Runner [IC]

[Redriak]

Hawk read through the email on his Personal Port slowly, just as he had with every mission request that had ever preceded it. His right eye's pupil followed the lines of information as his entirely black eye simply remained black, though it too was reading through the email. The email stated only one thing - that he was to meet this sender at this entailed location at exactly midnight.
Hawk frowned. This was a strange time for a meeting, though the location was perfect for the time of night. The Phoenix Down Bar was known for its loud and rowdy partying around that time. No one would notice a small meeting between a Runner and his client.

-------------

Jake scanned through his emails while running down the street. After reading through it, he turned around and began running back to his apartment building to get ready for the meeting. He had 4 hours, but he wanted to make sure he made a good impression on the client.

[Sool777]

(( OOC : Im assuming everyone is supposed to meet the contact at The Phoenix Down Bar at midnight? ))

Elliot Smith sat at his desk in Eagle Corps HQ located somewhere under the outskirts of Berlin, from here Eagle Corps could get to almost any location in the world within minuets. This mission, however didn't require fast transportation, they would take a simple black, unmarked van. It would have a fake license plate, no registration and no VIN number. However inside would have all the advanced equipment they would need for any mission, including the Network's database of any and all blueprints they needed. The mission in mind was actually to retrieve a contract, however Elliot knew how these worked, Eagle Corps wouldn't be the only ones there, probably multiple Runners. This was the only reason he was going to go, they didn't need another mission. Elliot and his team had just come back from one, very long and complicated one that had left them with 1 of their team dead. He would go to recruit someone for his team, preferably a Shadow. It was 8 PM right now, they had 4 hours to get ready to go but that didn't stop Elliot from assembling them in as quick as they could come. " Team, assemble!" Elliot shouted into the barracks where the team was resting. They immediately got up, made their beds, changed, got their weapons, and assembled within 2 minuets. " Ok people, we got one more thing to do, we're gonna get ourselves a new Shadow. The contact will be at the Phoenix Down Bar at midnight. We're going to go now to secure the place," Elliot was with his team around a horizontally positioned screen they were all crowded around, it was showing live satellite feed and Elliot was able to mark positions on it. Among his team were 3 Guns, himself , one brute and 1 hacker, their was also supposed to be a shadow, but their previous one was killed in action. Elliot didn't consider himself a Gun, although technically he was, he considered himself a hybrid of sorts. He was, in fact, the first shadow, but the scientists first implants for Shadows were unreliable and had many design flaws, so they simply modified him into a Gun. Elliot pointed positions on the screen, " The van will be parked here, our Hacker and Brute will stay in here and do their work. Brute, you know what to do if anyone tries anything on the car. Guns, take up position here, here and here. Be prepared to jump down to ground level if backup is needed. I will be going in alone, I'll have my pistol with me but i'm leaving my rifle in the van." Elliot made marks at the rooftops he wanted the Guns at and where he wanted the van at. " Hoah?" The rest of the team replied by shouting back " Hoah!" Then they started jogging toward the van. When they arrived all of them got out of the van. Elliot put on his helmet, though it was more of a bullet proof mask that fit to the shape of his face , and told the team to get to their positions, then walked into the bar where he would wait out the rest of the time. Surprisingly no one noticed him even though he was an obvious outcast with his combat suit, permanently bound to his body, and his mask, which was providing a Heads Up Display, he identified everyone in the bar with the mask and instructed it to alert him whenever someone left or someone new came in. He also ran a security check on every one, all green except a few minor offenders, just a normal bar.

[Wattz]

((Yup, I believe so!))

Every step Roxana Wilde took was an earthquake in its own right. Thundering down the streets of Berlin, she pushed her way through the crowds, though she didn’t have to try very hard. Her tall, wide stature was more than enough to part the seas. She never paid the looks any mind, for they were far too small to stay in her head for too long. Things simply weren’t worth her attention if they didn’t jump up and hit her in the face. She preferred looking at the big picture, and right now her only real goal was to get to some small-time bar.

A client had called her down, though one without identity. Slow as she was, she was never too stupid to turn a client down. This was her only source of revenue, and as such any client would do, even one that wished to remain anonymous. Who was she to judge? She’d done it all for a bit of money, right beneath the nose of the public. Even enormous Roxana could sneak past the good-natured veil thrown over the public eye, telling everyone that the world was a perfect little spot of sunshine. Unification and a lack of war couldn’t eradicate ignorance.

Finally, she found it. She looked up at the neat little electric sign: The Phoenix Down Bar. It wasn’t difficult to spot. The sign was bright orange and had a little decoration of a fiery feather placed between the text. Roxana wasted no time in pushing past the door, only having to duck slightly to not hit her head. The room was dimly lit with red lights, a quaint little thing of a bar, though it wasn’t as busy as it could have been at midnight. It smelled of cigars and booze, a cliché in and of itself.

Roxana found herself a table in the corner to sit at, her lumbering form fitting awkwardly in the chair. In the meantime, all she could do was wait for some sign from the client, who would notice her well enough. She wasn’t aware of the presence of other runners in the bar, though it wasn’t uncommon for them to meet their clients in such a place. Most patrons liked to meet in bars, under the thick blanket of smoke, as if doing so would cover their misdeeds from the public.

[Hunter]

( If you say so.=D )

Tsuki just woke up after a long nap,yawning she checked her computer.She had several emails,most telling her that team meetings were about to begin.Tsuki always slept through the meeting and always has another to fill in.After reading most of her mail,she rubbed the back of her head,knowing she her leader was going to me furious with her.She sighed,scrolling up the emails.

One email seems to catch her eye.It was recently sent an hour ago.It was from an unknown client,wanting to meet up and talk about a curtain mission.It gave the time , date and location.She was suppose to meet her client today,in ten minutes inside of Pheonix Down Bar.She quickly stood up from her bed,rushing to her closet and pulling out random clothing from the hangers.Although Tsuki was a Jet,she wasn't fast after waking up.

Tsuki grabbed her claw blade and stuffed it in it's case along with her gun in a different case.She wrapped the two case,loosely around her waist and grabbing her dull black coat.She allowed her hair to fall,messy,down along her shoulder as she pulled her hood up.She rushed out the door,locking it behind her.

She quickly ran into an alley and over a couple of walls for shortcut.In the matter of minutes,Tsuki arrived beside the bar in the pitch black alley way.She could hear all the laughter and talks that came from inside.She wondered why the client wanted to meet her in a loud and crowded place but shrugged the thought away.She walked inside,taking a seat on a tall stool with only five minutes to spare.She sighed knowing she wasn't late and silently brushed her hair with her fingers and through the knots in her hair.

[erebus]

{7:35PM, Issac's Apartment}
*BzzzzBzzzzBzzCRASH*
"Owww...." Issac moaned as he gathered himself off the floor of his apartment. Sheepishly, he glanced around the empty room, making sure no one saw him fall. "Ok, note to self," he muttered, rubbing the back of his head as he got to his feet, "choose a less surprising alarm for your data pad when reminiscing in a chair leaned back on two legs...." Slowly he walked over the the dresser, considering the virtues of tossing the device out the window to teach it a lesson. "But, then I'd lose all my work contacts, wouldn't I...," he mused, reaching for the sleek black device. "Well, I suppose you survive to annoy me another day; consider yourself lucky.... Huh..now what do we have here?" He stood silently, reading each line of the proposition carefully. Immediately curious about how someone got access to Talyn's e-mail address, Issac decided that this might just be worth his time, after all. "If for no other reason than to find out how the hell my contact became public knowledge." Glancing at the clock as he walked over to pick the offending chair off the floor, he debated whether he felt like taking a nap or getting some food before the meeting.....
----------------------------
{8:06PM, Rooftop overlooking The Phoenix Down bar entrance}
Silently, Issac stood watching the street below through a small monocular, his trench coat fluttering slightly in the breeze. Hoping to spot someone he recognized or anything that could give him a clue as to how this new client had found him, he came straight over from his apartment, taking up a recon position where he could keep an eye on everyone who comes and goes before the meeting. As he watched, a remarkably unremarkable black van pulled into an alley across from the bar, out of which what can only be called a small army of runners dispersed. "Well, well, what have we here? Looks like someone is expecting things to get busy tonight..." Sighing, he set the monocular on the ledge and dug through his pocket for one of the nutrient bars he'd picked up at a store on the way. Taking a bite of the near tasteless foodstuffs, Issac settled in for the duration.....
-----------------------------
{11:52PM, The Phoenix Down}
With only a handful of minutes to spare before his meeting, Issac found himself wandering through the dance floor, trying to make his way to the bar. Apart from that first group, and a couple people who were moving curiously fast, he hadn't seen anything that helped him understand just what exactly was about to go down when the clock struck. Taking a vacant seat at the bar, he ordered up a glass of something strong on blocks of something cold. "If I'm going into this blind," he muttered, taking a sip of his chosen poison, "I'm certainly not going in without some encouragement..." Thinking about what the next few minutes might bring, he realized that times like this make him glad he's worked so hard to keep his face and name separate from the Runner known as Talyn.....

[PantsTheReaper]

Min Li busily typed away at his port. There were so many things left over to do. Meetings with clients and jobs had kept him from programming, updating, and maintaining his implants and, well, various hacking programs. So he had roughly an hour to finish up his work in this decrepit little piss-hole of a pub, while waiting for yet another client, unknowing of whether he would be teamed.

Jobs that left him alone seemed to always be easy and short, with little reward. Team jobs, however, were more difficult, but sometimes left him with even less of a reward after splitting money. It was lucky, then, that so many runners were overconfident rookies that got themselves killed. The veterans always laughed at their stupidity when the job was well and done, larger-than-agreed-upon shares in their wallets.

Min Li shut down the port and unplugged his hacking device. He tapped several keys and laid it face down on the table while his implants worked to reconfigure themselves. He sat back, keeping his left hand on the pistol that hung at his hip.

Just as his implants finished, he noticed that the water in his glass was rippling. He looked up and saw that a hulk of a woman had entered. She was either a very passionate bodybuilder, or a brute. Min Li's eyes narrowed. Brutes didn't really appeal to him. All power, no finesse. Was she part of his team? Oh well. Brutes weren't too bad, so long as they followed any plan that was agreed upon. As long as nobody touched his equipment, Min Li would be fine.

He glanced at his watch. It was nearing midnight. Partygoers were filing by twos and threes, talking loudly, dancing, laughing, shouting for more drinks. If there were any more runners, they were indistinguishable from the crowd. Min Li just wanted his client to arrive.

[Sool777]

Elliot Smith scanned each runner as he or she came into the bar, a brute, a hacker, a jet, and then this man. He had just ordered a beverage, but that wasn't what Elliot was interested about, " Eagle 3, this is Eagle 1, i just ran a security check on this man, a Issac Daevison, he has some kind of link with the runner 'Talyn' please confirm and if you have anything more. Over" Elliot's mask blocked out all of the sound he was making to the outside, not that he would need it in a bar like this, but i was insurance as he contacted his hacker, call sign eagle 3. " Eagle 3 to Eagle 1, confirmed, but we have nothing on their connection, whatever it is they've done a good job of hiding it. Over." Elliot pondered over it for a few seconds then decided on something, " Eagle 1 to Eagle 3, acknowledged, over and out." Elliot got up from his table and walked over to the bar, he turned the sound back on in his mask and sat down next to him. " You Issac Daevison? If so, how would you like to work out a long term contract with Talyn for me?" He said this for two reasons, rumors were that Talyn was a very good shadow, one of the best and Elliot's team needed a shadow, the second was Elliot wanted to find out who this man was, and if he was indeed Talyn's representative, or an agent of his. Maybe even Talyn himself, but Elliot seriously doubted that. Elliot turned to face Issac, at the same time he had his masks' blacked out eye holes slide up into the mask, it revealed his pale white eyes, no pupils, no color whatsoever.

[GraftRaven]

Splicer walked into the bar at two minutes to midnight, wearing a pair of slightly baggy black pants, a white T-shirt with a stylized and sketchy red skull on the front; extra holes were present in the back to accommodate his slightly raised interface ports. He walked into the middle of the room and took a seat, his robotic tail trailing behind him, ordered a rum and coke, then set about making sre he was not watched too closely. Splicer browsed the net on his HUD, moving his hands across an imaginary computer terminal to clearly direct his thoghts.

There was a van outside with net access, but that would belong to one of the other runners; it also had a short wave radio signal that had activated in some short bursts a few seconds ago. He took notice of the time, nearly 12, he turned his attention to his suurroundings, the client should be contacting them in slightly less than a minute.

[erebus]

{The Phoenix Down}
Spotting the reflection of the metal man walking towards him in a bottle behind the bar, Issac shifted his drink slightly, trying to get a better look at the imposing figure. Recognizing the outline of one of the people from the van, he took a quick glance at his watch, noting that there was still a bit of time before the meeting. "Hmm... It's too soon for the client to make an appearance," he thought to himself. "This guy doesn't look like a cop, either... Did someone make the connection?" Worrying that he was made as Talyn, Issac decided to use a bit of misdirection. Besides, he hadn't acted the fool in a while, and throwing a little chaos into people's minds could be fun on occasion...

"You Issac Daevison? If so, how would you like to work out a long term contract with Talyn for me?"
Putting on his best drunk persona, he turned unsteadily towards the newcomer. "Günther?!? Ish that you, Günther?" he slurred. "Man, it'sh been years shince I've sheen you... Oh, yech," he groaned, recoiling a bit, "wha happened to your eyeth, man??"

"Look, I think you've gotten me mistaken for someone else," Elliot responded, perhaps bemused by being called 'Günther' for no apparent reason (or maybe irate instead; it is hard to guess emotional response from only two pupil-less eyes). "My name is not 'Günther'. I repre-"

"HAHahah, classhic Günther," Issac interrupted, cutting off the Runner before he lost control of the conversation. "Hey, barkeep, howsh about getting shomething wet for my friend here, huh? Like I whouldn't know my old friend..." Taking the drink from the bartender, Issac slipped a contact card under the napkin before setting the drink in-front of the man sitting next to him. "Woah," he exclaimed, looking at his watch, "ish that the time... Shorry man, but I goth to go meet another pal of mine..."

Shakily, he rose from the stool, stumbling forward and colliding with the Runner. "You know, my friend," Issac whispered with his head right next to the other gentleman's, all trace of the slur vanished, "next time you have your guns run surveillance on a bar, you should tell them to look up at the roof tops above them, as well..." Quickly getting back to his feet, swaying slightly, he grabbed his drink as he turned to go to a different area of the bar. "Hey, Günther," he said, the drunken slur back in full force, "you should shend me a messhage shometime. Lets get together again shoon..." Slowly he staggered away to hide in a dark corner of the bar and wait the last couple minutes before the Client made contact.....

[Sool777]

Elliot stuck a hand out infront of him to keep Issac from toppling into him, and also to scan his DNA and alcohol level. This man was not drunk, but Elliot played along. Letting the man order a drink for him, Elliot waited for any sign of this man's answer, then he found it. The man slid a card, some sort of contact card under the napkin of the drink, he did it to fast for anyone to see, but Elliot's helmet picked it up. As the man walked away Elliot knocked over the drink so it spilled right next. " Oh, sorry man." He said to the bartender, " I got it." Elliot wiped the napkin over the previous contents of the glass, making sure the napkin was soaked so no one would be able to read the card, then let the bartender take over. Elliot nodded at the bar tender then walked to his previous table in the corner of the bar and waited for his client to come.

[Redriak]

The Eye stepped into the bar at approximately 11:57 P.M., minutes before he was due to meet the client. This was exactly the impression that he wanted the client to have of him - early, but not too early. A good runner was to have that sense at all times. Hawk knew that. He allowed his right eye to settle into the entire blackness that his left was constantly in, and proceeded through the bar, looking out for anyone that might be suspicious. Ambushes were a reality in this world, and Hawk hadn't been stopped by an ambush yet.
Across the bar, a man flashed a light directly into Hawk's eye. The man had alarmingly lightly colored bleached-blond hair and numerous facial piercings. He was wearing a leather jacket and sat in a booth near the corner of the bar. Hawk knew that this was the person who would either be leading the ambush on him or telling him the details of his contract. Hawk proceeded to that area where the client sat. But something different was happening: the client was signaling to several other people throughout the bar...

---------

Jake was zooming down the street toward the Phoenix Down Bar, realizing that he had mere minutes left. Luckily, he had both the extension of time from his reaction stimulation and his speed. Slipping past the bouncer in the doorway easily as the bouncer realized that Jake was a Jet, Jake proceeded into the bar and immediately he began noting all of the people in the bar: Roxana Wilde, Isaac Daevison (Talyn, though Jake wasn't going to blow his cover - he knew that Talyn wasn't looking to make a scene) The Eye, and many more different high-status runners were in this bar. It was either an ambush or a very, very big mission. Jake ducked and wove through the crowd, making his way across the bar. Suddenly, he spotted a flash of light from a booth on the other side of the bar. He kept moving in that direction, knowing that this was the signal for a client. A veryveryvery big mission, no doubts. Jake thought, even thinking to himself at a speed faster than most people thought comfortable. He kept moving, still noting each of the runners in the bar.

[PantsTheReaper]

Min Li drummed his fingers on the table, his glass empty, his port stuffed in his bag, and his work done. How much longer until his client would be here? He briefly considered just leaving and remembering this as a ridiculous joke. All that was left was to find the sender of the email and ruin their lives. Identity theft, system failures, eventual homelessness, and anything else the man found necessary.

He stood up, but before he could step away he noticed something. He was being signaled by someone. He and several others. It was impossible to ignore the deliberate flashes of light in his eye. So he was part of a team, then. Min Li looked over to where the light was coming from. It was about time this job got started. He headed over to his client, who nodded in acknowledgment. Min Li nodded in return and leaned against a wall nearby.

[Sool777]

A bright light suddenly flashed into Elliot's eye as he sat down. Standing back up Elliot first let the blacked out glass that covered his eyeholes lower themselves back into place. Then he slowly walked toward the client, his HUD was displaying several things at once, the first thing, and the most important thing was it was giving him a live display of the quickest ways out of the bar, green lines constantly moving in correlation with his position and also alerting him of the people surrounding him. The second thing it was displaying was the image of Issac's business card, it read simply the name 'Talyn' a phone number and email address. The last thing was it was giving him background information on the client, everything read 'Unknown'. Elliot switched off the two images showing him the business card and the background information on the client. Elliot had spent years mastering focusing on many things at once but it still really hurt his eyes, not only that there was still the blue-green afterimage of the flashlight from when the client signaled him. Walking up to the client he put his hands against the table, discreetly also placing a bomb under. It was a small plastic explosive, but it was enough to blow half of the bar and give a distraction for him to make a quick escape. Elliot fully expected it was going to be discovered and dismantled by at least one Shadow, they were the only other ones with eye implants that could scan for it or pick up the motion that he had placed one there. Through his helmet Elliot then whispered, " Dont try anything. Channel 923.4312" after giving the client the frequency of his helmet Elliot went to sit back at his seat.

[Wattz]

Roxana had dully noted the entrance of the other individuals, unaware that they were runners. She raised an eyebrow at the sight of a sloppy drunk (she never understood why it was that people couldn’t hold their liquor properly) and the others coming in, yet she assumed that they were all simple patrons. Then a blonde man with a myriad of piercings entered, someone she probably wouldn’t have taken notice of. That is, if a little flash of light hadn't caught her eye.

Not to mention, he seemed to be signalling to others as well.

She blinked and folded her arms, leaning back to properly try to process the event. This was more than likely her client, but… were there other members on the team? That certainly hadn’t been mentioned in the message sent to her Roxana slowly got up from her chair and thundered towards him, along with many others. Even the drunk was included within the group, something she found most curious indeed. Roxana looked down at the blonde man and looked dully back at him, folding her arms once again. She would have taken a seat, but her form took up enough volume regardless, so instead she took to standing against the wall near the hacker, though in her mind he could have been any kind of Runner.

[GraftRaven]

Splicer was hit in the eye with a bright flash and almost dropped his glass. He set the drink down and angrily held his hand over his right eye, his ocular enhancements assisting in the search for the source, who was sitting in a booth not far away. Splicer quickly gained access too the computerized fire alarm system, ready to trigger it if something went south, then picked up his drink and walked past the table, casually dropping a napkin with a secure audio/video feed port number on it. He then took a seat in the booth next to the contact's and waived at a passing waitress for another drink as his was almost empty.

The other runners were slowly flocking to this part of the bar, not nocably enough for civilians to notice, but to any other runner it was like a neon sign. Splicer's tail absently reached up and started swirling the straw in his drink around in a circle while his hannds toyed with his pistol grips.

[erebus]

{The Phoenix Down}
Issac winced slightly and hurried to switch off the light amplification filters in his eyes as the Client blinded him with science (though, it probably had more to do with the flashlight). Taking a quick look around, he spotted the man sitting across the room from him, signaling other patrons around the bar. Though he thought one of the Jets looked slightly familiar, he really didn't recognize any of the other runners making their way over to the Client's table, apart from the metal man who had tried to hire him. Thinking it best to keep his act going for a little while longer, Issac downed the last bit of his drink, slowly got to his feet and, swaying as he walked, made his way over to the Client's table.

Worried about any sort of trap or "insurance" that the Client might be using, Issac stopped halfway over and switched the IR filter on once he got a clear view of the table, looking for any irregularities that would point out an explosive or a tripwire/pressure plate. Spotting a small, square hot-spot under the table, he magnified the image, immediately recognizing the profile of a reciever/blasting-cap combination detonator. Switching back to normal vision, he started looking for a way to surreptitiously disarm it, finding the first step leaning against a wall near a guy he assumed is a Hacker...

Walking along the wall, occasionally reaching out to steady himself on it, he reached the pair of runners leaning against the wall near the Client. "Hey, man," he muttered loudly, sidestepping around the Hacker, "e'scuse me." Suddenly, he stopped after he passed the lady Brute standing on the wall. Taking a step backwards to draw even with her, he looked sideways, finding himself face to chin with an imposingly looming figure. Slowly he tilted his gaze upwards till he was looking her in the eyes. "Woah...you're..really tall, lady..." he muttered, recoiling and stepping away from her. Walking backwards, while still staring, he stumbled over his own feet and fell to the ground right in-front of the table. Staying on his back momentarily, groaning slightly, he magnified the explosive, quickly committing the location of the detonator circuit to memory. Slowly, he rolled over, and used the table to pull himself up. As he got halfway up, he quickly yanked the circuit, palming the detonator and stuffing it in his pocket. As he got to his feet, he pulled his hand out of the pocket, now holding another contact card. Grinning sheepishly, he took a seat and handed the card to the man across the table. "Sorry 'bout that, quite a looker you've got o'er there. The name's Issac. I'm afraid my associate doesn't deal directly with clients, so he sent me to negotiate in his place."

[Sool777]

Back at his seat the inside of Elliot's helmet flashed red, the explosive device had been disabled. Tapping a button on his wrist he switched his helmet's HUD to view the what camera had been recording. He watched as he set the bomb up, then fast forwarded to how it was disabled, Issac. * He's good, there's no panicking so he must have done it without people noticing. I need Talyn though, not a resourceful man.* Switching back to normal view, Elliot walked up to the bar tender, " Yo, can i get a Eagleview Stout for my man over there?" Elliot pointed at Issac. " I really don't think that man need more of the good stuff, but ill do it anyways. " the bartender replied. Elliot nodded and left a few coins on the counter, then returned to his seat. The bartender snatched up the coins, jammed them into his pocket then walked over to the taps, looking down to find a Eagleview Brewery glass, he found it pretty easily. It had a flying eagle in between the words Eagleview and Brewery which were in bold red colors. The eagle between the words looked very similar to Eagle Corps' insignia, a profile of a flying eagle.

[Redriak]

Hawk slipped into the booth next to the client. "Good evening, sir. How are you doing?" He let his right eye's black cover lifted, revealing his right eye so he could scan his client better. There still showed no results for identification.
"If you're trying to find my name, you won't be successful. I don't technically exist." The client had a surprisingly clear voice, with a slight hint of an English accent.
Hawk's right eye blinked in surprise, his eyebrow raising. "Oh really? I bet that's convenient. Now, shall we begin talking through the mission?"
The man shook his head. "Not everyone has arrived. There is another member of your team who has yet to have shown himself, which is... Surprising. A man of his profession isn't normally late." He smiled to himself at the irony of the thought.
----------
A few seconds after the man's words were spoken, Jake slipped through the crowd, agilely sliding into the booth next to the dark figure of the Shadow - The Network profiled him as "Hawk Pierce, AKA The Eye" - and tapping his fingers on the table nervously. "Dowestart? What time do we start? What's the mission? Why are there so many run-"
Jake was cut off by the man with a raise of his hand. "That will all be explai-"
"Ihaven'tgotallnight, you know. Time's being wasted." Jake snapped in. His reaction stimulants simply made him more irritating in these situations.
The man gave Jake a glare, which in turn caused Jake to calm down and attempt to grasp the idea of patience.
The man switched something near his cheek - a microphone, Jake's eyes noted - and began to speak into it. "You may return to the table now. I want you to meet your team members. And I don't want this conversation scanned." The man also gestured to the other runners leaning against the wall nearby to come closer. The meeting was about to commence.

[erebus]

"You may return to the table now. I want you to meet your team members. And I don't want this conversation scanned."
"Uhh, excuse me, sir..." Issac snapped his head around to look at the new voice, spotting a rather nervous looking bartender standing next to the table, carrying a tray with a lovely looking pint on it. "You see, uhh, your friend from the bar..Günther, was it? Well, he ordered one of these for you, and said to bring it over here to you... Am I interrupting something?" Already tense from being across the table from an obvious Shadow, Issac forced himself to relax, putting on a reassuring grin. "Not at all, my friend. I was just sitting down to catch up with some pals of mine from work. I promise we'll try to keep from disturbing the rest of your patrons."

"Oh..umm...Well alright then. Here you are, sir, a pint of our finest Eagleview Stout," the bartender said, placing the glass on the table in front of Issac. "Your friend took care of the cost on this one, so don't worry about it being added to your tab... Hey, not to be a bother, but..uhh..are these guys--" "No, they aren't," Issac interrupted. "Are you sure, because they lo--" "No, they don't." "Hey, now, all I know is what I see, and they seem li--" "Look, pal, I swear to you, whatever you think my associates are, they most certainly are not. I also promise you that it is in your best interest right now to stop talking and just walk away. I'll drop by the bar on the way out to settle my tab." Briefly, the bartender stared at Issac with a slightly confused expression, quickly deciding against continuing that line of questioning, and walked back to behind the bar.

Slowly, Issac turned back to face the client and the runners seated next to him. "Please listen closely," he said with a soft, even tone, just loud enough for the Shadow across from him to hear, his eyes suddenly hard and without emotion, "working for a Shadow myself, I know how you people tend to function, and I promise you, if anything happens to that bartender, and it has anything to do with someone sitting at this table, my associate will be vastly less than pleased..."

Silently, he turned his attention to the emblem on the glass of stout sitting in front of him. Assuming it was a signal similar to the one he gave to the metal man, Issac started mentally running through the list of PMC's in his head, quickly recalling reports of a group referred to as the Eagle Corporation running ops in the greater Berlin area. Pondering what a member of the Eagle Corp would want with Talyn, Issac scooted over in the booth, making room for the rest of the Runners.

[Sool777]

"You may return to the table now. I want you to meet your team members. And I don't want this conversation scanned."

Elliot stood up as he heard the client's message in his helmet and walked over to the booth where the client was sitting. Elliot stared into the client's eyes for a second, waiting for his helmet's HUD to identify him and Elliot was surprised when his helmet came up with yet another "UNKNOWN". Taking a seat across from the client Elliot stared at the man for a moment, trying to sum up what kind of man this was. " Names Elliot Smith, you may know me as Eagle One, I'm here to represent Eagle Corporations."

[GraftRaven]

Splicer returned to the table, carrying a fresh rum and Coke, just in time to hear Elliot's introduction. He grabbed a chair from a nearby empty table and swung it around to face the booth at the end of the table. "You can call me Splicer, everyone does, and I represent myself." He sat down, locking off and destroying the used audio port. His tail slid under the table and began poking random people in the foot with no particular purpose. Splicer let out a small grin as he took a sip of his drink, ready to watch the reactions of those who were poked.

[Redriak]

"Now," The man said, looking around to each of the runners, "we shall begin."
He reached into his leather jacket and retrieved a HoloDisk - one of the recent advances in technology, light tech, to be specific - and tossed it out onto the table. It jumped to life and projected above the table an image of a woman's face.
Her voice emitted from the disk, "What data would you like to access, sir?"
The man smiled and replied, "The contract data for this mission."
The woman nodded. "I have it on file. I will access it momentarily." The woman's face disappeared suddenly, to be replaced by a view of a seemingly impenetrable fortress.
"This," The man said slowly, "is the headquarters of a certain weapons development corporation." He waved slowly at the HoloDisk, and it proceeded to change its projection to what appeared to be a weapon. The barrel of the weapon itself could have encompassed a pistol. "And this is their newest development in weaponry. It has brought about some... Practicality to the business of laser wea-"
"Soyouwantustostealit?" Excitement was building up inside Jake. He couldn't wait to get this done - he could smell a huge paycheck, and a great adrenaline rush from the mission.
The man sighed and glared at Jake again. "I don't want you to steal the weapon, I want you to steal the plans. I want you all to use your combined skills to sneak into this facility - the Parmann and Hall Weapons Development Facility - and take their plans for this revolutionary weapon. I would advise you to use caution in this mission, but it doesn't matter to me. I don't exist. You all, however, should keep your guards up. If you all survive and are not identified, I may hire you for future jobs." The man leaned back in the booth and put his palms down on the table, the image of the huge laser cannon still hanging in the air in the midst of the runners. "Of course, that also depends on whether you agree to take this mission." The man retrieved his HoloDisk and shut it off, putting it back inside his jacket. "So?"
Hawk sighed. He needed the money that this would pay - he hadn't had a job in a little while. He was intrigued by the mission. Most of all, though, he was intrigued by this man. "I'll go." Hawk raised his hand.
A fraction of a second after Hawk announced his allegiance with the group, Jake did the same. His heart rate had elevated simply thinking about this mission, and the amount of money it would pay. Certainly a lot for this big of a mission. "I'lldoit." Jake raised his hand as well.
"Very well," The man smiled, "are there any more interested in the offer?"

[PantsTheReaper]

Min Li slid a chair to the table and sat down. "My name is Min Li Ng," he announced, his accent heavy, but not completely obscuring his words. "I am interest in this job of yours. But I will need more information. Where do they keep the plans? In an estimate, how heavy is the resistance? What type of security do they have? How well armed are they?" He glanced at the people around him. "And who else am I working with?"

[Sool777]

" I'm in, but i have two questions, who will be leading our team-" Elliot stopped as he was poked in the foot, by some foreign object. He promptly stomped down on it, trapping it, and ground his foot into the ground with the object underneath. Surprisingly the object stayed intact, however Elliot kept his foot down, trapping it. " As I was saying who will be leading the team, and are you after the services of Eagle Corps. or Elliot Smith." Elliot had previous clients offer jobs to him but Elliot had declined them all. He liked working with Mike, the shadow he had lost in the last mission, and worked well with him as well as the others on his team. Mike wasn't replaceable as a partner, and Elliot would not, under normal circumstances, even think about doing a job without Mike, but Mike was gone now. One shot in the head at point blank range, Elliot still had mixed feelings about the event. Pausing for a second thinking over what else he wanted to ask he thought of one last thing," And yes what this man here said," Elliot jerked his head at Min Li," who are we working with?"

[Wattz]

Roxana watched the drunk’s spectacle with wide eyes and a raised eyebrow, unamused by his actions. She didn’t catch him tearing the device from the table, nor did she even remotely suspect that he could be useful for anything. She was at least glad that he was only a representative for the Runner that had been called, but if the other guy was anything like Isaac, well… Roxana would be less than pleased. Generally, she preferred working with capable people.

She’d been hired many times to assist other Runners, so working as a team was hardly new to her. Sometimes all a brute was good for was backup, and the occasional assassination. She went wherever was necessary, and rarely turned down a job.

Roxana only had one thing to say about the whole thing. What she had to say was short, sweet, and just about the only thing that really mattered to her.

“How much you pay? I ain’t goin’ for a high stakes job without good money.”

[Redriak]

x

[Redriak]

The man answered each of the questions quickly and concisely. "I am looking simply for Elliot Smith. I've looked through the rest of the agents of the Eagle Corps, and I'm not interested in any of them. Were your partner still alive - my condolences for that - I may have chosen him over my friend Hawk, here." The man gestured at Hawk, whose now completely black eyes seemed to stare nowhere and everywhere, all at once.
"However, that was not the case, and unfortunately, I am asking for simply Elliot Smith. Next, regarding who you will be working with. Look around. Each of the runners around you will be your partners for the upcoming mission, should you accept. I've spent a good while measuring your skills and abilities to choose the very best for this mission.
"Mr. Min Li, those of you with current access to The Network shall receive information such as blueprints and resistance estimation at each part of the facility as soon as you accept the mission. I will also be giving you a plan as to the infiltration of the building and your escape.
"And now to what I believe may be the core influence on your decision of whether you will accept or decline. The pay. You are all mercenaries of a sort, no? And your activities - your very profession - is considered to be illegal in many cases. Therefore, you will all desire the proper monetary compensation. The current standing offer for payment to each one of you would be 10,000 Credits and the possibility of future contracts from me."

[Hunter]

Tsuki,after spacing out forgetting about her client,noticed a flash of light,shining towards her eyes.As reaction she quickly pulled her hood,more over her eyes.It must be my client. she assumed as she stood up,quietly and made her way towards the source of light.After squeezing though all the half-drunken men and women in the crowd,she noticed a person,sitting along with plenty other people.

"Heh,so it's one of those 'team runners'" she nodded to herself.She noticed the client pull out something from it's jacket as she walked towards the table keeping her distance at least five feet from the table full of unknown people she presumed she had to work with.Unnoticed,she leaned her back against the wall listening in on her mission.

She watched as the item the client pulled out came into 3-D.Scanning the weapon that showed up on her removable eye piece,she stored the image in a file so she'd know what to go after.She listened in as the man explained the mission until the very end.She stood up,walking towards the table,now a feet away from the rest.

"I'll join ye" she agreed as she crossed her arms.She now stood behind a chair as she held her head high,scanning her new 'team' over her hood.All she thought of is 'money' and 'payday'.She would do anything,in fact,she was actually down to her last 100.Her job as a Jet wasn't going to well because now a days her clients didn't need Jet but this job was suitable for her.

[PantsTheReaper]

Min Li closed his eyes. There was a lot of money in this job. More jobs in the future, too. He had a team, and if the pay was anything to go by, a damn good one. He looked at the client. "I will do your job," he said. "10,000 credits, correct? That is a lot of money. But if the job is harder than 10,000, I will maybe charge 500 or 1,000 more. But I accept so far."

[Sool777]

Elliot nodded and seemed to contemplate the mission for awhile, in reality he had muted his helmet and was talking to his Eagle Corps team. " Eagle 1 to all units, fall back to position delta, by the construction site, this mission is for me alone.Over." "Roger that, all units falling back." replied his hacker. " Good luck out there man, all units in cab, moving out. Over and out." Elliot turned off the mute on his helmet, "I'll take the mission."

[erebus]

Issac simply sat back as the Client spoke and made his offer, gazing thoughtfully at the pint in front of him. Silently, he listened intently as the other runners made their questions known and the Client responded to each, in turn. Suddenly, the brief mention of the recent forced personnel change in Eagle Corps made him snap his full attention to the speaker, smirking slightly at the remark about the Shadow across from him. Shifting his gaze slowly, he glanced at the metal man, who seemed to be one Elliot Smith, the de facto field ops leader of the Corps, then back to the drink he had been given. His thoughts a whir, Issac recalled the series of events leading up to that moment, suddenly making the now obvious connections. Where he had thought he was being hired for some dull surveillance op, he realized that he had just received an invitation to be considered for a spot on Elliot's team. "It would certainly be a boost, from a purely financial standpoint," he mused silently, "to be a regular member of a team. But, I get the impression they wouldn't appreciate the Issac/Talyn distinction very much, and I'm not sure I'm ready to let that particular cat out of that specific bag just yet... Still, it's something to consider." He also pondered the timing of the arrival of the beverage before him. Considering the pains this Client was going through to help make sure this motley crew of runners was comfortable, the idea that he would have a small explosive under the table just didn't seem to make sense in Issac's mind. Thinking back once more, he thought he recalled seeing Elliot leaning up against the table before he made his check. "I suppose I wouldn't put it past a merc squad leader to add his own insurance to a meeting like this," he thought to himself, "but that still doesn't explain the drink... Unless..maybe he was impressed?"

"10,000 Credits and the possibility of future contracts from me." Issac's attention snapped back out of his daze at the mention of money. Though, for some reason, he had been hoping for more, he'd also certainly done far more for vastly less. Considering the cost of the repairs to his custom equipment that he had been neglecting lately, not to mention the cost of having to make his own ammunition, Issac quickly decided that this was most certainly not an opportunity to pass up. "Besides," he thought wryly, "if nothing else, it'll be a good chance to see how this Elliot guy operates and to figure out if I want to join up..."

"Well, I'm not so sure what my associate will think of the group accommodations for this op, seeing as the last team he was in didn't work out so well for him," Issac said, speaking up for the first time since the meeting began. "However, I'm certain that he'd find the challenge of what you are proposing to be most interesting. As such, I will formally accept your offer on his behalf, and I won't even insult you by trying to haggle over the price," he said, glancing sidelong at the hacker who had spoken before him. "Please understand, though, that due to his preference for anonymity, all further contact with Talyn will be made through myself, including arrangement of payment after the op and any negotiations that might occur based on future contracts. I'm sure I speak for both of us when I say that we look forward to working with you..."

[Wattz]

Roxana had far less to think about on the matter now. The amount of credits was satisfactory for sure, and with the promise of more money from this client in the future, she would be more than on board. She had expected far less, for she was used to accepting far less. Maybe, just maybe she’d been cheated out of her money on her past jobs. 10,000 credits… there sure was a lot of money to be had in six zeros. Or was it five? Six? Five? Four? Five?

Ah, to hell with it.

“I’m in,” she said in her usual raspy voice. Roxana nodded and lazily waved a hand. She didn’t look as interested in the deal as she actually was, but she’d never been very good at expressing emotion. She looked downright bored right now, her eyelids blinking slowly over her eyes and her arms folded across her chest.

[Redriak]

"Very well," The man said, "I have sent the blueprints of the building via email to you. There are also directions on where you will all be meeting me again for the final organization of the mission. I am entrusting you with the majority of the planning, being that you are the professionals, and not me. If there is no other question on the matter, I bid you all good day."
The man rose from the booth and slipped away into the crowd, leaving quite abruptly, as though there was an appointment he needed to get to, or someone he needed to avoid.
In any case, the man was gone entirely, leaving the group in an awkward silence.
The first to respond was Jake, whose reaction stimulant prevented him from sitting still at all as soon as the meeting ended. He stood suddenly and shot out of the booth, slipping through the crowd and out of the bar, searching through his emails as he ran, finding the email and reading its contents as he ran.
--------------
Hawk remained in the booth, sitting and thinking over the mission. This was a lot of money, but... He felt a little uncomfortable about the mission. He'd accepted mostly because it was a huge opportunity, but now he had a sickening feeling in his stomach that something might go wrong.
He sincerely hoped otherwise.
He decided he'd better head home and check his email and prepare for whatever plan they decided on. He stood up and crossed the bar, exiting and walking down the street in the direction of his apartment.
The email had a very detailed layout of the building. It had a total of one hundred and twenty floors and each of them looked relatively similar, save for the topmost floor - an observation deck, the lobby, and the basement. The weapon was marked as being in the basement - the weapon-holding facilities were located down there. But the weapon itself was not the target. The security center was located on the second floor. The data for the production of the weapon itself, however, was on the twenty-fifth floor. It seemed to be noted as the center of information for the weapons production section of the facility.
There was a second page of the file. This showed all of the ventilation shafts and wiring throughout the building, electric or otherwise.
This was definitely a good start.
The final line of the email detailed where exactly they were to meet and when. Tomorrow night - or, rather, tonight - in another bar at the corner of Bismarck and Juli, about three blocks away from the mission site.

[erebus]

Issac sat silently in the booth, appraising each of the runners that remained, in turn. Well, that jet is going to get annoying fast. I suppose he could make a good distraction though, and we could find out if jets really are 'faster than a speeding bullet,' he mused silently, turning his attention to the others. This other jet seems fairly stable, though. But I wonder if the calm remains when the fighting starts... As for the brute, she'll certainly come in handy, so I guess I might should apologize for earlier. It probably wouldn't help matters to have a runner on the team who could break a rifle in half angry at me, or Talyn by extension. Luckily, brutes don't seem to need much more direction than 'Face this way; go forth and kill', so I doubt she'll be too hard to handle... The hackers could take some careful management, though. Every hacker I've had the misfortune to work with has been a bit of an egotistical prick who was far too self assured in the capabilities of his code, so we'll have to keep a close eye on them, to make sure they don't start trying to 'improve' the other's code... I've got high hopes for this Elliot person, but, so help me, if he pulls another trick like he did with the explosive, we might start having problems. I guess I should also remember to set up that meeting with him... Finally, Issac turned to consider the shadow seated across from him. Watching as the runner stood and made his way out of the bar, he decided to withhold judgment on the assassin until he'd seen the guy at work. I guess there's one last thing for me to do before I leave...

Issac reached across the table and grabbed one of the napkins off the end. Opening it up, he pulled a pen out of his pocket and quickly scrawled out a note on the inside of the napkin..

Sorry about breaking your toy, pal, but friends don't let friends blow up a bar full of civilians. Especially while I'm still in it.
Before the other runners got a chance to read the note, Issac quickly stashed the pen back in his pocket and palmed the detonator he had stashed in there earlier, wrapping it in the napkin. Silently, he got to his feet and made his way out of the booth, dropping the 'package' in Elliot's lap, briefly stopped by the bar to settle his tab, then headed for home.

[PantsTheReaper]

Min Li assessed the situation. On one hand, he had to know with his team. On the other, there was his team. A Brute. Idiots every single one of them. Their first instinct was always "smash moving thing". A few had cost him jobs. There were two Jets, who were impatient pests who couldn't stand still and pay attention. The first one he worked with had killed himself because he forgot the plan. After that, all the other jets were nothing more than decoys to him. Two Shadows as well. Useful lookouts and the best snipers, if conceited. And lastly, a Gun. The most reliable of the bunch. At best, excellent soldiers and jacks of all trades. At worst, free decoys and cannon fodder.

He copied the blueprints to his port and sent another copy to his data safe. After that, he bid good night to his team mates and left.

[Wattz]

The jet named Jake moved almost too fast for Roxana to process properly, at least while her mind was focused on other things. She blinked slowly when he left, trying to realize why it was that the table seemed different. Roxana had yet to realize the jet had fled off, and it was unlikely that she would ever care enough to process it. The brute was still surveying the rest of the team, though not in much depth. Runners were all the same, carbon copies of one another, carved to fit into their respective molds. Truthfully, this was the easiest way for Roxana to view the world. Made things infinitely easier.

The drunk scrawled on a napkin before heading off and the Hacker at her side left as well. There was really no reason for her to stay around any longer. Without a word to the others (she really wasn’t well-versed in the etiquette of forced interaction), she pushed away from the wall and thundered out of the bar, ducking when she came to the entrance and left. Roxana planned on checking her email, but it was unlikely she’d understand the bulk of it. She was quite used to be instructed on site.

[Sool777]

Elliot stood up and slid the 'package' into his pocket without looking down. Then, swiftly he turned on his heels and walked out of the room, the blueprints of the building saved in his helmet's HUD. It looked like everyone else was worried, or at least wondering how the this team of so many different people could work this mission out, however Elliot wasn't, this was his natural environment and also where he excelled. Already working out what jobs, and where to place everyone Elliot entered the Eagle Corporation's safe house 2 blocks down from the bar, here he started doing real planning and checking all his firearms (which there were plenty) and made sure that they were mission ready. Then, remembering the 'package' in his pocket he the napkin wrapping it, finding his small, yet powerful explosive inside. Elliot smiled, reading the note attached to it, Tayln had passed the first test, without even being there. Good associates normally signaled a good operator and Elliot was quite aware that Talyn's agent had obvious talent.

[Hunter]

Tsuki watched as most of her new comrades left the booth only getting a quick glance of the ones who rushed out to look at the blue prints.The people who remained seemed to be studying the classes of the rest.Tsuki thought of learning what their abilities were but as a young child,one old woman age approximately 58 once told her 'it is rude to judge a book by it's cover.Their looks can deceive ones eye'.

Not knowing what else to do in the bar,she decided to go home maybe stopping by some shop for a snack to eat.She swiftly moved through the crowd,dodging every elbows that shoved and bodies that were unbalanced and drunk.In the matter of minutes,she was in the heart of the town peering though glass windows for food.Soon,she she noticed that all the shop except for bars.Sighing,she returned home.

Tsuki opened her house door and locked it behind her as she walked in.She took of her cloak,dropping it onto the floor and making her way to where she last left her computer.She sat down and looked at her email.She clicked the new mail that she received from her client.She plugged in her device for her eyes that seemed to be a green lens.She downloaded the blueprint onto the lens making it easy for her to study the building.

[Redriak]

((Sorry guys! I had a busy week or so, so I wasn't really able to post for a while. Nephews and nieces tend to tie up a schedule sometimes))

The clock noiselessly flicked to the new time. It was the time. Jake sat up. He had spent a total of three hours going over his plans in his head, over and over and over again until he was certain there were absolutely no flaws in this plan. He grabbed his coat and sped out of his apartment to the meeting place. He hoped the plan would go smoothly.

------------

Hawk watched his feet hit the concrete, one after another, as he walked down the street. He was a few blocks from the corner where the group was to meet. What's the plan again? He traced the steps of his plan several times as he watched his feet touch the concrete of the sidewalk. Almost there. Almost there. He let his steps give the thought a rhythm. Al-most the-re. Al-most the-re. It passed the time as he walked.

[Hunter]

Tsuki grabbed her small bag and filled it with items she thought she needed.She had tied her claw blade tightly to her belt making sure it was not going to fall and she had placed her eye lens resting on her ear,making it easier for her to use it.After minutes , she had finished packing and walked towards her door where a coat hanger stood beside it.She took her black cloak,putting it on herself then putting the hood over her head.She stepped outside of her house and locked the door behind her as she walked down the stair case and onto the pathway.

She began to walk closer and closer towards the 'meeting area' where she expected her new comrades to be waiting.The 'meeting place' came to her view and sighed thinking It's either I'm late and they had left me or I'm way to early.She looked around seeing no one from her team has arrived.Let's just hope that I'm early.she added to her thought and as stopped at the place.She leaned against the wall with her arms crossed and head down waiting for the others.

(( I'm going to be off on week days.Feel free to control my character or move on without me.I'm sure I'll find a way to pop back in.))

[Wattz]

Roxana hadn’t thought much about the plans after she’d left the bar. She viewed the job just as any other, where she would stand there until she was needed. That was the beautiful thing about being a brute. Excessive work was unnecessary. Roxana just went through the motions, as she always did: a big hunk of clockwork, as if programmed by the smaller ones. Though she was limited in that she had no technological add-ons, Roxana functioned much like a machine in and of herself. And currently, as the man had directed, she would head to the meeting place and arrive on time. Little to no thought required.

It was to the point where she actually arrived exactly on time. If there was one thing Roxana was excellent at, it was punctuality. Though another individual was already there, the little one named Tsuki, who was early by her clock. She was leaning against a wall, looking casually around. Roxana didn't know whether she should say something or not. Her thundering advance came to a sudden stop, staring down at her fellow runner, though they might as well have been entirely different species. Roxana blinked, she gazed, she stood still like a rock, with all of her movements accompanies by an awkward silence. All of this just to decide on whether or not she should say a single word.

Case in point, just another reason why she hated thinking. Took way too long.

[Hunter]

Tsuki felt another presence near by.When she looked straight ahead she saw a brute.She wasn't sure what her name was.She never was great at remembering names or code-names.She sighed silently to herself as the brute towered over her.Tsuki looked up,seeming that she was as tall as a building.The brute looked down on her as Tsuki looked up at her emotionless face,not knowing if she should do anything.

After looking straight at her dull face for a whole three minutes of awkwardness,she finally decided to talk since the brute was not going to talk any time soon.

"Hey...." she greeted in a sort of low voice,still looking at her.

Tsuki wasn't sure if it was a good idea even saying one word,yet alone starting a conversation with a brute.She always figured brutes are all about body building and strength.In that case,Tsuki thought if the brute and her had gotten into a fight,she would have been killed by just stepping on her.Yet again,she could run from a fair distance away from her.It all depended on who went first.

Pushing the thought away,she waited for a reply not knowing if she even would get any.

[Redriak]

Jake arrived at the meeting place moments after Tsuki finished her sentence. Still in a frenzy from his run, he began spitting sentences out almost incomprehensibly. "Whereiseveryonewhere'stheclientwhatarewedoingwhat' stheplan?"
When he realized that only two others were here, he sat down, a little embarrassed, and began checking his equipment. His eye implants seemed to be working well - they profiled Tsuki and Roxanne easily enough. They were a jet and brute, respectively. The jet had implants. Jake almost scowled, but stopped himself. He would be working with this girl. He couldn't disagree with everything she did.
Jake continued on to check his sunglasses. They seemed to fit well enough, and framed his face nicely. Not that they had anything to do with the mission's success, just that they made him look good while he was doing it. They were also bullet-proof, but that didn't make a huge difference - they just protected the expensive implants in his eyes.
Finally, he checked the smoothness of the extraction of his blades - his Lightning. They called him Bolt for more than just his speed. These electrically enhanced blades could stun a rhinoceros for five minutes, more than long enough to get past them. The blades exited their pockets in his lower sleeves quite well. All he had to do was a simple, but precise, flick of his wrist, and they would fall out of his sleeves and into his hands.
After a few minutes of this, Jake concluded that he was ready. If only the rest of the crew would arrive.
-----------
Hawk took the last few steps down the street before reaching the meeting point. Three had gathered here so far: the two jets and the brute. Hawk wondered to himself why such a large group was chosen. Surely this job wouldn't be that hard. He could probably steal the weapon plans alone.
Hawk dismissed the idea. This was a team job, and he wouldn't do the bulk of the work. Perhaps they could just put the brute in bulletproof armor and have her charge in? That would be an amusing sight to see.
Hawk withdrew his weapons and began observing them, making sure all of the mechanics flowed smoothly. They did. He strung Lucifer across his back once more and placed Andarius in its holster at his side.
The Eye sighed. Time appeared to be moving incredibly slowly. He looked over at the more energetic jet, the boy. He guessed that the kid had a stimulant implanted - other jets didn't seem to talk as fast or have as much of a problem sitting still. Hawk wondered how slowly time seemed to move for him. Irritatingly slowly, in all likelihood. Hawk leaned back and closed his eyes. He hoped this wouldn't be a long wait.

[Sool777]

Elliot Smith was traveling light, or what he called light. His standard assault rifle slung over his back, his large pre-unification pistol, and his many hidden blades. He managed to pull off carrying all of these plus some extras, such as explosives, and still appear sleek, one would mistake him for a shadow if not for the very large machine gun he carried as he walked up the street to the meeting place, that was if you saw him of course. He stuck to the shadows and was almost invisible, the fact that all his equipment was black probably also helped. Elliot checked his watch, not that he needed it as his HUD had the exact time on it but he like the old fashioned digital watch better. He was 10 minuets early, he scanned the area with his helmet and located, and highlighted at least 20 escape routes with his HUD. Finally creeping out of his hiding spot Elliot walked calmly to the where a few other operators were standing, nodding his head a all of them, a universal greeting.

[Wattz]

Roxana tilted her head to the side as the little runner spoke first, but she didn’t have much of a chance to respond before the hyperactive jet jumped into place. Her eyes grew wide and raised one eyebrow as a longwinded sentence came spilling forth from the runner’s mouth. She twisted her lips into a confused sort of half frown before scratching her head, hardly able to recall what words that the jet had spewed.

“Calm down, little man.” She had almost forgotten that she had yet to respond to the other jet, the female. “Ain’t no reason to flip a bitch over nothin’.” Roxana wasn’t sure if it was the implant that made him so jumpy or not, but she figured it would get annoying fairly quick.

Then she turned her head back to the other jet, realizing that she had said something earlier. What was it that they had been talking about? Had they been in the middle of a conversation? Oh yeah, introductions.

“Hey,” she said simply in response, a late reaction, especially given the interruption by the jittery one. Then another runner slinked out of the shadows, the gun from before, with… well, a huge rifle slung onto his back. It was strange how stealthy he could be, even with the enormous weapon. What was his name again? El… something. She was amazed she had remembered that much. No matter. She’d catch on soon enough.

She was grateful for the simple nod as a reply. Roxana returned the gesture with ease.

[Hunter]

Tsuki watched as more people have arrived at the meeting point.When the brute had finally spoke,she decided not to talk anymore in case it brought any trouble.She turned her head to the side,examining the other jet that seemed jumpy very energetic than herself.She looked at him,head to toe and then looked to the opposite side,seeing another comrade.She had used her lens to zoom in on him and search some data.She had gathered that this so called Elliot Smith was a gun although Tsuki would have guessed that from his appearance.

Tsuki continued to look on the ground,looking at the dirt that was covering most of her shoes.She sighed,knowing that she should not have went here too early.Most of her time with her new team mates were filled with silence and awkwardness.

[Redriak]

Hawk looked around at all the others gathered. "Well," he said, "what's all your names?" He figured that as long as he was going to be working with them, he would need to know their names. He allowed the second eyelid to fall over his electrobiotic eye, making both of his eyes entirely black as he waited.

[Hunter]

Tsuki turned her head to the source of the voice.She let a bit of her hood cover most of her eyes as she looked at him.After a minute examining him,she decided to introduce herself.

"Tsuki....My name is Tsuki." she replied.

She already knew a little bit of her comrades,the rest were marked nameless to her.She had no clue what the other Jet name.She figured that she would learn their names sooner or later.

[Redriak]

Hawk nodded and smiled, holding his hand out to Tsuki. "I'm Hawk. Some call me 'The Eye'. And I'll assume you're a jet?" He opened his second eyelid to reveal his electrobiotic eye and winked.

[Hunter]

Tsuki smiled as Hawk introduced himself.She glanced at his hand as he held it out to her.She let her right arm out of her cloak that covered almost all of her body to shake his hand.Her pail arm reached for his as she shuck it.

"Nice to meet you,Hawk." she smiled and nodded.
"And Yes,I am indeed a jet." she replied,knowing Hawk was a shadow.

Tsuki thought most of her team mates were stuck up.She was mostly surprised as Hawk seemed like a nice gentle man.Though she always knew she should not judge a book by it's cover.

[Redriak]

Hawk let his smile turn into a grin. "Glad to see not everyone here is too stuck up to talk."
Turning to the other jet - the one with the obvious stimulants, he asked, "What's your name?"

----------

Jake looked at Hawk speculatively. Thinking that it was pointless to say anything else, he simply said, "Jake," and turned away.

----------

"It's nice to meet you, Jake. I'm Hawk." The Eye said slowly as Jake turned away.
The conversation was obviously over. Way to be shunted, Hawk thought to himself as he began relaxing again. This was beginning to become a bore.

[Hunter]

Tsuki nodded to Hawks agreement.She retrieved her hand and made go back to it's original place.When Hawk asked the man known as "Jake" she looked at him at he corner of her eye.She let her lens examine him and gathered basic information about him.Another Jet,Eh? she thought.Looks like I have to work with him.........or maybe not. she added.

[erebus]

The silence of the dark, lonely streets was broken only by the sharp clicking of combat boots on pavement, the soft swishing of a trench coat in the breeze, and the muttered curses of a runner who had accidentally slept a little too long and was now running a few minutes late. "Crapcrapcrapcra-woah!!" Issac muttered as he slid on a wet patch while running around the last corner before the meeting place, almost tumbling to the ground as his heavy duffel bag threw him off balance. Skidding to a halt, he stopped just out of sight of the meeting place, trying to catch his breath and glancing at his wrist computer to see just how late he was. Breathing heavily, he stepped into the shadows of the nearby alleyway and opened up his bag. Silently, he took off his coat, revealing his running gear underneath, and folded it neatly, placing it into his duffel. Leaving his rifle and side arm in the bag for the moment, he briefly checked the tightness of his gear harness before taking his mask and HMD, pulling them over his head and checking the functionality of the headset before sliding it up from his eyes. Convinced that everything was in order and fully embracing his runner persona, Talyn zipped up his bag, hefted it to his shoulder, stepped out of the alleyway and began walking to the meeting place, keeping to the shadows as he went.

He made it to the meeting place just as the others were finishing their introductions. Making a quick head count, Talyn noticed that neither of the hackers had shown up. Perhaps not a terrible loss, but it would have been nice to have someone who was good with computers on this, he thought as he approached the group. Hmm... I suppose I should drop the clueless act at this point. Though, on the other hand, I quite like screwing with these people... Perhaps I'll try out that Old Irish accent I've been working on lately.

"It's nice to meet you, Jake. I'm Hawk."

Talyn stepped out of the darkness as his fellow Shadow was snubbed by the excessively hyper Jet. "Well then, lad," he said to the assassin, in a soft Irish lilt, as he got closer, "it seems not ev'ry one can appreciate the fin'r pleasantries of conversation, eh? The name's Talyn, by the by, and judgin' by that wee pea shooter you're clutchin' I'm guess'n that you're the other Shadow on this fool's errand. 'Tis a right pleasure to meet ya' and may I ne'er have to see you thru my scope... As for you, lass," he said, turning to the calmer of the two Jets, "if I had to guess, I'd say you must be Tsuki. I've heard rumors about your work, and I hope you'll take a bit 'o pity on this old man, and not be leavin' me in the dust too oft'n."

Grinning mischievously under the mask, Talyn left the two bemused runners to their thoughts as he continued his rounds of introductions, walking over to the looming Brute. "Ah, and you must be the Brute my associate mentioned. I really must apologize for his antics last night at the meeting. I'm afraid he can act a wee bit touched from time to time, considerin' he's got a bad habit of tryin' to keep people off bal'nce when he's not in control of a situation. Regardless, I promise you, he can keep his liquor far bet'r than he let on..." Turning to face the armor-clad Gun, he began walking towards the merc commander. "And as for you, my friend, well, you need no introduction, Mr Smith. My associate has told me quite a deal about you, and I'll admit that I'm a wee bit intrigued. I 'aven't been much one for team gigs, 'specially not long term ones, in ages, but maybe it's time I got myself a regular racket. However, there be a couple 'o things you best know first, if you're gonna offer me the position. First off, you ought know that while I might be interested in a regular contract, I already had a team once, and I'm certainly not lookin' to replace them. The other thing you should know is that, 'aving seen the end result of far too many forgotten land-mines, I'm no fan of the irresponsible use of explosives," he said, lowering his voice to a whisper and leaning in close. "So help me, if you keep pullin' the same feckin' trick I'm told you pulled in the bar, and we keep 'aving to clean up after you, you and I might just have a problem..."

[Sool777]

Under his helmet Elliot smiled, * Ah.. so this is the famous Talyn it seems. Irish accent? Yea right.* The truth was that the Elliot wouldn't be able to tell the difference, the man could hold a accent, but not one that could fool state of the art microphones that were tracking the sound waves coming out of the man's mouth. There was a wavering variation that indicated he was under much stress and anxious, or that it wasn't his real voice. *I guess I'll play along, no harm done in that.*

" Ah, so you must be this Talyn I keep hearing about," Elliot said in his very American accent, " That little 'trick' was one, a test of your associate, and two, a backup plan had things gone south. I assure you there was never any danger. A bonus, your associate passed my so called 'test' with flying colors, not that this matters but good associates are a sign of a good operator. I look forward to working with you on this mission."

Elliot looked around for a second, taking in his surroundings as his HUD ID'd the runners present, " Where are my manners, though im sure most of you know who I am, the name's Elliot Smith, I'm a Gun, as you may have guessed. And a brought along a loaner if anyone needs one." Elliot nodded at the large machine gun that he had leaning against him. It resembled a pre-unification M60 machine gun, however it was more sleek, had a bipod attached at the front and the magazine design was different.

[Wattz]

“Roxana.” She nodded as she spoke her name to the group, glad that they were all repeated once again. It was easier for her to remember things when they were reiterated often. But as standoffish as she was, she hoped that this whole awkward rendezvous would just end so the mission could be over. Get in, get out, get paid. Roxana had no reason to be forced into social situations.

The little man who came up, speaking in some kind of hyperactive, Irish lilt seemed to think otherwise, however. Or perhaps that was just in his nature, to talk everyone’s ear off, to cozy up to them. Said his name was Talyn, and went shooting his mouth off to everyone with so much gusto it was overwhelming.

“The what?” Roxana responded numbly as Talyn apologized for the night before, or at least, on behalf of his associate, the one that had stumbled around like a drunken idiot, not that Roxana much knew how to respond to. What reason was there to apologize for another individual’s stupidity?

Not that Roxana had many rights to talk about another’s intelligence.

Finally she shrugged and rolled her eyes upwards lazily. “Ain’t got no reason to ‘pologize. He ain’t here, ‘nyways.”

The brute hardly noticed the exchange between Talyn and the Gun, Elliot. Their mumbling when in one ear and out the other, always blissfully unaware.

“Wish th’ client’d get here. Ain’t no use, standin’ ‘round.”