Sim Hell (Remastered)

I hate the foundation.

But we had to go there anyway in order to kill Pierce, so I really had no other option. And so, Me, Freddie, Neon and Captain Cancer (Best not to ask where he came from) plummeted into it, knowing full well that we'd end up having to navigate nonsense dream logic in order to find the nodes and their connections. In theory all we needed to do was indentify the control node and then interact with it to destroy the hose. Of course, since it could be anything and the interaction could be anything, that just meant we were casting a very wide net.

We got an eleventh hour call from Dayglo, which was her asking for help to go reclaim the spirit of the Brooklyn Bridge form Aztechnology for some random neo-anarchist reasons. We said 'yeah, that's nice, will totally get on it' in a way that was a massive brush-off and instead asked her to watch Nobosuke Yamura’s yacht. With that minor obstacle out of the way, we jacked in.

The curse of the flaming luchadore

So after being caught in the middle of the dick waving war between NeoNET and Renraku (And me maybe spending a couple of nights at cool New York clubs dancing with cute dumb Elf guys), we managed to get ourselves back on course for our main job that had bought us to New York in the first place. Our investigation of the missing people had turned up teo more "persons of interest" that were still uncounted for either way, which was quickly turning into our only real avenue of investigation. Of course, since both were Shadowrunners, it meant that being hard to find was key to the lifestyle, which was going to make things a little difficult.

Of the two names we had, one held a little more promise than the other, even if the pair were loosely affiliated. Crashdud was a decker who kept a low profile, even by Runner standards, so that wasn't much help. On the other hand, El Fiendo proved to be a lot easier to find Information on given that he was a rather... colourful individual, again, even by Runner standards.

Sixth World theme parties

There is nothing more dangerous then a wounded Megacorp. If one is in trouble, then the others will step up their actions against it, eager to exploit the weaknesses. Aty the same time, that corp will also lash out on its own, trying to buy time and cover their own problems by making things worse for the others. This means a lot of work for people like me, mind you, though it tends to be in the 'high risk' category. That'll happen when you're dealing with people who have nothing to lose.

NeoNET is very much in a bad place right now. While they've done their best to keep their lid on what's happening in Boston, the loss of their headquarters and a huge chunk of their resources contained within is hurting them bad. Renraku has been getting particularly vicious, given that the two companies have a rivalry going back to the old days of Fuchi (Cue Lightspeed being old and Cranky). And we've been getting involved in it.

Protection detail is annoying

It's an old Runner cliché that Mister Johnson will always betray you. It actually happens a lot less then Runner folklore would have you believe, and when it does, it's often more by accident then any deliberate effort to screw you over; a hold in their intel, an unexpected turn of events or the like. I'm not saying that Johnsons are trustworthy, mind you. Anything but. They're still corp suits and they still need their companies to make money, and so if leaving your team dead in a ditch will help them, then they won't hesitate to do it.

And then you have those times when the Johnson is actually on the level, but it's the actual run that is all over the place. This last one I was on was a perfect example thereof.

Minster had been contacted by Willard Johnson, the NeoNET suit that he had worked for before (and apparently had a good relationship with). W. Johnson had a protection job for him that was a bit bigger than his usual one-man deal, so he had in turn come to us for some support. This lead to me, Minster and Neon meeting W. Johnson and getting the details of the job.

Demon Rats are the worst thing ever

This is a great place for a covert meeting, and is very relaxing
to boot

The meeting Me, Freddie and Neon set up with the SK security boss went well. She chose a nice cafe with real coffee that was by Central park, which added a charming old-world atmosphere to our discussions of espionage, intrigue and attempts to deliberately induce a large-scale pandemic. We explained what we had found and then arranged to safely hand over the CFD tablets that Teh Dave had been using. She said she'd have them analyzed to find out more about them and, hopefully, where they came from. We also explained his supply chain and how it went back to a man we thought was with Renraku. She offered to investigate further.

As we were wrapping up there, Dayglo told us that she had a job and arranged a meeting. Her contact was from Renraku (Funny that) and wanted to meet us in the middle of Central Park. (How very Cold War!) She was rather open with us about what she was after, given that this was a job of opportunity and was definitely on a limited timetable. What had happened was that Doctor Abigail Hughes, a researcher at Mindstorm Neurotechnologies had vanished, and she wanted to find out where they were and, if possible extract them.

In other words, somebody at the same company that we had just foiled an attack on. Funny that.

More dangerous acquaintances

It’s been a while since I did a round-up of people we know (for better or for worse) and a lot has happened since then. Alphonso being no longer my boyfriend is about the least important, actually (Unless you’re his nuts or his car), which means that there's actually a lot of ground to cover.

Not pictured: BBQ sauce

I'll start with the one who is, at least to my mind, the most important at the moment. Mark Hawkins is an Ares Johnson who's very... Enthusiastic. That's probably the best way to put it, He's loud, he's bombastic, he's outgoing and he claims to be on our side. He also says he’s trying to work for the good of the people and make life better for those in the Barrens, which is all well and good in theory. In practice it feels less like he’s making their lives better as it does like a blatant Ares land-grab in territory that nobody else has a claim on.

Digital Apotheosis

Nothing to do with anything, but I broke up with Alphonso. Turns out I wanted a stable mature long-term relationship and he wanted a trophy Shadowrunner girlfriend he could show off to all his racer buddies. His loss.

So that aside, let's talk Pierce. Thanks to Neon's efforts, we know how to kill him. Disrupt him in the Matrix, then take out the device that he uses as his refuge when he flees there to recompile. Of course, that means fighting a Crazy Digital Murder God in their native environment as well as then walking into what was doubtless going to be a well-prepared, well-defended secured facility that would be on alert and ready for us. Easy, huh?