October 24th, 2036

Most of the team was relaxing at the Forlorn Hope. It had become a refuge from the 50-60 hour workweeks, and the cramped environs of their apartment. Helios was at work and Torrent was back at the apartment. He used the times when everyone else was gone from the apartment to relax and get some reading done.

Around 6:00 PM, a 6’x2’x2’ package arrives for Saito. Torrent lugs it up to the apartment and opens it up. Inside is a very large rifle and three boxes of ammunition. Torrent sets it aside and goes back to his reading.

At 7:00 PM, shortly after Helios shows up at the Forlorn Hope, Krissy and Roxie arrive. They are two solos that Zen has befriended over the last couple of weeks. Roxie is in her mid-twenties, wears a lot of black leather that goes with her jet-black hair, and is stunningly beautiful. Krissy is around 20, wears a lot of white leather, blonde and almost as attractive as Roxie. Swapping stories with them, Zen has learned that while Krissy and Roxie are effective solos and always get the job done, subtlety is not their strong point. They tend to create a lot of collateral damage.

Tonight, they are looking for more than just trading stories. It seems that they have been hired for an extraction job, and are looking to sub-contract out for a little help. There is a member of the Chinese Tongs in town tonight named Hu Jin Kang. He plans to meet with the local Tong members. Krissy and Roxie intend to extract him from his hotel before that happens and deliver him to their employer. They are offering $500 each for the team’s assistance.

Not ones to turn down work, the team agrees. They pile into the girls’ van and head to their apartment. Torrent, who was hoping to have a quite evening to himself is surprised to find the entire gang returning, plus two more. Krissy and Roxie explain that Kang is staying at the Kuroshita Hotel, but they don’t know which room. The team debates how to get Torrent into the Hotel’s office to hack their computer. Roxie asks why he doesn’t just hack it from the Net. Torrent is reluctant, since he only has a basic deck and one decryption program. Eventually he agrees to try it, and heads down to the local coffee house to make a run. Helios tags along in case trouble shows up while Torrent is jacked in.

Torrent runs the Net and finds Kuroshita’s sub-net. Easily cracking the code gate, he infiltrates the system, but draws the attention of the defense programs in the process. Quickly searching through the files he finds an encrypted log. Running his decryption program, the log reveals to be the guest listing. Searching for Kang he finds a H.J. Kang staying in room 1211. Dodging a DekCrash program on the way out, he makes his escape. Torrent returns to realspace, and lets the team know the location of Hu Jin Kang.

The team begins to plan the extraction. Roxie and Krissy intend to go into the hotel disguised as call girls, bringing Riptide along as the escort. They will first go to the top floor, set some explosives and then go to the twelfth floor. Once Kang lets them in, they will walk him out of the building. If he creates a scene, and security comes, they will blow the top floor as a distraction. The team is less than thrilled about that part of the plan, but it seems to be the SOP for these two. Saito will set up in one of the two adjacent parking ramps, Zen will patrol the ground floor perimeter, and Helios will be the wheel man.

Upon arriving, everyone moves to his or her position. Saito tries to gain access to one of the parking ramps but it is secured. Torrent runs over to try and bypass the system, but it proves too tough. Torrent returns to the van, while Saito sets up in the public ramp behind the hotel.

Riptide and the girls head up to the top floor and set the explosives. They then go to Kang’s room. Kang is reluctant to let them in, indicating that he made no such request. After Riptide states that the girls are “on the house” Kang relents and lets them in. The girls immediately pull guns on Kang and order him to come quietly out of the hotel. He complies. However, once in the hallway, where the guns have to be kept hidden, Kang immediately calls for help. In a flash, Riptide is on him, wraps him up in a chokehold, and puts him out. With a sigh of relief, Riptide begins to hoist the unconscious man up.

Unfortunately, at that exact moment, the elevator at the end of the hall opens and several guests step out. Krissy immediately goes for the detonator, but Riptide stays her hand. He explains to the patrons that Kang is passed out drunk and they are taking him to his room. For a moment, it looks like the ruse will work, but then one of the men reaches for his phone and calls security. Riptide is about to try another tactic, but realizes he’s got nothing. With a sigh of resignation he nods to Krissy.

The rest of the team are startled out of the monotony of their tasks as nearly every window of the top floor explodes in a shower of glass. People begin to run from the hotel and security personnel can be seen scrambling about. Two security guards take up position outside of the loading dock where Riptide and the girls are to make their exit.

With the elevators in fire-safety lockout, Riptide and the girls make for the stairs. They are about halfway down the stairs when they encounter two armed guards coming up the stairs. With Kang in one arm, Riptide is able to bring only one pistol to bear. A firefight ensues. Krissy gets grazed by a bullet, but the damage is only superficial. In the end, the two guards go down, and Riptide and the girls continue their descent.

Outside, Saito lines up a shot, and indicates that he can pop the two guards. Zen insists on a less lethal approach and intends to knock them out. The others are skeptical of this tactic, considering how long it took her to disable one guard on that airstrip, and there are two guards here. Zen ignores their concerns and moves in. This time she intends to use more than a choke hold. She sneaks up behind the first guard as pair of metal prongs extends from the top of her right index finger. She touches the guard on the shoulder, his body stiffens, and then he collapses unconscious to the ground. The other guard raises his sub-machine gun and fires. Zen is close enough to bat it aside and strikes again with the “gang-jazzler” implant, stunning the other guard. She drags the bodies out of the way just as Riptide and the girls burst out of the loading dock door. Everyone piles into the van and swing around behind the parking ramp to pick up Saito.

They start heading towards the south side of town. While in route, they spot a sedan with Asian passengers following them. Losing them while driving the bulky van is unlikely. “I got this” say Saito as he drops to one knee and shoulders the big rifle. Roxie swings open the back door and Saito takes aim at the grill of the car. Despite the jostling of the van and the swerving of the car, Saito’s instincts as a sniper combined with the smart weapon linked to his nervous system, allow him to place a shot dead center in the car’s grill. The radiator explodes, blowing off the front bumper and the car hood. The vehicle swerves out of control until it slams into a fire hydrant. Satisfied with the result, Saito sets down the rifle and turns to see everyone staring at the rifle. He simply smiles and sits back down and Roxie closes the van door.

They drive to Little China to an apartment building where the girls’ employer Mr. Li lives. Zen, Riptide, and the girls take Kang up to the apartment. Repeated knocking on the door gets no response. Roxie, short on patience, shoots the lock and enters the apartment. There she finds Mr. Li lying dead in his recliner with his throat slit. She explains that Mr. Li worked for the Chinese Tongs and was skimming money from his bosses. Word came out that Hu Jin Kang was coming in from Hong Kong to inspect the books, an action that would undoubtedly reveal Li’s theft. Li hired the girls to bring Kang to him.

Zen begins to question Kang, who claims he is not Hu Jin Kang, but instead Ho Jun, Jin Kang’s brother. Zen’s experience as an interrogator tells her that unfortunately, he is telling the truth. Jun Kang is in town for a nephew’s Tae Kwon Do tournament, and knows little of his brother’s activities other than to say that Jin Kang is currently in Hong Kong. Apparently this whole job is based on bad information. It’s a good thing the girls got paid up front.

Time to regroup and head back to the van with Kang in tow. As they emerge from the apartment building, a car screeches to a halt in front of the van and five Japanese men with sub-machine guns begin to open fire. Zen shoves Kang back into the apartment building as Riptide draws dual pistols and fires as he moves from the building to the van. Zen and the girls follow behind him.

One gang member shoots up the windshield of the van. The windscreen holds but Helios and Torrent are forced to dive out of the way of flying glass fragments. They take up position behind the van doors and return fire.

Saito steps out of the sliding side door of the van and braces his rifle. As one of the gang members raises his weapon to gun him down, Saito fires the big rifle. The Japanese man screams as his thigh explodes, effectively severing his leg.

Two gang members run to the side of the building, giving them a flanking position on Helios. Helios is hit. The wound is not life threatening, but the shock takes him down. Riptide runs in guns-a-blazing, and gets to Helios’ position. He scoops the big man up, and stuffs him back into the driver’s seat.

Another gang member runs to the front of the van. Zen drops down and tries to hit him from under the van but misses. The two begin to trade fire under the van. Saito drops another with his rifle, while shots from Torrent and Riptide take down one of the gang members on the side of the building.

Krissy and Roxie emerge from the back of the van wielding a grenade launcher and a RPG launcher respectively. Roxie uses the RPG gun to explode the sedan, causing the gang member along side the building to run away in panic. Krissy lobs a shot in his direction from her grenade launcher, ending his escape attempt. Saito comes around the front of the van and places his rifle on the back of the gang member’s head. The ganger surrenders and the fight is over.

The team decides to leave, but Krissy and Roxie insist on getting Kang. They dragged him into this mess, so they want to make sure he gets out of it okay. As they are about to re-enter the building, a car speeds away from the back of the building. Kang can be seen trying to climb out one of the car windows, but a hand pulls him back in. As they are getting back into the van to pursue, another vehicle pulls up with Chinese men leaning out the windows getting ready to open fire.

Realizing that another firefight here was likely unwinnable, the team take the captured ganger with them as they quickly pile into van. Helios dismisses any concerns about his ability to drive in his current condition, as he tightly clutches the wheel waiting for the world to come back into focus.

The van speeds away from the apartment building in pursuit of the car containing Kang. Behind them the latest arrival joins the pursuit. Unfortunately the car in the back gains on them faster than they gain on the car in front. The back doors are thrown open as Krissy, Roxie, Zen, and Saito open fire on the chasing car. The car absorbs most of the rounds, but Saito’s 7.62 mm Electro-thermo round punches through the armored windshield, through the driver’s armored vest, through the driver’s chest and is finally stopped by the driver’s back armor. The car’s front passenger grabs hold of the wheel as the driver slumps and the car swerves onto the sidewalk.

With that problem dealt with, the van speeds forward to catch the fleeing sedan. Helios pushes the van to its limit, but being waited down with armor plating, the van struggles to keep up. In the back, Zen tries interrogating the hostage, using Torrent as an interpreter. First she inquires about handcuffs to secure the hostage, to which Krissy responds by handing her a pair of pink fuzzy handcuffs. The hostage’s tattoos clearly mark him as a member of the Japanese Yakuza. He admits that they did not actually know who Kang is either, but since the Tongs clearly act as though he is important, the Yakuza figured him for a valuable hostage. Attempts to get him to reveal where they were taking Kang fail. Further attempts to interrogate him have to be suspended as the passengers began getting thrown around the back of the van.

The sedan makes a couple of high-speed turns to try and lose its pursuers. Helios makes it through the first turn, throwing everyone else about the van. In the passenger seat, Riptide tightens down his seat belt as he tries to mentally will the van closer to their target. On the second high-speed turn, the top-heavy van proves too unwieldy and spins out. Helios throws the transmission in reverse and reorients the van. Riptide then sees the car that was chasing them is now back in pursuit and bearing down on them. Helios slams the van back in drive and stomps on the gas. The three-way chase begins again.

Once again, the back door swings open and Saito positions himself. A passenger in the car opens fire, but fails to hit anything. Saito fires the big Towa rifle, once again scoring a clean shot to the driver, killing him instantly. This time the car swerves out of control and smashes into a parked car. Slowly the van begins to gain on the sedan. Helios and Riptide exchange nervous glances as they see someone emerge from the sunroof of the sedan with an M-60 machine gun. The gunner locks down the bipod, and opens fire on the van. Helios does his best to swerve the clumsy vehicle out of the path of fire, but several rounds hit the van, including one striking Helios square in the chest. Luckily his armor holds.

Another volley slams into the van as Riptide points out their precarious position, since the sedan is out of their range, but clearly they are in reach of the M-60. But then he and Helios see the barrel of Saito’s Towa rifle extend forward between them. Riptide covers his ears, while Helios can only cringe as he prepares for the loud blast.

Saito takes aim at the gunner on top of the sedan. Unfortunately, the target proves too difficult to draw a bead on, and Saito’s shot goes wide. Another hail of 7.62 rounds strikes the van. The engine begins to sputter as smoke and steam seep out from under the hood. As the van begins to coast, Saito takes a final shot at the van itself. He hits the back of the Sedan, causing the back bumper to fall off, and the trunk lid to fly off.

The team debates what to do next when they notice that they are only a half block from the Sherrington Hotel. Torrent and Riptide go in to book some rooms as the rest of the team push the van into the parking lot. As they are signing the guest book, the hotel manager watches as the van rolls past the front office window and into the parking lot. He does not seem particularly phased.

October 25th, 2036

Torrent jumps into the Net and checks for Police traffic. He determines that the car chase/shoot out has been reported and units are on their way. Saito runs down the street to where the bumper is laying, and relays the vehicle’s registration number to Torrent. He returns to the hotel just as a police hover cruiser zooms overhead spotlighting the street.

The team takes their hostage into one of the hotel rooms and handcuff him in the bathtub. Numerous horrific methods of torture are debated. However, Zen can tell that he would die before he betrays the Yakuza.

Torrent easily cracks the DMV database and finds that the sedan is registered to Tsuyomi Shipping. A quick scan through the city registry finds them located in the warehouse district. The team decides to move on the warehouse.

Helios breaks into another car in the lot and hotwires it. Once that is complete, he returns to the hotel room, indicating that he will sit the rest of this operation out. Saito holds the hostage under water in the tub until he stops breathing. The six edge runners then pile into the car that barely seats five, and make their way to the Tsuyomi Shipping office and warehouse.

They park a couple of blocks away and make the rest of the trip on foot. The warehouse has four bay doors in the north side, two pedestrian doors on the south side and one pedestrian door in the east side. The east door has two guards stationed by it. Torrent and Saito move toward the unguarded south doors. Riptide, along with Krissy and Roxie, observe from a position northwest of the facility. Zen circles around in an attempt to get to the bay doors.

Unfortunately, she is spotted. She quickly moves around one of the semis, only to come face to face with two armed dockworkers. They exchange fire as Zen charges at them, her rifle blazing on full auto. Riptide, along with the two girls, runs from his hiding spot toward the docking bays.

But then, two of the bay doors roll open, and four armed men prepare to fire on Zen, who is caught out in the open. Luckily, she has the lighting advantage and is able to avoid hits as she dives under one of the semis. Riptide also arrives, rolls under the other trailer, and opens fire with his dual pistols at the guards.

After failing to pick the door locks, Saito and Torrent move past the south doors, and continue around the corner. As the move north, they hear one of the south doors open. They turn back around the corner and open fire on two guards that have emerged. Torrent kneecaps one guard while Saito, now using a more practical AK-47, takes down the other. They go through the door and into the warehouse. They begin trading fire with guards located on a mezzanine. Both receive minor wounds from incoming rounds. Torrent hears someone jump down from the mezzanine and moves to investigate while Saito continues to exchange fire with the guards on the mezzanine.

Outside, the firefight heats up. Riptide, Zen, Roxie, and Krissy are exchanging fire with six guards. Riptide takes out two guards, but when he runs out of ammo he is forced to drop the pistols and switch to his Uzi. Zen takes out another guard but is seriously wounded while reloading her M16. Both she and Riptide team up against a guard using a semi cab as cover and take him down. Roxy and Krissy eliminate the other two guards.

Riptide hears someone entering the trailer above him. He climbs out from under the trailer, climbs into the loading bay and enters the trailer. There he is confronted by a Yakuza warrior wielding a mono-katana. He tries to shoot the swordsman, but his gun is batted aside. The swordsman’s first two slashes are absorbed by Riptide’s armored vest, but the thirds slashes deep into his leg, and Riptide collapses.

The swordsman reverses his grip and is about to deliver the killing strike when he head jerks back from a gunshot delivered by Torrent. At first Torrent is surprised at how well his aim proved to be. But then the swordsman straightens back up, blood pouring from the gash in the side of his head. Torrent raises his pistol to fire again, but the man’s cybernetics enhanced reflexes make him a streak of motion, as he is suddenly upon Torrent, ready to cut him down. But in his attempt to cover so much ground so quickly, the warrior over extends himself. Torrent’s Aikido training kicks in as he easily sweeps aside the sword swing and kicks the attacker’s legs out from underneath him.

But the Yakuza soldier is still not finished. He slashes the sword in a 360-degree arc, nearly cutting Torrent’s legs out from underneath him. Torrent tries to draw his gun on the man, but again, the slashing sword prevents him from finding his aim. Finally, Saito comes around the corner, having dispatched the other three guards and slams the butt of his AK-47 against the swordsman’s arm, causing him to drop the weapon. Finally, the warrior has had enough and surrenders.

Kang is then found in one of the offices. Saito releases him while the others begin gathering up equipment and weapons. A debate ensues over what to do with the swordsman. Eventually it is decided that he is to be brought along. They leave with both the car that they have stolen, along with the Yakuza sedan that is parked out front.

Their first stop is back at the Sherrington. There they pick up Helios and the dead Yakuza. Riptide is then taken to the hospital. Torrent drives Zen and Helios to find an all-night Ripper Doc to patch them up. They then ditch the stolen VMW and return home.

Saito stops at the Forlorn Hope, and checks with Dollar Billregarding the location of the Tongs. Unfortunately, Dollar Bill does not have that information. Saito, Roxie and Krissy drive back to Li’s apartment and leave the two Yakuza there. Saito also leaves behind a “confession” that pins Kang’s kidnapping and Li’s death on the Yakuza.

That leaves the matter of what to do with Kang. The girls are very apologetic to him, and much to everyone’s surprise, now that its over, he is not that upset. In fact he says it’s the most excitement he has had in years. They drop him back off at the Kuroshita Hotel, where maintenance staff are busy sweeping up glass and debris. Saito drops off the girls at a parking ramp where they have a back up vehicle and then follow him as he ditches the sedan. He is about to walk away from the car when a thought occurs to him and he searches under the backseat of the car. After a minute of rummaging around, he emerges from the back seat with the M-60. You never know when that might come in handy.