<strong>Hero Points:</strong>2 (Sleeping Wyvern)<strong>Luck Points:</strong>5/5<strong>Conditions:</strong>None<br/><br/><div class="quoteheader"><div class="topslice_quote">Quote</div></div><blockquote class="bbc_standard_quote">”Look alive.” He pointed to the clock and threw her his mom’s car keys. ”Got to go. You know which side of the road to drive on, right?” He questioned as he gathered his school bag and waited for her by the door. ”You don’t like Japan?”</blockquote><div class="quotefooter"><div class="botslice_quote"></div></div><br/>“Oh no!” Teruko answered. “I do! I just...I guess like anything you need a change of pace sometimes.”<br/><br/>She sounded a bit wistful. “There’s a whole world out there to explore, I don’t want to spend my whole life in just one place, you know?”<br/><br/>It didn’t take long for her to change the conversation while in the car. Soon she was singing along to pop music on the radio, back to her usual chipper self.<br/><br/><div class="quoteheader"><div class="topslice_quote">Quote</div></div><blockquote class="bbc_standard_quote">“Are you sure looking into other realities is the right place to look? I heard what you said about where Omega come from, but it’s still a risk. Could start a war across dimensions for all we know.” He seemed a little critical of the idea, but not against it. ”Sorry. Please don’t misunderstand. I’m all for this idea, but I’ve always been cautious. I’ve always been interested in the idea of other worlds and thought about the possible scenarios. Like if the nazis won the war or if America wasn’t found. I also think about the smaller ones, like the Hindenburg never crashing.  I just want to ask would we present a project of this scale to the fair?”</blockquote><div class="quotefooter"><div class="botslice_quote"></div></div><br/>Chris smirked. “Don’t worry, it won’t be anything<em>that</em>big. It’s just looking, not hopping in like the Atom Family and causing an extra-dimensional incident!”<br/><br/>His phone vibrated in his pocket. “Damn, Eddie says the cafeteria’s down to their last cookies. I gotta bounce! See ya Rakutsu!”<br/><br/><div class="quoteheader"><div class="topslice_quote">Quote</div></div><blockquote class="bbc_standard_quote">Rakutsu yawned a little, which was suppressed by the cheap mask he was wearing. He didn’t a lot today and it still wasn’t over for him. Just another hour or two and he will be good to crash in bed. In the meantime, he stumbled onto something interesting. A collaboration between the Yakuza and another gang? A deal? Looks like he will need to figure it out himself. First thing on the list was to take out the one at the crane. His elevated position can make it hard for him to sneak around and take out the others.<br/><br/>Sneaking by the patrol, he tried to listen to what they have to say, but only for a few moments. He didn’t need to get caught listening to them. While making his way up to the one on the crane, he would stop to listen if he was on the phone before taking him out with a quick jab to the back of the head.<br/><br/>He began to carry him to the roof of the nearby warehouse, next to the currently occupied one. Standing over the knocked out man, he tried to go through the phone for relative information.</blockquote><div class="quotefooter"><div class="botslice_quote"></div></div><br/>In spite of his youth and rather hand-me-down disguise, Rakutsu was by no means incompetent. All that training paid off and his every movement was executed to perfection: his seamless glide across the urban landscape, landing in just the right place to muffle his impact, and how to twist his body to minimize any reflections of ambient light against his form. He was like a human fly on the wall.<br/><br/>The pair of bikers spoke in lowered tones, although the acoustics meant that their voices echoed enough for an easy eavesdrop. They spoke briefly on being pushed out of Freedom City and how the rest of their chapter was waiting on them down in Los Angeles to see if Emerald City was “worth it” and “if the eggheads in this tech hub can set us up a Feral lab.” Obviously a reference to a street drug, although likely a new kind or term.<br/><br/>Going further, Rakutsu knocked out the watchman in the crane, who had no time to react. His smartphone fortunately had a protective case to prevent any damage caused from the rough handling. It was not a burner, but clearly not the gangster’s as the personal info on it belonged to a middle-aged insurance broker in Emerald City. The recent texts were being sent to someone that clearly wasn’t in the man’s social circles, evidenced by code with an unknown respondent speaking in brief about immediate plans.<br/><br/>Received: DA has brick meta. Showy, let him talk tough, but don’t let him know your strength.<br/><br/>Sent: 3 may crash party. Run interference.<br/><br/>Received: Rgr, but if they know we don’t back out.<br/><br/>Rakutsu was canny enough to suss out the meaning of the content: they were concerned about the Triad catching on to their deal, but were either desperate or brave enough to not rush out if the meeting was compromised. And that for whatever powers he had, the man with the axe most likely had super-strength but the Yakuza had an unseen ace up their sleeve in case things got rough. They didn’t seem concerned about police, curiously enough.<br/><br/>Rakutsu had a great vantage point from the crane, and he could easily spot the Yakuza’s rides scattered around the empty lots: Toyota Corollas with dark paint jobs so as not to stand out, and parked in different areas rather than together.<br/><br/><em>If Rakutsu wishes to check out their cars he can, although he’ll most likely need a way to circumvent the car alarms unless he wants to go in loud.</em><br/><br/><div align="center">(https://i.imgur.com/gSx7md1.jpg)</div><br/>Eventually came the inevitable investigation of the warehouse proper. Going in from the second story was not hard at all with the lookout disposed of, and Rakutsu got a good look at the scene. Two Japanese men in business suits and shades stood opposite the bikers, two more by the entrance with eight a crowd. A table sat in between them with a map of Emerald City on it, and the metahuman biker was already marking territory with a sharpie.<br/><br/>“You’re asking a high price for this Red Wedding deal, so in exchange we’ll take here, here, and here. Oooh, this neighborhood smells of trailer park, perfect for Feral!”<br/><br/>“We’ll keep Riverfront and Eastern District,” one of the Yakuza responded. “West Vallee and Oceanside are yours!”<br/><br/>The biker shook his head as he drew a long swash over the map’s northwest. “Gotta move it up to Canada too. But lookee here, Cascadia’s got a naval base. We’ll need to errr, compromise that place, if we want to go to and fro unhindered.”<br/><br/>“That’s up to you.”<br/><br/>“Don’t piss on my leg and tell me it’s raining,” the biker derisively snorted. “They’re nothing like in Freedom, but Oceanside’s got an AEGIS base. Now you ain’t giving us prime real estate.”<br/><br/>Lifting up the sharpie, he moved east and circled the Elysian Forest. “Some woodlands for safehouses, then. Oh, and the nearby hills.”<br/><br/>More smaller circles this time.<br/><br/>“You’d be expanding too much,” the Yakuza said. “The rest of the Chamber would be given that territory as a peace offering. We can’t control the whole city, at least not now.”<br/><br/>“We didn’t drive cross-country just to come up with nothing,” the biker said, leaning over the table as he stared at the Yakuza directly in his shaded eyes. “You’re going to make this road trip worth our while,<em>omae,</em>if you want us to stay on your side. Why don’t we start with your watch as a goodwill gesture?”<br/><br/>The Yakuza stood silent, unresponsive. The biker growled. All this time his three underlings were silent, casting worried glances between themselves. He made to grab across the table at the gangster’s fancy Rolex...<br/><br/><em>The Yakuza and bikers have the same Dodge/Parry stats (13 to hit/11 if taken unawares). Cueball is tougher and has 19 to hit/14 if taken unawares. Up to you if Rakutsu intervenes or continues watching.</em><br/><br/><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">OOC</div><div class="spoiler_body">Toughness save vs SW’s unarmed strike 4, natural 1! KO’d! (https://elliquiy.com/forums/dicebot.php?r=153358) Figured he wouldn’t still be standing, but wanted to roll just for good measure.<br/><br/>Up to you to what extent the stolen phone is a future plot point. It’s not as suspicious as a burner and would set the unfortunate person up as a fall guy.</div></div>