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[Synik]

The young waitress leads you to a small bridge made out of fine golden metal. It spans the void between the terraces and cuts through a person-wide gap in the ornate glass panels that ring the opposite side. As she crosses it, it does not wobble or show any sign of weakness. "After you," Shift says quietly.

Across the bridge a low ceiling of fine silks in various earthy shades hang from an unseen roof. The form a wide semi-circle that completely encloses the area. Indeed, it seems the only exit is the bridge.... unless you can fly. A bird flutters by you and lands in an ornately cut flowered bush. The air is rich with the smell of flowers - real flowers, not the chemical stink pumped by bad room fresheners or ReCyke toilets. Mixed with that is the rich aroma of coffee and a delicate bittersweet smell of designer tobacco.

Beyond the half-heights glass screen and under the cover of the tented roof, is a seating area. A wide dias comprising of a long horse-shoe shaped sofa, four dark metal chairs and a low, round wooden table. On the table is a silver coffee service with six tiny cups and saucers. A small pulme of steam rises from the perculator as the unit self-heats. A tall man with closely cut hair stands in a well made suit. A suit that's likely to cost more than your internal organs. He cups one elbow as his other hand touches his chin. He ignores your approach and concentrates on what his colleague has to say.

"... Buchannon's missing but I think it won't be long before Security round that dog up." The man talking is a thicker, more heavily built man. Not wide from fat, but from muscle. A power-house of a man. As he talks, he turns a fancy cigar around in his hand.

"I would expect no less," the tall man replies. "Ahh." He turns to face you all. "So glad you could join us. You four have been quite difficult to locate. How did you slip Internal Security? Still, there loss is our gain, no?" He blinks slowly and tips his head forward in a mark of respect. "Would you care for a drink? The coffee is quite excellent. Please take a seat." The man's smile doesn't quite reach his eyes. His manner reminds you of the VR movie: Shark Hunter.

Shift does not respond to the man's request. Indeed, it is as if the two have not noitced him. The waitress has scurried from view.

The tall man continues. "I am Mr Hopton and this is my associate, Dr Aut." Aut rises to stand by Hopton. "Please, a seat." Hopton repeats. It does not seem to be a question.

[fury]

[color=#6666CC;]"Not exactly my choice of venue, "[/color]said Cass with some venom, [color=#6666CC;]"But it'll do."[/color] She strode towards the sofa with a confidence she didn't feel and made a show of brushing invisible crumbs from it before sitting down.

[currymaniac]

Hayden eyed the area 5 suspiciously, he didn't like this. Their loss is our gain, but 8 who exactly was he talking to? Sure, the man had given their 6 names but what did they matter, how many aliases 7 had Hayden himself taken on in his line of 4 work? Names were meaningless in this day and age. 2 "Who are you?" he asked briskly, without taking a seat, "And I don't mean your individual names, you know that, who do you stand for, what do you want?" 5

[Synik]

"We represent Blue Sky Corporation," Hopton relies cooly. "We are part of its Research & Development wing, although that umbrella is somewhat wider than many people would expect." He pauses to gauge your response before adding: "We are working closely with Magdalene's Security Services to help curb the issue of Number Syndrome within the stim-user community."

"Strictly from a preventative level," Doctor Aut adds.

"Quite," Hopton continues. "Which is were you four people - " he seems to stumble over the last word, a crack in his false manners - "fit into - and if you can forgive the pun - the equation." Hopton's gaze becomes hard. "Now, how did you manage to infect yourselves? MSS wouldn't scramble agent resources for four stim-head losers would they?"

[currymaniac]

"tim-head losers? You'd better watch your mouth friend before you find a fist in it," Hayden didn't like this man straight from the off, he was so...pretentious, yes, that was the word. He remained standing.

"Now, why don't you stop with what you'd probably call the niceties and get to the point?"

[Dehoffren]

Fidelis lounged on the seat next to Cass trying to appear casual but probably failing miserably. His eyes darted back and forward as the conversation continued and various nuggets of information peppered the air “Well since you seem to want us to share perhaps you could impart a little data first,” Fidelis fixed Hopton with an innocent gaze “Like how you happen to know exactly where we were and our little affliction?”

[Synik]

"It's Mr Arnoldson isn't it?" Hopton replies. "You have quite a mouth on you do you not?" The irritating man blinks at you slowly, as if he has all the time in the world. "I wouldn't recommend physical violence. It would not end well for you." He holds up a hand in a gesture to silence Hayden. "To answer you - and Fidelis's question - we have eyes everywhere. It is our business to know what is going on within the glassteel walls of this fair citystate. Should anything upset the status quo, then it is our duty to resolve such matters."

Hopton pauses to stroke his very expensive tie. "So, I ask again: how did you get infected? Somehow I doubt you are stim users." Hopton sneers as he looks at Fedelis and Cass. "Except maybe those looking to escape their existence. However, Ophelia and Hayden - I would have expected more." Hopton's pocket emits a chirrup. "Indeed, it seems one of you has visited our offices once today already."

[currymaniac]

"Not doing your business very well if you don't know how we've become infected then are you?" Hayden retorted, 8 he didn't like this man, this man who treated him like a child, an 6 insignificant bug, and yet also acted as if he knew all about him. 3 As a private investigator he had known alot about 2 others and it was disconcerting to have the tables turned 1 on him.

[fury]

[color=#6666CC;]"How dare you imply that I use stims! I am clean and have been for a long time thank you! It is something I pride myself on."[/color] Cass pouts in anger, her eyes flare dangerously for a moment and her vampire fangs are evident. [color=#6666CC;]"I may not be living the high life, like some people"[/color] her voice burns with sarcasm, [color=#6666CC;]"but I actually like my life...well most of it and the people I meet through it. I deserve to be spoken to with respect, I earn everything I own with my own graft and....I don't have servants to answer my every whim and fancy."[/color] The easy going demeanor of Cassandra seems to have evaporated into this angry young woman.

[Early Bird]

Ophelia sat down with the others but remained silent, waiting to hear what Hopton had to say. It seemed he didn't recognise her but she wasn't about to trust that, he knew her name after all. She tried to keep her composure when he mentioned an earlier visit to the office, but inwardly everything lurched unpleasantly. Just how much did he know?

[Synik]

Hopton chuckles darkly. It lacks any pleasant emotion. "You two are quite ballsy aren't you.... You'll probably last the longest, not that it'll be pleasant."

Aut chips in with a lead pipe statement: "None of you are in the plan. Looks like you were just unlucky."

"Indeed," Hopton adds and raises his right hand palm up. A ghostly image of Tan Gu - the street samurai from Joe's Bar - flickers into life. The image is grainy and washed out. The audio has that watery feel suggesting strong encryption or heavy compression. Tan's head hangs against his chest and he appears to be bound in a chair. Wires are clipped to his temple. His nose and eyes are bloody.

"I had the gun." His breath rattles in his throat and his head twitches from side to side. "I infected all the people you asked. Herald and that tranny freak Jo." Tan's eyes roll up into his head. "Oh. One. Oh. Oh. One. One. One. Oh."

You feel the pull of the numbers but they do not consume you. Instead each of you feels Shift place his hand on your shoulder once. The hologram captures your attention once more.

"Increase the dose," states a voice. It's Hopton's calculating purr.

Tan squeals and his whole body strains against what's holding him back. "But...it went off early. In the bar."

"Joe's Bar. Down in the slums."

"Yes. I. I can see paradise. The cusp of the new horizon. The zero point...."

Hopton smashes his fist into Tan's slack expression. "TAN!" he yells. "FOCUS MAN!" Tan's head flops back after the assault. "Where is the gun, Tan? Tell me and I can stop all this."

Tan pants and bites his swollen lip. You've seen the face before. Someone lost in ecstasy.

"The gun, Tan," Hopton repeats and the side of his face seeps into the hologram. "Where is the gun?" Tan starts to mumble numbers, a smile breaks out on his face. Hopton starts to close his palm, snuffing out Tan's image like candle. The audio plays on, the hiss breaking up into a crackling gunshot.

Back in the real world Hopton's steely gaze washes over you like a cold searchlight. "Which one of you has it? Tan didn't have it with him." Whatever unit he has in his pocket emits another beep and Hopton's eyes go wide. His faultless performance cracking. "Well, well. This is a surprise," he says staring at Ophelia. "Cat got your tongue.... Anna?"

Aut has produced a smooth nosed pistol from within his jacket.

[Dehoffren]

Self- preservation has either one or two effects on the tongue, complete and utter silence or verbal diarrhoea “Now just hold on a minute there cowboy, we weren’t exactly thrilled at the number crunching that’s going inside here” Fidelis pointed to his head “We are actually the victims here,” he paused momentarily “well us and Tan, not that we want to end up like Tan I’m not suggesting that. Its just that done of us have a baldy notion of what the hell is going on here.” Nervously he scratched at his eyebrow "And not to wishing to sound petulant, but what plan?"

[fury]

With a sneering sarcasm Cass replied, [color=#6666CC;]"I stuffed it down my cleavage, wanna see?"[/color] She stands up and does a twirl showing off her skin tight revealing leather outfit.

[currymaniac]

OOC

Merged with commentary below due to posting clash. Sorry Curry!

Edited by Synik, 22 December 2008 - 11:14 PM.

[Synik]

Hopton's gaze seems to be locked on Ophelia, but he answers Fi's comments. "Yes. Economic road-kill. How unfortunate for you."

Aut shrugs and moves the pistol around in a most unprofessional manner as he sniggers to himself. "We're not going to explain things. This isn't some Bond stim where we tell you our plans before you die. You street people, no wonder you spend all of your time b*ning each other."

"Delightful," Hopton says to Cass. "I haven't anything less than a 20 on me, so I'll pass."

The two suits chuckle to themselves at their pointless, bitchy commentary.

"They can't hear me," Shift says in a low, unamused tone. "That's the trouble when your eyes and ears are artificial." A smirk slips over his face. "Most of their type are: articifical that is."

Aut continues to rattle on to Hopton about the antics of Ruben Street's fleshpits. Tales from a hundred tourist stims. Cleaned up and slipped to the wanna-bes and corporate peeping toms. The place would eat him alive and Security would be lucky to find what was left. They may be top-dog in the boardroom, but on the street, these two are dead meat.

"Aut's pistol is completely electronic too," Shift adds pointing to the arc pistol. "I've turned it off and both of their mobiles too. They'll be no calvary for these two."

Aut is still laughing, but Hopton's expression has changed. "Who are you talking to?" he asks and his gaze skips around the room. Aut's laugher dies in his throat. A trickle of sweat runs from his ear and soaks into his designer shirt. He raises the arc gun and for a moment it trembles in his manicured grip.

"The tables are about to be turned," Shift whispers. "It is up to you how you wish to play this. I have my answers."

As Aut withdrew his pistol Hayden's 3 hands flurried swiftly into his shirt and took out his 7 Glock. He aimed it securely at Hopton, "Now now," he said, "No need to be getting nasty."

OOC

I wasn't quite quick enough typing this, so I've moved Curry's post towards then end. Apologies for this Curry!