When a Good Day Goes Bad

[Baelfyre]

Mahmoud was having a good day. It had been warm, and not too sandy all day. The pickups in the AV had all gone smoothly... for the first time in two months they were going back into the barn with a full load of ammo. Up front, flying was Costello. Abbot was next to him, running the weapons. Two chainguns and whole mess of missiles was something nobody in their right mind wanted to mess with. Two Solo's rode by the door; they were the first ones in and the last ones out. Blake on the left with the MPK-11 and Snipe on the right. Everybody said Snipe was a girl, but you can never tell with the full conversions. Especially the ones with the minigun in place of their left forearms. The Medical team was two medtechs and two nurses. Belinda Plax was the other medtech. A lot more experienced, she was in charge of the team. Not that she looked that much older than Ahmoud. Until you saw her eyes. A pair of chromalloy orbs that looked right through you. Creepy

The nurses changed from day to day, unlike the rest of the team.

Riding in, they headed to the pad on the top of the REO building, safe in the Disney Corpzone. Blake rode the vectored thrust in smoothly, not even spilling Abbot's coffee. This time. The swarm of techs rushed forward, breaking open panels in the side for maintenance and attaching fuel and coolant lines that ran all the way up from the basement.

Belinda motioned for Mahmoud to follow her and headed for the break room.

[TinSoldier]

"Ah, Belinda! Such a great day today wasn't it?"

Mahmoud practically skipped on his way to the breakroom, so high were his spirits. The only thing he was really lacking for now were friends -- but with this great job at REO that situation wouldn't last for too long. He knew it was only a matter of time before he was able to forge a closer bond with one of his coworkers or two.

God willing.

"I mean, not a shot fired today! Well, not counting those potshots we always take flying over the Orange Blossom Trail or the Pine Hills neighborhood, not to mention East Orange County.

"And then there were those two Corps we saved today! Hah -- both of them just routine cardiac arrests caused by too much stim and 'dorph together. When are these guys ever gonna learn?

"Heh -- then again, that would put us out of business. Wouldn't it? I mean, for the easy stuff anyway. "

[Baelfyre]

Belinda looks at Mahmoud a bit coolly, and takes out her wallet. She fishes in it for a moment, and pulls out a thick polycarbonate slab, about twice the size of a credit card and places it on the desk. Pressing the center of the card, she says "We have about five minutes to talk. You've got trouble. Do you know somebody named Bryce Talltrees?"

(The answer, btw, is yes. Talltrees is the enemy you rolled up that can throw an entire government agency at you)

[TinSoldier]

The lightness in Mahmoud's step stumbles a bit as his happy mood of moments before comes crashing down.

"B-b-bryce? Bryce Talltrees? W-w-we used to be coworkers, back when I was still a nurse, still in training. Why?"

[Baelfyre]

"I'm not going to go into the details, but he's blackballed you here. Or most places that do medical work. The paperwork is being processed now to fire you and kick you out of your place." she replies quietly. Still quietly, she continues "I have delayed it for a couple of hours. No more. Be gone by then. When the paperwork hits, the company erases all records you ever worked here. That includes your pay, your taxes, your apartment, and your ass if it's still here. I'm sorry I can't help more than that."

She then reaches into her wallet again, and hands a blank plexicard to Mahmoud. "This is a code locked business card. Say the word "heaven" and it will display a contact to get in touch with a fixer I know."

"You still have about three minutes of time when I can answer questions before the jammer runs out of power. So now is the time."

[TinSoldier]

"But no, you can't...

"He can't...

"Shit."

Mahmoud takes the card from Belinda and starts to turn away angrily. He stops, turns to her and gives her a silent nod of thanks before turning again and jogging for the exit.

"Seven trades and no luck", Mahmoud whispered the old proverb under his breath. "It is God's will, Mash'allah."

[Baelfyre]

Belinda smiles briefly as he gets up, and says "I knew I wouldn't have to paint you a picture. The company will not be pursuing you if you aren't here. And Heaven may be both willing and able to help. But count your digits when you get done dealing with her."

"Good luck and fast feet, my friend."

An hour later, Mahmoud is standing outside his bank, with his kit on his back and the savings from a year of work. And no place to go.

[TinSoldier]

Mahmoud shifts his gear a little bit, still not finding a more comfortable way in which to carry it. He looks at the card given him by Belinda once more before tucking it away again.

Walking down the street, in no particular direction, Mahmoud looks for a public terminal which might have a little privacy, where he can activate the card and make his contact.

[Baelfyre]

Mahmoud finds a vterm with little difficulty, being that they are all over the place in the corpzone. He speaks the codeword, and the code displays a web address. Using the vterm, Mahmoud accesses that page, which has this message:

Leroy's Bar and Grill. 7pm. Ask for Heavens office.

He looks up the address, and finds that it's smack dab in the middle of booster turf. The Screaming Eagles. Not as bad as say... Blood Razors, but still bad juju.

With that, Mahmoud leaves the sparkling clean corpzone behind, and heads into the combat zone.

Leroy's Bar and Grill is a dive. Mahmoud's first clue that it's a dive is the human foot sticking out of the dumpster. The second is that it looks kind of chewed. The last two is that a couple of guys are in a knife fight over who gets to take it to the Body Bank and sell it.

[TinSoldier]

"I put my trust in Allah. Tawkaltu 'ala Allah", Mahmoud says under his breath, maybe not quite convinced by his own words as he walks through the door.

[Baelfyre]

The Leroy's Bar & Grill is filled with a haze of smoke, the smell of cooking meat. There is a huge neon menu above the bar, which provides most of the light in the bar, except for small lamps above most of the tables. The bar is crowded, and a little loud, but everybody seems to be behaving themselves. For now, anyway.

Behind the bar, there is a full conversion borg serving drinks and food. The waitresses are scantily clad, and what little they wear is tight enough to not hide much.

Like the fact that every single one of them is packing heat.

Conversation at the bar tell's Mahmoud that the borg is Leroy.

[TinSoldier]

Mahmoud walks up to the bar, a little awkwardly but he manages not to bump into or offend anybody.

"Give me a White Death (http://www.bardrinks.com/drinks/drink.asp?id=00442764) please.

"Oh, and can you tell me where to find Heaven's office?"

[Baelfyre]

Leroy looks at him for a second, and laughs "Hoo boy, we got us a discriminatin' drinker here!", at which point he pours a shot of vodka for Mahmoud. Still chuckling, he says "Private room off the back there. Go on in."

As he walks off Mahmoud can still hear Leroy chuckling "White Death. Man, somebody is going to feed that white boy his own liver."

Heading back to the door, Mahmoud continues his policy of avoiding trouble, and enters without incident. Inside, he sees a room that is completely different from the rest of the place. It's clean, and well lit, with curtains on each wall. There are two men standing guard inside the door, and possibly the most beautiful woman he's ever seen sitting at a table in the center.

"So." She waves at the seat opposite her, and waits for him to sit down.

"What can I do for you today?"

[TinSoldier]

"Hello.

"My name is Mahmoud Khalid al A'ttar. I am looking for a place to stay and maybe for a job.

"Belinda Plax referred you -- she said that you may be able to help me."

[Baelfyre]

"Hello.

"My name is Mahmoud Khalid al A'ttar. I am looking for a place to stay and maybe for a job.

"Belinda Plax referred you -- she said that you may be able to help me."

"So. Belinda is an old client, and she called to say that you were coming over. Spoke quite highly of you, in fact. I have something for you. Something from... oh, about half a mile south of odd. There is a store in the Millenium Mall of the Americas. My client needs it cleared out, and a piece of equipment installed and monitored. Pay up front is low; I'll give you an SMG and you can stay in the store for six months rent free, as long as you monitor the equipment. During that time, I will also endeavor to find a way for you to deal with Mr. Twotrees." she says in a soft, musical voice. Mahmoud is rather distracted by the voice for a few moments.

[TinSoldier]

Mahmoud tries to snap out of his temporary fascination with Heaven and her voice. He is only partially successful.

"I'm sure that I've done worse things for shelter for six months so I'm sure that I will have little problem with this.

"Assuming that I'm not dodging bullets every day, God willing.

"As for Twotrees, well, revenge really isn't my thing. But I would like to be employable again, if I am so fortunate."

[Baelfyre]

Heaven replies "Good. We will go over details here tomorrow at 8am. I have arranged a room upstairs for you and the other prospects for this job."

At this point, for a split second Mahmoud's perceptions shift, as the entire world takes on a wire frame aspect, with lightning connecting everything in irregular flashes. The effect lasts only a moment, but is quite disconcerting.