Nikki walks into the Burn in motorcycle leathers, her helmet under one arm. She nods to Xian,, standing vigilant near the door as usual. She stops and turns around before completely passing him by.

"Xian, right? I think I need to talk to you and Orphen both. We just got two more of us taken by the suits. I'll go up to the bar and see if I can talk to Orphen."

She walks up to the bar, seeming significantly less carefree than usual, and looks around for Orphen.

Xian nods. One of the other guys can take over door duty for a while, even if it is his favorite place to fuck with people...

Orphen is behind the bar, as usual. Slinging drinks and chatting with people. When he catches sight of a solemn and serious Nikki he will know somethings wrong. Its like seeing Sean sober... Or reading.

'Oh shit. Whats eatin you blondie?'

"Is mister hippie downstairs? If he isn't, we could go talk there. Or if you have an office? We've just lost some more people," she says, frowning and looking downright depressed.

Orphens face drops when he hears the news. Xian doesnt seem to fazed, but he is the Euthanatos of the group.

'I dont think hes here...' Orphen says, opening the little gate so they can get behind the bar and head downstairs to the den.

'Who was it and how did it happen?'

Nikki steps through the little gate, waiting until she gets down the stairs to speak.

"I saw a storm randomly forming over the industrial district, and, having seen Daniel cast before, I figured that probably meant he was in trouble."

She sits down on the couch. "I called Gand, and got on my bike and went down there as fast as I could. Looks like Gand and I got there at about the same time: too late."

"The suits were out in force, a couple of sedans and a fucking APC were outside of a warehouse. They took Daniel and another guy," she frowns, describing Blue.

"Daniel had picked up this guy he knew, I think his name was David and he may have been an Akashic, a couple days ago, and asked me to come heal him up. Well, looks like that guy's not on our side, since he looked like Daniel had fried the shit out of him. The suits picked his ass up too."

Nikki sighs. "So we lost two, and Daniel was fucking powerful. There was nothing either Gand or I could do, there was a whole squad of these motherfuckers or something."

She looks at the other two mages. "We;re gonna need to ward ourselves up tight. Gand said you guys might know some good ways of avoiding notice?"

'Shit they took our super Saiyen?... I knew this would happen!'

Orphen seems on the verge of panic. This is all very bad. Mages are dropping like flies, maybe attacking the monolith wasnt such a good idea...

Orphen takes a spot on one of the couches and starts packing a hooka with some of his home grown herbs. Nothing calms then erves better really...

Xian is much more calm about all this. So he takes over while Orphen does his thing.

'This club is sealed. We scrubbed away all our resonance and as long as we keep it full of sleepers we can stay off anyones radar. Thats the best way to do it, no magic, no wards, just dont draw attention to yourself.'

It is however, a little late for that. For both Nikki and Orphen.

'We know a few tricks to help you get overlooked. But nothing is foolproof because we really dont know what we are up against anymore.'

"Alright, yeah. I know they got a lock on you and me, Orphen, when Daniel blew up their damn tower. I'll cut out the magic, and stay surrounded by sleepers as much as possible. Any tricks I can pick up from you two, I'd really appreciate, actually."

She frowns deeply. "Now, I'm pretty sure they got Daniel and that other guy alive, so we might see them again. I wouldn't trust them if we do."

'We kill them on sight, if we do.' Xian comments dryly.

Orphen is a little less sure. hed probably just avoid them...

'I know a few tricks to help make your place blend in with those around it. Its kind of like the trick Gand uses to make his club so damn attractive, only in reverse.'

He leaves out the and not so powerful bit. Gand has surpassed him in all spheres even if they study mostly in the same areas...

Nikki nods at Xian's statement. "Might be a good idea, or at least keep them under observation without contacting them."

She looks interested at Oprhen's proposal. "You know, that sounds like a great idea. I actually live across the street and down the block a little." She smiles, looking somewhat reiieved.

Orphen rubs his hands together.

'Well let me grab my shit, theres no reason to wait on something like this.'

He gets up to go gather his things from one of the adjoined rooms. Xian just stands where he was looking grim.

'And if the wards fail, do you have a weapon?'

He asks Nikki.

Nikki blinks. "A weapon? Nah, just the usual make you shit yourself or make trees rape you stuff is usually what gets me out of trouble. But with these guys, a weapon might not be such a bad plan. Hmm.."

She ponders. "But yeah, let's go ahead and take care of this, god knows how soon those technodicks will come knocking."

As Nikki and Orphen exit the club they will undoubtedly notice Seamus on the other side of the street, still in his beret, t-shirt, kilt and combat boots and now singing a rousing chorus of Ghost Tigers Rise much to the chagrin of everyone around  him.

2008-09-09 15:22:07 Seamus rolls 4 dice to perc+alert 5,2,3,3 (failure)

Completely oblivious to anyone around him, including Orphen, Seamus will continue to wander down the street.

To anyone that knew Seamus before he left Sanfield, this is the exact same Seamus thats back, except now with a few more gadgets.

Nikki, having never met Seamus before, will only notice his unusual outfit before continuing across the street with Orphen.

2008-09-10 11:15:06 Orphen rolls 5 dice to spot a noob (Diff 7) 9,5,1,4,9 (1 success)
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Orphen will spot Seamus, who was a regular in the Burn a while back. He is about to call out when Nikkis story stabs back into his head. Clones, missing awakened coming back as the enemy...

Orphen will hipcheck Nikki into an alleyway and peer cautiously out until Seamus is out of sight.

'Oh god they might be after you already Blondie...'

Nikki catches her balance after Orphen's hipcheck.
"Oh goddamn, already? They JUST got Daniel...fuck," she whispers, peering around the corner as Seamus leaves. "That guy one of them?"

Orphen whispers conspiratorially, as if Seamus could hear them from a block away with his back turned...

'He could be. He used to come around the Burn alot a year or so back, but we havent seen or heard from him since... Maybe hes a clone too. Shit..'

Orphen pats himself down, normally Xian makes him carry a pistol. A very stylish little chrome snubnose. But its rarely on him, and even rarer is it loaded...

'We better do this quick in case he comes back..'

(There are no corners for correspondence mages, silly Nikki )

Seamus will be mid sentence when his shiny black square of a phone cuts his music to clue him in by vibrating vigorously in the sporran at his waist.  It's always rather a shock when something starts vibrating that vigorously at that particular spot, and needless to say it gets his attention rather quickly.  

The phone simply notes locations on his map via gps and note known locations he used to visit.  Now that he's been reminded  he pokes at his phone a bit before it tells  him in big red letters the Neon Burn is just across the street.   Turning his own oblivious self towards the Burn Seamus will sprint across the street, and in typical fashion will end up flashing anyone behind him.  Yes, he is regimental.

2008-09-10 12:40:15 Seamus rolls 4 dice to do i notice them now?? (Diff 8) 2,5,10,6 (1 success)

"Huh?"

Seamus will lean back off the front steps of the Burn, holding onto a handrail and peering out down the street.

"Hey twat, are you following me?  Yeah you with the sneaky alleyway shennegians?"

Not having a clue who it is he noticed ducking into the alleyway as he turned he's simply taking a safer route.

Reaching into his bag he will pull out what looks like a large hot wheels car, vaguely reminiscent of a suped up rice burner and set it down on the pavement, plopping himself down on the front steps (and not caring whether or not anyone is looking towards them, as they'd get quite a show) he will mash a few more buttons on his "phone" and the tiny car with it's tiny camera will go zooming off towards the alleyway.

2008-09-10 12:44:59 Seamus rolls 6 dice to Pow-pow-powerwheels 2,4,9,10,5, 2 (2 successes)

The car will round the corner and it's tiny little camera will show Seamus Orphen and some girl standing around the corner.  Giving a new meaning to the phrase "camera-phone" Seamus will mash a few buttons and put the phone to his ear.

Speaking into the phone...

"You know, I'm not contagious or anything, you could at least say hi rather than avoiding me ya wanker."

His voice will be transmitted over a tiny speaker in the little car as a small holographic smiley face appears projected from a small diode on it's roof.

'RUN!' Orphen yells, probably right in Nikkis ear.

To cover their escape he hops out of the mouth of the alleyway and delivers a soccerball kick to the tiny car, sending it flying from the ground and right into traffic...

2008-09-10 12:53:14 Orphen rolls 5 dice to Kick it! (Diff 7) 10,2,4,10,2 (2 successes)

2008-09-10 12:59:36 Seamus rolls 4 dice to NOT THE CAR! (arete) 7,9,6,5 (3 successes)

Seamus's eyes go wide as his prized little spy-car goes sailing through the air and is headed for traffic, the small holographic smiley face has changed from a perky :-) to :-O as it sails through the air.

Seamus bolts upright screaming "Not My Car!"  and as if traffic collectively heard him it seems that every one of the cars that is headed strait for his precious toy seems to miss it miraculously. Seems the little car got lucky this time.

As Seamus bolts out from the steps to retrieve his car he will certainly glare down the alleyway Orphen and Nikki are currently charging down.

Picking up his precious thingamajig Seamus will flip the bird to honking traffic and head back toward the burn, pulling out his phone in the process.  Whether or not Orphen still carried his cell with him Seamus will start mashing buttons furiously on the qwerty keyboard that appeared on it's surface.

"Damnit you asshole, Gand almost shoots me today, my old home has acquired a gigantic Tek penis and you kick my toys and run.  Was just coming to see if the, uh, "security" measures i set up were still in place.  Show me for trying to help.  Dick."

Seamus, not really caring who got the message, will head back for the Neon Burn, wondering if Mr. Bluehat is still aggressively pwning the n00bs.

Nikki takes off running after Orphen.
"Shit, what the fuck was that? Remote controlled phone camera car or some shit? I've never seen one of those before," she says as her long legs help her catch up easily. "Looks like they're onto both of us! We can take the fire escape up at the back of the apartment, I don't think I locked the windows last night."