Push the Zibbi IC

[Perducci]

Just be cool! Everybody relax!
The man waving the gun at your faces says this. He is none other than Khan Cortez, a drug dealer and more importantly right hand man of MC J-Swizzy. J-Swizzy, the man who rose to such stardom over the summer with his big hit "I Shoot People" that the zaibatsu won't touch him. It would turn the people against them.

And now his friend and associate is holding a riotpistol to you and screaming at you to be cool.

**************

Twelve hours ago you were sent with a case full of Zibbi to meet this man for an easy deal. Everything went well until the exchange. The man with Khan opened the case of money and counted it in front of you. 900,000 yen. 100,000 short. Khan counted it himself and then upon discovering the lack of cash pulled his gun and splattered his associates brain all over the walls of the suite. The Oceanic Hotel's employees would have one heck of a time cleanic this mess up. Some of the dart's from the beehive shot were lodged into the wall. Clearly panicking he turned the gun on you.

**************

I'm not leaving without that. He taps his gun on the briefcase containing six hundred pills with a smiley face logo.

[pingcode20]

I'll just note here since it's immediately relevant for this situation: Ryouta has both the Iaijutsu skill and Metabolic Acceleration, which will become relevant in this post.

Also, would 'Not used to fighting' mean not possessing the 'Karate' or 'Aikido' skills? I'm certainly hoping so... Otherwise what was the point of taking Karate?

[roll0]
[roll1]

Yamamoto Ryouta
"Perhaps, Mr. Cortez, you don't understand how this works."

With a single swift motion, the Eurodyne Street Samurai delivered a swift kick up towards the aimed Riot Pistol and the sound of polished steel on metal rang through the air, the pistol clattering to the floor as Ryouta knocked the clumsy weapon from Khan's hand.

(At least, I hope the rolls will allow this to happen. He's using Metabolic Accelerator to act twice in the round, and hand-to-hand priority to disarm this joker.)

[Methates]

Nawa scrambles to pick up the riotgun from the floor before Cortez has a chance to reacquire it. Note to self: don't mess with Ryouta. At least, not face to face. After picking up the gun, Nawa aims it at Cortez while scanning the room for any other threats, as well as keeping an ear out for anyone coming to investigate the commotion.

"Let's stay calm, everyone. There is no reason why we can't resolve this without resorting to more violence."

[Perducci]

Khan gives you all a smile as his gun goes flying. He stares straight down the barrel of his own weapon and laughs. He turns his head toward Ryouta.

Mr. Zaibatsu-Punk, I don't think you understand how this works. There are five of my boys waiting nearby watching. He gestures to the window. And a highly skilled marksman with his sights probably set on your buddy's forehead. The window is on the 19th floor. Outside there are many similar hotels. All I need to do is give the go sign and your head explodes. He takes a small step and grabs the case of Zibbi. If I don't leave with this my guys have orders to take you out.

He extends his hand toward his pistol. Now if you'll be so kind as to hand back my gun we won't have any problems, will we amigo?

[pingcode20]

Ryouta drew his gun as well, stopping Khan with a quick move of the sword.

"It appears you need a refresher, Mr. Cortez. You have two guns trained on you. If you so much as smart off again, I can guarantee you now that you will not leave this room in anything but a body bag."

Watching him from behind mirrored sunglasses, Ryouta sheathed his sword, keeping his autopistol trained on Eurodyne's erstwhile client.

"You will be seated, Mr. Cortez. Do not forget who owns the Zibbi."

[Penguinizer]

"No, my associates and I believe, that, you, indeed have it wrong. We, like the gentlemen we are, believe in non-violence. But, you are making it oh so difficult." Straightening his tie he pulls out his assault-rifle. Gently polishing the lens of the scope with his gloved hand. "We certainly don't want it to come to this now do we."

[Woofsie]

All these large weapons and talk of violence is making Saya very nervous. Glancing out the window at the mention of snipers, he pulls out his autopistol - more for comfort than anything else - and begins gesturing with it as he speaks.

Guys come on, he's still got 90% of the money right? That'll buy 90% of the Zibbi. This deal can still go down smoothly!

He seems to really hope it will, as with another glance out the window he edges over to a place where there is less chance of him being caught in a hail of sniper bullets.

[Perducci]

Sweat appears in beads on Cortez's head. His hand slowly releases the case of Zibbi. He reaches into his pocket and pulls out a zebra striped wallet.
I can give you 25,000 more. Surely you could trust a man like J-Swizzy to come up with a pittance of 75,000. He gives a little laugh. He's got more money than the government.

He keeps his hand held out for his pistol. I couldn't kill you all before being gunned down.

[Penguinizer]

"A man of his stature, should be able to have the money delivered, in a timely fashion. If he does not, then, shall we say. I will not enjoy the consequences, and neither will you. The money, here, you have 30 minutes." He re-adjusts his glasses, and leans towards a wall, opposite of the windows.

[Methates]

Nawa looks down at the riotpistol that he was holding, before looking up at Cortez.

"Hey, nobody is looking to kill anybody. But I don't think I feel comfortable with handing you a loaded gun right now..." Nawa takes out the ammo and places the gun and the ammo in seperate pockets of his trenchcoat. Then he moves to a position where Cortez is standing inbetween Nawa and the window.

"What do we need guns for anyways?" he says as he shows Cortez that he is also unarmed. "We're just trying to make a simple exchange. But can you explain to me why you came here without the agreed amount?" He says this as he takes a good long look at the dead body on the floor.

[Perducci]

Khan sighs a little theatrically as he sees his gun pocketed. He rolls his eyes and pulls out an old snub nosed revolver from the small of his back. He opens the cylinder and spins it once checking its ammo. He puts it back.

Who carries only one gun these days? Tokyo is becoming such a violent place. He grabs the money case and walks to the door. I'll need to make a private call. As for the missing money, my people will be interogated to find where it went. It's so hard finding honest people these days. I assume it's ok to step outside and make the call?

He places his hand on the door and waits for a reply.

[pingcode20]

While the nature of combat makes actions instantaneous, due to the non-tabletop environment I'll just note here that if Khan attempts to shoot, or simply refuses to hand over the gun, Ryouta will use his still-in-bullettime status to attempt two strikes on him again, since a close-combat hit is also an automatic disarm.

"I'm afraid not, Mr. Cortez." replies Ryouta, putting his gun back into his coat and stopping Khan. He was more than capable of disarming him again if necessary. He holds a hand out for Khan's revolver.

"The gun, Mr. Cortez. I do not wish to have to beat you into unconsciousness because you are being uncooperative. And any other weapons you were careless enough to attempt to conceal. Now, Mr. Cortez."

When he receives the gun, he frisks Khan for any other weapons, and motions for him to sit down. With a single deft motion, his cellphone materialises in his hand, which he hands to Khan.

"I'm sure you've heard of telecommunications, Mr. Cortez." he says, sitting down and placing the revolver on the table. "You have five minutes. Go on, time is money."

[Methates]

Nawa follows Cortez as Ryouta attempts to disarm him (ready to lend him a hand if Cortez becomes violent) and ensures that the door is securely locked. He then goes to the man who Cortez had killed and searches the body for anything noteworthy.

"Don't worry Mr. Cortez, I am sure that this is simply a misunderstanding. I hope this man wasn't a good friend of yours?" he says with a little bit of a smirk. The senseless killing didn't bother Nawa as much as the unprofessionalism. It made him uncomfortable to think that these were the type of people he would have to deal with if they were to push the Zibbi. But perhaps Cortez wasn't as hot-headed as he seemed.

[Perducci]

A friend. Ha. That man is certainly not a friend of mine.

He hands over his other weapon. A search of him reveals no further weapons. A bit paranoid eh?

He clears his throat as he takes the phone. He dials without looking, as if it were a reflex. This is Khan. Orange Sherbert. He holds the phone away.Code to ensure I am who I say I am.

Yes this is Khan Cortez. We seem to be short of some money....yes yes I know Oya was handling the money...he's been...taken care of I assure you. 100,000 to the previous meeting point. Be here in five. One man unarmed...these are a bit jumpy you see. Good day.

He places the phone down. You seem to have overreacted to my....violent behavior earlier. I do not tolerate betrayers.

He stands and walks over to the window. You will have your money shortly zaibatsu.

[pingcode20]

"A traitor can be dealt with after negotiations. Your display has not won you any points with us." responds Ryouta, simply, as he pops open the revolver and empties the bullets onto the table before placing it next to the rounds.

"Nevertheless, to turn traitor is unforgivable, and if there are no further issues there need not be any problems between your employer and us."

[Woofsie]

Highly relieved that the situation has been resolved, Saya holsters his weapon and takes a seat, awaiting Cotez's friend and the end of the mission.

[Penguinizer]

Natomo, seeing the ease fall on the room. He is still very un-easy. But he still places the rifle in a holster hidden inside the back of his coat.

"Once we receive the money, we shall be on our way. Your business was appreciated."

He sits down on a chair in the corner, pulling out a small phone. Mainly for the slight occupation of his thought.

[Methates]

Nawa walks over to the door and peers out the peephole. He also places a hand on his autopistol, tucked inside his trenchcoat.

"I really hope that this was just a mistake on the part of Mr. Oya. That he miscounted the money. I'd hate to think that our exchange has been compromised and that there is a third-party out there that has diabolical plans for all of us. But perhaps I am being a little paranoid." Nawa kept a lookout out the peephole, ready to alert his team members when somebody started to walk up.

[Perducci]

A slight humming sound is heard. Soft and steady. Probably an air conditioning unit.

Within minutes, a Hispanic man appears outside the door carrying a suitcase. He wears only a t-shirt and a pair of shorts. Obviously he took your paranoia seriously. He carries no visible weapons. He clears his throat as he knocks on the door. Package for a Mr. Cortez.

Mr. Cortez makes for the door, but stops as he hears a loud buzzer. He sprints toward the briefcases, grabs them, and leaps through the window. Glass shatters and tumbles down. The soft hum becomes a loud roar. A desparate looking man sprawls across the top of a hovercar which climbs skyward.

Outside the man flips open the briefcase extracting several grenades. He drops one next to the door and sprint out of the peephole view.

[pingcode20]

Minutes, hmm? Yay Accelerator.

Iaijutsu to instantaneously produce phone, 1 action to grab grenade, 1 action to hurl it at the car (and out the window). If possible, run as far as possible out door.

Ryouta's eyes widened behind mirrored glasses as he dove for the grenade. Clutching the explosive cylinder in his hand, he hurled it with olympic abandon out the window at the rising hovercar, tumbling through the doorway. Climbing to his feet and brushing himself off, he flips open his celluar phone and presses the speed dial button with a soft 'dit'.

"Swizzy betrayed us." he says, simply, before snapping the phone shut and searching for signs of the hispanic grenadier.

[Penguinizer]

Natomo, sprints out of the chair, rolling towards the window while he pulls out his rifle (Agility roll?) and shoots at the car with his bullpup rifle.

"I probably should have thought of this"

[Methates]

Nawa leaps out the door and draws his autopistol that he had been holding on to. Then he opens fire on the hispanic man in a t-shirt and shorts.

"Watch out for that sniper that Cortez mentioned earlier!" he calls out as he squeezes the trigger.

[Woofsie]

Saya swears loudly and jumps from his chair. Drawing his autopistol he begins plugging away at the hovercar from several feet behind Namato, backing towards the door as he does so. This tactic, he hopes, will make him a far less tempting target to snipers while still giving him a chance to kill that two-faced sonofabitch who's likely to get them all in trouble with Eurodyne.

Someone kill him! Someone goddamn kill him!

[Perducci]

Ryouta's grenade sails out the window and bounces off the hovercar. It begins to emit a gray gas. Smoke. His call goes to a Mr. Fredrik Jager, your mission manager. Ah jeez, oh crap. Oh man, I'll be there in ten we'll sort this mess out.. Ah jeez.

Natomo rolls across the floor into a firing position and pulls out his rifle. (Agility is not a replacement for Iajustsu.)

Saya draws his weapon and targets the hovercar.

Nawa hops out the door and draws his pistol.

The hover car climbs higher, almost clearing the building.

Spinning around, the sprinting grenadier throws another down the hallway towards Nawa. The solid black canister sits sinisterly as a red blinking light flashes faster and faster.

Round 2-

The blinking on the grenade stops. It hisses and spews out a green fog that begins to spread slowly on the floor. It seems to have trouble rising above ankle level. A millisecond later, Nawa's autopistol sends a burst of bullets at the thrower. Several bullets pierce his chest. He hits the floor.

Back inside the room, Saya opens fire at the bottom of the hovercar, all he can see of it. At this range, all he had was a slim chance of hitting. It doesn't look as though he's managed to hit it. In front of him, Natomo does the same. Several loud metallic clangs are heard and sparks go flying from the car's underbelly. Some sort of fluid line begins to rain down a dark thick liquid.

Ryouta gets another two actions before the car flies out of sight.

(I like to keep you in the dark with combat rolls. If this is too much of a problem let me know.)

[Methates]

Nawa, praying that his new respiration system is working properly, grabs the grenade emitting the green gas and throws out down the hallway, opposite the direction the grenadier ran to. Then he runs down the hallway and examines the man he shot down, as well as how many grenades are left in the suitcase.

Nawa takes out his meditech kit and attempts to stabilize the man. "You just might be of some use to us." [i]Or at the very least, lead us back to where Mr. Cortez is fleeing to, Nawa thought to himself.

[pingcode20]

Well, the autopistol would hardly be automatic if it could only fire once every two seconds, would it?

Two Autofire bursts at the car.

Ryouta turns and, with a single pull of the trigger, empties a ten-round burst at the escaping hovercar (a slim chance, but a chance all the same) before striding casually back into the room and picking up the revolver, along with the bullets. The grenadier was already down, and when he was awake again, it would be time for a little game from Russia.

[Perducci]

The bullets slam into the autocar as it leaves view. It sends a thin trail of smoke upwards into the smoggy sky. No explosion is heard.

Nawa throws the grenade down the hallway, surprising a maid coming from cleaning a room. With a shriek she turns and runs down the hallway toward the fire stairs. The man on the ground coughs some blood as Nawa begins to tend to his wounds. He mumbles something inaudible through the blood. He coughs some more splattering blood on Nawa's face.

Medi-roll [roll0]

The bleeding slows, but this man has no chance of living without proper care.

[Methates]

Nawa jumps up and furiously wipes the blood from his face with his sleeves. He did not enjoy being so close to the violence. A well placed exposion might be messy, but at least he could be somewhere else when it happened. With blood being coughed into his face, Nawa felt like he had officially stepped out of that comfort zone.

"I neutralized the grenadier," Nawa radioed to his team, "He's doing fairly bad. Someone come help me move him into the room. Then we can decide what to do with him."

Suddenly, it occurred to Nawa that it might not be the best idea to stay in that room. Snipers, grenades...it wasn't safe for the enemy (for wasn't Cortez now their enemy?) to know where they were.

"Scratch that. We should get out of here as soon as possible. And this guy could really use some real medical treatment."

[Woofsie]

Saya, very aware of the fact that his companions consist of a creepy assassin and a very angry bodyguard, decides he would like to go help Nawa.

"I'll uh.. go give him a hand."

He hurries out of the room, glad to be away from the large weapons and mirrored sunglasses, and crouches down by the grenadier's legs. The sight of their blood soaked adversary makes Saya somewhat nervous, but he puts a hand under each leg regardless, ready to lift.

"He say anything yet?"

[pingcode20]

Ryouta empties the autopistol into his hand, and loads a fresh clip of ammunition into the weapon, brushing off his suit and putting away the autopistol. Straightening his tie, he looks down towards the stairway, and back at the others.

"I don't believe we will have time to interrogate him." he says, simply, walking towards the downed grenadier.

[Methates]

Nawa smiles softly as Saya walks up. He could see that the injured man affected Saya, and Nawa felt a small bit of sympathy.

"I think he tried to say something, but he's in pretty bad shape. Maybe if we get him some better care we can interrogate him. But if we don't act quickly he's not going to survive."

Nawa sees Ryouta enter the hallway and comment on their lack of time.

"The way I see it, we have two options. Persue Mr. Cortez and recover the Zibbi and the money, or go back to Eurodyne and admit that we've failed. Maybe there are other options at our disposal. But if we choose to go with option number one, interrogating this man may be our only path to reaching him. But of course, I am open to other options" he said simply. Nawa definitely felt that they had to make a decision quickly. But if they made the wrong decision..

[Perducci]

A clatter of footsteps can be heard coming from down the hall. A small group of policemen come at a jog weapons drawn. A short pudgy man is following them. Fredrik Jager trots to the front of the group and waves them to put their guns away. I'm warning you for the last time...Eurodyne will not be happy if you interfere.

He grabs you all and pulls you into the room. He sneers at the blood on the wall and the dead body. He shuts the door behind him. This is not good. Not good at all. Outside the police call for paramedics.

Jeez...look at this mess. What the heck happened? This was supposed to be an easy deal. This will not look good on my report. Like most Project Managers, he cares more about the missions looking good on paper than the people involved. Ideas...we need some. If you've got any let them be known.

[Penguinizer]

"It looks like I hit him, they may be leaking fluids and can't get far." He reloads his rifle and places it within the holster inside his coat. He straightens out and the bulge of the holster becomes even less noticeable. "I still have, some business with him, that must be taken care of. I'll ask around."

[Woofsie]

Saya, conscious of the fact that he has done little so far in the mission and wanting to appear useful, speaks up quickly.

"Well the guy in the hall might know where they went, he is their friend. Maybe we could.. question him?"

[Methates]

"Maybe we don't have to question the man I gunned down in the hallway. If we can plant a bug on him, maybe he can lead us back to Cortez. Unless Cortez gets to him before we find a bug and place it on the man. But if we want to try to track that hovercar, we have to leave immediately."

Nawa turns to Jager thoughtfully.

"Got a ride we can borrow?" he says with a grin.

[Perducci]

Wait, wait, wait...do you have any idea how pissed the upper echelons will be if we just go gunning after Cortez? We don't want to create a big situation with G-Swittzy or whoever that is.

Fredrik opens the door to check on the police. Paramedics have arrived and a carefully placing the injured man onto a stretcher. That man will be taken back into Eurodyne custody. Take him to the closest Eurodyne medical center. Tell them he's a level five. The medics roll their eyes and agree. A hospital is a hospital. They know he will receive top notch medical care, but whatever happens after...

Jager steps back into the room. You guys are going to follow this lead. Let Khan Cortez run for now. I'll start digging up whatever I can on him. You should do the same.

He leaves the room and pushes a cop out of his way. He turns to shout down the hallway. Find your own ride. There's no way I'm letting you smash up mine.

[pingcode20]

Ryouta sighed, the weapon vanishing the second the police arrived. He had wanted to be out of here before the police arrived.

Perfect. Just Perfect. Jager had even managed to give away that they were Eurodyne.

Damned Westerners, no sense of subtlety.

"We had best be moving." said Ryouta, leaving the hotel via the stairs.

As the group left the premises out of sight (and earshot), Ryouta bows his head slightly and apologises to the group. "I apologise for my actions. I have not worked with Jager before. I did not know he was such a fool."

[Methates]

"No apologies are necessary. Although I was fairly worried that the police would be a problem. Jager managed to divert them fairly well. At least, it beats another firefight." Nawa looks around the area. A part of him worries that Cortez might already be planning an ambush on them. Although he feels fairly safe...for the moment.

"What do we do now? Is there somebody we can go to for more information about Cortez?"

[Woofsie]

"Don't worry about it." Saya turns to the others. "So where to we start? He didn't give us much to go on."

[pingcode20]

"I think you are not considering all the facts on the table. Cortez is Swizzy's right hand man." says Ryouta, following the others and ensuring there was nobody about to overhear his little idea.

"This means that it was Swizzy himself who was responsible for this betrayal. Cortez alone could not have organised for the contingency - Orange Sherbet." he continues, placing emphasis on the codeword.

"Unfortunately, it looks like Swizzy has overstepped his bounds. What we require is plausible deniability. There are more ways than one to skin a cat, as the westerners say."

[Methates]

"We need to find somebody who knows what's going on within Swizzy's ranks, then. But who?" Nawa tries to remember anybody he knows he might know a thing or two about Swizzy, but no one comes to mind.

[Woofsie]

"I suppose uh.. breaking into Swizzy's place and snooping around is out of the question, right?"

[Methates]

"I'd really like to find out some more information before we go breaking into Swizzy's place." Nawa scratches his chin thoughtfully as he wonders what to do next.

"Maybe we can just start interrogating more of Swizzy's goons? Eurodyne will get as much information as they can out of the grenadier, but perhaps we could do a little interrogation of our own?"