Becca Breaks an Arm

[Baelfyre]

Not hers, mind you.

It started with the Show. "The Greatest Show on Earth". That's what Dad always called it. The Ringling Brothers Circus. It'd had different names over the years. Not that the owners name was even Ringling any more.

No matter.

The Show had gone on. Becca's shooting exhibition had gotten the Ooohs and Aaahs she had grown to expect. The new outfit had gone well too, even if there wasn't a whole lot to it. But it was the shooting that people came to see.

Four bullets through the same hole, three times in a row. It looked like magik the first time... by the time she'd done the same thing to the flying discs three times in a row it looked like she'd made a deal with the devil.

When the show was over, the young redhead headed backstage with the other performers. What she found there was not the normal organized chaos that she was used to.

A boy in a suit was wandering through, groping the performers pretty much at will. The attitude he's projecting is looking over animals.

That's about the time he walks up and gropes Becca.

[Kalzazz]

Becca reacts before she thinks about it, tripped on enough instinct and reflex boosters to think about it. She smiles brightly at the guy as she reaches to grab the offending appendage and remove it from her personage by main force, whether or not it stays attached to the fellow in the process

[Baelfyre]

There is a kind of wet *crunch* sound, and the guy looks at her as if seeing her for the first time.

The lack of pain on his face is somewhat... disconcerting though.

"Oh. You are going to be interesting to play with."

Becca's instincts pick up two people moving behind her...

[Kalzazz]

Becca glares at him, but sensing the other she jumps back and to the side, spinning midair towards them and her hand dipping for her holster

[Baelfyre]

She feels cold metal on her neck.

"Ahhh ahhh ahhh little girl. Take the hand away from the pistol"

comes softly from behind her.

[Kalzazz]

"Okay okay . . "

Becca doesn't think its okay though, shes sure if she gives up her gun to go with this guy her doom or worse than her doom is upon her

She tries to outdraw and blast the guy anyway, praying she can beat his trigger finger

((Oh, and definitely trying the fastdraw option))

[Baelfyre]

Ok...

Roll d10+22

Just roll it for now and post it.

I'm going to do dice a little differently than I was in the last game. I'll be posting that in a house rules thread.

[Kalzazz]

I get an even 30

((Becca notably once her player figures out precisely how to shop for gear for her will be getting a Speed Holster))

[Baelfyre]

Guard #1 goes on 23
Guard #2 goes on 24
Victor goes on 22

Becca goes first. What precisely is she going to do?

[Kalzazz]

Becca will draw and blast the guy behind her twice, hoping she doesnt break her arm or wrist doing that

[Baelfyre]

Ok, she's at point blank range, so she needs a 10 to hit.

Turning around is going to count as an action, firing twice at a single target will count as one action.

That gives her a -3 penalty for the fast draw, and -3 for the second action, -4 because the target has a ref of 14, and -3 because she couldn't see her target when she comitted. So that's a -13 modifier.

She has a 12 ref, 7 handgun, and smartgun link with targeting sight. Her weapon also has a +1 acc. For a total bonus to hit of 23.

Altogether, she's at +10. So she will hit with both shots on anything better than a 1.

Roll three d10's. The first one is her to hit roll, the second two are hit locations.

[Kalzazz]

7, 8, 5

Dice rolling filler

[Kalzazz]

Becca whirls away from him with her gun flying into her hand, firing as she turns, standing within arms reach the massive revolvers blue plasma muzzle blast washes the foe she nails him in the right arm and the leg

She takes in that he has a taser. And that he doesn't seem damaged

((Rolled a 24 and 25, so stopped cold))

[Baelfyre]

Well not quite nothing; Body type modifier won't reduce damage below 1. And yeah, he's got good armor.

He rolls two stun/shock saves (with a 2 and 3, makes them).

Guard #1 steps in and attempts to disarm Becca, throwing a 33. (she resists with Ref+Martial Arts+d10)
Guard #2 Pulls an MPK-11 up from under his jacket and shoots Becca in the kneecap with a three round burst. It hurts, a lot, but it's a light wound (4 pts).

The bullets punched right through her kneecap; if she didn't have both skinweave and muscle bone/lace she would have lost her leg there.

She is -1 on her MA.

Edit: Vic (the kid) pulls his arm straight, then works his fingers.

[Kalzazz]

Becca tries to hold on, but her gun gets wrenched away from her (I rolled a 3)

[Baelfyre]

Victor says "Stop" and both guards stop moving. "I'll teach this lesson myself" he says, and throws his head back. Becca sees his mouth elongating, and his ears start changing shape...

Right about then, what looks like the entire guard staff of the circus come piling in, armed with assault rifles and shotguns.

[Kalzazz]

Becca is going to try to step back and turn so she can see Victor and both his buddies, but wont go for her remaining gun unless they go at her or the security folks . . . she doesn't want to provoke an absolute war anymore than she already has

[Baelfyre]

When she turns back and looks at Victor, she doesn't see anything strange about him any more. Aside from the fact that the broken arm is completely unbroken in about ten seconds.

With a laugh, Victor walks to the exit. "She's not quite old enough for me, anyway. Next year... say on Halloween... well that will be a different story then... I hope she still wants to play..."

[Kalzazz]

"Uh . . yeah, I hadnt yet begun to play . . . next time Ill show you just how playful I can be"

Becca tries to avoid shaking as the adrenaline starts to ebb and things start to hit her ~ . . . some good Rebecca Sinclair is, all the training and flying disks she's vanquished, and she can't handle a freakazoid brat, oh and in front of everyone . . ~

[Baelfyre]

Becca's father hurries in as Victor leaves, and looks around. "Is everybody all right?"

The situation is explained to him, and he pales.

"Becca, come with me. Tanya, pack her stuff." he says as he draws Becca out towards the RV they live in.

[Kalzazz]

Becca drags after her father, almost grateful for the pain and distraction of bone grinding on bone in her knee

She does try to make a detour and retrieve her gun if it wound up anywhere retrievable after she got disarmed, but otherwise follows

[Baelfyre]

The knee hurts, but it's still functional. Drawing her into the home, Dad says "Lie down in the autodoc while we talk."

The autodoc hums quietly as she lays down, strange lights playing over the knee as nanites are injected with a quiet hiss, together with assorted quickheals and painkillers. (Damage is fully healed in about 16 hours). The machine then wraps a flexible bandage around the knee and beeps. With the speedheal, she'll be -3 Ref for the next week but she'll heal real quick.

"That was Victor Holt. Big shot in Militech research and development. There was a reason we let him backstage."

He shakes his head. "He collects human subjects for testing. He was one of his own first test cases. Almost twenty years ago. He hasn't gotten any saner since then, either."

"You have to leave. Tonight. We'll pull what cash we can to send you off, but you have to go."

[Kalzazz]

Becca winces " . . I . . I'm sorry, I didn't think . . . with me gone, then he won't come after the rest of us?"

" . . . and where can I go?"

[Baelfyre]

"He may still come after us. Or not. We have some favors to call in; it's a tossup. But you are going to need to leave with the crowd. Before he can task a satellite to find you, so that it's almost impossible to get away." He says.

"He hands her a clear piece of plexiglass, about twice the thickness of a credit card but other than that the same size and shape. This is a coded contact card. Say the word "Heaven" and it will give you a one use contact code for a fixer named Heaven. She's expensive, and she drives a hard bargain, but she is independent. When you get clear, get in touch with her and tell her you need a job and a place to stay, both off the grid."

He hugs her at that point, and says "You need to go. Quickly! Take Franchi's bike."

[Kalzazz]

Becca takes the card and returns his hug tightly. "Right . . . I'll go . . "

She then pulls away and turns, blinking back forming tears

"Well . . I did want to go on an adventure"

Becca pulls her hat low over her eyes and heads out of the RV

[Baelfyre]

With that, she grabs the bike and boosts out with the crowd, headed for the city. It's about twenty miles in, and if she cries, the wind blasts the tears from her face. She crosses from desert to stinking marsh a half dozen times on the way, until she comes to a little gas station with a sign for a public vterm.

[Kalzazz]

Becca pulls up at the vterm, and takes out the card. "Heaven" she tells it

And wonders what kind of name Heaven is

[Baelfyre]

After she speaks the name, the card blurs for a moment, and an address and time form: Leroy's Bar and Grill, 3pm. Tell Leroy you're there for the back room.

[Kalzazz]

((What time is it, and does Becca know how to get to this Leroy's Bar and Grill?))

If Becca doesn't know where it is, she'll go into the gas station and try to buy a local map

[Baelfyre]

It's about 2am, and she can get directions from the vterm.

[Kalzazz]

Becca gets directions from the vterm

While she is using the vterm she also checks for somewhere to spend the night

[Baelfyre]

She can find a coffin for about 50eb a night two blocks from Leroys.

[Kalzazz]

Becca makes a note of this. And hopes this Heaven really can do as advertised in the job and housing department

And she sets out for the coffin hotel

[Baelfyre]

Pulling into town, she feels eyes on her. From rubble, from rotted buildings, even from some of the cars. She's a stranger here, and this isn't a nice place.

The "hotel" is called "The Crash Box", and it looks worse as she get's closer. There are a dozen boosters hanging around outside, and one of them actually has a sign "Black Lace: clean shit here."

Going inside, she is met by smells she'd never even imagined. A combination of years of sweat, vomit, garbage, and god knows what else assaults her nose, and there are half a dozen people in the front who are actually managing to stand out as smelly in that place.

The guy behind the window looks at her, and shakes his head. "Keep movin', sister. We don't want no trouble here."

[Kalzazz]

"No vacancies? Yes, Ill be going now. Have a nice night"

Becca leaves quickly, and after visiting that place thinks camping sounds like a really capital idea. She'll head toward one of the nearer deserts she passed getting here

[Baelfyre]

By the end of the night, Becca's not sure that she wouldn't have been safer among the wireheads, druggies, and boosters. The last straw was probably when the alligator the size of a toyota came up out of the swamp and started to eat not her, but her bike.

A few shots scared it off, but let's just say she hasn't gotten a lot of sleep.

The next morning, she heads into town, and pulls up at Leroy's. As she parks her bike, she see's a borg come out with a wheelbarrow. In it are lots of assorted cyberlimbs with bloody chunks of meat still attached.

I might add that she has purple spots all over her hands and feet.

[Kalzazz]

Becca writes off camping on her 'fun list of things to do', and hopes this purple problem isnt terminal. She can recall Black Death and Yellow Fever from a few history disks, but nothing purple. Still, it probably is good to get it checked out sometime

She isnt so sure about the borg with the wheelbarrow, then she brightens. If he is leaving the establishment at least this isnt the days food delivery

[Baelfyre]

The spots fade in a few hours. Apparently there was something there that didn't agree with Becca's physiology.

The borg looks over in her direction, and says "Give me a hand here and I'll spot you breakfast. You look like you need it."

Assuming she goes along, she'll find out that this is Leroy, the owner of the the Bar and Grill. The assorted cyberlimbs are casualties from the previous evening for the most part, though a few were taken for bar tabs.

[Kalzazz]

"Sure thing" Becca goes along. And is fairly impressed to learn this is all from one night rather than a weekly or monthly cleaning

"Anything else I can do to help? I have an appointment for the back room at 3PM, and nothing much planned between now and then"

[Baelfyre]

Leroy laughs. "I wouldn't make any plans for today if you are going to be dealing with Heaven. Apparently she's got a fairly unusual contract coming up. I don't know any details, and I don't know if you'll make the cut."

With that, he takes Becca into the bar and grill. Right now, it's starting to fill up with people stopping by on their way to work. A lot of grill, not so much bar.

Well, unless you count the two wireheads one of the corner booths. But nobody ever counts the wireheads.

Anyway, he points her at the bar, and serves her up a big helping of stew. The guy next to her is going to town with his Rat-on-a-stick, but he's the only one eating at the bar with her. Everybody else is at tables and booths right now.

"You want booze, water, or cola with that?"

[Kalzazz]

"Ill take Cola"

Becca tries to avoid looking at her stew to closely, but morbid curiousity gets the better of her and she checks out what shes eating

[Baelfyre]

There are unidentifiable bits and pieces, but it's actually quite tasty. Actually, it's the first pleasant thing to happen to her in a couple of days.

Leroy says "If you want, you can hang out until three. But it get's a little rough after lunch."

[Kalzazz]

Becca eats it happilly then, it being tasty and she being rather hungry, "The stews quite good, my compliments to the chef"

"Ill hang out, I can handle rough"

[Baelfyre]

The morning passes fairly quietly. THe afternoon is a bit busier, and she sees at least half a dozen deals go dowm. Code words are used, so she isn't sure what's being bought and sold.

At three o'clock, a green bulb glows for a moment over a conference room. Leroy says "The doctor is in. Count your fingers and toes leaving." and points her over to the door.

Becca opens the door, and goes into an immaculate conference room with curtains on the wall and a real wood table. There are two guards. One is carrying a Militech Cyborg Rifle w/GL. The other is carrying a monokatana and some kind of small pistol that Becca doesn't recognize. Which is somewhat unusual. That's when she get's a look at the woman at the table, and can't breathe for a few seconds.

Becca's never gone for women. But right now, the sexual imagery and sensations running through her brain have her in shock for several seconds.

"...Are you all right? You seem to be a bit dizzy. Here, let me help." Heaven says as she gets up, comes around the table and pours Becca into a chair."

Becca gets control of herself in a few seconds once she sits down, but the places where Heavens hands touched still burn pleasantly.

Heaven says "After you've recoverd a bit, why don't you tell me who you are, what you want, and how you're plannin on paying for it".

[Kalzazz]

"Who I . . . uh . . . oh! Rebecca Sinclair . . . ah, Becca works to. I was told you could find me a job and a place to stay. Off the grid"

"Maybe I could go on a quest or something for you?"

[Baelfyre]

"A quest. How... interesting. Are you sure you wouldn't rather be my pet? The pay is better, and the work far more pleasant... No? Ah well, I do indeed have something for you. A fairly simple job; I need a store cleaned out and some equipment installed and monitored. In exchange, I'll let you stay there rent free for six months, as long as you help protect the equipment. I'll also throw an SMG in. The store has it's own power and water completely off the grid, though it is in a rather dangerous area." Heaven says.

[Kalzazz]

"Oh, ah . . sure, that sounds good, thank you, Ill do it" Becca smiles at her and thinks this will be a great oppurtunity to use her skills and impress Heaven . . . why did she want to impress Heaven, she wasnt interested in that pet job she mentioned, surely she wasnt. Becca isnt to sure about all this, but it definitely seems to beat Toyota Sized alligators. And compared to an RV, a store in a mall must be the size of a palace

[Baelfyre]

"Excellent. I'll have Leroy set you up with a room upstairs while I make the offer to the other two potentials. The four of us will meet tomorrow morning, promptly at 8am." she smiles, and then continues more seriously "I'm also going to be giving you a book with some mental exercises. I strongly suggest that you use them religiously. That's not a part of our bargain. it's simply a... suggestion for your own best interest."

[Kalzazz]

"Mental exercises . . . right, Ill do that. Thank you" Becca starts to have a lot more apphrehension regarding this job she just agreed to