Faction There is an After [Darkwire & Friends of Doc Painless]

[Darkwire Prophet]

At the Doc Painless Memorial Service in District 9...

"I went for weeks without knowing what had happened to my grandson after he disappeared. Every time the comm sounded I thought it was him, and I waited up every night just in case my Bylli walked through the door..." the old woman's rummy eyes fluttered with the memory. "He'd been held at that Eden Mall the whole time, locked up by CorpSec for whatever it was they took him for. It wasn't anything right until Doc Painless made it that way." Kybele "Old Lass Pel" Peleus looked down at the holo in her hand, and a thin smile warmed her face behind the harsh, blue glow. "Did you know what an impact you made on his life? I never thought Bylli was one for hero worship until he started talking up Doc Painless every time he heard of something new, then it was all 'Doc this' and 'Doc that...'" She looked up at the crowd, a brief reminder that they were there. She added a few pages of flimsis to the memorial in front of her, adorned with the colorful artwork of younglings. "The kids made these for the Doc, you all know we don't get many heroes around here anymore. It seemed right to honor one. I may not to get much to live on these days, what without a pension, but when I started Painless Preschool I said to myself that I'd accept any child from friends of Doc. It's the least I can do to keep his name alive."

Old Lass Pel stepped back into the crowd assembled in the darkened clinic lobby, away from the welcome desk decorated with an arrangement of medical instruments, glowing bacta cannisters, and several bottles of the favored Corellian Whiskey that Doc had stashed around the place. The ordinary check-in screen had been repurposed for the day and glowed dimly with an image of his face, one echoed on the blue holograms given for all to hold. They provided the only real light in the room, besides what each of the bereaved brought in their own hearts.

Everyone who had assembled tonight had some reason to honor the cyborg man. Some were like Old Lass Pel, whose lives were touched by Doc Painless without really knowing him. Some were gangsters of District 9, who allowed the Doc to operate, and kept him safe to do so, so long as he'd treat them: no questions asked. And some, risking everything to be here, were friends and compatriots of the Darkwire Shadowrunner who had seen them through the worst times with a strength and optimism he reserved for everyone else.

"I guess I'll say something..." Jakab Profirio stood up, known by few in the crowd. A soft, slow light blinked beneath the skin of his neck, evidence of the cybernetics that had helped him survive. "Doc Painless saved my life." The barely-perceptible click of the oxygen regulation implant sounded before Jakab drew in a breath, "Without him, I wouldn't still be able to work. I probably wouldn't even have all my digits." He held them up to the crowd, still Factory Default and functioning. "Doc found me in the snow, during that freak storm last year, and if not for him I'd be an icicle. So I...just wanted to come here to say thanks. If only I could have found a way to say it before he...well, you know." Jakab set a paper copy of a paystub, his first after going back to work, into the memorial before he stepped back into the crowd again.

Silence hung in the room for a few moments, until the 3PO unit who had served as the clinic's greeter droid shuffled to the front again. It held up a hand to the mourner offering him some of the travel biscuits —among other baked goodies— being passed around. If it was possible for a droid to look both offended and impressed at the same time, the greeter droid might have looked just like that, until it shifted in that miniscule, stuttering way that droids did to turn its photorecptors on the crowd, "Does anyone else have something to say? You may remain as long as you wish in my former employer's clinic, however I would recommend keeping your visit short for those on CorpSec's watchlist."

The droid wasn't wrong.

At that very moment, CorpSec sniffers were on the ground. An anonymous tip set the precincts of District 9 on alert, looking for known Shadowrunners or those trying just a little too hard to blend in. Discretely, a few of CorpSec's top Darkwire experts had crossed the district boundaries to put their keen noses and uncanny senses to the task. If there was a Darkwire gathering happening in the district, they would find it eventually.

-----------

OOC:

Whether you are Shadowrunner, CorpSec, or an interested party nonetheless, the objectives are simple. Pay Your Respects or Seek Out Justice.

There is a one-page moratorium on PVP. After that, the gloves are off.

P.S. All thread participants are eligible to acquire a Doc Painless Memorial HoloCoin.

Spoiler: TAGS

Anakin Stormrunner
Aren D'Shade
Brie Jaxx
Cartri Keswoll
Cassus Akovin
Daiya
Daven Tooms
@Emily Kolburn
Glade
Hex
Samuel Exel
Tarus Undara
Under Foot
Yula Perl
(Don't see your name here? Reply here to get added.)

 

[Daiya]

B E F O R E​

\> Meet me at my place in the Tombs when you have a chance? ~Das

Das started pacing around her room the moment her message was delivered. She’d been poring for hours over caches of lost data, selfishly scouring for any trace of Zephyrr among the untold number of transmissions caught in the comms buffer when CorpSec locked down the Seven…

What she stumbled on was heartbreaking: A gut wrenching message from the Doc, meant for the Shadowrunners, that never made it through the blackout.

Das didn’t know who else to call, or what else to say. It was more than she could send to Daiya in a message. She needed to show her in person what she’d found.

The circuitous route took Daiya past, but not close to, familiar sights. She had walked past that caf shop yesterday, and used that tram stop a few days ago. It had only been a week since the lockdown, but the young shadowrunner was already finding new ways to make her route to the Tombs anything but routine. Even a brief side trip to celebrate Hex's birthday hadn't kept Daiya too long away from her homeworld, and the re-opened tunnel entrance from this district meant that she could slip in and out of the heavily CorpSec-patrolled Seven Corners without passing through one of their checkpoints. As long as she was careful, to a point that Daiya might have considered paranoia if not for the visible presence of CorpSec even on the supposedly-peaceful walkways of District 9.

She ducked down into a dimly-lit alleyway to avoid catching the attention of red-and-black eyes.

"Alr-i-i-ght, you're here!" A voice came to her from the shadows. The teen recoiled, her hand moving on top of her satchel. She couldn't wear a blaster out in the open, not with her face now, and she wondered if she had the seconds it would take to get it out. A hand escaped the shadow, holding out a long tube of...something. "Wanna Slumm it?"

"Feth no!" Daiya turned back out the alleyway. She'd risk CorpSec today. So long as she kept walking, with intent but not too much speed, and kept her head from turning in their direction, the young shadowrunner would be fine for today.

Tomorrow she would need to do better to keep their point of access, and refuge, to the Tombs more secure.

"Okay, okay, I'm here!" Daiya announced by way of greeting, slipping her arms around Das' neck the moment she opened the door. The hug was short, and ended with a short giggle by the flushed teen, still looking a little out of breath from the trip here. "Today was fething busy, and then I swear I had some Corpo snitch trying to tail me on my way here."

The pink-haired teen found a chair to drop into, making herself comfortable with a satisfied grin before asking, "So...out with it! What was so important it you could only tell me in person?"

“Thanks for getting her so fast, Daiya,” the teen started. She scrolled aimlessly over the pad, ‘searching’ for the message as if she didn’t already have it right there, waiting. Das swallowed hard, then handed the device over to the younger girl.

“I… I found this, while I was mining through some data that got caught in the blackout. I think you need to see it.”

Her eyes were misty as she watched Daiya read the message. Das broke the silence with a soft-spoken, “I’m so sorry.”

It was all she knew to say.

Daiya took the datapad with a curious expression, not certain what she might find on it. She couldn't think what kind of message was making Das act like this, so much had been caught by the Corpo's comms blackout on that day. It was still hard to get a good message through to someone deep in the district, and for all the teen knew this was one of her contacts pinging with new data or intel. Her eyes flew up at the other teen's final comment, and hear heart skipped a beat. They came back down to read the indecipherable file name pulled up on the datapad, flickering with the beat of her nervous heart.

She pressed play, and a voice Daiya thought she might never hear again drifted up from the datapad's tinny speakers. "Daiya, I think my number's up. I have some things I want to say to you before I'm gone."

Her throat closed up as Daiya tried to inhale a gasp of air, feeling the beat of her heart pumping the life right out of her. The world seemed to press in, like a weight on her tightening chest, suffocating her. 'No!' her lips protested, without the air to voice it. A whimper loosened itself from the back of her throat, allowing her just enough breath to speak. "Not again."

(Post Soundtrack: "Don't Save Me" by Chxrlotte)

N O W​

"I'm so proud of you, in so many ways, for so many things. But I'm also scared for you, for your future."

Daiya couldn't stop the message from repeating in her ears, long after she had pressed STOP.

Did you ever think you would see this future, Doc? Or did you always know where you would end? The teen was quiet in a way that she never really was. For all the stars in the sky, she was actually thinking her words as another's echoed all the while in her head. No words would form on her dry tongue, even if she could croak them out. Her eyes were dry as well, and Daiya didn't think she could find enough water to ever fill them up again.

It was just as well, the teen would be happy to never cry for anyone ever again.

She didn't need to be reminded why they were here. Not just to honor the memory of Doc, but why they had to be here, somber and barely lit by holos of his face. Daiya shut her eyes to block out the light, but the blue glow seeped in even under her tight eyelids. Just like the way the reason seeped in no matter how hard she tried not to think about it. She had already cried it out for as many tears as she possessed. The teen had even tried breathing the way Ivory had shown her, in slowly and out in three, huffing breaths. It only shut off her feelings in the way that made it worse.

So instead, Daiya was here, stoic and quiet. For once, her hair didn't clash with her outfit, dyed brown to match the drab outfit she wore. It didn't offer much protection, her suit was too conspicuous and the better one was still locked inside District 7. The young shadowrunner felt naked and vulnerable without some reassurance, but that was no different than anything else she was tonight. Naked and vulnerable was exactly how she expected others saw her, their eyes raking over her in a clear, demeaning manner. Everyone else in Darkwire knew by now why Doc Painless was the one who bit the blaster bolt on that fateful day.

Her.

Daiya's teeth ground as she set her jaw, bearing whatever scorn that came her way. She didn't need to look to know a few others had personal grievances with her from that day, like the ginger-haired Cartri Keswoll who had pointedly stood a distance away from her. She wasn't sure what the hat-attired woman standing near her thought of it now that she knew the truth, and the teen chanced a small hand at her arm as she pointed with her chin and eyes toward the small memorial. Daiya was hoping that Ivory Stroud would take the hint, and maybe a bit of the attention off of her today.

It deserved to be on Doc Painless right now, no matter what else happened.

[Intro jointly written by the wonderful Das ]

 

[Ivory Stroud]

Ivory Stroud sat quietly beside Daiya , having chosen a seat close to the end of a row for easy access in & out. The raven-haired rebel had avoided dressing as she normally did, when on Denon - avoiding the trappings of a Shadowrunner for the black suit & wide-brimmed hat which had become the symbol for her double-life as "The Donna" of The Family. She was one of the few Shadowrunners from District 7 with enough anonymity to come & go with very little effort - but she'd still arrived with an entourage of black-suited, stoic-faced 'goons'. Three of them were present in the room, sticking to the shadows, and avoiding interaction with anyone. Their job was to ensure she (and Daiya, though the young woman probably wasn't aware of the safety net) would get out clean if they had to run for their lives.

Ivory was nothing if not prepared. The trio of gangsters on her payroll had brought enough firepower to start a small-scale war.

Ivory had listened solemnly to each person as they'd climbed atop the dais & delivered a eulogy for the late Doc Painless . All the while, she'd been considering her own role in how the events had led up to this day. Ivory, through The Family, had acquired the very information which led to the train bombing & the near-assassination of one of the Republic's representatives. It had been Ivory who'd delivered this information to Daiya... and Ivory would have been present for the operation, had she not been attacked & nearly kidnapped by the Zeros for her role in the gang's brutalization at the hands of Niki Priddy .

It was Ivory's fault, in a round-about way, that Doc Painless was dead.

But rather than share the guilt with anyone, she'd kept it to herself.

Her heart hung heavily in her chest, but she had to be strong... not just for herself, but for the other Shadowrunners who were risking far more than she by being here.

A gentle touch upon her arm, delivered by Daiya, brought the Mafiosa back to reality, and swept the dark cloud over her heart aside - if only for a moment. Ivory turned, glancing at the young woman seated beside her; recognizing the cold, stoic look on Daiya's face and realizing she, too, was struggling with her own emotions & inner demons. With a sigh, Ivory reached out and took Daiya's hand, giving it a gentle squeeze... then stood from her chair and began to walk toward the podium at the front of the room.

Many eyes were watching her as she took the stage, and Ivory took a moment to lean on the podium, looking around the clinic; seeing it for what it once was, as Doc's home. A glimpse into the soul of the man who embodied the fight for Freedom they'd all taken a vow to continue. She hadn't prepared a speech; hadn't felt it was necessary... instead, she would speak from the heart. Very few people, except those with the District 7 Cell of Darkwire, would know her identity, and Ivory would choose to keep it that way, so she did not introduce herself.

"I've been listening, and everyone here has glowing stories of Doc. He was a hero to everyone... a man of justice, compassion, and conviction, who would sacrifice his own body and soul to bring even a moment's rest to those who needed it. I got very little private time with the man... but that Doc Painless was not the one I saw." She let her words hang for a moment, before continuing: "Doc was suspicious of me, from the moment I arrived on Denon. I was an unknown; someone who's presence he hadn't factored in, and someone he wasn't sure he could trust."

She took a moment to stare at the hologram in-front of her, looking at the Doctor's face highlighted in a soft blue glow.

"That was the thing about Doc. He was... a custodian. A steward, not just for the people he knew and could help, but for the entire planet of Denon itself. He only wanted what was best for the people - and he would brook no challenge, or give any ground in that battle. Doc died to remind us that there are things worth fighting for. That freedom is worth dying for. My heart aches for the loss we all share, but I am reminded that there are still good men in this Galaxy who know the value of human life; men who, even against all odds & certain death, will choose principles & honor over betraying what they stand for."

Ivory reached up, gripping the edge of her wide-brimmed fedora & removing it from her head - revealing her intense, violet eyes and long black hair which flowed down her back in an ebony wave. She'd cried, privately... but had taken place at center-stage with a look of determination on her fierce visage. She cast a long gaze over the faces of everyone in the room she could see.

"Doc Painless died to remind each of us that we, too, must follow our hearts, and never forget there are worse things than death. I can only hope that, if I ever find myself faced with a similar choice, I will choose honor over the 'easy way'... that I will choose strength over weakness, and that I will remember there are far more important things in this world than personal comfort."

She blinked, fighting back a sudden twitch in her eyelid... and averting her eyes for a moment as a single tear rolled down her cheek.

Damn you, she thought.

It wasn't right.

Bringing two fingers to her lips, she kissed her fingertips then laid them on the small metal disc which displayed the good Doctor's face. The motion twisted & warped the hologram for a split second, but it returned to normal as she removed them.

"Goodbye, Doc. Be one with The Force, if you believe in such a thing..."

Then, under her breath, she muttered quietly to herself, "See you on the other side."

Then, she replaced the hat upon her head and stepped down from the podium, returning to her seat.

Daiya Cartri Keswoll Das @Everyone​

 

[Hex]

​

Tag: Daiya Ivory Stroud
Location: Memorial service in district 9
Objective: Attend memorial

Spoiler: Equipment

• Neon Lady suit
• ap-25i SIMP pistol
• 'Candles' Heavy particle blaster
• 'confetti' Rocket launcher
• Party Poppers (3 explosive, 3 gas)
• Firebee swarm - inferno pattern
• Chewing gum
• Dancer repulsor board
• Jade Void Amulet
• Dervish Knife

Spoiler: Hex dialogue colors

Poor Hex hears voices in her head

Hex speech to others
Hex speech to herself

Hexes inner voices
'...Neutral...'
'...Doubt...'
'...Anger...'
Coloured '.....' are also words that Hex can hear , but I decided not to write them to reduce clutter

The blue haired teen, like her pink partner had dressed more subtly than usual today, but she wouldn't have been herself if she wasn't.... herself. Hex raised an eyebrow at the thought as she slid in and sat on the other side of Daiya from the mildly terrifying Ivory Stroud . She leaned over and kissed Daiya on the cheek with affection, "You ok?". She wasnt there really for herself, she was there for Daiya, all this had hurt her hard and as chitty as Hex felt about it all, it was nothing compared to Daiya.

But Hex had her own thoughts, she felt nervous, she knew at least one person thought this was all her and Daiya's fault, what if everyone her felt the same, a guy had totally given her the eye on the way in, what was he thinking? She looked back over at the anonymous judgemental soul, she reached for her Dervish Knife and began to spin it by her thigh nervously, fidgeting in her seat.

'...He's not the only one...'
"mhm" Hex answered herself quietly.

Ivory took her seat again and 'Ellie' smiled at her across from Daiya.

'...What are you doing?...'

She found herself drawn to stand up in her seat, not knowing why, but she wanted to talk, maybe to prove to people she wasn't some monster.

"Right, so, I didnt really know Doc all that well, so I'm not going to be a chit and pretend I am the saddest person in the room, because I'm not.

But its still really chitty that he died, he watched over us and looked after the best person in the whole CAD even when she was a reckless little punk."

Hex let out a little, but still possibly out of place giggle.

"What I'm trying to say is that he was one of the good guys, and I'm sorry that he's dead, like genuinely sorry.

So let me pour one out for our friend the Doc."

She lifted her hand, she was holding a party popper, a few in the crowd gasped, but Hex quickly flipped a bolt out of it and a small packaged of material that looked like plasticine dropped onto the floor with a light thud.

'...That was...something...'

She sat back down next to Daiya and put her hand on her leg, her eyes were beginning to gloss over pink and she was shaking slightly.

​

 

[Dann Jorsten]

Objective: Investigate Civil Disturbance - possible Darkwire connection?
Location: District 7, Underlevels - en route to District 9
Tags: Open

"Possible 10-15 in progress," the dispatcher's clipped, dispassionate voice buzzed over the comm. "Coordinates D9-L12-B744."

10-15. Civil Disturbance. Could mean anything from a drunken argument in the street to a protest or strike to a full-blown riot. Detective Dann Jorsten waited, his comlink raised to his ear, but no further details were forthcoming. He sighed, and it was a violent sound on him, a rush of frustrated air that was more push than slump. Trust Dispatch to do the bare minimum, sending out units without giving them any idea of what they were walking into. Trust those responding units to do their own bare minimum, simply arresting or beating anyone they found there.

Why bother to take statements, learn reasons, resolve disputes? Someone rich wanted the disturbance gone, so it'd be made to be gone.

Capitol Security officers were meathead brutes, Dispatch was lazier than a sunning Hutt, and root causes went unaddressed.

He was spiraling again. He needed to cut that off before it got bad. Jorsten reached into his jacket pocket and withdrew a fresh pack of Red Vipers, flicking the lid open with his thumb. There they were - twenty crimson soldiers standing at attention, ready for duty. Jorsten pulled one out, the chosen sacrifice, and twirled it between his calloused fingers as he readied his lighter. The faithful flame sparked up, a little warmth amid the evening chill. The temperature regulators were on the fritz in lower District 7 again. No one who could fix them cared.

Too far down for anyone to have any money. Where was the profit in providing utilities the locals couldn't afford to upkeep?

Fortunately Darkwire was here to fix this broken, exploitative system by... blowing up commuter trains and murdering execs. Real heroes.

Still spiraling. Chit. Jorsten lit the cigarette and raised it to his lips, taking a long drag. A shiver ran through his body as the smoke filled his lungs and the trace amounts of Ryll went to work on his system. It was only a hint of euphoria, like listening to a symphony from outside the concert hall, but it was the closest he got to calm or confident anymore. Another drag and his anxieties, his hopelessness, his self-loathing, all fell into the back of his mind like a beer can rolling beneath the couch. They'd be back, of course. The pleasure was temporary, unreal.

Jorsten didn't remember what it felt like to be happy.

He remembered remembering happiness, though, before it had all faded into the haze.

The tip of the cigarette glowed as Jorsten took another pull, holding it tight between his lips so he could keep his hands free. He held the comlink out in front of him to check the coordinates he'd received, his once-sharp eyes skimming over the transcript of the audio dispatch. Then he read them again. In the back of his mind, old detective instincts flared, neural pathways worn into his brain tissue so deeply that none of his vices had been able to erase them. Hadn't he seen mentions of that area somewhere before? In connection with something Darkwire?

Maybe he was just bored, so desperate for a case that his subconscious was inventing one. He couldn't be alone with his thoughts.

But maybe he was onto something - a half-remembered tip about a gang that protected a local clinic down there.

If he was right, he'd better get moving before the goon squad brutalized all the evidence.

"Copy that, Dispatch," he finally replied, shifting the cigarette to the side of his mouth so that he could speak clearly. "CS-D559-481-D7 responding. I'm 10-76 to the location, ETA..." He checked his wrist chrono, then his speeder's navigational software. It wasn't far. "ETA ten minutes." "Confirmed," Dispatch replied, then cut the link without bothering to add anything else. Jorsten rolled his eyes. Leonis would never have been this sloppy, this careless with its officers lives. But CorpSec was what was available on this overpopulated chithole...

... and it was better than nothing. He'd seen nothing, no authorities, and it was ugly.

Tapping the start button, Jorsten fired up his speeder and gunned the engine.

He might not be the only responding officer, but he wanted to be the first.

So it was off to District 9, and maybe a lead on Darkwire at last.

 

[Das]

Location: District 9 | Soundtrack: Connected

“I feel all kinds of twisted up,” Das said frustratedly, without offering a more ‘logical’ interpretation for the AI boy who listened from inside her holopad.

Sam Kolburn blinked unphased by her human expression, and while he wasn’t sure if she was emotionally distressed or somehow physically wrapped up like tether cords, he could at least appreciate the construct of rhetorical statements. He withdrew the visage of his face from the screen, choosing instead to manifest as a cosmic cloud of soft purple light.

Somehow, he felt it was less intrusive.

“I’m sorry, Emily,” he said. The teen’s eyebrows twitched in protest of hearing her given name, but her focus was locked on the face of Doc’s clinic.

She debated whether to go in or not. It felt like the right thing to do, every bit as much as it didn’t. Das didn’t know Doc Painless personally, only through stories and conversations with the other teens of Darkwire. Maybe that’s what kept her feet locked in place, stuck outside next to her speeder.

“It feels wrong,” she said aloud, more to herself than to Sam. She felt led to stand - or sit? - beside her friends, to offer her shoulder for them. But what if they didn’t want her there? She was a stranger to the Doc, after all… she didn’t want to impose on what she could only imagine was a deeply emotional gathering of the man’s closest friends and family.

Her eyes turned to the gauntlet-mounted holoscreen. It flickered rhythmically as Sam spoke.

“I think we should go inside,” the AI boy said honestly. His voice was warm, despite its synthetic hum.

“Something tells me Doc was not the kind of man to mind company.”

---

Tags: Sam Kolburn; OPEN​

---

(Written jointly with my alt, Sam)

 

[Cartri Keswoll]

Location: Memorial
Objective: Pay respects to the doc
Tag: Brie Jaxx / Under Foot / Daiya / Hex / Cassus Akovin / Ivory Stroud

It was a day that Cartri had not been trying to think about, but when the time came he had no choice than to remember what happened that day. Doc Painless was a well-known figure in Darkwire and was documented to have saved many lives. Cartri had only ever really interacted with him briefly, although from the time he did the man seemed to have a level head and a way of trying to push people in the right direction. One of them being Daiya.

The pair of them still hadn't really talked since the bombing and from the looks of things it was going to be rough for a bit longer. Out of principle, Cartri was going to pay his respects and not cause any trouble, even if it meant talking to some people he didn't particularly want to interact with. For one day they needed to put their troubles behind them and give the doc a good send off, that was what he wanted right?

Clad in his clean black suit he entered the memorial and walked down the row of chairs. There were already many people here, some familiar faces he hadn't seen for a long time. Along the front, his blue eyes caught sight of three people, Daiya, Hex and Ivory. The three sitting together was a red flag, especially when Hex had pulled a knife out on him at the bot event. Slowly stopping the ginger glared at them in silent judgment, debating on if he should even approach them at all.

Yet, deep down inside there was something telling him to do the respectable thing.

Hesitantly the teen walked up behind the three and sat down behind Daiya, a deep sigh escaping his lips as he leaned forward to whisper something "I know me and you can't look each other in the eye right now, but that doesn't matter to me at this time. From the bottom of my heart, I'm sorry you lost an important man like doc in your life." Cartri said sincerely before carefully placing a hand on her shoulder and squeezing it. This didn't really change a thing between them. Right now, there was only a ceasefire to celebrate a lost life.

At the same time, his eyes briefly looked to Hex to check her reaction to his presence. For now, Cartri had to be cautious of her motives...​

 

[Hargo Zur]

"Commander, operatives on-the-ground have confirmed entities present on-site, and en-masse. We have surveillance assets monitoring the location, and support units in the area."

The female Tech's voice was clear, concise, and direct to the point - exactly what Hargo expected. Nothing more, nothing less than the necessary facts.

The war room's interior was brightly lit, and the buzz of conversation was kept to a minimum. It had taken some convincing, but District 9's Command Group had eventually decided to cooperate - giving District 7's Commander control of certain assets, and allowing him to run the operation (mostly) unchecked. If this operation turned into all-out war, he'd have to answer for it...

But at this point, it didn't really matter all that much.

Whether he took them away in cuffs, or in body-bags, meant all the same to him.

The Zabrak sat back in his chair, and stared at the screens on the far wall - watching multiple feeds at once. "Address all District 7 Agents. I want our people to be the first ones in the door. Capture & Arrest is preferred, but lethal force is authorized if necessary."

Attention CorpSec Operatives: Dann Jorsten Samuel Exel Lucia Ives Daven Tooms
BOLO: Daiya Cartri Keswoll Brie Jaxx Cassus Akovin Hex Under Foot ​

 

[Ruby Jaxx]

Location: Memorial
Objective: Pay respects

Ruby stood in the back corner, closest to the door. Her arms crossed tightly, her head bowed, Ruby simply wanted to dissolve into the background. Anything to keep the tears at bay -- and especially to keep anyone from seeing.

She hadn't known...

After waking up in the tombs, she hadn't known that Doc didn't make it down there with the rest of them. And she still remembered the hollow feeling inside when she'd heard the news: Doc was dead. Ruby couldn't handle knowing that'd she'd been one of the last to see him alive. They'd hopped the fence near the noodle place, he was just there...

If only she hadn't run off ahead, then maybe... just maybe he'd still be here.

That, or she'd be dead, too.

Her throat grew tight. After all, she couldn't remember anything after taking those hits. "I hope you can rest easy, Doc..." Ruby thought. "This isn't over."

 

[Daiya]

(Post Soundtrack: "Resentment" by lunity)

"You're a fighter. I know you'll see this thing all the way through, that you'll never quit until there's real change on Denon. I know you'll do whatever you think it takes. I know you're due for some payback against these scum."

Why didn't you ever fight, Doc? You deserve payback most of all. Bitter thoughts kept her eyes dry and focused ahead of the Darkwire teen. She blinked, more times than might be necessary during Ivory's speech. Her hands wrapped tightly around the holoprojector in her hands, gripping it until her knuckles turned white. Everyone here all felt sad or some kind of remorse, like they were just waiting for their own end. Daiya picked up her head for a word from Ivory, here and there, thinking one of them might be what she wanted to hear today.

Nothing.

Daiya flinched briefly, feeling a kindness touching her. It stung her cheeks, and she looked to spot her attacker, heart racing. She breathed out, wishing her nerves would go with it. "No," the teen told her friend, willing her heart to slow down again. "I'm never gonna be okay again."

Why wasn't anyone here angry like her?!

She poured her focus into the words spoken around her, searching for meaning. Searching for something meaningful to her. Daiya had always thought she shined in that, wiggling out meanings beyond what someone actually said. Now they eluded her, retreating back beyond her touch today. Even with Hex, Daiya knew her friend meant something good behind her words, but she couldn't grasp onto it this time. They were just words, meaningless words.

A long sigh escaped her lips as Daiya felt someone sit down beside her. She had been anticipating this all night, wishing she could avoid it. The ginger boy's breath was hot on her ears, and the teen didn't need to see him for her mind to conjure up a vision of her ex-boyfriend. Her heart pulsed beneath the skin of her chest, racing faster than she could stand up and shout. Daiya turned back to Cartri, half-standing anyway, staring defiantly into his eyes.

"Maybe you can't, Knuckles," the teen whispered derisively, gripping the holoprojector tighter between her palms. Break, she willed it, so that she might have something else to feel than a need to punch something tonight. Her eyes stayed glued to Cartri for the moment, almost sizing him up. He was more than a match for her, but worst of all, he was too noble to punch back. "I never had that problem!"

Daiya stalked past him, up to the memorial in the front of the crowd. Once there, the teen found she didn't have any sort of offering to leave, or any sappy words like the rest of the crowd. Eyes bored holes into her, but she ignored them, shaking back the thoughts that kept her tongue lashed and her hands balled. "I hate that we're all here like this."

Feth. That was one way to start, definitely not the one she expected of herself. There was no going back now, so Daiya just kept talking. "Doc did so much for each of us, some of us wouldn't be here if not for him. Even if you didn't know him personally, Doc had an effect on your life. But did we appreciate him when he was alive? Did we gather like this and celebrate about him like a saint?"

She let the question go unanswered. "We shouldn't be here to be sad that Doc is dead. He died, and it means a lot that he died, but beings die every day. It means more that we're still alive! That was Doc's life's work, keeping us alive so we could live it. And sometimes he needed that reminder too, so he'd be the first to tell us all to do just that. To live, and to celebrate that."

Daiya nearly spat the last word. This would have been the right time to cry, if she could have even found a crocodile tear. Instead, she stared back stubbornly as the face of her friend glared up at her from the holoprojector. Even if she looked up into the crowd, she found him there, too. The Doc would have wanted to hear this, the teen told herself, and she almost believed it. Daiya had never heard him tell her to shut up, and she wasn't about to start now. "Doc's work isn't over just because he died. It won't be over until we do something real while we're alive!"

Her eyes found Cartri's in the middle of the crowd, and her stomach knotted over itself. Her own words rattled inside her head. They had to mean something if nothing else did tonight. The teen moved away from the memorial, letting anyone else in who wanted to speak. She didn't have any more words for tonight, or ears to listen. Veering back toward her seat, Daiya reached her hand for Cartri instead, pulling him up and to the back of the clinic.

Deep in the furthest recesses of the darkest corner she could find, Daiya looked up at him for the first time in a long time. Consuming her view, he was the only light she could see right now. He and Doc, both, had been her light for so long now, it wasn't right she would lose both at the same time. It didn't make sense to her at the time, but now she understood. Doc and Cartri were noble, idealistic, and maybe even naïve, but they made real change worth fighting for. "You really want to be sorry, Cartri?"

Without them, it felt impossible to fight for anything right now.

"Hit me," the teen told her ex in a quiet, somber voice like one she'd never found yet. "Or something, I don't care. If I don't feel anything pretty soon I'm going to lose it."

Ivory Stroud Hex Dann Jorsten Das Cartri Keswoll Hargo Zur Ruby Jaxx​

 

[Daven Tooms]

In the shadows clinging to the opening of an alley, a graffiti-covered dumpster pod squatted. That darkness seemed to cling to the figure crouching behind the stinking hunk of metal. Daven raised a small monocular to his eye, its night vision trained on the door to the building. He had seen people entering, singly or two at a time, never a group. None came out. He had glimpses of a few recognizable faces, he thought. Those suspected of Darkwire affiliation. One or two Daven, in his mind, had already pinned as guilty terrorist, for no other reason than he wanted to believe they were.

Once District Commander Hargo Zur had all but temporarily usurped District 9's operations, all available District 7 agents were called to task. If Darkwire was pooling somewhere, CorpSec better damn well be close behind. Things had changed, and the stench of those winds of change smelled of urban war. Who knew what those scumrats would do next.

It had been a few lucky glimpses gathered from nearby locations that lead the CorpSec agent there. Psychometry was a fickle mistress, and sometimes she gave Daven clear images of what had gone on with or around an item he touched. And sometimes she teased him with something undiscernable, but only barely so. Fortunately he had used the ability to track a couple of the suspected Shadowrunners this way to the old clinic. It had been he that had provided initial reports.

Now he waited for further word as more assets made their way to the location.

 

[Samuel Exel]

A Hunt finished, a commlink crackling to life as another brutal crack of armored gauntlet across the face of a lowlife had seen him sent crashing to the ground with several other unconscious individuals. Didn’t like to get up-close-and-personal, but when in the environment of maze-like streets and warehouses he found himself doing more and more. Petty criminals, trying their luck for a now ever-more dangerous business in the wake.

The only thing the lower levels knew as of late was the Hunter’s vague version of justice alongside the iron fist of the riot-clad officers loitering the newly established quarantine zones. CorpSec had been sending him in nigh-constantly, hoping for leads to the big score; the cesspool of Terrorists hiding away somewhere on the planet. Outwardly, it didn’t feel like much. But he knew it made an image that CorpSec wanted to induce; that they had new resources at their disposal, and they were more than willing to use it. For some, Bounty Hunters were no more than a nuisance - and others, a deterrent. At the very least, he tried what he could to do more than merely show up at a location and start to wreak havoc - an improvement over the typical officers, more than likely.

It was a nasty system. Exel was more than aware of this. One he’d sooner buy his way off world to escape from, and never look back. That’s what got him here in the first place. It’s why he didn’t quite know why his opponent even bothered to fix something already broken. At least, tried to - having once tried to stand for change, their fiasco with public transportation saw to it that they were naught more than rabid dogs to be put down. That’s why he had been hired. The Galactic Alliance, The Family, Darkwire, Criminals and CorpSec alike. What did it all matter, in the end? He was paid either way, and whatever happens would occur with or without his hand involved.

Yet he still found himself making connections. He didn’t know if that would one day be a good thing, or a bad thing.

The listless visor of the helm had been staring at the unconscious bodies left from his latest score piled into a transport for processing, as if lost in thought for that moment before he snapped back to reality. With an exhale, Samuel finally answered the commlink, a hand raising to the side of his helmet as he turned and began to make his way from the scene.

“This is Gorian. I copy. Have my credits ready.”

CorpSec: Hargo Zur , Dann Jorsten , Lucia Ives , Daven Tooms
Darkwire: Daiya , Cartri Keswoll , Ivory Stroud , Hex , Das , Ruby Jaxx

 

[Ivory Stroud]

Ivory settled back into her seat, chewing on her bottom lip. Hex was the next to stand & take the stage, delivering her own eulogy. The ceremony of 'pouring one out' brought a small smirk to Ivory's face, which she hid with a down-turned tip of her hat. She appreciated the small bit of humor... and, she reasoned from the reactions of most of the people in the room, she was one of very few. When Hex returned to her seat, Ivory glanced sideways at the blue-haired girl and gave an appreciative nod - unsure if Hex caught it or not.

Cartri Keswoll 's voice spoke up softly over her right shoulder as he conversed with Daiya , and the two briefly spoke - Cartri offering his condolences & Daiya nihilistically replying. ANgrily, she rose from her seat & stalked toward the front of the room - taking the same spot Ivory had just occupied. As the young woman began speaking, Ivory glanced backward toward Cartri, offering him an apologetic look.

She wasn't here to pass judgement on anyone, or get between whatever had transpired between the two of them.

"Doc did so much for each of us, some of us wouldn't be here if not for him. Even if you didn't know him personally, Doc had an effect on your life. But did we appreciate him when he was alive? Did we gather like this and celebrate about him like a saint?"

She let the question go unanswered. "We shouldn't be here to be sad that Doc is dead. He died, and it means a lot that he died, but beings die every day. It means more that we're still alive! That was Doc's life's work, keeping us alive so we could live it. And sometimes he needed that reminder too, so he'd be the first to tell us all to do just that. To live, and to celebrate that."

Ivory grunted. Daiya had a point; funerals were always a difficult time; sorrow & anger came easily in the wake of a tragedy, with optimism often in short supply. She had a point.

"Doc's work isn't over just because he died. It won't be over until we do something real while we're alive!"

"Amen..." Ivory muttered under her breath. A murmur went through the crowd as Daiya left the stage, though whether they were in agreement or not, The Donna couldn't tell. Once all this was over, they could start to determine the next steps... Something real. But that was for tomorrow.

Instead of returning to her seat, Daiya did something unexpected; snatching up Cartri's hand & disappearing into the darkness behind the crowd. Ivory didn't say anything, but she shouldn't shake the feeling of a dark cloud hanging over her head. This sense of foreboding & looming danger that she couldn't quite shake.

The Donna glanced behind her, searching for one of the friendly faces in the crowd - one of her bodyguards - but couldn't see them in the dim light of the clinic. To alleviate the dark sense of trouble she was feeling, Ivory reached into the handbag she'd tucked under her seat & produced a small metallic flask; uncapping it and bringing it to her lips. She swallowed a mouthful of Mogano bourbon, then offered it side-long toward Hex .

"Good speech. The party popper was a good touch."

 

[Hex]

​

Tag: Daiya Ivory Stroud Cartri Keswoll
Location: Memorial service in district 9
Objective: Attend memorial

Spoiler: Equipment

• Neon Lady suit
• ap-25i SIMP pistol
• 'Candles' Heavy particle blaster
• 'confetti' Rocket launcher
• Party Poppers (3 explosive, 3 gas)
• Firebee swarm - inferno pattern
• Chewing gum
• Dancer repulsor board
• Jade Void Amulet
• Dervish Knife

Spoiler: Hex dialogue colors

Poor Hex hears voices in her head

Hex speech to others
Hex speech to herself

Hexes inner voices
'...Neutral...'
'...Doubt...'
'...Anger...'
Coloured '.....' are also words that Hex can hear , but I decided not to write them to reduce clutter

As Daiya spoke about Doc Painless, Hex glanced across the now empty space and gave an awkward glance to Cartri Keswoll not really knowing what to say, "Hey?" as all she could really think of.

As Daiya finished her speech, Hex was about to welcome her back and shot her a proud smile, but Daiya grabbed the ginger boy's hand and whisked him away. Taking him into a dark corner that Hex could barely make put the details of. Hex was nervous and she began to fidget and play with her Dervish Knife on her thigh next to Ivory Stroud .

"Whats going on? What are they saying?" she mused to herself.

'...Isnt this you wanted? For them to speak and get closure?...'
'...Or maybe get back together?...'
"No... chit... I don't want thaaat"

"Good speech. The party popper was a good touch."

Hex was partially brought back around to the room by Ivory, who could clearly hear everything the blue haired teen was saying and easily detect Hex's nervous body language.

"uh-huh... thanks, wouldn't it have been funny if I'd flipped the wrong switch" she joked as she spoke to Ivory while looking over her shoulder every so often. It would be fine, they would talk, maybe have a shouting match, and it would be done.

'...you hope...'

Hex shot herself a filthy look as her voices interrupted her train of thought and she returned to Ivory.

"They wont get back together will they?" she blurted out to Ivory and then blushed, Hex didn't think like that, she thought in bright colours and explosions, that stuff was for other girls. She shook her head out a little. "You know what sucks most, that this whole thing happened and we didn't even win? I just want to go out there and blow something up... but.... urrrgh"

She slumped back into her chair and rocked her head back at an abrupt angle as if she could just blow her massive frustration out into the air above them. She looked at the ceiling of the clinic and was acutely aware of all the convoluted wiring, she smiled to herself. She rocked her head sideways back to Ivory. "Does it get easier when you get old?"

​

 

[Brie Jaxx]

"Whats going on? What are they saying?" she mused to herself.

''Curious, huh? Hex? Maybe something nice... I feel like we all could need it right now... After all we have been through...'' Brie stated in a gloomy and serious tone, walking up behind the blue haired shadowrunner, having overheard her questions. Brie had been standing in the back of the clinic not really knowing how she should react. She had never considered the cyborg shadowrunner doctor for anything other than a human and a friend. He had been the wise adult so many times when the shadowrunner group consisting of a majority of teens had found themselves in trouble. He had probably also been the reason that Brie stood here today, having not been mangled or shot by a certain weequay and his goons at Daiya's birthday.

"They wont get back together will they?" she blurted out to Ivory and then blushed, Hex didn't think like that, she thought in bright colours and explosions, that stuff was for other girls.

''You really think so? After what happened after the train bombing, when we fled down to The Tombs? And after your little argument on Altier?'' Brie frowned and looked at her obviously too outspoken and insensitive friend. She silently wondered if Weird Girl still saw Cartri as a competitor for Daiya. Cartri had made it pretty clear what he thought about Daiya's plans and decisions before and during the train heist, and he had stuck to his word on Altier. Wasn't it only good that Daiya and Cartri willingly shared a moment alone, after what happened when the decended into The Tombs? If not for them to eventually get together again, a reconciliation between them would be good for their group of shadowrunners. ''I am pretty sure you won't have anything to worry about...'' Brie assured Hex, sighing in a mix of defeat and annoyance. Truth was that more than a little time had passed and her two friends relationship evolved so much, Brie had a hard time choosing which side to support now. The only thing that really mattered right now was that Daiya were happy, and that they could be in the same room without everyone clawing each others eyes out. ''Just give them a break, for kark sake...'' she added and folded her arms across her chest, sighing deeply and glanced at the hologram of the passed away Doc Painless . She didn't mean to be grumpy or anything, but you could choose another time to question that.

Hex , Ivory​

 

[Dann Jorsten]

Objective: Investigate Civil Disturbance - possible Darkwire connection?
Location: District 9, Old Clinic Vicinity
Tags: Hargo Zur | Daven Tooms | Samuel Exel | Open

District 9. There was a tension in the air here, a simmering undercurrent of unease you could almost taste - the burnt flavor lurking at the back of each bite of a well-seasoned but badly-cooked nerf steak. Jorsten had been here before, many times, mostly to the underlevels; the higher-ups never let a cop as bitter and abrasive as he was interact with the wealthy. He just wasn't the customer service type. No, his Captains had always had the good sense to keep him out of the public eye - decorated veteran Dann Jorsten, now an embarrassment whenever his name came up. That had gotten him assigned down in the Twilight Belt, where he couldn't do any PR damage.

What he remembered of District 9? A hit-and-run in East Palpmore - a Rodian sobbing over her son, his leaking blood reflecting the streetlights above, his limbs splayed out to match the spiderweb cracks in the pavement. An overdose in the back of the Wild Cats club - the young woman's blonde hair sweat-slicked to her forehead, her mouth open in a final sigh of addled ecstasy, her eyes staring vacantly ahead, the "friends" she came with long gone. A recently-fired Devaronian who'd hanged himself on Teal Street - people just walking by, right under his dangling feet, studiously ignoring the way he swung lightly back and forth when speeders passed.

The worst part? Jorsten hadn't been there to solve those cases, to give those people's loved ones some kind of closure.

He'd been there as part of the Asset Recovery Task Force. He'd been there to take back anything on them that was corporate property.

District 9. Over the past sixty years or so, this place had weaved back and forth between order and chaos like a spice-drunk Ithorian in a speeder with the airbrakes cut and the steering vanes severed. First it was an uneasy, deeply-divided borough, home to both upscale stadium and high security prison, fancy nature preserve and subterranean shantytown. It tipped into crime when the Red Wave syndicate took over, then saw its golden age when Nicholai Hovar beat back the gangs and turned that prison into a megamall... a change that had been reversed inside of thirty years. Darkwire had provoked CAD into an overreaction, and this district had paid the price.

As Jorsen closed in on the coordinates, his speeder's comm crackled with fresh messages - indications that, despite his best efforts, he was not going to be the first on the scene. He swore to himself, slapping the steering column in frustration... and his lit cigarette dropped from his lips as he moved them, falling onto his lap. The washed-up detective yelped as the hot end smacked against his thigh, burning an ugly mark into his uniform pants and a pink scalded patch into the skin beneath. His speeder wove dangerously through the airlanes for a moment as he let go of the controls to brush frantically at his legs, finally dislodging his tiny tormentor.

He got his hands back on the steering just in time to swerve hard, narrowly avoiding a billboard so covered in graffiti it was illegible.

It would have been a suitably pathetic, miserable death. Jorsten sighed, forcing his racing heart back down.

One hand on the speeder's controls, he fished in his jacket pocket for another cigarette.

Jorsten still managed to hear, and more or less process, District Commander Zur's orders. He also heard one of the confirmations that came back over the shared comm, and he knew immediately that more than just Seccer officers were on the scene. "Bounty hunters," he muttered darkly, using his free hand to light the fresh Red Viper clenched (more carefully this time) between his lips. "We don't need their scum." He could already tell that this operation was going to be a mess, different district officers and independent contractors scrambling for credit for whatever arrests or kills they made, getting sloppy in the process. Leonis would never have let things happen this way.

But Leonis was gone. All the other officers he'd served with there were either retired or dead.

Jorsten set his speeder down in an alley a couple of blocks from the target site. He checked his sidearm.

With a long drag on his cigarette that ended with a heavy sigh, he slowly picked his way through the streets of District 9.

"CS-D559-481-D7 on site," he radioed in, "ready to link up with other responding officers." Tooms was in the area. Maybe him.

 

[Cartri Keswoll]

Location: Memorial
Objective: Pay respects to the doc
Tag: Brie Jaxx / Under Foot / Daiya / Hex / Cassus Akovin / Ivory Stroud

​

"Maybe you can't, Knuckles,"

Cartri raised his brows and anticipated her to get up and hit him from the way she was looking at him. He stayed silent as he heard a small crack and a confession that she didn't feel the same way, something which surprised Cartri considering the chaos both of them had gone through on that day. Without a word back, he let Daiya wonder away up to the stand to say a few words in memory of the doc. During their time together Daiya always had a way with words, and even though they weren't on the best of terms he was still willing to listen to what she had to say.

Staring straight into her eyes, a warm smile appeared in the corner of his lips from what she was saying. She may have been as dumb as a box of bolts sometimes, but Daiya had her moments. The way she spoke of Doc made him think she looked up to the man a lot, almost like a father figure. If anyone was going to talk sense into her it was him.

Eventually, their eyes finally met. Cartri could help but frown slightly and look to the floor as she approached, her hand grabbing him and moving him toward the back for a chat. In total honesty he didn't know what Daiya wanted, punching or hitting her certainly wasn't one of them. Cartri shook his head and sighed lightly "I'm not going to hit you Daiya. Not now, not ever" the teen said sternly, even after all the pain and agony she had put him through he wasn't going to resort to violence.

Instead, he silently wrapped an arm around her back and pulled her into his chest for a hug.

There was no doubt Daiya had committed the biggest fuck up in the galaxy, but there were other ways of making sure she didn't go to that kind of stupidity again. Now was not the time to talk about that though, in one way or another Daiya needed him to vent her emotions. Instead of violence, he provided comfort to a girl who had hit rock bottom.

"Please Daiya, I just need time. My mind just isn't ready yet and I hope you understand that." He said softly, his arms hugging her a bit tighter "The best we can do is give the Doc a good send off. That's what he would have wanted right? A Darkwire that celebrated his life in peace" the teen's voice said into her ear, it's emotion very clear.

"Keep headstrong like the Daiya I know..."

 

[Daiya]

(Post Soundtrack: "Silent Scream" by Damien Dawn)

As Daiya looked into his eyes again, she knew before he said anything that Cartri was going to let her down again. He had already rejected her once before, turned his back when she needed him the most. The teen still did, at least some part of her wanted his touch again in any way she could. If he wouldn't love her, if he wouldn't hold her, then maybe he could simply hit her. If it helped the boy take out whatever contempt he'd grown for her and let her feel his touch again, Daiya knew she could bear any pain she might endure.

"I'm not going to hit you Daiya. Not now, not ever."

"No, of course not," Daiya returned bitterly, her eyes tossing around in their sockets. She let the anger in her stoke with the rejection, placing a foot outside their small pairing again. Why should she have ever trusted Cartri to do the right thing, now of all times? He was only worried about Cartri now, so Daiya needed to just worry about herself. She started to pull away, before strong, familiar arms drew her back in.

Her breath went out as Daiya found herself back in Cartri's arms. Blurry vision marred the sight of him, and the teen could do nothing more than blink back the tears. She had her other senses, taking in the scent of him, listening to his words. She could feel the tension in his muscles, hiding just beneath his clothes where they had once longed to be shown off to her. And if she leaned her head against his chest, Daiya could have reminded herself of the rhythm of his heartbeat once more. A sound and feeling that had lulled her to sleep at one time.

A time that felt like nothing more than a fantasy now.

"This is wrong." Daiya couldn't keep the edge from her words, trying to find a perch between them with her hands. They struggled up between them, tracing over his torso as she had done a hundred times before. The allure of it, the intensity between them, the need from her to be close to him...it wasn't there now. Daiya could only feel the flat of her hands press against his chest, pushing off until she could breathe and move in her own space again. "We can't go on like this..."

Nothing Daiya felt was making sense, and her words formed a jumble of reflection. The moment Cartri had pulled her in for a hug, the young shadowrunner had a moment of complete unease. Her stomach squirmed even as they stood apart, and the hairs rose on her arms. Glancing around, the sight of the gathering raised her hackles again, driving her heart to thump against her chest. She looked away, glancing at the door to the street outside. There, her vision swam and Daiya gripped a hand around Cartri's firm arm, digging her fingers in to keep from falling.

"There's something wrong out there," she hissed to Cartri, "and I think it's coming in here." Daiya found the strength to straighten up again, standing under her own power so she could dig inside her satchel. Her heart only slowed when her fingers wrapped around the cool, familiar metal of the pink blaster she drew out. Daiya didn't keep the sight hidden from Cartri, if anything she wanted him to notice. Her eyes kept darting back to Ivory as well, hoping she had already caught on to the feeling of dread taking up residence in the teen's stomach.

"I just want to ask you, one last time, to keep some of the things I've said in mind. Most of all, I want you to remember that there's an After. There will be a time when CAD is dead and gone, and someone is going to have to pick up the pieces on this planet and make things work again. You've still got a lot of life ahead of you. You're going to have to live in that After for a good long while. Don't make it one where there's nothing but rubble."

A wiser man's words rang in her head, but Daiya couldn't listen any more now than she had then. Blaster gripped tight in her hands, the young shadowrunner wasn't thinking about an After. She could only think and prepare for the next moment. If the sweat on her neck and the pounding heartbeat in her ears was right, the whole gathering was going to need everything they had to survive it. Then, and only then, could they think about an After.

So long as there wasn't another Next. Why was there was always another Next?

Ivory Stroud Hex Dann Jorsten Das Cartri Keswoll Hargo Zur Ruby Jaxx Samuel Exel​

 

[Hex]

​

Tag: Daiya Brie Jaxx Ivory Stroud Cartri Keswoll Under Foot Dann Jorsten Hargo Zur Daven Tooms Samuel Exel Anja Rydder
Location: Memorial service in district 9
Objective: Attend memorial

Spoiler: Equipment

• Neon Lady suit
• ap-25i SIMP pistol
• 'Candles' Heavy particle blaster
• 'confetti' Rocket launcher
• Party Poppers (3 explosive, 3 gas)
• Firebee swarm - inferno pattern
• Chewing gum
• Dancer repulsor board
• Jade Void Amulet
• Dervish Knife

Spoiler: Hex dialogue colors

Poor Hex hears voices in her head

Hex speech to others
Hex speech to herself

Hexes inner voices
'...Neutral...'
'...Doubt...'
'...Anger...'
Coloured '.....' are also words that Hex can hear , but I decided not to write them to reduce clutter

Hex was glad at the reassurance from her friend Brie, but even she could tell the tone had an underlying judgement in it. She just nodded at the responses until the last one which caught on a nerve in the blue haired girl.

''Just give them a break, for kark sake...''

"I am giving them a fething break" she pouted at Brie "I am trying so hard to just let what happens happen and keep my nose out.... and restraint is not usually my speciality." Her anxiety levels were high and she filled quickly with her Dervish Knife on her lap when something changed. Daiya 's whole demeanor and body language changed, she practically felt her friend tense up as the blonde girl reached for her gun.

"Brie, Ivory, somethings up. she carefully folded her knife away and pulled out her own pistol, candles glancing around the room looking for anything that might clue her in on what was going up.

'...All the time you were fixated on the blonde, they were surrounding you and your friends...'

Hex's hand tightened around her pistol as she forced herself to put stupid ideas out of her head and focus on what she was good at, if something happened, she would protect her friends, and that included Cartri Keswoll . She looked around at any avenues of entry or escape, she was certain she saw someone run past a window... what has happening? She wracked her brain desperate for some foresight.

"Dai! We need to get out of here." she shouted to the other shadowrunner.

 

[Cartri Keswoll]

Location: Memorial
Objective: Pay respects to the doc
Tag: Brie Jaxx / Under Foot / Daiya / Hex / Cassus Akovin / Ivory Stroud

​

For a few moments, it almost felt like old times to Cartri. Having Daiya close to his chest reminded him of the days of peace and happiness they had together, a time when their worries drifted away as long as they were together. That feeling only stayed for a moment though, as of right now things had changed between them. Deep down he still loved her and was determined to keep to his promise of staying with her no matter what, things were just hard for him to accept.

"We can't keep doing this Daiya, we both need to realise the rights from the wrongs," he said softly in her ear, his arms keeping her in close as they both stood there in silence to take in each other's embrace. However, Cartri began to sense something strange around them. The teen looked down at Daiya as she became unsteady, almost as if she was being affected by it too "Daiya... what's happening?" the boy asked before staring at the door along with Daiya.

She was right, a storm was coming their way and fast.

Feeling her grip tighten, Cartri moved away and reached into his pocket to pull out a small blaster "They've found us!" he whispered to Daiya before motioning to the other memorial visitors that they were expecting company. His eyes snapped to the vents which led up to the roof and rolled his eyes to the amount of dust and muck which was within. Cartri was getting too old for ventilation getaways. Moving back to Daiya, he gave her a brief one armed hug "We'll talk soon, just get out of this alive alright?" the teen said warmly, slowly beginning to back away from her with a brief nod to the girl he still loved.

"Now go! The doc wouldn't want us to die at his own memorial service"

Not a second later, Cartri bolted towards the ventilation shaft. At the same time, something else was brewing in his mind. How on Denon did Daiya know of the incoming danger, has she always been a force sensitive like him? That conclusion was going to have to wait as a loud bang and yelling came from the front entrance.

CorpSEC would have to wait another day, as Cartri had already escaped, just like a fox in the night...