Gojira Drinks Bleach and Fucking Dies
| Gojira Drinks Bleach and Fucking Dies | |||||||||
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| Factions Involved | |||||||||
| ShadowHaven | Kenran-Kai | ||||||||
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Bleach Bunny Hop |
Gojira Gaki Character2 | ||||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||||
| Gojira Gaki, their bodyguards, one feral ghoul | |||||||||
Summary
It's why Bleach stayed in Seattle, why she relished killing Yakuza for all these years.
All she's wanted is a shot at killing Gojira Gaki. And she finally gets her chance.
Background
Charon has apparently been seeking ways to get a foothold in Japan - and her network of contacts have stumbled upon something of interest to one of the elves she hates the least. Gojira Gaki is in Japan, dealing with a clan that is not his own. There's an opportunity there - they're more vulnerable with a smaller retinue, and the Watada-Rengo who control the area he's staying in are not particularly concerned with his safety.
All this spells an opportunity for vengeance.
The Meet
Bleach receives a pair of messages at roughly the same time - one from an unknown contact, the other from Charon. Both are asking for an urgent meeting. And while she's curious about the unknown, the choice is simple.
The maid calls the woman she's done so much work for lately, then arranges to meet at the Crow's Nest. It's a familiar dance for Bleach at this point - her gear's loaded up in the van so she can go where she's told to by the boss lady, and she sets out, arriving as quick as she can. But things are a touch different this time. She arrives and is greeted warmly by a skeletal servant. Mildly unnerved, Bleach accepts a drink from the thing - an old wine. Not necessarily to her taste, but it's a welcoming gift.
And then she sits down with Charon, whose explanation is simple. "I'm gonna pay you back a little. I found your guy, and you're gonna get a shot at him. Don't waste it."
A private flight is arranged, gear to be smuggled into the country, and Bleach is off on her vengeance quest.
The Plan
The funny part of the plan when you go to a place you've never been and have no contacts in is that planning is hard. So Bleach doesn't!
The first day, Bleach arrives at Charon's prearranged bolthole, collects her equipment, purchases lodge materials (at a massive markup) and prepares to go fact finding the next day. She relies on some things she'd heard years ago during her own time in the Yakuza, along with things she could find by sending her agent out hunting. A pair of criminal markets jump to mind - so she starts with searching the market in Chiba. After all, she'd heard that Gojira was staying someplace in Chiba. No better spot to search.
When she arrives, she's a clear outsider - half Japanese, half apparently-Atzlanner, blonde-haired Bleach stands out like a sore thumb. It's no surprise that a visibly unarmed woman in a janitor's jumpsuit gets accosted by a pair of men. Two thugs approach - one with a knife, the other empty-handed. An insult from one of them is responded with emasculation from Bleach, which quickly escalates the situation into a fistfight. A trained fighter and physical adept against a pair of thugs - it's no wonder that Bleach is able to put one down with broken bones. His friend whips out a gun - and the short barrel shotgun blast echoes through the market. The maid dodges of course - and when she backs up, hands raised, the thug starts dragging his friend away. That, of course, is just in time for the market's enforcer to grab the gun wielding man. He tosses the gunman over a fence into a small pavilion - and warns Bleach not to cause trouble. It's too late for that, but she promises not to anyway.
Trying her best to blend in, the gaijin-maid buys a couple guns and asks the gun seller for a bit of info. She's promptly redirected to the bar at the end of the plaza, with the gun salesman declaring that he doesn't compete with them. So naturally, she goes in, buys a drink, and waits for an audience with the woman running the place.
Once inside, Bleach is forthright - she's here to kill a troll. Immediately, the infobroker refuses to do business - and Bleach pays a few thousand nuyen to change her mind. 30,000 more nuyen later, she's gotten the names and general locations for a trio of trolls that the infobroker states match who she might be looking for. And that - that is a better start.
The next move is one of pure pragmatism. Bleach swallows her pride and approaches the Watada-rengo - who controls the area that these trolls are in - to ask their blessing for her next actions. Nabisuke, a local representative, makes it clear that he will only allow such a thing to go without retaliation if Bleach can provide evidence that he's not loyal to the clans. It's worth doing - not being chased by Yakuza is generally helpful.
She begins looking into a couple targets, but is swiftly finding that she can't cover enough ground. When her first lead goes nowhere, the maid calls for help - contacting Bunny Hop for assistance with tracking down her targets.
The rabbit gets on the job, and the next day, in the middle of matrix searches, Bleach goes back to a set of sewers that was her lead previously, disguised as a maintenance worker. Searching around, she's able to find that there's an unexpected entrance, hidden by an illusion - one that leads up into a building above. Inside is a symbol she doesn't recognize (later identified by BHop as belonging to a Triad), a locker room with a locker belonging to one Buntaro Ito, and an open bath which contains a horrific scene. Blood seeps into the pool, a body bleeding into it. On the other side of the room is a woman - unconscious, but apparently alive when Bleach checks. Briefly, she glances around, checking doors before she overhears a set of steps approaching. And in a few moments, planning went out the window.
The Run
Gojira Gaki enters the bathhouse as Bleach hides in a janitor's closet. The irony isn't lost on her - nor is the opportunity. She switches the AR fashion on her jumpsuit to match the symbol she saw earlier, claims a mop and bucket, waits for about thirty seconds - then steps out, stammering excuses. The troll elects to graciously allow her to leave. So she leaves the room, closing the paper door behind her - and hesitating, listening to what happens next.
Splashing, laughter. And she's quite sure she can hear the sound of flesh being bitten into. So she casts aside the cleaning clothes, flings aside her mask, whips around, throws open the door - and sees the woman who'd been lying unconscious eating the corpse.
Gaki points and calls out something simple. "Look. Fresh meat."
And then it's on, Bleach getting charged by the freshly turned ghoul - and ignoring it completely to charge Gojira. From there it's on, four shifter guards ganging up on her as she tries to fight their boss. She fights back one on five - one on six, when the ghoul is thrown back at her. And while she'd be doomed while surrounded on all sides, she has an edge. Bunny Hop highlights attacks incoming from behind, helps her find stable footing, playing the guard to her back from the matrix and keeping her from dying. A pair of kicks to the kneecaps put two guards out of the fight. Another strike brings down the ghoul. A strike from the matrix gets Gaki on his knees - barely able to keep from vomiting as BHop turns the stomach 'ware upside down. One more guard goes down, then the foe attempts to run.
And while Bleach tries to stop them from fleeing, a pair of mages join the rest of the retinue from elsewhere in the building. One puts her in a physical barrier, which she breaks. Another charge at Gojira gets her struck for the first time in the entire fight - sending her reeling. And while that doesn't stop her, a barrage of stunbolts does. She falls.
BHop, naturally alarmed, blows up Bleach's commlink - preventing it from falling into Gaki's hands. Immediately after, she gets in touch with her Yakuza contacts, trying to arrange a rescue. Bleach gets up though, waking tied up on a bench.
She breaks the cuffs keeping her held there, then dispatches the ghoul she'd previously tried to save. From there, she walks back to her bolthole, calls BHop to let the decker know she lived, then calls Charon. She admits to having lost her temper, and explains she lost everything. Her commlink, her dignity - and most importantly, a powerful focus made by Hereknight. Charon's furious that the ragemaid has put something that would get her associate onto the Yakuza's radar, onto MCT's radar - and, potentially, onto Ryumyo's radar. And then she makes it clear that if Bleach doesn't get it back, she - and Charon - will both be toast.
So Charon hangs up to start dealing with it, while Bleach recovers.
BHop, meanwhile, renegotiates - the six thousand initially promised is well below the disaster that's already occurred. So her pay is quadrupled and then some, to 26,000 nuyen.
The Chase
A motorcycle is arranged, and Bleach gets a simple order - go loud, catch Gaki, and secure that focus.
And then it's on - Bleach dons full body armor, slings a musket over one shoulder and a Barret rifle over the other, and flies down the Neo-Tokyo highways at inadvisable speeds. Through toll checkpoints she races, dodging into oncoming traffic to keep up speed, weaving between cars to catch the van that Gaki's fleeing in. Meanwhile, BHop tracks a swarm of drones sent by the local police to chase down the biker flying near-invisibly through the city's heart.
The drones catch her at the same time she catches the van. She can't catch them though - and is peppered with shots from the drones. BHop calls in assistance, The Girl in Many Colors flying into the local grid to help keep the maid alive. A mixture of thrown grenades and matrix trickery take out several drones - and when BHop is able to make the maid disappear from the rigger's sensors, Bleach gets away - but the van's gone.
She races after them, nearly losing control of the bike, and catches it again. She charges them down, throwing all caution to the wind (and burning edge) to catch up. A shot is taken through the back doors of the van - Gaki, having been tagged by BHop, takes the hit. A sprite's Gremlins cause the back door to open, and Bleach sees the opportunity she needs.
A high-explosive grenade is tossed directly into the van, the blast contained within its walls enough to kill all inside - and destroy the vehicle.
The maid stops by the burning wreck, finding Gaki still clinging to life, wounds already closing due to regenerative powers. She draws a final grenade, places it in the troll's mouth, then pulls the pin and leaves.
Aftermath
Bleach escapes overland, passing out at times before she finally reaches a place where Charon has arranged a pickup for her. Her commlink, both a masking focus and her powerful weapon focus, her disguise - all are destroyed in the blast along with Gaki's crew. She's out more than 200,000 nuyen between bribes, BHop's pay, and the gear which was destroyed.
BHop has used the resonance on the MCT grid, and passes out from fade in her apartment in the denouement. She'll live, but she'll need a maid to clean her apartment.
Charon swears off working with Bleach on sensitive topics until her anger issues are under control. Bleach explains she feels calm for the first time in years, but with no evidence of it Charon will remain cautious working with her for the foreseeable future.
Nabisuke knows that Bleach was responsible for Gojira's death, and may hold a grudge. The bounty the Yakuza have on her head is increased, from 100,000 nuyen to 115,000 nuyen.