Chapter 8: Holding the Tiger by the Tail

[Charybdis Richelle]

{GM}

“Got it,” Ace says, “Glad ya realize any restraints I leave on are purely as a courtesy.” He chuckles. “Gimme just a few…”

About 30 seconds pass. “Comin’ out the driver’s side front door,” he announces. “In 5… 4… 3… 2… 1.” The designated door opens. Ace steps out and closes the door. Those close hear the locks automatically lock behind him. As instructed, he puts his hands on his head, palms against the back, lacing the fingers just as any law enforcement officer would expect.

Ace walks towards Tears slowly but deliberately, making no sudden moves. Once he gets about three feet from her, the older runner turns around and drops to his knees with a casual grace that shouldn’t be possible for someone whose hands remained laced on his head. The muscles in his back tense, though, as he deliberately exposes his back to an opponent.

Without a word, Bone Biter moves around to face Ace, standing at the outer edge of arm's length, just in case Ace tries anything while Tears cuffs him.

Ace nods his acknowledgement.

“If you have any plans to play amateur anesthesiologist,” he says even as his knees hit the pavement, “Please be aware that I have a box of EpiPen's in the inner right pocket of my jacket – in the likely case that whatever you give me throws me into anaphylactic shock.” He lets out a huff of air, equal parts laugh and sigh. “Please inject it into the skin or into the muscle of my outer thigh only. That’ll keep me alive until DocWagon arrives to give me adrenaline straight to the heart.”

[shaidar]

{Revs}

Revs watches Ace get out of the van "Finally", he thinks to himself. While he waits to hear from Headstone he rechecks that his message to Basil is still ready, but doesn't send it.

He also considers the route to meeting Basil. Not sure if Ace has alerted his people while he was in his van he decides to err on the side of caution and plans a route that uses main roads and highways, avoiding residential and other built-up areas where Ace might have eyes. Using the highways might increase the chance of go-gangs, but there is never a perfect solution.

[archolewa]

{Baby Blue}

Baby Blue watches the events unfold with narrowed eyes. "What game is he playing? He knows about us, finds out we're after him almost as quickly as we do, and he makes no move to hinder us. Even goes and gets himself drunk. We attack him, he fires off a few warning shots. Could have turned Headstone or Pacman into paste even if he didn't want to risk hitting Cid. Then he takes his time before driving here to drop off Cid, giving us plenty of time to get here and set up an ambush. What, he assumes that because he can't see us, he must have shaken us? That we don't know or have no way of obtaining Cid's address, or maybe some way of tracking him? In the Sixth World? Surely he or Cid has a safehouse somewhere that Cid could go until Ace took care of business, and then solve the little problem we present. And finally, he just gets out because we said 'please?' Abandons all his leverage? Leaves his buddy to potentially get shot anyway? A guy whose hired, worked with, and for criminals for years? Whose savvy enough to build a network weaving its way through the entire city?"

[shaidar]

{Revs}

"Yeah, it's nothing that hasn't crossed my mind. Something smells a little off. Did he know about us in advance, or did Pandora's accident tip him off? Maybe we asked too many questions about him and he pays people to let him know, and what was Skye doing with him this afternoon? Maybe this is some kind of test and he's known about us from the start and he's working with Simpleton. Too many questions and not enough answers. This is not the time to start to relax."

[archolewa]

{Baby Blue}

"I haven't relaxed since I was three years old." The corners of Baby Blue's lips turn up in a hint of a smile. "So no worries there."

[kennethboyd69]

Tears

Leans down and places the binders on Ace's wrists. She makes a point to point the key holes up toward the elbows . Tears checks Ace again herself for any extra items hidden; mostly looking for wires, bobby pins, safety pins, paper clips anything that can be used to pick locks and cuffs. As she does her check after binding him she smiles and whispers something close to his ear.

[Juramenta]

{Headstone}

Cid, you are free to go inside as you please. If you wish to enact revenge, I'll offer the same to you as I did to Ace. Simply remember, it was me responsible. My advice would be to let it go or take me on after this run. I can't tell you what the best choice is. All I can say is that I am willing to talk before bullets start flying. Up to you how you want to play it. I will accept and be ready for whatever choice you make. Headstone says to El Cid, keeping his cover intact and letting him decide when or if he is ready to break it.

Headstone turns his attention to Ace.
''Your allergies and weaknesses were taken into consideration Headstone says in a far more gentle tone than before.
''There might come a point we need to put you under, but there is a way for you to avoid it. I will come back to that later.
Now that you surrendered, I might be able to ease your mind a bit more. You had no idea how we would behave once you actually surrendered.
Well, good news. We did not lie. This trip will be as gentle as possible, probably better than most runs you are generally on. We will only increase discomfort whenever you try to pull anything. You currently have cuffs behind your back. That is it, really.
Of course, we can increase to ankles and wrists tied to each other. Followed by the same set-up except hanging you up by those cuffs. After that, well, I think you get the point.
Again, this is not a threat. Just openly laying out the plan for you during this trip.''

Ace would hear him talk as he communicates to Revs
''We are ready for pick-up''

He would also hear his follow-up message to BB
''There is a chance he left everything behind as promised, but even the best intentions tend to 'forget' about certain little details at times. So no reason to divert from the plan, even if this went a little bit too easy for my taste. You can start instructing me once he is inside'' Headstone says, ready to frisk him once they carry him into the van.
Headstone will stay on top of him during the frisking. Once done, he will go back to his seat.

[Charybdis Richelle]

Tears

Leans down and places the binders on Ace's wrists. She makes a point to point the key holes up toward the elbows . Tears checks Ace again herself for any extra items hidden; mostly looking for wires, bobby pins, safety pins, paper clips anything that can be used to pick locks and cuffs. As she does her check after binding him she smiles and whispers something close to his ear.

{GM}

Ace whispers something back. He offers no resistance as Tears pats him down, opens his jacket, and reaches into his pockets. Searching Ace, the first thing Tears finds is a Tiffany Self-Defender holstered on Ace’s left boot. When she finds it, Ace shrugs and chuckles. “Can’t blame a chummer fer trying, neh? Hades, if I hadn’t a tried, ya’d a ’spected somethin’ was up, neh” He raises an eyebrow. “’Sides that’s more of a security blanket than a weapon. I got one a those in my shower, too.”

Tears unzips Ace’s jacket to see what she can feel in his inner pockets. Doing so, she sees that the green T-shirt he wears underneath reads, ‘Talk is Cheap (Shall I Add It to the Bill?)’. Inside his jacket in the right-side inner pocket, she finds a full, professional set of lockpicks. A nice set. Way better than needed for cuffs. They sit next to the box of EpiPen’s Ace mentioned. That pocket also holds 4 meal bars. In the left-hand inner pocket she finds assorted slap patches, a pair of metal restraints, assorted plastic restraints, and a flash pak.

Again, Ace shrugs. “Ya ain't said nothin' 'bout leaving workin' gear, 'n ya seemed ta be inna hurry.”

In Ace’s right-hand jeans pocket, she finds a multitool – the sort that has a corkscrew, nail file, short blade, toothpick etc. “That ain't a weapon. That’s a tool. I’ve had that since I was 7…” He hesitates a moment. “I get that back when all this is done. It’s the only thing I got left from my sister.”

In that same pocket is a ball-point pen and a handful of actual metal coins. In his left-hand front jeans pocket, he has an assortment of small-nuyen certified sticks and a few pieces of paper currency. The latter are bound by a paper clip. In Ace’s rear, left-hand pocket, Tears finds Ace’s wallet and an assortment of small adhesive bandages. In his right-hand rear pocket, she finds a cigarette lighter, a book of matches, and a pen cap, though the pen seems to have been lost.

In addition, Ace has a small bit of jewelry. In his left ear, he has a long, dangling set of runes or letters in a language Skye doesn’t recognize. If he pulled it out, the wire might be useable as a pick. On his right hand ring finger, Ace has a silver ring with a disc that reads, ‘LIFE.’ It looks as though the disk might spin.

{Headstone}

Cid, you are free to go inside as you please. If you wish to enact revenge, I'll offer the same to you as I did to Ace. Simply remember, it was me responsible. My advice would be to let it go or take me on after this run. I can't tell you what the best choice is. All I can say is that I am willing to talk before bullets start flying. Up to you how you want to play it. I will accept and be ready for whatever choice you make. Headstone says to El Cid, keeping his cover intact and letting him decide when or if he is ready to break it.

{GM}

“Go inside, Cid,” Ace says. “Otherwise I went ta my knees fer nothin’, neh?”

{Headstone}

Headstone turns his attention to Ace. ''Your allergies and weaknesses were taken into consideration Headstone says in a far more gentle tone than before.
''There might come a point we need to put you under, but there is a way for you to avoid it. I will come back to that later."

{GM}

Ace raises an eyebrow but makes no comment.

{Headstone}

"Now that you surrendered, I might be able to ease your mind a bit more. You had no idea how we would behave once you actually surrendered.
Well, good news. We did not lie. This trip will be as gentle as possible, probably better than most runs you are generally on. We will only increase discomfort whenever you try to pull anything. You currently have cuffs behind your back. That is it, really.

"Of course, we can increase to ankles and wrists tied to each other. Followed by the same set-up except hanging you up by those cuffs. After that, well, I think you get the point.
Again, this is not a threat. Just openly laying out the plan for you during this trip.''

{GM}

“I ain’t worried about cuffs right now,” Ace says. “I can take ’em off in my sleep if I gotta. Hades, it's harder ta keep 'em from fallin' off then leavin' ’em on. Frag, dependin’ on how long a ride yer plannin’ on taking me on, given I ain’t slept in 3 days, if I’m comfortable ’nuff, I might just sack out, so I’m ready to take on whatever’s at the other end.” He shrugs. “Whose breakfast NERPS did I piss in anyway?”

{Headstone}
Ace would hear him talk as he communicates to Revs ''We are ready for pick-up''

He would also hear his follow-up message to BB
''There is a chance he left everything behind as promised, but even the best intentions tend to 'forget' about certain little details at times. So no reason to divert from the plan, even if this went a little bit too easy for my taste. You can start instructing me once he is inside'' Headstone says, ready to frisk him once they carry him into the van. Headstone will stay on top of him during the frisking. Once done, he will go back to his seat.

{GM}

Ace just shrugs. “Knock yourselves out.”

[kennethboyd69]

Tears

Chuckles , Nods at the mention of a gift from the sister. Takes everything and as she places it in her waist pack she records it with her phone agent. "Ace as far as i am concerned you will get these items back at the end of this, For now I will hold on to these with record of what i have from you. " LOOKING AT THE OTEHRS "If anyone has a beef with that we can discuss it later, But i intend to give the stuff back at the end of this."

[Charybdis Richelle]

{GM}

Ace just nods at Tears’s promise. He makes no protest as he takes all of his belongings. When she takes the pen cap sans pen from, Ace sighs melodramatically. “Ya know, that’s the most useful escape object I had.” He chuckles.

The runner glares when she strips off his ring, but he doesn’t resist. It is a bit of a challenge because it is quite tight. For a moment, Tears thinks she may not be able to remove it at all. “Ya want me ta pop the knuckle ta make that easier fer ya?” he offers, his tone completely matter-of-fact. But, in the end, she is able to work it off without doing so, taking only a little skin with it. Looking at the ring as it comes off, Tears see that the disk does spin. The opposite side reads, 'DEATH.'

Ace twinges a little when Tears slides the earring from his ear. “Ya never lived off pocket fishing, neh?” he says, looking more queasy than hurt.

[Tay-Dor]

[El Cid]

"Frag off and die." El Cid replies to Headstone, keeping up the ruse. He shoves Pacman out of the way, just to make it look good. He opens the door and steps inside. After closing the door, he watches through the one way mirrored glass. He also sends a text to Headstone:

-Signal just before you leave and I'll join you in the van.-

[shaidar]

{Revs}

{Baby Blue}

"I haven't relaxed since I was three years old." The corners of Baby Blue's lips turn up in a hint of a smile. "So no worries there."

Revs looks at Baby Blue "That's...a shame.". It looks like he's about to say more when Headstones call comes in:

{Headstone}
Ace would hear him talk as he communicates to Revs
''We are ready for pick-up''

He would also hear his follow-up message to BB ''There is a chance he left everything behind as promised, but even the best intentions tend to 'forget' about certain little details at times. So no reason to divert from the plan, even if this went a little bit too easy for my taste. You can start instructing me once he is inside''

Revs hangs up and drives the van over to the group, pulling into the parking space in front of Ace's van so as not to block any lines of sight.

[archolewa]

{Revs}

{Baby Blue}

"I haven't relaxed since I was three years old." The corners of Baby Blue's lips turn up in a hint of a smile. "So no worries there."

Revs looks at Baby Blue "That's...a shame.". It looks like he's about to say more when Headstones call comes in:

Baby Blue watches him speak, so she clearly hears him, but she doesn't react, positively or negatively, to his comment. Before Revs hangs up, she gives a calm "Ack boss." in response to Headstone's message.

As he drives, she turns her attention back to the group.

[Charybdis Richelle]

{GM}

Ace watches dispassionately as the team’s minibus arrives.

[Juramenta]

{Headstone}

Headstone openly laughs, seeing all the items Tears confiscates from Ace.
''Here I go, thinking to have met a better man. I would be a hypocrite if I faulted you for it, for I would have done the same.
At least it is a good warning for those who easily look up to others. There is no man alive who can live up to their own legend.
The silver lining is that this makes me less paranoid. I prefer dealing with real chummers.''

Headstone gives Tears a nod after Tears makes his call on the matter.
''If we find anything more on him, we'll hand it over to you as well. Do be aware that you made yourself his second most favorable target when given the chance.
Not saying you cannot handle it, just as a warning to stay alert.''

To El Cid he sends a text message
-You got it, chummer. Nice work out there-

[Juramenta]

{Headstone}

Headstone opens the door to the side of the minibus.
''Here in the middle or want him in a different spot? Tears also did a check, so no need to get paranoid if you won't find anything?'' Headstone grins to BB.

[Charybdis Richelle]

{Headstone}

Headstone openly laughs, seeing all the items Tears confiscates from Ace.
''Here I go, thinking to have met a better man. I would be a hypocrite if I faulted you for it, for I would have done the same.

"At least it is a good warning for those who easily look up to others. There is no man alive who can live up to their own legend. The silver lining is that this makes me less paranoid. I prefer dealing with real chummers.''

{GM}

“Never claimed ta be a saint, omae,” Ace says. “Wouldn’t know one if I saw one. Just a chummer tryin’ ta make tomorrow better ’n yesterday, neh?”

{Headstone}
Headstone gives Tears a nod after Tears makes his call on the matter.

''If we find anything more on him, we'll hand it over to you as well. Do be aware that you made yourself his second most favorable target when given the chance.
Not saying you cannot handle it, just as a warning to stay alert.''

{GM}

“Ya ain’t got much ta worry ’bout,” Ace says, his tone completely matter-of-fact. “I gave ya my word not ta kill any a ya fer this if ya let Cid go. 'N ya did.”

{Headstone}

Headstone opens the door to the side of the minibus.
''Here in the middle or want him in a different spot? Tears also did a check, so no need to get paranoid if you won't find anything?'' Headstone grins to BB.

{GM}

“Ain’t much left fer ya ta find, chummer; can’t possibly have more ’n 4 ’r 5 weapons left,” Ace says with a toothy grin that makes it impossible to tell whether he’s joking or not. “Tears there’s got good eyes, even if her hands ain’t as deft as some.”

[shaidar]

{Revs}

Revs looks over his shoulder towards the open door.

"Killing's one thing, but I heard what you did to Freddy, not that the fragger didn't deserve it."

[archolewa]

{Baby Blue}

"Middle of the van is fine," says Baby Blue.

While the others get Ace into the van, Baby Blue will take a moment to study the stuff that Tears collected, assuming Tears doesn't object.

Once the others have Ace in the van, Baby Blue will peer at Ace for a moment. Finally, she sighs and shakes her head. She pulls off her goggles and offers them to Pacman. "You're ex-Star, so I'm sure you got experience patting someone down. These got 30x magnification, see if you can get them on. Tears found the obvious stuff to trick the sloppy. She found the hidden stuff to trick the smart. Now we're looking for the stuff he's hidden even from the paranoid, and I'm gonna need your help."

Baby Blue studies Ace, thinking. "Figure, he has at least one of three types of tricks left up his sleeve. One, magic. Either he can use magic, or some wizard friend cast a spell on him. I can't do anything about that, so I'm ignoring it. Second, with some restraints you can get free if you dislocate a shoulder or your wrists. If he's got some sort of enhancement lets him heal fast, he might even be able to do it without hindering himself for long. Pacman, I imagine you might know more about cuffs than I do, and if these are the type where he could do that. Finally, we're looking for picks or tricks he might have had surgically grafted onto, or hidden in his body."

Baby Blue points to Ace's hands. "Let's start with his hands. Study his fingernails closely. Don't know if you can replace your fingernails with lockpicks, but if you could, I would. Look to see if they're firmer than you'd expect. Maybe thicker, like they might be able to telescope, or pointed. Study his last knuckle, see if the tip of his finger looks like they might have been surgically elongated. Study his palms, and the back of his hands. See if maybe there's any sign of a pouch, or I don't know, zipper or something where he could hide a pick inside his skin. Do the same thing with his forearms. I don't know he'd have much hidden on his wrists, might interfere with his movements. But I suppose he could have a wire or something wrapped around the inside of his wrists. So don't ignore those."

"His back too, looking for the same kinds of things. Go at least halfway up. Even if he can't dislocate a shoulder to get out of the cuffs, he might be able to dislocate one to get a wider range of movement than we'd expect. And his legs, all the way down to his toes. Really anyplace he could conceivably reach with his hands behind his back, plus little bit more." Baby Blue's eyes narrow as she studies Ace. "Normally, I'd insist on his hoop and crotch too, but he did surrender himself to our mercy without a fight. I'm willing to let him keep his dignity as a professional courtesy."

[shaidar]

{Revs}

"Don't forget, he's got some kind of enhanced articulation, so he's way more flexible than a normal guy."