CY_BORG: VIP Abduction

[Mantis]

11 + 1 = 12

[Stormbringer]

At the next suitable moment, Doze will whip out her new cyberdeck and see if she can hack into this thing.

Not possible, I'm afraid. Only a specialist app (beyond your current budget) could be deployed to remotely hack into the Mech: and even then, only temporarily. Non-app hacking would require physically plugging the cyberdeck into the Mech's internal computer system.

+ + +

From their front-row position in the driver and passenger seats, Zola and Doze notice something odd amidst the unfurling mayhem.

Not far away from the taxi, watching the scene, a small child stands. They are draped in the distinctive robes of the Heirs of Kergoz.

Headquartered in the Barnyard Fields slum on the east side of G0, the Heirs are a fanatical cult of death-obsessed nanomancers; wielding extraordinary powers gained by prolonged exposure to alien bacteria riding on irradiated nanorobots. These zealots worship strange two-headed daemons (who some say are really AIs, buried in the data-chasms beneath the Net) and wage a violent war throughout the city with their sworn enemies, the Virid Vipers, a mob of heavily-armed thugs who control most of the drug-trade in the south side of the city.

Watching the child, Zola and Doze see two SecOps — private police officers, employed by United Citadel Security, but hired out to one of the many corporations — approaching the child, preparing to beat it. Just as they draw close, the child turns and speaks to them. You see the SecOps suddenly stop, turn around and calmly walk away, as if they had business elsewhere. The child notices Zola and Doze watching them through the taxi windscreen, and gives them a sly, violet-hued smile.

[Sly Boots]

"How about we just GTFO, we ain't getting paid to get mixed up in a gang war?" Doze asks.

[Wrathbone]

I prep a grenade in my grenade launcher, just in case we decide this creepy death child is trouble.

[Mantis]

"I ain't gettin' involved in all this voodoo net stuff, man! Dark net biz gives me system jitters, choom!"

Zola looks to see if there is a clear path behind them so he can back the taxi up and go another way.

[Animalmother]

Volley is scared shitless by what's happening outside the cab. Buttttt he also has some shiny EMP grenades he wants to try out. He is torn between self preservation and momentary gratification.

[Wrathbone]

Sen catches Volley’s wild-eyed look and pats his grenade launcher, teetering on this opportunity for senseless violence.

[Mantis]

"We ain't no heroes, chooms! What you sayin', fight or ride another day? I'm bouta spin it and get us outta here!"

[Wrathbone]

“Probably don’t stand a chance against that thing. All I need is an excuse, but… well, plenty of other bozos out there need blastin’, right?”

[Sly Boots]

Doze grimaces. "Hit it."

A nanosecond later she remembers the intellectual level of the rest of the crew. "And by it, I mean the road."

[Stormbringer]

Slamming his foot down on the accelerator, Zola reverses the taxi out of the scene as fast as possible.

Meanwhile, the rogue Mech is showering the area with rocket fire and cluster grenades while sweeping its laser turret across buildings.

The tires squeal on the asphalt as the taxi turns about and barrels down a side-street to get away from the growing carnage, zooming past a store called LIQUID DREAMS which a mob of SecOps are laying siege to.

The extreme violence on display in this district can only mean one thing: they've already left South Central and are in the heart of Edda Crawl, a cramped strip of dockside slum overlooking the Optima Depths, narrowing southward into a sharp, jagged point, like a crooked dagger stabbed into in the heart of a polluted delta full of torpid life. The outskirts of the city.

Soon the gang arrive at their destination, parking near a lone street-food vendor who knocks on Zola's window and tries to offer them hot dogs made from...actual dogs.

Up ahead, they all see it: the Virid Vipers safehouse. This is the place Lorne said Lukas Tosk would go to pick up his supply of 0-Sleep.

It's comprised of two buildings: a massive warehouse and a crumbling, two-floor office block, standing side by side, right on the waterfront, a short alley in-between them, stacked high with crates at the far end. Connecting the two buildings, flying across the alley, is a metal walkway; a bridge, doors at either end.

On the ground floor of the warehouse, there's a door for human access on the east side. On its north side, a large garage door, big enough for a truck to enter. On the neighbouring office block, a pair of double doors on the eastern wall appear to be the main entrance, though there is a side entrance on the ground floor under the bridge.

Zola checks the clock. It's 11. Or thereabouts. Tosk will be here in two hours.

[Sly Boots]

Seems like a good time for Doze to activate her new surveillance drone and scope out the area.

I guess I'm primarily looking for enemy numbers and positions, and also the likeliest site for a trade-off Tosk would make for.

[Stormbringer]

Where would you like to direct the drone first?

[Sly Boots]

Is there an obvious entry point anywhere, like an open window or something?

If it's down to my preference, I'll probably start on the office ground floor, move up then go across the bridge into the warehouse.

[Wrathbone]

I’m going to scout the perimeter, get a feel for where the limo might pull up, check if there are any areas where people are more likely to notice us causing a ruckus.