Chrome Symphony - Chapter 2

Jess nodded. "You've got yourself a deal, old timer. If you can get me some information, I'll make sure you and your whole crew are taken care of. From the looks of things, you just climbed out of Hell."

Duncan gave a slight chuckle. "That's really not too far from the truth," he said.

Jess looked around. "It's probably fine to talk here, at least as far as I care."

She looked at some information on her communicator and then showed the screen to Duncan. "I'll wire you the data you'll need to get started. Here's my temporary contact address."

The screen showed the address: rds2937122@maskedmail.privacy.org

"You know the drill, don't blab," she warned Duncan.

A few moments later, Duncan sent her a message and she replied with some specific packages of data.

"So, now that we have that settled, I want to figure out the identity of the hacker called Hombre Raymie. My other contact suggested that he has direct ties to the Herei Mob Army and is responsible for the botched infiltration of the EMA building that led to another botched counter-infiltration, which led to what we had this morning."

Jess sat quietly as Duncan began doing his thing, scanning the network and searching. After waiting a while, she spoke up again. "I've already hit the Shadowlands BBS but they wouldn't give up anything useful to an anonymous stranger with no credentials."

Duncan stopped his scan and tilted his glasses downward. "Got a couple leads. Looks like our Hombre Raymie is likely a fellow named Benton Mulhauser, a.k.a. Dark Spider."

Jess gasped. "What? Are you sure?!"

Duncan nodded. "Yeah. Are you familiar with who Dark Spider is?"

Jess caught her breath and replied, "Well, yes, Dark Spider was the person who told me to track down Hombre Raymie! How could they be the same person?!"

Atlas walked up to Jess. "Thank you for your generosity. I would like to offer my services as a mercenary, if I can be of any use."

He looked at her sword, which was sheathed on her back. "Although, I can tell from the looks of things that you're probably fine on your own. Still..."

Atlas sat down on one of the open bar stools and looked at Elise. "Do you serve any food here? Anything will be fine, really. I've literally eaten nothing for about a week."

Renk walked up behind Atlas and gave him a pat on the back and grabbed his shoulder. He looked at Elise.

"Get this man anything he wants; I'll pick up the tab. We vets gotta look out for each other!" he yelled boisterously. He sat down next to him. "And, hell, if they don't have anything decent to eat here, I'll grab a pizza next door."

Renk looked over at Jess, who was sitting down the bar next to Duncan. "If it's the Herei Mob Army you're up against, you can count me in. As long as I don't get new orders to move out, my hands are idle and I can't just do nothing, now can I?"

Elise eyed Renk up and down. "Hm, so, you're a military-type? You'll be handy to have around, up until you get called back to work."

She reached under the bar and placed a nicely-printed paper menu in front of Atlas. "We don't serve the greatest food, but we've got some decent fare. The cook's a good hand in the kitchen, at least. Take your time on the order." Most of the options were the sort of things one could expect at bars anywhere.

"I'll see if I can get the other bartender to come cover for a while and I'll get you guys to a clinic, hopefully sooner rather than later. But if there's business to do here, might as well get that done first. As for the Spider..." She shrugged. "Could be someone finally got the best of him. Could be he just wants to be found. All I know is I've heard it's not always wise to step into his parlor, particularly on the 'net."

She left the group of patrons to ponder the menu and consider any orders they wanted to make, so she could serve more drinks to the other customers.

[OOC: Kyler, I'm just going to play Renk here but you're doing a good job with him so it's ok if you want to keep doing that]

Renk looked at Elise as she was walking over to help other patrons. "Anything I can do to help out, let me know. I don't have anywhere else to go."

Renk was trying to keep up a positive attitude but it was difficult considering that most if not all of his squad was killed in the EMA building. "To tell you the truth, though, I really need a drink. How about a... b***** mary, por favor?"

Normally, Renk avoided alcohol altogether but now, just like after the "event" years ago, was one of those times where he just needed to clear his mind. Being military, Renk was used to death, but this was one of those times where coping seemed almost impossible. A drink would at least calm him down.

A few moments later, a variety of standard bar fare was brought to Atlas and Renk got his b***** mary. Mentioning pizza to Atlas earlier had me thinking of something with tomato, he thought to himself as he sipped the drink. It was rich, tart, and a bit salty, just as he liked it.

He looked over at Atlas. "Feeling better?" asked Renk. "You look like it," he said. "Let's make sure we're in decent shape so we can help these people out."

After tending to the other patrons, Elise returned to the bar. Renk signaled to her. "I'm going to be okay but we'll need to help the cyborgs along to wherever the street doctor is working."