Contract #2: Gangland, USA.

[Conway]

Sinjin pulls an endoscope from his kit and kneels on the floor beside the vault door.

"Careful....it's probably booby trapped. Let's have a little looksy before we open that thing all the way."

[GM Nick]

The endoscope reveals a dark, empty chamber. In the rear of the chamber, slumped against a wall, is a man in a designer suit. His face is bruised and bloody and he appears to be unconscious.

[John]

Max inches cautiously through the entrance to the vault and toward the man in the back. His shotgun swings all about the chamber to cover all angles as he approaches. Reaching the man, Max taps him with his right boot and says,

"Heckerman, I presume?"

[Drew Buddy]

Doc follows Max through, gun drawn. He says nothing, waiting for the man's reply.

[John]

Max frowns at the unconscious man slumped on the floor and says,

"Looks like somebody partied a little too hard..."

The elf stoops down in front of him and delivers a hard slap with his right hand.

[GM Nick]

The man stirs--peers at Max through swollen eyelids and jerks his hands in front of his face.

"Please.. don't... I don't know where he..."

[John]

Max issues another slap to the opposite side of the man's face and commands,

"Stop your fraggin' rambling. Who are you? Where is Heckerman? Where is Roman?"

[Drew Buddy]

Doc leaves the man to Max's gentle care, and begins searching the vault, walking the perimeter looking for anything of interest.

[GM Nick]

The man flinches from the slap and whimpers, then draws back his hands slightly and sits up with a groan.

"You're not gang members? But then... are you with Firestarter? I am Joseph Heckerman. Roman is ...gone."

[GM Nick]

Doc finds a 20 denomination Ameribuck trampled and discarded in the corner of the vault.

[John]

Max glares at Heckerman and says,

"Nice little town you've got here. What exactly did you think would happen when you inhibit your people's ability to defend themselves then invite the devil in for a night cap?"

[Drew Buddy]

Doc stoops to pick up the scrap of paper.

"Huh, you don't see these much anymore. Val, Max, any of you guys know the number for a museum?"

Doc keeps his eyes peeled for anything else of interest.

[GM Nick]

Heckerman stares warily at the hostile elf.

"I don't know what you think you know, but it sounds like you've gotten led astray somewhere."

[John]

Max looks blankly at Heckerman and says,

"Then why don't you set me straight."

[GM Nick]

"First thing's first... I imagine your being in here means you've cleared out the rat's nest on the ground floor?"

Heckerman drags himself fully upright with great effort.

[John]

Max steps back dubiously and keeps a sharp watch on Heckerman as he says,

"We have. But that's not the first thing here. We need to know what's really going on, and nothing we've learned since we arrived leads us to believe that you're shooting straight."

[GM Nick]

"Well, what do you want to know? My beloved town has been besieged by ruthless thugs. Hiring you was our last and best hope."

[John]

Max glares back at Heckerman as he plays dumb,

"Cut the drek, pal. First off, why don't you tell what's really going on with this gang? Roman grew up in Cloud Nine, and was evidently invited back in to wreak havoc. Why the frag did you inhibit your population's natural impulse to defend itself if not to make them easy targets?"

[GM Nick]

Heckerman sighs.

"So you know about Roman, huh? I was hoping to avoid that subject.

Roman is my adopted brother. There were complications during my birth that rendered my mother unable to have children. They wanted another child, so--despite the board's wishes--they adopted from outside the city. Roman was a clever boy--much more clever than myself. He had a sort of innate charisma that drew people to him... a natural leader. I craved what he had and so he taught me how to win over people and appeal to their desires. I used the skills he imparted to me in order to gain political power within our community here. Not Roman, though. He never cared for power in the traditional sense. He was always wheeling and dealing, using his aptitude for manipulation to get things that he wanted.

When we were teenagers, Roman found a sealed service tunnel in a power sub-station near the rear wall. He convinced a local group of kids to spend all summer chiseling away at it. Eventually, they broke through. He came to me and told me what he had done and tried to convince me to follow him to the other side. I was young and sheltered and so I was threatened by the outside world. I threatened to tell our parents. I'll never forget the look on Roman's face--so wounded, so betrayed. He left that night, through the tunnel, and never returned."

[GM Nick]

Heckerman continues,

"His words both terrified and inspired me. I wanted Cloud Nine to be a safer place--a haven for like minded people. I shared my visions with Roman. He encouraged me and--now I realize in hindsight--that he steered me towards declaring city-state independence by manipulating an overlooked legal loophole. After a lengthy court battle, we were awarded independence, but at quite the cost. Lone Star withdrew our contract. With no stop-gap in place, our streets fell victim to violent crime.

I was on the verge of resigning when Roman sent me the information of a surgeon he knew, one that had a revolutionary new procedure that actually stopped violence before it was actualized. It was of course, part of Roman's master plan..."

[John]

Max responds cynically,

"Sounds to like you're perfectly without fault in everything that's happened here..."

[GM Nick]

"We're not the same as you, you know. None of us have the street smarts you do. We're naive, I'll admit it--but it's a naivete born of pacifism and peaceful coexistence. I made a hard decision to call you in... it goes against everything we believe in. I guess violent conflict is a the core of humanity, after all..."

[John]

Max looks doubtfully at the man and moves on,

"So why did Roman return? I doubt it was just the money."

[Drew Buddy]

Doc humors the man, uncertain that he can trust him,

"So, you're saying Roman conned you into declaring extraterritoriality for this place, then conned you into cybernetically neutering the populous? For this?" He holds the crumpled $20 in front of him.

[Stephen]

Val rests a hand on Max's shoulder.

"Easy guys. I believe him. It's clear that none of this is easy for him to admit. He's not faultless, but he's not the real bad guy. He may have helped pave the road to hell, but he did it with good intentions. It happens to the best of men; even potential clients of ours. I'll wager this won't be the last time we're hired by people who've done similar things. Roman is the problem."

Val looks to Heckerman.

"Any idea where your brother may have gone?"

[John]

Max looks at Val's hand on his shoulder and darts his gaze to the decker, wearing a look on his face that reads 'How long are you planning on keeping that there, bub?'

[Elliott]

Standing invisible in the corner, Tyros makes a small motion with his hand (centering) and delves gently into Heckerman's mind, looking for the truth (mind probe, f3, confirming Heckerman's story and looking for any other interesting tidbits of information that he might be leaving out).

[GM Nick]

"When we seceded, Roman convinced me to withdraw Cloud Nine's treasury from the banks. He said our assets wouldn't be safe, that they'd be held hostage once we became a separate entity. I converted the nuyen for Americash, and put it here, in the vault. It must have been a ploy to get the funds out of the safety of the banks and into a liquid, untraceable form of currency.

I don't think this was just about the Americash. I think deep down, Roman felt it was his duty to prove me wrong. When I figured out what was happening, I came down to the vault to appeal to him. He told his subordinates not to kill me, but to give me a beating. Then Roman pulled me into the vault and made me watch as his thugs emptied it out. He stayed, I think, to make sure they wouldn't kill me. After they left, Roman just stared at me for a while."

[GM Nick]

Mind Probe (f3)

[Spellcasting (6) + MAG (6) + Power Focus (2) = 5]
1 2 1 6 3 5 6 1 2 2 5 4 3 5

Tyros dives into Heckerman's mind.

(( PM'd. ))

[GM Nick]

Heckerman shrugs at Doc.

"There was over ¥500,000 worth of Ameribucks. That was enough motivation to get his gang involved. Once they realized they could rape and murder with impunity, they did anything he asked. Unless you can find Roman and bring that money back, Cloud Nine is finished. I know I deserve to be punished, but my constituents don't. They're good, honest people."

[Elliott]

The ghostly voice of a troll echoes through the vault, "he is telling the truth. He is a fool, but an honest one."

[Stephen]

Val gives Max's shoulder a pat and withdraws his hand.

"Mystery solved. Well, almost."

[John]

Max relaxes his aggression toward Heckerman, but not his intensity,

"Where did Roman go? We have to get to him before he gets away."

[Drew Buddy]

Doc nods, feeling slightly relieved. The rifle relaxes in his hands.

"Okay, then. If you can even tell us what direction to look in, we can finish this contract."

[GM Nick]

"There's a tunnel that runs from the archives to the sub-station. You must have just missed Roman, by mere minutes. I haven't been in here long."

Heckerman wipes blood from his face with his sleeve.

"I can't bring myself to say the words, but this incident has jumbled my philosophies. Roman can't be allowed to go on hurting people. Do you understand my meaning?"