Contract #1: Big Man, Japan!

[Stephen]

Val mutters under his breath.

"Fantastic."

He paces a few steps back and forth, beginning to feel rather exposed. Trying to keep himself occupied to calm his nerves, he finds cover and peers into the dark tunnel from which they came, watching the team's six.

[GM Nick]

Max steps out on to the platform, but finds nothing except the ghostly landscape of the low-light environment.

[John]

Confused, Max comms to Doc,

<I've lost her, Doc. See anything on your end?>

Max can feel the volume rolling back over to ten.

[GM Nick]

A flurry of characters spring to life in the corner of Doc's vision.

>> execute: combat_infiltration.module

Immediately, his thighs tense and his back tightens as the skill-wires send a million tiny pulses of electricity into his body at specific intervals, guiding his movements and forcing his footsteps to land at just the right angle with just the right emphasis so that he moves nearly silently.

Infiltration Test

[Infiltration (3) + AGI (9) = 6]
6 4 5 5 3 2 5 5 2 3 3 6

[Drew Buddy]

Doc peers into the darkness, trying to pick out Max's heat signature. He chances using the comm,

< Max, I've got nothing, what exactly did you see? What the frag brought you out past the IR web? >

[John]

Max responds,

<I remembered the route you took very clearly, so I went for it. But I saw Milly walking. She had no fraggin' eyes.>

[Stephen]

Val's head snaps around toward where Max disappeared around the corner a moment ago. His eyes widen suddenly, then narrow suspiciously.

"What the... Sinjin, keep an eye out. Something's not right. I need to check something."

Val hunkers down behind his cover and drops into VR.

Val scans the surrounding Matrix space for any nodes, hidden ones included.

[Drew Buddy]

Worriedly, Doc comms back,

< Max, listen to me man, I'm making my way back to your position. Hang tight. >

"Goddammit," he hisses under his breath, as he turns on a heel, and starts padding back up the tunnel.

[John]

Max gets it. He's hallucinating again. What the frag is going in.

[GM Nick]

Whatever Val saw is gone now. The distinct lack of any wireless activity in the dank subway station pushes a claustrophobic pressure on the decker's senses.

[Elliott]

((Is Milly on the inside or outside of the IR fence?))

<"What the hell is going on? What is Milly doing here? Doc, we need to stay on disconnecting the IR to get the rest of the team in and ensure we have an exit. What do we need to do? I'll take care of the guard.">

Tyros pads slowly down the tunnel towards where he spots the guard's thermal signature and bobbing glowing cigarette, claymore at the ready.

[John]

(( Milly was on the inside of the IR, Max used his recollection of watching Doc navigate the IR grid to recreate his path to follow her, has since come to the conclusion that she was another hallucination. ))

[Stephen]

Val slips back into reality and glances around, not sure what to make of what he saw. Shaking his head, Val thinks, I did just see that, right? Sitting around this drekhole is making me jumpy.

Val is about to write the whole experience off as a glitch, his nerves, or both. Val quests out in AR and finds Max's PAN node still within signal range. He Analyzes Max's PAN and fires up his Sniffer program and attempts to detect any traffic going to or from it. That's the best he can do, short of tearing a hole in Max's firewall and slipping through to look around. Val briefly considers it. Then, his mind returns to the scene in the data center hallway, then to the rover and the unfortunate wage-slave, and finally to the more recent image of the abused cigarette drooping from his lips. Yeah. Best not to risk pissing him off at the moment.

[Conway]

Rubbing his cheek distractedly, Sinjin is befuddled by the odd wave of behavior that seems to have swept his team into disorder. The elf especially seems to be particularly uncoiled.A rather brash and risky move, running through those beams blindly. And Milly? At least Im not the only one in the dark there , he thinks with a glance toward Val. But, the deckers nerves seem to be catching too. Probably just my imagination, he plays a pretty cool hand.

Sinjin frees the straps on his knife braces, checks his grenades, and redoubles his focus on their surroundings. This situation could get out of hand, and quickly.

[John]

Max continues chewing the butt of his cigarette nervously and backs himself to the wall-- the IR web on his left and the tunnel from which Doc approaches on his right. His butt and lower back pressed to the cool material of the wall, he leans forward slightly from the ribs up and tries his best to assess what's going on. As cool as it is in the tunnel, sweat beads faintly on his cheeks and forehead and his hair has begun to take on a slick, almost greasy look. Max rubs his hand over the stubble on his chin and blinks aggressively several times-- as if perhaps all he needs is to clear the smoke from his eyes. The smoke doesn't clear.

Looking back up and down the tunnel, Max sees his compatriot closing in on his position. He does his best to steel his patience and remains calm, but can feel knee-jerk defensiveness rearing just below the surface.

His hands at his sides, he can somehow feel the pills in his coat pocket through the layers of armor and clothing. They burn hot against his hip and smell as sweet as honeysuckle on a summer night.

[Drew Buddy]

Doc slows as he approaches. With a possible guard down the tunnel, and an IR web at the entrance acting as end-caps on their position, the subway station is starting to feel like a pressure cooker.

Less and less tenable, he thinks, and now Max is heading full speed off the deep end. Fraggin' Perfect.

In the grainy black and white of the low-light sensors, the elf looks like ragged drek, so Doc takes a softer approach than he'd initially planned.

"Allright, Max, what's going on, man?"

[John]

Max responds plainly, the disbelief thin but present in his voice,

"I saw her, man. I saw her plain as I see you now. She moved like a ragged spider down several legs. She was right about here and she looked at me without any eyes. Just empty sockets. No blood. Just blackness. It's like in the hallways back at the data facility. What the frag is happening to me?"

For perhaps the first time in their time together, the sound of naked fear is plain in Max's voice as he begs his confusion and unease unto Doc. Max has readily displayed concern and situational panic before, but this moment is different; Max isn't panicked. His fear in this tunnel is calm in a sense-- self-aware. If other members of the team were present, Max would more than likely try hiding his fear, but the drek he and Doc have been through allow him to be more forthcoming. The elf hadn't expected Doc to approach him with concern but with some level of professional hostility. The concern of his friend has, for the moment, stripped him somewhat bare.

[Drew Buddy]

Doc runs through the possibilities in his mind, and shakes his head,

"I don't know. I won't be able to tell without some proper equipment," he says keeping his voice low, and occasionally glancing toward the entrance of the tunnel. His old combat surgeon mindset clicks back into place, settling into its well-worn groove.

"Okay, be honest with me. Are you going through any withdrawals? Alternately, are you using now? I'm not too sure that simple bliss would cause something like this, but it might help if I knew what was running through your system right now."

[John]

Max is hesitant to come clean (so to speak), but does so in the interest of everybody's safety,

"I've always got a little in my system, but I had a bump back in the data facility to calm my nerves. Not enough to launch me-- you've got my word on that. But I was riding right where I always do when I saw something that resembled Deus in the facility."

Max's admissions come with some level of shame, which Doc would be able to see without the insight he has into the elf's character.

[Drew Buddy]

Doc listens and nods,

"Yeah, I don't think that'd be enough to do it, especially if it hasn't happened before. Look, here's the short of it: There's frag-all I can do about this here. It might be a traumatic memory from Deus' compound, or maybe something got imprinted when we were all down in his little fantasy world. I really can't tell without a brain scan and maybe a cyberware diagnostic suite. We're in drek situation here, so we're going to have to chance it, and hope it doesn't happen again before we're out of here. If you see anything strange, check to see if anyone else notices it as well, okay?"

Doc thinks for a moment, and then says,

"Wait, did you see either of these things with your plain vision, or did it come through one of the sensors in your contact lens package?"

[John]

Max isn't exactly sure in retrospect,

"Seemed like plain vision, but I can't be positive."

[Drew Buddy]

Doc is deeply worried. There's no telling what could be happening here, or how it's going to pan out in the middle of a mission.

He works up his best confident grin,

"Hey, look man, sometimes the huma-, uh, meta-human brain pulls some pretty strange drek. It's probably something that we can get fixed up nice and quick when we're out of here. You think you can keep going?"

He slaps Max on the shoulder.

We're in trouble.

[John]

Max flashes him a grin that is equal parts confidence, exhaustion, and doubt,

"You know me, amigo-- I always pull it together."

Stealing a glance over Doc's shoulder, Max's eyes widen as he asks plaintively,

"So, am I alone in seeing insect spirits pouring down the tunnel toward us?"

[Drew Buddy]

A chill runs down Doc's spine.

"Drek!"

He spins around, and raises his rifle, ready to send a hail of bullets down the tunnel.

It's empty. The only movement being the thermal glow of a rat scurrying to cover. Doc lowers the rifle, and lets out a breath.

"Jesus, man, there's nothing there."

[John]

Max elbow Doc in the ribs halfheartedly and says,

"Just fraggin' with you, sawbones. Come on-- let's get moving here."

Max stands up straight and shakes off the cobwebs and gives Doc his best reassuring nod. Holding his shotgun back at the ready, the elf motions for the human and says,

"Lead the way."

[Drew Buddy]

Doc stares incredulously at Max for a moment, and shakes his head.

"Christ, Max."

The text in the corner of his vision shows the infiltration activesoft is still active. Rifle held low and ready, he retraces his steps down the tunnel with a grace not entirely his own.

[John]

Max follows along and keeps in step as best he can with Doc's augmented abilities, peering down the tunnel with his own lowlight vision.

[GM Nick]

Infiltration Test (Max)

[Infiltration (2) + AGI (10) = 3]
1 4 4 3 1 1 5 6 2 4 4 5

Max and Doc hug the wall and plod down the tunnel towards the bobbing IR signature. The shape's posture has changed somewhat and now appears to be patrolling, cradling something about about hip-height that doesn't register a thermal pattern.

Perception Test

[Perception (3) + INT (4) = 1]
2 1 4 5 4 3 1

The duo flatten behind a concrete column, about a dozen meters from the man--now discernible as Japanese and wearing a suit.

[John]

Max peers as far past the yak as possible, hoping to see any surveillance equipment pointed in his direction or any other nearby sentries that might be able to catch the team's hands in the cookie jar.

[GM Nick]

Behind the patrolling yakuza enforcer, at a distance of roughly ten meters like two large objects covered in sheets. Any IR signature within is cloaked by the material draped over them. Other than the two mysterious constructs, the tunnel is empty.

The enforcer stops for a moment and unzips, then begins relieving himself in the gravel.

[John]

Max edges his way closer to the micturating Jap until he is within striking range before going in for the silent choke hold. The elf remains cautious of the objects beyond the yak, relatively convinced that they are something as naughty as drone guns or the like.

[Drew Buddy]

Doc watches his teammate sneak up to the target. Slowly, he slings the rifle on his shoulder, and pulls out the stick-n-shock loaded submachine gun. Switching the fire selector to semi-auto, he draws a bead on the Jap, and waits to see what happens.

[Stephen]

Val lets his Sniffer program drop. He tries to make sense of what just happened. What the frag am I doing? Spying on my employer because of something I'm not even sure I saw? It was just a glitch, 'mano. Trust him. That's the only way this'll work.

If there's one thing that Val's worse at than scaling walls, it's waiting. Wishing he had his own smoke to chew on, he comms the team.

<"Look, 'manos, I don't know what the frag is going on, but I'm starting to jump at shadows out here. You guys making progress on that IR matrix? Give me something.">

[Drew Buddy]

Without moving his eyes from the target, Doc comms back,

< Hang on a sec, we're just removing a minor obstacle. I think we're close to the junction. >

[GM Nick]

[ Max = 55 ]
[ Doc = 39 ]
[ Tyros = 33 ]
[ Yakuza = 29 ]

Melee Combat

[Subduing (5) + AGI (10) = 6]
6 4 4 5 5 2 3 3 2 5 1 1 6 5 2
[Unarmed Combat (5) + AGI (5) = 2]
3 1 1 6 2 3 2 6 1 4

Damage Resistance

[BOD (5) + Armored Suit (2) = 1] **5S DAMAGE**
2 4 2 4 1 4 6

Max throws his arms over the goons neck and puts him in a headlock, forcing a strangled (albeit muffled) cry out of the man.