ATeam-Ch07

= >>>[ __CHAPTER 07__ ]<<< = = >>>[ __CORPORATE SNATCH__ ]<<< =

__ **Chapter Logs:** __ **-- Part 1** **--** Part 2

**Characters:** Nova, Johnathan, Anne-Marie, and introducing Glitch

**Summary:** On January 13, 2064, a Renraku decker named Oscar Goondinburger is lead to the startling truth behind the "Renraku Arcology Shutdown" by a mysterious phantom. A top secret viral research project within the facility went horribly wrong and the plague was released. In an attempt to cover their own ass, the corporation locked it down. The Arcology's automated security drones turned on the very employees who'd relied on them for a lifetime, cleaning up the mess for the Board of Directors. Over 360,000 metahumans were slaughtered or worse... Oscar's own parents were among those numbers. Horrified and fearing for his life, the decker contacts Arden -- a fixer he'd met in the Matrix. Oscar pays his life savings to have himself rescued from the Renraku Corporation and his identity erased. Arden contacts elven covert-ops specialist Anne-Marie Banning, the leader of a small shadowrunning team... The A-Team attends a meeting the next night at the Silver Tongue, a rave club owned by Arden. Their mission: Liberate one 'Oscar Sedrick Goondinburger' from Renraku's Delta-5 Facility in the Penumbra District. Their payment: 20,000¥ a piece. They are joined by Pope, a combat decker/security rigger who works entirely by remote -- contacting the group via dedicated commlinks, never endangering his meat body. The team then retires to Anne's apartment to plan. Pope hacks Anne's building and ends up in her telecom -- making with the goods as far as maps, layouts, schematics, and schedules go. They decided to hijack a maintenance van en route to the facility, disguise themselves as the workers to gain access, and pull the decker out without a hitch. The only problem is that the sabotage must run like clockwork, as Renraku keeps tight time constraints on its maintenance crews. Satisfied, they retire until the next afternoon. The runners execute their plan, piling into the Van of Idiocy with Johnathan at the wheel and Pope running ghost for the team. After a tense several minutes of dodging traffic at high speeds, they come to a screeching halt in front of the maintenance van -- much to the surprise of its four occupants. Nova and Anne leap from the cab and draw down on the workers, taking control of the vehicle. The gun-happy male members want to kill them right off, but Anne-Marie refuses this and the workers are stripped, gagged, and hogtied. The A-Team parks the Van of Idiocy in an alley and leaves their captives inside -- taking the maintenance vehicle and their jumpsuits -- the fourth suit stuffed in a toolbox for Mr. Goondinburger. They drive to the Delta-5 Facility, and arrive in the nick of time. As the gate guard approaches, they realize that their electronic badges still display the identities of their former owners -- and only through remarkable hacking is Pope able to fix them at the last possible moment. With a sigh of relief, the A-Team is granted access into the six story Renraku facility. Once inside, our heroes are escorted by a guard who questions their lack of a scheduled fourth worker. Without missing a beat, Anne-Marie replies that the man came down with the clap and took the day off. Not one to question an STD, the guard brings the incognito shadowrunners to the 2nd level and the broken heating unit they are supposed to fix. He leaves to get a snack, at which point Anne -- directed by Pope on the commlink -- goes to retrieve their corporate suit. Oscar is called by Pope on his cellular telephone and directed to the proper destination for his deliverance. After a few close calls, the corporate decker meets with Anne-Marie. She returns to the freezing 2nd level with their mark, and the team goes about getting Oscar into the extra jumpsuit. The guard returns, and realizes that something is amiss since the maintenance crew now has four members. He goes for his walkie-talkie while Nova goes for his throat, dispatching him quickly. They stash the body in an empty office, when Pope announces that a security patrol is right around the corner. Anne and Oscar both slip into hiding in the darkened office, closing the door. The blood on Nova's hands gives him away, and one of the guards shoots him with a Savalette Guardian pistol. As the elven samurai goes down with several broken ribs, Johnathan shoots both guards in the head -- marveling at the greatness of his new Smartlink. Anne and Oscar emerge from hiding and everyone gets into the lift, heading down to the first floor. There they encounter not freedom -- but Oscar's shocked best friend Roy, the ork security guard. Oscar begs the runners not to shoot him, so Anne-Marie kicks him in the nuts. Enraged, the ork rushes into the lift and manages to beat the hell out of all three of our shadowrunners in the confined interior. The confrontation at a standstill, Roy questions Oscar, who tells him he is escaping willingly. The ork proves to be a true friend and shoots himself with his own sidearm -- making for a convincing alibi, but shocking Glitch into hysterics. Without missing a beat, our A-Team is out the lift and heading down the corridor. They gun down the guard at the front desk and make it to the maintenance van as the impenetrable gates begin to close. Anne-Marie panics and keeps going on foot while the others begin driving. The passengers of the van all witness Anne's amazing acrobatics as she stomps in a guard's face and makes a 20+ foot leap over the security wall. They manage to escape and pick her up, heading to the alley where the Van of Idiocy resides. Upon arriving there, Nova manages to free only one of the hostages before Pope informs them that they have company. A drone swoops into the alley and begins to fire at the fleeing A-Team Mobile. Suddenly, the group realizes the alley is a dead end and they're trapped! Johnathan slams the Death Chariot into reverse and floors it, smashing the parked maintenance van out into the street where it wrecks two of four approaching Renraku Security cruisers. Our shadowrunners beat a hasty retreat pursued by two drones, two security vehicles, and one Hornet attack chopper! Anne switches places with Johnathan, who gets into the back and mans the Valiant LMG out the rear window. Pope tells Anne that if she can get to Puyallup he can provide aerial support -- but until then, they're on their own. An insane chase ensues, and Nova begins throwing hostages from the Van of Idiocy at the pursuing cruisers. The group reaches the outskirts of the barrens, where one of Pope's own drones is waiting to mix it up. Eventually the A-Team manages to destroy all but the Hornet, which chases them across the bridge into Puyallup. It begins to launch rockets at the Van of Idiocy, the first of which they manage to avoid with only a few blown eardrums. The second rocket is fired at them from behind, and as Anne swerves at the last possible moment, it detonates underneath the rear driver's side. The explosion rips the rear door from its hinges and severs Johnathan's right arm -- demolishing the front of the Ingram Valiant and shoving it through the mercenary's chest cavity. The concussion knocks everyone else out and flips the van onto the passenger side, where it skids for two hundred meters before crashing into a large hunk of debris. This sudden halting launches Nova through the windshield and fifty meters out into a pile of garbage, quite possibly saving his life. The Renraku Hornet, presumably convinced that no one could have survived the accident, departs the scene. Several minutes later, a very disoriented Nova wakes up to find himself not dead. He crawls from his haven of garbage and limps to the demolished Van of Idiocy with much effort. He manages to drag both Anne and Oscar from the wreckage, and discovers the ruined corpse of his only friend. A group of orks descend upon the crash site from the shadows and pummel Nova into unconsciousness with a lead pipe. The A-Team later awakens magically healed -- and minus one Johnathan Myers -- in a cave-like cell filled with the dregs of metahumanity. The shadowrunners have no idea where they are, how they got there, or what's going on. All they know is that this can't be a good thing...

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