Mission 5b - Come along with the Snork

WuJen looks around at those assembled as Tatsuo serves tea.

"Ok, we have our work cut out on this. That gang is seriously out of hand and needs to be reigned in, and the cowboys are too busy eating doughnuts and killing Innocents with flamethrowers to do anything about it. At least they posted a bounty but I'd be willing to do this as a public service regardless."

"Unfortunately, our friends that do tech work are busy, so we are going to have to take a look at things the old fashioned way- with our eyeballs. It will be tricky getting in since we know that old arcology has some working security and it's almost certain they have taken any working cameras and at least some of the drones over for themselves."

"Little Dragon and I can do some astral recon. I'd appreciate some one with a little more combat experience help out with that, you can get Shade at the local Hoodoo shop, but it's expensive. I can maybe summon a Spirit from the area and it might know a thing or two as well."

Kin takes a sip of tea, hearing the rain falling steadily outside. His empty stomach grumbles as the tea slides down into it.  His parents fill his thoughts day and night. It will be nice to turn his focus to something besides them, for a change. Plus, there's the payoff to consider. He knows he could put that bounty to good use. But first, he has to complete the task at hand and survive doing it.

He sets his cup down onto the table, a little harder than he meant to, but he's ready to get to work. He looks at each of those seated around him.

"What can I do to help?"

WuJen will get close enough to start assensing, looking particularly for evidence of cybernetic enhancement.

Upon giving the compound of the gang a good look WuJen returns to his body and recounts what he saw, illustrated by Trid Phantasm to show the layout of the compound and positions of the turrets and any other important features.

" If you have contacts in the gangs it would be good to check for rumors of helpful tidbits to use against them. It seems they have people out on a regular basis and King Cobra isn't always out with them. That's one potential avenue of getting information."

Kin scoots his chair back and stands, looking at WuJen. "I have a man I can talk to." He walks outside, slides behind the wheel of his car and speeds away.

Kin looks at Buki and smiles. "Perhaps I'll see what you've got. First, I need to know anything you can tell me about a gang by the name of the Black Cobras."

Kin takes in everything that Buki has told him and he's right. A pistol won't get it done, as least as a primary weapon. Kin needs something stronger. 4,000 nuyen is a lot of money, but it doesn't matter if he's dead. The payday will more than compensate and he'll have a nice weapon at the end of this. He looks Buki in the eyes.

"If I decide to go ahead with this I need more punch. I'm looking at a box of the AV rounds for my Predator, a spare clip for the Predator, the Raiden, along with a spare clip for it and 3 boxes of ammo for the Raiden. What'll that set me back? Keep in mind, I'm gonna bury as many of these rounds as I can into that Orc scumbag, so give me your best deal."

Kin agrees to the price. Money is exchanged as Kin walks out and hides his new weapon and accessories in the car. He hurries back to the Community Center and enters the front door, in search of his new friends. Once finding them, he relays the information given him.

"My contact says the Black Cobras are bad news, but we already knew that, right?  Couldn't give me a lot of information, but mentioned that most of them should be packing sub-machine guns, so we'll probably need to avoid engaging them toe-to-toe. I brought back a little firepower with me that might help swing things in our favor."

Hearing about the turrets around the shanty town makes Sun's eyes light up. Remembering the info he got before, saying there's no non-gangers anywhere near the ruins, those in the shanty town must all be part of King Cobra's gang. Just to be sure, though, he'll check with WuJen's findings.
"What was your impression about the people there? Did they seem all gang members, or were there any there that seemed innocent? And how many people were there, roughly? The gang is said to have around 50 members. Was more or less everyone there?"

"My impression is that most are just people. That area and that life is hard, and their leader is a nearly inhuman monster. I'd bet they follow him because he is strong. We need more info on the gang itself. It's possible his second or third in command would be more reasonable."

"There are likely at least some family there. I didnt see any children but I spotted at least one pregnant woman."

"I did see a group leaving. I don't know if we can catch them, but they no doubt send them out on a regular basis for supplies. If we could catch one of those I could try to prove his mind for more specific details."

"A pregnant woman does complicate things. The mother herself may be as much a criminal as the ones we met before, but the unborn baby isn't. Blindly taking them all down won't be an option then."
Sun pulls out an old-fashioned paper map, clearly gotten from some tourism point, as it's filled with markers on all the tourist traps, and lined with advertising for all the overpriced "street food" places.
"Let's see... Here is the city... And here is the old arcology, so from what you explained, the base should be here... What direction did you see that group drive off to? Maybe we got enough time to intercept them."

The bikers appeared to be heading towards the city, up the mountain to the northwest.

"Ok, so let's hear out and find us some neutral territory not to far from their compound."

Sun places a big, thick finger on the map, where the Minami ruins are. The finger covers half the distance to the Kokoro temple as well.
"This is where they're located."

He places another finger right next to the one on the ruins and moves it north-west.

"This is roughly how they're going. Depending on how far westward they're going, they could be paying a visit to the Daiterebi or the Odori district, or anything inbetween."

He moves the finger that plotted the route to slightly NE of the Daiterebi district. The finger covers the area both NE and NW of the district.

"This seems to be the safest place to intercept them, unless they decide to go straight south and then straight east, passing by the Kokoro temple on their way back. It doesn't seem there would be any reason for them to do that, so here, somewhere north of the Daiterebi district, seems the best place to intercept them. What does everyone think?"

Getting as comfortable as possible in the cramped seats of the Westwind, WuJen settles back and leaves his body. Manifesting briefly he says "Ok, no joyriding with my body. Tatsuo and I will go find them and send word back"

Then his translucent form fades out as he flies up to get his bearings and begins searching for the riders in the direction he saw them drive off earlier.

WuJen tells Little Dragon to keep them in sight as he takes off at full speed for his body.

"We are in luck, they are just a few blocks over that way, headed for home" he says as he belts himself in for the ride.