The pile of metal discards nominally named the Black Junk Yards is an unexpected meting place. If there are any sales of salvage happening it's far away from here. Any functional parts would be hard to find among all rusted hulks.

The night is split by lights as new vehicles invade. It's only a gathering spot, but being out of the way a not unreasonable one. Their presence is short lived as they soon move further into the Puyallup....destination unknown.

Upon seeing the cars pulling into the junkyard, Reyna cups her hands and leans forward as she shouts, "Winter, Brannigan, we're over here!" After shouting, she leans back onto her hands to wait for the others to approach before she continues in a more relaxed tone, "Do any of you have ideas about where we should start asking questions, or do you just want to pick a direction and go? I couldn't find any leads on the grid, so I'm up for either."

Winter takes off her helmet and nods in greeting. "The way I see it, we have three options."

"First, we look for a place in Loveland. Least likely to have a building fall down on us, but it does mean dealing with Mafia or, less likely to work, Yakuza. If our... employer is looking for privacy for whatever he has planned, I am not sure this would be acceptable."

"Second, we look for a place down in Carbanado. Problem here is we would have to make a deal with the orcs, and it would likely be expensive. And somehow I am getting a distinct impression Screech doesn't actually have the money for that, at least not yet."

"And finally, there's Hell's Kitchen. We should be able to find someplace there that is at the very least still standing, and for free or at least very cheap. It's also most likely to have a building fall on us, and we would probably have to deal with the local squatters."

She shrugs her shoulders. "As for what I would recommend, well, none of the these choices are particularly great. But from what I can gather for Screech's screeching, I think Hell's Kitchen may be the closest to what he is looking for. Because if he wanted to and had the money for it, I believe he would have just rented a place elsewhere himself."

"That's the way I see it, anyway. Not sure how I feel about kicking out some poor bastards to the curb for that sleazebag's scheme though. Especially since I am not convinced he has or will ever have the money to pay us for it."

Reyna nods along to Winters's explanation before answering, "I'm not sure that I'd want to pick a fight over this either. Maybe we can negotiate a usage fee with the residents, convince Screech to invite them to whatever he's planning, or set them up at a coffin hotel for the night? I can't imagine that Screech has enough drugs to make whatever he's planning last very long, so hopefully it'd be a small enough disruption to their routines that they'd be interested."

"If we're talkin' fee for the residents, my votes Carbonado.  I could talk to the guyz and get a deal maybe, but it depends on what Screech has in mind."  He leaned against Reyna's car and crossed his arms in thought.  "Gettin' info out of him is a pile o' drek lately.  I ain't letting him loose in there if he's bringing in some Humanis idiots or somein."

Brannigan parked and got out of his car after he showed up. He walked towards the little gathering and opened his mouth - but Winter just steamrolled over the information he was going to suggest. He stared at her, brow furrowed, looking a little bit hurt and angry, like she'd stolen not only his thunder but the fragging clouds themselves too.

"Yeah. Well. Frag. Those were the ideas I had too."

He looked down and let out a sigh. This day was not getting better as time went on. He rubbed one eye for a second.

"Hell's Kitchen is likely the easiest and cheapest but...whatever." He gave a shrug.

Reyna casts a downward look and seems a little uncomfortable as she suggests, "If we really want more information, then I could scoop his commlink's matrix history and see who else he's been talking to and what he's been looking into. It's not something that I'd want to make a habit of doing, especially with anyone of importance, but he's not really being very helpful and he's kind of a nobody. It'd take some time to sift through it, but it'd give us a lot more information than we have right now. It should also be undetectable unless he has some," she raises a hand and wiggles her fingers in the air as she finishes her sentence with a bit more flair and energy, "sourcery of his own."

"Great minds think alike." Winter replies to Brannigan. "I guess so do the idiots, but let's hope we are in the former category."

"As for hacking his comm, I'd say go ahead. Normally I'd consider hacking an employer's comm to be a serious faux pas, but since the weasel is yet to actually hire us, why not? It might help us figure out what the hell he wants in the first place."

Chop nods with the ideas so far.  It wasn't too bad to see through Screech's link just to figure who he's been yelling at.  "Innameantime, do we wanna check out the Kitchen and see if there's anything stupid going on there tonight just in case we suggest it?"

Reyna slides herself off the hood of the car and lands with a slight thump as she affirms, "Sure, that sounds good. I think that I can do the hack during the car ride over. After all, there's no sense in all of us just standing here while I work."

Brannigan raised one eyebrow at Reyna and said, "Normally? I'd be a little hesitant as well, probably - but Screech?" He shook his head. "He kinda brought this on himself, you know? If he was more forthcoming and less crazed jerk, this would be a whole lot simpler. So hack away I say."

He glanced at Chop Chop and shrugged. "Sure." He looked at everyone. "We all riding separately?"

“I’m glad that everyone’s open to hacking Screech. Hopefully there’s something useful that I can find,” Reyna answers before she pauses. Looking slightly more embarrassed, she continues ”I’d be grateful if I could get a ride from one of you, so I can work in VR and avoid the buses.”

Brannigan gave a half-shrug and a 'come on' gesture with one hand. "Sure. I've got a four-door, so whoever needs a ride is welcome." He then adopted a mock-stern look. "Just wipe your feet before you get in." before chuckling.

He headed to the Americar and unlocked it, getting in.

"Sounds good. Let's see if we can find some place that won't fall on our heads in there." Winter puts her helmet back on before heading for Hell's Kitchen.

OOC: GM, does Winter know of some promising places in Hell's Kitchen where we could start our search? Assuming we get there without issues, of course.

Chop nodded.  "If ya don't mind, I'll hop in with.  Don't need a whole caravan pissing off the Kitchen.  I should move my Morgan before it gets thought of as junk first."  As he starts to find a place to stash the off-road vehicle, he thinks about what he knows of the Hell's Kitchen area.

OOC: Rolling for AK Puyallup Barrens to help with knowledge specifically of the HK area.
09:23, Today: Chop Chop rolled 2 successes using 8d6 with the Shadowrun 4th ed system with a target of 5 ((5,6,1,2,4,1,2,2)).

Reyna says, “Thank you Brannigan, I’ll probably spend a good chunk of the ride unconscious.” She approaches his car before scraping her shoes against the road and climbing in. Once she’s buckled herself in, she gets ready to switch to VR and do her work.

Winter plans on following after the car on her bike. Well, scooter, really.

Brannigan paused and stared at Chop Chop with a mock glare for a long moment. Then he grinned and let out a chuckle. "I don't mind at all. The more the merrier, especially if she's gonna be zonked out most of the ride, you know? Otherwise, I'll just listen to music."

Winter knows Puyallup moderately well, but some doors don't open for her. Chop knows of a local chopshop called Ork Mechanics, Ya that he can stash his bike. They're a four blocks away. They can't really deter anyone really determined to get to the bikes, but they should be able to keep the casual vandal away.

"I just figger that it's less conspicuous if we have a whole party going one place.  People get trigger happy when they get antsy."  He made sure that his Morgan was hidden from sight and locked up and then took a seat in Brannigan's car.

After dropping off Chop Chop's bike off at Ork Mechanics, Ya , he piles into Brannigan's car with Reyna. In short order, Reyna starts to find Screech's commlink and her RAS Override causes her body to relax making her appear to be asleep.

Brannigan and Chop Chop turn their attention to places in Hell's Kitchen. The Cabinet has already sunk into the ashy swamp that formed under it.

Regulus Joint Industries sold their facility to Yamatestu before the rename to Evo. However, Evo never did anything with it. The building still has the Regulus logo on it. Locals call it the Pilings as it's been built above the ash which might keep it from the same fate as the Cabinet.

The Hollows is a collection of old stone domes slightly buried in the ash. Vedacorp originally built it before they were taken over by Saeder-Krupp. Recently the Yakuza had used it for a Jazz lab, though they have pulled out four months ago.

The Skull is named by the way it looks from the outside. Most of the industrial facility is buried now, but the part left above ground looks like a skull. There's a lot of the facility accessible and the Black Rains patrol it irregularly.

None of these places are accessible by vehicle, but you can get close and walk.

Brannigan glanced over at Reyna. "Welp, she's out." He glanced back at Chop Chop. "So. You muscle? Or something else?"

He made a noise at the Regulus building. "That's...a good possibility." He nodded. "I think we check that one out first. The Hollows is...either a good option or a really bad one. Nature abhors a vacuum I hear and after the Yaks pulled out, someone else likely moved in."

He found a place to park within walking distance of at least Regulus where their vehicle were the least likely to be disturbed and waited for Reyna to finish up and Winter to join them.

Winter pulls up by Brannigan's car. From her scooter's trunk she pulls out a duffel bag with various tools. Her helmet she leaves on the bike, but between the hood of her coat, her glasses and the respirator, there's very little of her face visible anyway. Shouldering the bag, she looks around the ash wasteland. "We're checking out the Regulus then? Any news from our matrix specialist?"

OOC: Sounds good. Should we try for a stealthy approach until we know what we are getting ourselves into here? Winter could take point if that's desirable.

Reyna climbs out of Brannigan's car with a distracted movement. You can see her eyes darting back and forth as she looks through information on her goggles as she says, "Apparently Screech has been bugging people for at least the last 4 days, but I've got six commcodes that he's been contacting repeatedly. Actually cracking his commlink open is a bit beyond me unless I can corner him in a host, or we get me closer to wherever he's hiding. It'll take me some time to check them all out, but I can do that while we walk. By the by, are any of these familiar?" Reyna lists out the six commcodes so the rest of the party can see if they recognize any of them.

OOC: Reyna isn't completely incompetent at sneaking, but it's a close thing. Maybe she could talk to and distract people?

The Regulus facility is a series of seven building built on the slopes of Mount Rainier after the eruption. In spite of their efforts the building never really stayed clean. The entire effect leaves all the buildings a matte gray. Long since abandoned, a few optimists decorated them with leftover paint. The blowing ash has long since been muted.

The buildings are on stilts. There are five sets of ladders and seven entrances to the buildings.

OOC: There is a difference in the entrances, so you have another choice.