World Tree MUSH

    Night City
    Northside Docks
    Joja Corporation Warehouse

    Claire's contacted Rebecca to put together a crew to infiltrate and steal shipping manifests. She hasn't explained why. Security is supposed to well-equipped, courtesy of a deal with Militech, but green. Half off-world and unfamiliar with the culture and customs of Night City. Half locals who aren't trusted by the company. The divide is apparently a source of friction.

    Claire has gotten a local motorbike, parked out of sight from the warehouse but nearby. She's brought a basket full of fresh apricots, and she's eating one while she waits for the others to show up. Slingshot and sword are both packed away inside the bike's storage.

    Claire called Becca. Becca rounded up a posse. And soon enough the shorty solo arrives at the docks, a duffel bag packed full of guns stuffed slung under one arm.
    "Yo yo yo yo yo, Claire, long time no talk, choom, where ya been and can I nick one of those apricots?"
    Leave it to someone who's only eaten kibble and SCOP for so long to want a real treat.

    Earlier:
    <Up and down, up and down, music's playin', tonight we are awake! This is why we fuckin' hate mondays!> blip. "Scavenger... yeah? What's the pay? Fine, I'll be there." bip.

    Present: Another local motorbike comes trundling up, the high pitched whine of it's CHOOH2 engine cycling down as the rider shuts it off, trundles to a stop and kicks out the stand near to Claire. The rider's helmet obscures their face, but the whip-like tail, and the oversized cleaver blade on their back would betray who they are before the helmet is removed.

    Scavenger shakes her hair out, ears flicking as they perk back up from being flattened inside the helmet, then flattening back out into their normal 'grumpy' position, splayed out to match her ever-present frown.

    Answering the call of work, totally not adventure or any such thing, Marceline likewise has sourced a motorcycle. Hers looks like it has seen better days. The bare steel is discolored, the painted bits look recently re-sprayed and there's a bandaid of all things on the gas tank. The motor grumbles as she lets go of the throttle and coasts to a stop, booted feet scraping pavement. Course, she's got a full face helmet on and the visor is blacked out but there's no mistaking all that dark hair. Right? Probably.

    Anyway, she inclines her helmeted head before sparing a glance upward. Sun? No sun? Whatever, we're probably under something's shadow for the moment, so she pulls off her cover.

    "Yo, peeps. What's the good word? Bad biz with s'more of these big orgs?"

    Claire tosses Becca an apricot before the question is even over. "Yeah, farm fresh. Figured I'd bring some treats while we wait for our moment." She starts to get her gear out of storage and strap it on. "Been spending most of winter working hard to get some work done that I couldn't automate. Cleared up two more fields. Then of course I had to spend early spring getting the fields prepped and seeds sown, but things are growing steady now." She offers an apricot to Scavenger and Marceline too when they arrive.

    "So new shift arrived fifteen minutes ago, they're currently changing over. Old shift should be leaving just after midnight." Claire explains the situation, "Plan is simple. Guards at our entry point are locals. Guards they report to are off world. Reports say off worlders don't trust the locals, so they'll probably assume that if the locals missing a check-in is just incompetence rather than a problem. We go in, grab the papers, and get out before they realize something has gone wrong." She looks to the others, "Sound good?"

    Scavenger accepts the offer wordlessly, biting into the fruit with a thoughtful look into the middle distance.

    She wipes her mouth with the back of her sleeve, then taps the pommel of Scalpel. "We have an entry plan other than 'bash in the front door'?" she asks, turning yellow eyes across Becca, Marcy then Claire. "I'm all for the direct approach, but sometimes discretion is the better part of valour... even if one of us does walk in the front door to distract the gonks."

    "Oho fuck yeah score." Becca cheers as she starts digging into the apricot before she listens to the plan.
    "Rules of engagement?" She asks plainly. She doesn't mind getting her hands dirty in the least but she also doesn't HAVE to kill everyone she sees.
    "We gonna try and sneak in, or is this a kill all the mans job?" She's honestly fine with either method as Marcy and Scavenger arrive.
    "Eyyyy you two. What's the haps?" But then the solo motions at the Zalak. "I mirror this question."

    Marceline puts her hand up, "I'm good. Non-red doesn't really agree with me." Orange-ish? Kinda close but she isn't sure she should risk messing with it for the moment. "Thanks though." She kills her bike, kicks down the prop and swings up and off of the bike.

    Content to hover while she listens, "Hey Beccabitesize. Just plotting to do crime, y'know."

    "Anyway, reals? Unless they got mad sight skriz I could just pop in there and grab whatever." Assuming of course that it's in english and she knows exactly what TO grab. Though she ain't about to ask.

    "Prefer no-one gets flatlined tonight, but if anyone does get flatlined, make sure it's them not us." Claire's boundaries are set, not too firm. "They should be quite resilient, intel says they have been loaded out in up to date Militech gear. Expect chrome. Not supposed to have anything that needs too much training." Claire provides more detail, "Source says we shouldn't expect anything fancy like a Sandevistan." She nods to Scavenger, "We're not going for the front door, entry point is a back door, out of sight, close to where the papers ought to be. No way to get to the papers without going past some guards." She shakes her head to Marceline, "Wouldn't underestimate their sensory package. They've been kitted out for guard duty, Joja paid a lot of eddies to get these gonks up to spec. They're green but their gear is good." Of course, Claire doesn't know exactly how stealthy Marceline is.

    "Low lethal, back entrance, minimum contact." Scavenger summarizes, then nods as she dismounts her cycle and adjusts the straps on her gear... she takes the cleaver off her back and clamps it to the side of her bike... meaning she's only taking in her two 'side blades', Scalpel and the unnamed blade. "I'll follow your lead." She says to Claire, gripping Scalpel's sheath and thumbing the blade clear of the little peg that keeps it from falling out during acrobatics.

    "Kaaaaay." Don't shoot first but shoot back if shot. Becca files the ROE away for later when it will be most likely relevant as she finishes her apricot and stuffs her hands in her pockets.
    "Aite, we got this, lead the way." She too will follow Claire's lead on this because...
    Becca leading a stealth mission? 
    Haha that's silly, you're silly.

Plucking at her gloves until she pulls them off, she throws them down onto the tank of her bike and follows suit with her helmet, draping it on one end of the handlebars. "Got it. No skronking the jabronis for hire. Hey, on your go. Just, y'know. Don't anyone go and die. I can and will find you afterword and I know people who will whup your afterliving butts for me."

    "All set. Let's ride? Also, nothing better happen to my bike this time."

    Claire nods to the others, then lowers her hat to help obscure her face. "Let's go." She gets her slingshot out and for once, her choice of bullets is not her artisanal explosives but some strange purple metal. She leads the group around, climbing over a wall, and then towards a door. She gestures for the others to get ready as she puts her hand on the doorknob, waiting just a moment before pushing it in, revealing a trio of mooks in Joja uniforms, equipped with Militech crushers and obviously chromed out. Nowhere near the levels for a cyberpsycho but enough to make it obvious Joja cares about keeping the place secure. There's a few moments before they react to the door opening.

    Scavenger pulls her rebreather up over her face, lifts the hood of her jacket dress up over to cover her ears and hair, and secures her tail under the dress and around her waist so there's less identifying features.

    She vaults the wall alongside the others, and then settles into a stance Rebecca might recognize as Claire sets about opening the door. She breathes, hand hovering over Scalpel's pommel as she waits for the door to open.

    Just as the first Mook starts looking over at the noise, she surges forwards, sword's black blade flashing clean of its sheath in a blurred motion. The mook drops, unconscious, a red welt forming along the side of his head from the blunt side of Scalpel's blade striking it.

>> GAME >> Scavenger spends an Edge for: Nonlethal azai slash?!

    Tugging the hood of her jacket up to hide her identity, Becca is as ready as she'll ever be when Claire goes for the back door and sets her hand on the knob.
    In one hand she's brandishing her shotgun. But she's holding something in her other hand. When the door opens and Scavenger goes for the first guy, Becca pulls the pin on a grenade with her teeth and casually chucks it in after the zalak.
    There's a soft ~POP~... And the 'grenade' sends out a puff of air launching the start of a Christmas rave party as streamers of metallic tinsel and glitter go everywhere.
    Rebecca pointedly hides from her own grenade because it'sa chaff grenade. The kind that screws over optic sensors, cameras, and cybernetics.

>> SUMMARY[Rebecca] >> I learned this one playing Metal Gear Solid.

    Oh, easy! Marceline flies up the wall and doesn't immediately join the others, looking down from that second-story hover as the initial approach is made. Oh. Claire going for the door like a champ? Aight.

    Marceline doesn't join the others; instead, a mass of tentacles, three fanged mouths and a chaotic scattering of eyes lands as the door is thrown open. Scavenger proves to be faster, though the power of one of those tentacles is undeniable as it wraps around one of the goons, tight enough to squeeze out any likely scream, then she gives a vigorous shake and a good, solid thump against the ground. Outside, where it's less likely to put a hole in something.

    In a few seconds, it's just Marceline again, holding up an unconscious goon by the front of his body armor. "Yo, what're we doing with these dudes again?"

>> SUMMARY[Marceline] >> Dad would be so proud. Ugh.

    Claire takes a shot at the last remaining guard, blow to the chest to knock the air out, before stepping in to hit him on the head with the flat side of her sword. She does her best to ignore what Marceline just did, though she can't help a shudder. "Just leave them on the ground. We'll be gone as soon as I get the files." She takes out a camera and quickly goes through the paperwork, taking pictures of some shipping manifests before stepping back. "Alright, got what we need." She picks up her iridium bullet and walks out, handing the agreed upon stack of eddies to Becca, to distribute as she so pleases. "If you come with me to my bike, I've also got a bonus." She offers.

    Scavenger clicks her blade back into its sheath, gives the downed mook at her feet a kick for good measure then follows Claire out of the building and off back toward the bikes. "Quick, clean... almost too easy." she muses, but doesn't elaborate further.

    The guards go down.
    Marcy turns into an eldritch horrorterror from beyond the veil.
    Claire gets what she came for. 
    That WAS kind of easy but Rebecca isn't isn't going to complain as she's handed the eddies. She's already working on splitting them up into fair and even shares for herself, Scavenger, and Marceline.
    "You know that shit's fuckin' creepy right?" She asides brightly to Marcy. "Never change, Marcy~."

    "Yo, Becca, whas is all this floaty jazz?" Marceline plucks at one of the little metallic flakes, not-quite but almost crossing her eyes as she stares at it. "If this gets in my hair I'm making you get it all out. Just sayin, dude."

    Claire moves on to fetch the file? Paperwork? Parking tickets? She doesn't really know, doesn't really mind what. This just got her out of the house and around people she likes! Tolerates?

    "Nah, me? Creepy? I was going for horrible and gruesome but I guess I'll take it. Dang, do you think they got it...?" What, on film? With Becca's nade trick probably not.

    Nevertheless, she'll follow her group back towards the rides. "Hand up? Tentacle? Haha."

    Approximately one heartbeat after Scavenger complains it's too easy, there's the sound of doors elsewhere opening and another group of mooks heads around the corner, equipped with Militech M221 Saratogas. These guys are less chromed up, and lack any sign of a datashard slot. They make up for it by being coordinated and proactive, finding cover positions and start shooting. The submachine guns have plenty of power. Claire immediately takes cover, and begins to go through her bag to find some of her explosive ammo.

    Scavenger's back is turned... she starts turning back as the doors open... she doesn't complete the motion before taking a slug to the back and crumpling with a pained grunt.

    The imparted energy sends her spinning away out of the line of fire but she's not getting back into this fight any time soon.

    With the money about to be distributed, Becca laughs. "I think they got it." She replies to Marcy as she plugs a pair of earbuds into her ears. JUST as the door busts open and more guys come bursting out with heavier ordinance but less chrome.
    "Oho..."
    Scavenger takes the hit just as Becca's music starts...

    ~o/` At any time it'll be okay! The world is a dancehall!
    Because of you I'll learn what love is again~. I can sing 'I love you'! ~o/`

    Immediately the shorty solo has a HEAVY MACHINEGUN in her hand. ... In ONE hand and she's unloading it in the general direction of the new guys with intent to scare them back into cover as she grabs Scavenger by the scruff with her free hand to drag her away.
    She's uh. She's humming the whole time.
    "Itsu datte daijoubu~. Kono sekai wa dansu hooru~. Kimi ga irukara ai o shiru koto ga mata dekiru~ 'Daisuki' o utaeru~."
    Nope. Nope she's singing. Pretty badly. In Japanese. Japanese culture is a bit thing in Night City, man.

>> SUMMARY[Rebecca] >> Cover fire's just flavor. Mainly dragging Scavenger away this pose.

    "Guesso!" She tucks her hands into her jacket and then- There's goons. "Eh? Hey dudes-" Then they're shooting! Lovely. This jacket is going to be ruined. Her riding pants too?! That alone was enough to rouse her anger but seeing Scavenger take that hit. Well.

    "I said. No DYING!" She puts her boots on the ground, turns with her hips and WHIPS an arm out, no- a tentacle of black flesh tipped with long, branching fingers and claws.

    Her aim?

    She wants to disrupt the gunfire, provide a meat shield for her companions and if any of the goons die? Too bad. They'll die! Her hair writhes like a nest of angry serpents, her face darkens and her eyes glow. She should be a pretty tempting target, honestly! For anyone clever enough to duck her wild swing but too dumb to run.

    Rebecca's wild shooting and Marceline's tentacular display is enough to disrupt the morale of these goons, enough that a poorly aimed explosion from Claire's slingshot sends them packing. Claire immediately goes through her backpack and gets out a white bottle with a red cap labelled with a large E, and throws it towards Becca. "Medicine." She instructs, "Let's get out of here before those gonks remember the price of cowardice." She begins moving herself, sword at the ready in case of further trouble. "What's that song?"

    Scavenger is all but on her ass, when Rebecca's Gorilla Arm snags her bodily by the straps of her backpack. She grunts from the sudden change to her momentum, letting the smolo drag her away while she digs in the wound for the bullet... mixed fortunes is it went straight through, but that leaves a new ventilation hole in both her dress, the underlayer and her body which is leaking gritty blood.

    Scavenger does three things in quick succession. She tugs a pouch open and pulls something from it. It looks kind of like a epi pen, but when she pulls the cover it almost instantly starts burning an angry orange-red. This is jammed into the wound to cauterize it and stop the blood flow. After that, she pulls a canister from another pouch, pulls the restrictor pin and tosses it at the blood pool. The canister detonates and spreads a sticky flammable gel over the area and ignites it.

    The last thing she does, is swear up a storm... well, she's doing that the entire time of being shot, and the other things though it's muffled behind her rebreather.

    Becca's HMG goes dry in a series of clicks and she stows it on her shoulder, able to heft the heavy-ass gun and drag the not-as-heavy Scavenger one handed. To her credit she remembers: Scavenger's wounds are no joke, and lets the zalak take the moment to stop her bleeding and burn the bloody trail she left behind. Becca is careful to not get any of that blood on her in the process as she catches the bottle Claire tosses her way.
    "Dancehall!" She replies, "Mrs. Green Apple. I picked it up while out on the Tree." popping the top of the medicine bottle with her thumb before passing it to the injured zalak in her grasp. "Looks like the bullet went through, though. Down this junk and we'll get you to Vik's ripper clinic just to get you a proper patch up."

    "Jeez, those things sting." Marceline comments, daylight briefly visible through her body before her wounds begin to pinch shut and heal. She turns and looks back as the goons flee. "Sure you don't want me to chase em? I can put the scare into those dopes mad horror-like. Not gonna guarantee they'll quit this job but they'll always think about it."

    What can she do for Scavenger, Becca and Claire? Not much. Secure their flight while they bounce, maybe but defs not much else. She's hardly a medic, more of one of those idiot 'rub some dirt on it' types.

    When they make it back to the vehicles. Claire picks up the basket of apricots and hands it to Becca, "Your bonus." She's keeping an eye on Scavenger's health but there's not much she can do, beyond be supportive enough. "Admit I don't listen to much tree music, there's already plenty I like back home." She puts on the theme song of Journey of the Prairie King, "Got the high score for this game at the local, so I won a copy of the soundtrack." And a cabinet, but she doesn't mention that.

    Scavenger doesn't say anything, teeth gritted as she pulls the cauterizer free of the wound, puts the sheath back on and returns it to a different pouch... one with a very clear biohazard symbol etched onto it. She relaxes her jaw enough to drink the medicine, then grunts with a wince. "Mental note. Keep my damn mouth shut." she says as she gets her legs under her again and goes to collect her cleaver and bike. "Thanks..." she adds generally, after taking her rebreather off.

    With her gun stuffed back in the duffel bag, Becca's eyes go as wide as saucers when she's handed a full basket of apricots.
    "Fuckin' SCORE. You're the best, Claire~." With that said she hooks an arm around Scavenger's shoulder.
    There is no escape.
    "C'mon, let's get you to Vik's." She says, starting to lead the zalak away while uh...
    "Itsu datte dai~jo~bu~. Kono sekai wa danse hoo~ru~..."
    She's gonna dance Scavenger to that Ripperdoc.
    N O E S C A P E

    "Ah, don't worry! I'll watch the wheels. If anyone stops to mess with um. Well. You'll never know!" Marceline offers a cheery wave, completely forgetting anything about being paid or money and suchlike. She simply sits down on her bike, crosses her legs and- She's gone.

     The ultimate in automotive security!

    "You should come visit the farm some time, take a break from night city and get a breath of fresh air." Claire recommends to Becca, then mounts her bike. "Speaking off, I'm heading back there. Take it easy and make sure to recover." She recommends to Scavenger, "And it was nice to see you." She offers Marceline, before driving off into traffic, heading home.