for them (but fortunately for the three individuals) Charles Derek May was a false identity and Karine Asagi was military personnel of the kind that would bring swift retribution to the Corp if they got caught prying.

Bee of course knew about the connection and felt something akin to amusement at the fact. The decision to keep close surveillance on the three of them was considered, but quickly dismissed. It appeared that Ms Asagi wished for some privacy due to the activation of a jammer of some kind. There is a difference between gleaning vital information and prying into personal affairs after all. With a silent affirmation, surveillance was deceased. For now.

[hr]

 

[Knight Captain Kerr]

"I see." said Ira suspiciously. He was beginning to suspect that Liam knew more than he was letting on. He didn't want to accuse the man of lying though, it would probably get him on his bad side and Ira wouldn't get anything out of him in future. "Well if you do find out anything or want me for some other reason, don't hesitate to contact me." Ira added before giving Liam his contact information. Ira noticed the sirens but didn't pay them much attention, there were sirens all the time in this city.

 

[Generic NPC 22]

London 2056 | Irina's Flat
The Big Sis Irina Never Had​

Irina Rostikova felt relaxed at the arrival of her next door neighbor, surrogate Big Sister and apparent secret operative, Karine Asagi. There was even an audible sigh of relief from Irina when Karine entered the threshold of Casa de StripKitty. Given their mutual understanding of one another's professions, it was surprising that Irina attempted to speak before Karine had swept the room for bugs, something that she did every so often. It would have been easier to bug Irina's flat in order to spy on Karine given Irina's revolving door policy on strays such as Charles.

A soft high pitched hum signaled that the device in Karine's hands, a Bug Sweeper, was activated. Bracing herself, Irina felt a slight tingling sensation around her augmentation sites when Karine activated the device that she had in her hands. The tingling didn't hurt so much as tickle causing the VidCaster to suppress a giggle despite the seriousness nature they found themselves in. The seansation of relief returned with a green light, signaling that the both jamming was in place and the device's scan had shown nothing obvious in the way of listening devices concealed on any personage. The Green Light allowed the Cat-Eared young woman to let her guard down as she waited for her neighbor to finish the sweep of the home.

"Thanks for coming Karine. I don't know what I would have done without you coming here. Well I DO know and it probably would have involved quite a few more of these." Irina stated holding up the beer bottle. It wasn't that Irina was an alcoholic, it was just that she enjoyed drinking quite a bit, not to the black out degree but it's just how she handled stress and from the way she had demonstrated her ability to handle stress, she drank quite a bit.

This of course was where the two neighbors should have gotten to the part where Irina was explaining what in the hell was going on, why she was crying like a drama queen and why in the hell she had a total complete stranger that looked like he should be on the street pan handling was instead standing in the middle of her kitchen with liquor bottle in his hand... actually it appeared that Charles had passed out in the kitchen... not that Irina could blame him.

Alas, these questions would have to wait as there was another knock at the door.

"What in the... I'm not expecting anyone..." Irina commented as she headed towards the door, not bothering to check who was there in the first place.

From what Karine could identify from the front door feed, it was a couple of guys in suits that looked to be some sort of Corp bodyguard and from their demeanor, they didn't look too thrilled to be at Irina's doorstep due to a couple of reasons. Firstly from the stern someone-just-ruined-my-rep look on their faces and secondly the silenced pistols they pulled from their jackets was a good sign that they weren't fans of StripKitty.

Life, as usual, had a funny way of catching up to someone. In Irina's case on the night that someone had hacked her augmentations and freak her the fuck out, Irina had also chosen to assault one Nathaniel Cray, Ex-Husband of Irina Rostikova, Professional Asshole and the former client of said fired bodyguards at the door. It seemed that word on the street was that they had botched a simple babysitting job for a guy who had very few enemies. Given that the assailant in question was the client's very own ex-wife, the guards' reps took a gigantic nose give into the sewage system. It seemed that they were there to return the favor in bullets.

 

[Evrant-Knight]

From Selene's current position she was heading north out of Trinity Square Gardens towards Savage Gardens Road, occasionally turning to fire a few shots at her pursuers who seemed to be keeping their distance for now. From the brief glimpse she had of their weapons before they started shooting, it looked as though they were assault rifles with suppressors attached.

"Must find a way to lose them... or get rid of them." Selene thought as she made her way down a narrow side alley; little did she know that the hired guns chasing her had access to eye augments that allowed them to see in infra-red, and given the cold nature of the rain, she stuck out alike a sore thumb. For now it seems the chased carried on, luckily she had the stamina to run a long time.

 

[Knife-28]

"Asagi. Karine Asagi."

And like that she was gone without giving Kaz a chance to give the girl, Karine, his own name, or for the DJ to follow through with his half thought out idea to as the woman if she had any plans for the weekend. After all she wasn't half bad looking...

Kaz shook his head as he shot down that line of thought, after all there was probably very little chance they'd ever meet again. Slightly dejected at the sour turn the evening had taken, Kaz returned to his car as the sound of police sirens grew heavier in the air. Wasting no time pulled away from the curb and followed the veins and arteries of the city streets aimlessly. As he waited for a particularly stubborn set of lights to turn green, he composed a short message to the pilfered store's owner to message him back.

An idea popped into Kaz's head at the same time the lights popped from red to green. Probably not a great idea Kaz thought as he mulled it over, but will little else to do this evening, he decided 'what the hell' and hooked a left onto Whitechapel road heading towards the Apex City of London Hotel.

 

[Texas Joker 52]

~ Karl Adler ~​

Karl reached The Old Queen's Head in good time, stepping inside the dimly-lit pub and shaking off his overcoat to get rid of any rain that still clung to it. It was a rather cozy pub, all things considered, very old-fashioned. The grime wasn't too thick, and the air was only marginally filled with smoke. The few patrons that were still seated at the bar, most of them street toughs, spared him a single glance before going to their drinks.

The bartender, a tattooed woman with an obvious cybernetic arm, looked up at him however and quirked a brow. Karl couldn't help but give her one of his best charming smiles as he strode up.

"Hi there. I don't suppose I could have two pints of lager?" he asked politely, reaching into his pocket for the wallet he stole off of Sutherland and pushing more than enough pounds across the bar to her.

She seemed to sniff before pouring a pair of pints, and then handing them to him. He smiled as he took them, and he gave her a nod before striding over to one of the booths. Then he simply took his time, sitting across from one pint while taking a few tentative sips of his own and trying to determine just what he thought about the taste.

By the time the Officer arrived, he decided that his lager was at least a two-point-five on a scale of ten, and had been wondering if she was going to arrive at all, and that she was just hosing him. So when the doors opened, he looked up with a wry smile, lifting his empty beer glass to greet her.

"Officer." he said with a small smirk.

 

[Drummodino]

Jane frowned as she reread the message from Diana. The young woman had ducked into an alleyway to protect herself from the worst of the rain that continued to fall on the dark London night. Water trickling down her collar still made her shiver as she pondered.

"Abigail is the daughter of one of our Board of Directors"

'That certainly is one hell of a coincidence.' she mused. Influential members of the Dynasty and those CyCorp bastards meeting in secret usually meant trouble, especially if they had someone like herself investigating them. Plus there was the fact that both were dead, that would have sent alarm bells ringing among the higher ups.

She'd never heard of Abigail Pearce before but that was hardly surprising, the Dynasty was huge organization. Her mother may be more knowledgeable but Jane quickly squashed the urge to send her a message, she didn't want to be seen as someone who rode her parents coattails up the company. Closing the message, she pulled her collar up and strode out into the night, making for her new destination.

[hr]

Thankfully for Jane, a private residence was a much easier task to break into compared to a CyCorp facility, even if it belonged to a wealthy citizen. Picking her way through the old-fashioned pin tumbler lock and disabling the burglar alarm were child's play and took no more than a few seconds each. To make things even more convenient the apartment was unoccupied, apparently Ms. Pierce had lived alone. Casually strolling through the apartment to the study, Jane booted up the computer she found in there and jacked in, swiftly disabling the local encryption software.

"Please be a little more interesting than your CyCorp counterpart Abigail, it makes my job so much more enjoyable." Jane muttered as she perused the computer's contents.

 

[FalloutJack]

To be perfectly honest, Karine had more than just concern for her neighbor as she sweeped the room for bugs and took care of business there. She put the device down as Irina thanked her. No, it wasn't just for her. If it was CyCorp, then she had her parents to think about as well. The operative had not yet opened her beer, weirdly because she had this strange feeling of still being on-duty. It was a feeling that the other woman had tried to get her out of before with...marginal success. Asagi just didn't seem to let her guard down that much, about as rarely as people actually referred to her by first name. That would prove to be an asset today, for as she put down the beer in her hand as well...

"What in the... I'm not expecting anyone..."

Heightened military instincts came into play as Irina spoke these words. It was exactly the sort of phrase you worry about on these occasions. Being somewhat Genra-Savvy, Asagi made ready for...exactly what happened: Two men in suits at the door, pulling out guns. She saw the feed, interrupted Irina's progress to the door, and then proceeded to open it herself. However, the very second after that, her gun went off several times, emptying the clip into their bodies while using the door as cover. Asagi might have tried just shooting through it like back at the store, but for two reasons...

{1} It was Irina's door.

{2} Home-entrance doors were required by law to be strengthened against forced entry over 20 years ago to protect the home-owner from at least basic gunfire. 'We have to protect our lives and our lifestyles' was the quote on that.

Asagi said "Kon'nichiwa! Rondon gunji! Don'na goyōdeshou ka?" to the dead men with the guns out as she loaded a new clip into her gun. Then, she turned back to Irina again, first indicating the men and their silenced guns, then closing the door.

"I believe you were about to explain the night's happenings. Start with who is trying to kill you and why, please."

 

[Generic NPC 22]

London 2056 | Irina's Flat
Seriously? Why me?​

O.O <- This was Irina's expression after realizing that someone had decided that putting a couple of holes in the Cat Eared, Cat Tailed VidCaster was a good way to salvage their ruined reputation. While she didn't know the goons bleeding on the floor on the other side of her door, she had seen them earlier that night at Bennett's club, ordering drinks on their boss' dime. One of them had even offered to buy Irina a horribly radioactive red drink, not knowing that she was one of the people that they were supposed to be keeping away from their client. Not that Irina actually knew any of this until she had put two and two together.

"Oh. Crap." She muttered to herself when she got the correct answer of four. Strangely enough, was that a note of relief that Karine sensed in her neighbor's voice? If so that would be odd. But, that being said, StripKitty did feel a sense of relief at knowing that the two gunned down gunmen were employed by Nathaniel Cray and not whatever Corp entity the woman from earlier belonged to. Were they the latter, these thoughts would probably not be occurring.

"I went to see Nathaniel earlier and I might have... you know... knocked him out." The Cat Girl admitted as she went back towards the kitchen to drag the unconscious vagrant (Charles) towards the spare bedroom, "Umph! He's... heavy... and... tall..."

It took a moment but Irina, with Karine's assistance, was able to drag the drunk into Sienna's bedroom and flop him onto the bed before she sitting down. The room itself was rather standard by young girl standards. The media walls generated an image of a tranquil country side dominated by a white castle in the distance. Birds chirped. The sound of a light breeze was accompanied by the sound of leaves rustling. Every so often, a pony would trot through talking to another one. Other times it would be a unicorn or a Pegasus.

But back to the topic at hand.

"Those men were probably the guys that my Ex-Husband had hired as bodyguards. I saw them in Bennett's earlier, right before I went into one of the back rooms to confront Nathaniel about getting full custody of Sienna."

Sienna, the very mention of her daughter's name brought Irina back on the verge of tears. Were she not already emotionally drained, Karine might have had to calm her neighbor down for the second time that night. Instead, Irina wiped away what tears appeared before they had time to mess her makeup more than they already had.

"And so... I... ummm... did confront him about that and he was sitting in a chair and I ... might have... tipped it backwards while he was sitting in it."

The fact that the Goons had shown up at the door rather than the police meant that Nathaniel was still alive but very, VERY pissed.

"After that, I started... you know... crying... and... well I sort of bumped into this woman. She had this look about her that screamed I do shit for a Corp and so I took a picture of her, just to get some info on her. I sent it to one of my friends and the picture turned out scrambled when he received it. What's weirder was my own copy of the picture ended up all scrambled also. Which means someone big hacked my augs. Are they even supposed to be able to do that?"

By someone big, Irina meant one of the major Corps, a heavy hitter, someone who not only made Augs but didn't mind breaking them after they'd been installed either.

"As for this guy here. Well... maybe he can tell us what his issue is when he wakes up."

 

[Terratina.]

The walk to the Old Queens Head was pleasant. Well, as far as a walk during a rainy night could be while ignoring angry messages from a certain good for nothing. Carmen strode into the pub, giving anyone who objected to the constable's present the stink-eye. After the stare down, the other patrons when back to their drinks. Sure, she was a pig but here she was just a pig at a trough.

"Officer." Karl said as she arrived.

'Yeah, make me stick out even more.' Carmen thought. In hindsight, changing into her civvies would've made a better impression but the damage was already done. Helped that the bartender took no shit from her patrons though, especially when it came it patrons shitting on other patrons.

Carmen winced as soon as she arrived at the booth Karl was at. There was him, a well-dressed ponce in a rough part of town, and two pints of piss-water. By the golden colour and shape of the glass, she could tell it was lager. Carmen sat down and ignored the poor, lonely pint that was probably meant for her, "You seriously drink that piss? Not exactly the drink of a 'cultured' man. Or was getting some whiskey on the rocks too much?"

She sat down, folded her arms and leant forward, sighing, "If you want info on the hotel case, I'll need more than a free drink."

 

[TheIronRuler]

Spoiler: OOC

Collab with Legion.

'Do I know you?', Wolf asked himself but nothing happened. No response, no cry for help, no accusations. All that remained were piercing questions, which amounted for one of his voices. At least they didn't all leave him.

"Do I know you?", Wolf asked the stranger warily. He was too tired to begin with and the drugs in his system only dampened his sense.

"Hmmm, not as such," the man replied enigmatically, "Although I suppose it is likely that you would have heard of me at the very least". He didn't speak with any pride or arrogance when he stated this, merely with a calm confidence that suggested that he knew far more than he was letting on.

"So tell me Doctor, why were you out on the streets so late at night in this dreadful weather, what do you remember?"

"I remember nothing", Wolf answered straight to the point, 'And even what I can remember I can't tell whether it was real or not'. His heartrate slowly increased, his breathing quickened and his body sweated more at the sight of the stranger. "I need my rest", Wolf coughed loudly, "I'm a sick, old man".

He opened his visual augmentations and began with scanning the stranger's body. If there were synthetics he would know. He took a picture of his face and started checking it for his own memory, and then with other databases.

'Who are you?'

The man chose not to respond to the question directly, instead laughing softly. "Those remarkable augmentations of yours Doctor, I suppose they might come up with something, but I'd not expect too much."

"Oh, how do I know about those? Well you see, while you may have designed them they don't exactly belong to you any more now do they?" Without waiting for a reply he pressed on "No, Doctor those augmentations of yours belong to us, or should I say...me?"

His face took on a slightly more serious expression, as though chiding a naughty child. "We do not mind your eccentric behaviour Doctor, indeed; we have come to the conclusion your unusual mind is a part of your genius." He paused, before continuing "But there are limits you know, your behaviour this evening has been quite concerning."

He paused once more. "You killed Malcom, can you try and recall why?"

Wolf was being overly hopeful when he hoped the stranger would just let him go. He seemed to know at least so much as Noam, or even more. It was true those augmentations belonged to CyCorp - and with it all of his body. He was the property of CyCorp, and there was no way to get out of it.

"You own me", Wolf struggled to speak with the stranger, "My enhancements and my blood, my work and my mind". He pulled his body back in the bed and raised his head to a half-sitting position. The shackles on his hand made a little unhappy song of servitude as he finished.

"I can't remember", Wolf lied through his teeth, 'I don't want to think about it, I just want yo forget it ever happened', "You have my flat bugged and monitored...why do you need me to tell you anything?".

'Yesterday was thirty years since she died. My beautiful Elena, my love, the fire in my heart'. His eyes swelled and reddened, his nose dripped with sorrow. He tried to stop it but he couldn't forget how she looked like, the last time he saw her, a beautiful dead corpse. 'The bottle did this to me, I drank and the voices came back...those infernal creatures...'

'You did it to yourself! You murdered him!'

"They won't stop...", Wolf whispered, taking deep and calming breaths in between each word. He looked back at the stranger and remembered where he was. He stopped his breath and closed his eyes. Only in the quiet was he able to keep it out, at least for a little while.

"He tried to kill me", the words came as a bitter accusation at the dead man, "and my body wouldn't let me die".

The man sighed softly, frustrated but not letting it show.He knew he wasn't going to get the answers he sought out of the Doctor in his current condition. Fortunately he had plenty of things to do while he waited.

He got up slowly, now looking down upon Wolf. You clearly need your rest Doctor, I shall leave you to it and we shall speak again once you are feeling up to it".

The man looked back with his hand on the door, "Your apartment is naturally not safe right now, seeing as the police have happened to discover it. We will find a more suitable location for you once you are better rested." With that the man walked out, leaving Wolf alone once more.

 

[FalloutJack]

"I went to see Nathaniel earlier and I might have... you know... knocked him out."

"Ah", was that Asagi said as she gave Irina a hand with her visitor that'd collapsed in the kitchen. Progress was much easier with her own help there, as her augmentations were most-assuredly strong. This gave her a moment to think on things on the Sienna side. The bodyguards had just basically handed the girl over by trying to kill the girl's mother. There's no way that any court or the girl herself would be able to accept that. That would settle that. She had a recording of these fine gentlemen and their drawn guns. It was just that, well, she was the faster draw here.

"Those men were probably the guys that my Ex-Husband had hired as bodyguards. I saw them in Bennett's earlier, right before I went into one of the back rooms to confront Nathaniel about getting full custody of Sienna. And so... I... ummm... did confront him about that and he was sitting in a chair and I ... might have... tipped it backwards while he was sitting in it."

That was a complication, but not a big one. An angry mother was understandbly shocked and angered by all this unfortunate stuff with her Ex. It was all just so easily spun: The mother was cheated of her daughter by the shitty father and was understandably in the worst of moods. In retaliation, he sent a pair of his goons to kill her. It was actually perfect, and a good thing that her military butt had been around. Anyway...

"After that, I started... you know... crying... and... well I sort of bumped into this woman. She had this look about her that screamed 'I do shit for a Corp' and so I took a picture of her, just to get some info on her. I sent it to one of my friends and the picture turned out scrambled when he received it. What's weirder was my own copy of the picture ended up all scrambled also. Which means someone big hacked my augs. Are they even suppose to be able to do that?"

"Suppose to? Not likely. Can? Looks that way. I assume your memory still works and you can describe her for me, tell me what - if anything - she said or did. And ummm...?"

She inclined her head to the man among them.

"As for this guy here. Well... maybe he can tell us what his issue is when he wakes up."

"I see. Well, given your Ex's rash actions, I believe the small problem is in the bag. Your daughter surely can't stay with a man who just sent hitmen after her mother. Any court would look upon the very idea as insane."

 

[Generic NPC 22]

London 2056 | Irina's Flat
Problem? There's no problem!​

Karine was right, as she usually was, the courts would have had issue with placing Sienna in the custody of a man who'd just employed hit men to go after their mother who'd just assaulted him. They, of course, might have had issue with placing Sienna in the custody of a woman who'd just assaulted the girl's father. The courts might have been right in that case but it seemed that Nathaniel Cray was content to handle things outside of the UK's justice system, relying on a more DYI method of conflict resolution. It also would have been a rather big ordeal for Nathaniel if two of his former bodyguards were found outside of Irina's flat, which is why the bodies were no longer there.

The bodies of Devereux Lev Pious and James David Woon would later be found inside the burnt out hulk of a van down by the river. The bodies had been so badly burnt that dental records were needed to identify them. While there were bullet holes found all over the bodies, tests showed that this was due to improperly stowed weapons discharging themselves in the heat of the car fire. The slugs were also unable to be used for testing as the heat had melted them inside of the two corpses. So much for that.

Back to the show...

"You really think so?" Irina asked her next door neighbor as they sat inside Sienna's room waiting for Charles to wake up from his beauty sleep, "Even after I knocked him out?"

The Cat Eared Girl shook her head briefly before changing the topic, one less painful but no less terrorizing.

"Well, the person that I saw was a woman, probably in her early to mid twenties, dressed to the nines in what I could only describe as I'm-a-fucking-spy clothing." Irina stated, trying to remember the woman that she ran into, "She had... black hair and was a little shorter than me. I think her face rammed my boobs when we ran into each other and... well... she had piercing holes..."

So basically they were looking for a Gothic Leprechaun. Awesome!

 

[CrazyGirl17]

"I see. Well if you do find out anything or want me for some other reason, don't hesitate to contact me."

Liam took his contact information, fully aware that he wasn't coming off as the most trustworthy person. He still wondered if he should mention the bullets, but had no idea how the other man would take it.

There were sirens in the distance, not an unusual thing, but the volume was enough to make him peer out the windows in confusion.

"What the hell?"

 

[Neuromancer]

Pain assaulted Charles' brain as he came to his senses, a feeling he had, at the same time, both grown familiar to and not. Familiar because he could feel the typical pain patterns that followed a hangover, and not because the pain felt much more potent and... deep? Deep is a word as good as any, he decided.

Though just waking up, he felt drained and fatigued, to the extend that even opening his eyes felt like too much of a chore. And so, Charles lay on whatever he was laying on (it was comfortable if a good deal undersized) motionless for a few minutes. He could hear voices inside the room, but at the state he was in he could barely focus on any given thing, much less pay attention.

Minutes passed, but Charles finally found the strength to open his eyes. His eyesight, glitching and heavily distorted, gave him the final clue as to why he had "passed out".

Shite. Of all the times for that to happen...

He remembered now: The feeling of hopelessness as he watched Irina cry her eyes out, unable to find the words to offer some sort of comfort, the call and the subsequent knocking on the door and, finally, the *click* and the activation of his eyes. Lucky for him, he never remembered fully what he experienced when his eyes, normally in sleep mode, activated, but he knew with all his heart that "not pleasant" does not even begin to describe the experience. Ever since starting his new life, similar experiences had happened a dozen of times, most of them in the first two weeks since waking from the coma.

His vision restored, albeit still glitching, Charles surveyed his surroundings. He was surrounded by ponies, which, to his surprise, he recongised. They were in an old TV girl's show that was quite the bomb in the dawn of the 21st Century. One of his cousins, a fat neckbearded ginger of a 30-year-old, had an obsession with it that was probably way, way too big and unhealthy, especially considering we are talking about a 30-year-old grown man obsessing over ponies of a 60-year-old little girl's show.

As he turned his head with visible strain, he saw the two ladies that were talking before standing not too far away from the bed. One was familiar; the pint-sized catlady, Miss Irina. The other he didn't know. Probably the friend Irina talked to over the phone, having come to the house. The very sight of her activated all sorts of alarms across Charles' head. She had the air of a government dog to her; maybe peeler, maybe military. He wasn't sure. But what he was sure of was that he never wanted to run into a copper if he could avoid it.

"Um," he started, weakly, adressing Irina, "I seem ta have passed out. Sorry 'bout that," he left out a weak, awkward laugh, "all I seem ta be doin' is givin' ya more trouble, and ya look tha kinda person that's got 'er hands full. So, I think it's best if I were goin'." he finished, putting visible effort towards getting up, only to fail and fall back on the bed.

"Or not. Shite." he said giving up, disappointed at his weakness. He then tried to rub his forehead with his right hand, only to recall that he didn't have one (something that happened a lot more commonly than one would think), which made him feel even worse about his situation. Letting out a deep depressed sigh, he then rubbed his forehead with his left one.

 

[Knight Captain Kerr]

Ira noticed how nervous the police sirens were making Liam when he went to look out the window. He'd grown up around people who'd gotten equally nervous due to sirens. "You seem worried." said Ira plainly and in a non-judgmental fashion.