The Road Runner Show

The Road Runner Show
Part of The Life and Times of One Kevin Crimes
Date 2081-04-07 GM OptimismBeast Location Redmond
Factions Involved
ShadowHaven Twitch Cheshire Cat BURN0UT Desdinova	Cutters	Death Heads

Summary

To keep the Death Heads for attacking Cutters 'cargo', Kevin Crimes hires some runners to teach them a lesson.

Background

The Cutters have been facing difficulty getting merchandise into Redmond: the Death Heads, who patrol the 520 Freeway, have been shaking down their cars. Kevin Crimes, one of the Cutter's agents in Redmond, needs to get them to stop.

The Meet

Arriving at 'Bar', Kevin's favoured meeting-place and a Cutter hangout, the runners meet with the shadowy (and sweaty, and with the use of Twitch's spy-drones evidently not an ork, troll, or dwarf) Kevin Crimes, who entices them with the promise of payment in 'wheels' for a job against a 'certain go-gang'. The team quickly accepts, and is informed that they are running against the Death Heads, who are harassing and robbing Cutter vehicles. The mission is to bait-and-switch them, by appearing as relatively-defenceless Cutters, then trouncing the Heads when they come in to attack. This job is to be done on Thursday of this week or the following week for a slight pay cut.

The Plan

Since the job will require some disguising of the team vehicle, Twitch reluctantly volunteers his Shin-Hyung, Baby, since she has chameleon coating. Twitch proceeds to head home and go for an uncharacteristically-long matrix search on the Death Heads. This gives him the lowdown on their general area of operation (end of the 520 Freeway as it enters Redmond), equipment (Crude melee weapons and nice guns) and approximate numbers (around ten bikers).

Cheshire Cat calls in Ether to help secure some Ancients backup, who redirects them to her subordinate Screamer. Screamer eventually agrees, after some convincing, to send a spirit with some services along. Twitch creates a convincing Cutters palette-swap of his car and the team plans to have Desdinova and Burn0ut riding invisibly alongside Twitch and Cheshire Cat.

The Run

On Thursday, with the spirits waiting in the wings on the astral, Twitch expertly baits the Death Heads closer as they pursue the Cutters-marked Baby. A well-threaded LOTO complex form disables one bike, and he also manages to cut another bike off causing it to crash. As the Death Heads ride towards the now-stopped Shin-Hyung, Twitch's drones come in from behind and Cheshire Cat's spirits begin to materialize. With the runners' element of surprise and magical firepower, they manage to completely rout the Death Heads, only Cheshire Cat getting wounded by a ram from two slowed-down bikes.

With the Death Heads dealt with, Twitch cut together footage from all his sensors to create a well-edited montage of the Death Heads being utterly embarrassed, and sent it to Kevin.

Aftermath

Kevin, while irritated that the runners may have been too successful and been unconvincing as members of the Cutters, understands that stiffing the team that produced the video he watched is a bad idea. The team is invited back to 'Bar', where they either take ten thousand in ECC or mods and vehicles from the Cutters' supply.

Rewards

10000¥ / 20000¥ in Vehicles/Modifications, 3 Karma, 2 CDP (Low-Threat Run)

Player After Action Reports (AARs)

Twitch

<warning.trid> [The video shows a guy crash into Baby. Very shortly after, there is a roto-drone about 6 inches away from the guy, firing full auto stick n shocks at him. The video cuts and shows the guy's expression from this barrage from every angle Twitch has available to him] Don't. Hurt. Baby.