ATeam-Ch04

= >>>[ __CHAPTER 04__ ]<<< = = >>>[ __HOUSE OF CARDS__ ]<<< =

__ **Chapter Logs:** __ **-- Part 1** **--** Part 2 **--** Part 3 __ **Chapter Paydata:** __ --  --   --

__ **Characters:** __ Johan, Nova, Johnathan, and Jack with Taurno, Jordan, and Anne-Marie Banning

__ **Summary:** __ Jack Calloway, Nova, and Johnathan Myers are brought together once again when called to a meeting in a private room of Matchsticks, the tres-chic restaurant and night club. There, they are introduced to three other shadowrunners: Anne-Marie, the short, sexy, and deadly elven assassin and covert ops specialist; Jordan, the half-Japanese physical adept; and Taurno, the former mafioso elf with more money than common sense. They are greeted by a young man and lead out back to a limousine. It is explained that the meeting at Matchsticks was a front, but no further details are given. The group is taken to a mansion nestled in the rolling hills of Tacoma and meet with one Mafia Capo Donald Misiano -- the crippled syndicate leader and their true Johnson. The wheelchair-bound crime boss informs the party that due to heavy pressure from the feds, he is unable to make any actions with his own people. The shadowrunners are to be his weapons in exacting revenge upon one Tetsuo Mashimoto -- the only son of Yakuza Oyabun Hiro Mashimoto, Capo Misiano's long-time rival. Tetsuo is to be exterminated before he leaves for Japan on a business venture in three day's time. Swifty agreeing to the job, the runners soon learn that it is truly an "offer they can't refuse" when Jack Calloway tries to back out at the last minute. His suspicions aroused, Don Misiano decides to 'weed out' the treacherous by turning runner against runner with private promises of rich rewards made to select individuals within the group. Anne-Marie accepts readily when instructed to keep a watchful eye on Taurno and Jordan, and kill them if need be...then she begins formulating a plan to dispatch everyone. Jack and Jordan conspire together against the Capo; though Jack is called in privately by the old man and asked to watch out for Jordan. Nova is then warned that Johnathan may have an alternate agenda... Left to their devices, the rag-tag group tries to figure out the best way to get past Tetsuo Mashimoto's six personal bodyguards -- all very formidable cyberwarriors. After scoping out the property using satellite photography -- provided by Anne's fixer, Arden -- it is agreed that the team will hit Mashimoto at home, where it hurts the most. How they decide to go about it, though, is another thing entirely... Putting their collective heads together, the runners somehow decide that hijacking a gas tanker, loading it with explosives, smashing it through the front gate, and detonating it upon impact with the house would be a good idea. With this little "distraction" to soften up security, the rest of the team will crash the party with heavy arms and whatever vehicles they can scrounge up. It is agreed that they should act immediately, as time is of the essence... and they just plain don't feel like planning anymore! Taurno heads off on his own to collect a gas tanker truck while the others make calls to their contacts for necessary gear. Using their time wisely, the conspiring Jordan and Jack calls the Mashimoto family -- warning them of the impending attack and offering to remove Capo Misiano from the picture. The Mashimoto Clan refuse the offer, but heed the warning -- agreeing to pay the treacherous runners for their help. Meanwhile, Johnathan puts himself deep into debt with his arms dealer, Big Gay Al, for a sizable cache of weapons -- and somehow finds himself agreeing to a date with the savvy faggot. After sniping an innocent truck driver and blowing up a gas station, Taurno returns to the group with one big rig hauling one gas-filled tanker. Now loaded for bear, the runners make their final preparations. Jack Calloway is replaced on the team by Johan the heavy-metal rocking ork, whilst Jordan ducks off into a public restroom to make a call to Tetsuo Mashimoto. He is followed by Anne-Marie, who stealthfully puts a bullet into the back of his brain before he can complete his snitch-job. As the runners head off to their date with death, the group is too wrapped up in their mission to notice they are one man short, and Jordan's sudden absence is overlooked... The shadowrunners make their move on Mashimoto's home in broad daylight. Taurno, manning the 18-wheeler laden with explosives, barrels through the iron security gate and makes a bee-line for the front door. Unfortunately, no one took into account the additional security around the estate (significantly beefed up by Jack & Jordan's warning). They also didn't bother to think through the effects of 'gunfire vs. tank of gasoline'; and as the big rig is hammered with auto-fire, it explodes a good 5 meters short of its target -- with Taurno barely throwing himself from the cab in time! Johnathan's stolen van follows the tanker into the fray -- with Nova at the wheel and the mercenary sticking his newly-acquired LMG out the passenger-side window, shredding Mashimoto's armored limousine to ribbons and preventing the Yakuza boss's most likely escape route. The gun is then turned on any personnel still breathing as Taurno regains consciousness and heads inside. The merc and samurai follow suit, leaping from the stolen van and preparing for some close-quarters combat. Entering the household, Taurno spots a geisha cradling a small boy -- both of whom he promptly attacks! Outside in the yard, Anne-Marie joins the party in a stolen Eurocar Westwind with Johan on his hog, rocking a machine gun mounted on the handlebars. Taurno -- attacking a defenseless woman and child -- gets judo-flipped by a hidden Yakuza bodyguard...who is promptly executed Pulp-Fiction-style by Nova and Johnathan. As Taurno grabs the geisha and questions her, the other runners are attacked from behind a paper wall by ambushing assailants. A gunfight ensues, with Johan crashing through the front of the house on his chopper and lighting the place (and the luckily the goons) up with machine gun fire. Taurno attacks the young boy but is killed by the child's mother, who reveals herself to be a hateful mage specializing in slaying metahuman garbage hidden in the next room. Nova gets spell-slapped too, so Johnathan blows up the matriarchal savior and her child with a grenade. He and Nova pursue a fleeing Tetsuo Mashimoto and a lone bodyguard out the back door, while Johan turns to helping Anne-Marie out in the front yard -- tearing up the estate with many bullets while rocking out to bad German death metal! Nova gets shot in the knee, and Johnathan takes out the bodyguard and executes Mashimoto at his own fenceline. The surviving members of the team limp to Patch's Clinic for medical treatment, then onto Capo Misiano's estate for a brief meeting and payment. He is pleased with the group, especially Anne-Marie, and promises them all more work in the future...

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