Characters:
Braxton "Jar" Jiggs - Cybertech/Ripperdoc
Alexander "Specter" Marshal - Solo
Pat "Peacock" Watson - "Former" Nomad
Ruby "Paxos" Lang - Netrunner
The Plan
Jar and Specter went around Arroyo and picked up some rumours. Someone at city hall was keeping the cops off the Mox's backs; Peacock assumed it was their nemesis, Chudwell, based on no evidence. The Moxes were trucking the precursor chemicals in with a van, and then distributing the finished Blue Glass to street dealers using the same van, which meant that the department store contained a meth lab as well as the stash. Specter ran into a bit of trouble, when a ganger with a mohawk of spiked hair, Action Jack, pulled a gun on him and said that word on the street was he was a cop.
Specter, insulted, said he was the real deal, triggered his Sandy, and replied by quick-drawing his own pistol. They stared each other down for a while, before Action holstered his iron and apologized for calling him a pig. Action didn't know who was spreading the rumours (Peacock: "It's Chudwell"), but Specter guessed it was probably Rose, another one of his vindictive exes. Meanwhile, Paxos tried to look into the city hall angle, but whoever was doing this had covered their tracks, and she didn't find anything.
Comfortable they had enough intel to go in, the crew started putting together a plan. Paxos realized the recording they had to take was going to the NCPD and so she'd disguise everyone thoroughly before they went in. In particular, a bunch of Moxes knew Specter because he'd dated one for a while. Jar, however, refused to compromise on his style, but the camera was in his head, so everyone else let him risk pissing off the Mox. Trying to avoid collateral damage, they decided to go in the middle of the night.
The Job
Specter and Peacock climbed up the fire escape on the east side of the building and climbed up to the roof access, which Specter easily popped open with a crowbar. Paxos entered the department store front, and went to the change rooms that lead to the brothel in back. She deployed a secret knock and the panel at the back slid away, revealing a stark hallway of white-painted concrete blocks. A short distance to the left was something of a "lobby", with a few deep couches, neon lighting, and rugs, not to mention the smokin' hot joytoys lounging around. Paxos had been practicing an elaborate backstory about a boyfriend with erectile dysfuntion, but got only one sentence into her spiel before the teenager who was apparently in charge just brought 'round some of their finest boys (and girls) and asked her to take her pick.
She chose one at random (a muscly guy who had the hot type of scars), then was asked to deposit any weapons in their lockers; though she hand't brought any weapons, Paxos was concealing her 'deck under her jacket. Jar, meanwhile, approached as his was his usual self, in his white leather pants, vest, and thousand eddy mirrorshades. He was toting a six-pack of beer, half of which had been emptied and refilled with hydrogen peroxide. The Moxes outside gave him a nod as he entered, and inside the store he hit on one of the undercover gangers doing security, only to get slapped and told that the working girls were in the brothel.
His confidence mildly deflated, Jar arrived at the "lobby" just as Paxos was leaving, and, after attempting to hit on the teenaged clerk, requested the services of two ladies, then strutted off towards a room with one on either arm. Once they were alone, he pounded one of the beers and asked if they had any harder drugs... maybe some Blue Glass? One of the girls tried to upsell him on something like champagne, but Jar was adamant, even insisting that he could get involved with selling it "... on the other side of town, nowhere specific". Though they turned down his offer, one went off to fetch some. 30 seconds later, Jar sent the signal to Paxos.
In her room, Paxos had been stalling, acting like she was getting cold feet. In reality, she was hacking into the panic button system, and upon receiving the signal, triggered a silent alarm in the room across the hall. After a short delay, they heard muffled shouting to "put your fucking hands on your head!" from outside, and Paxos stuttered that she'd made a mistake and was going to go; the joyboy didn't seem much to care, as she'd paid up front. Jar likewise took his leave, claiming he was going to go follow the first girl.
In the hall, Paxos crept past the assembled Moxes, one in armourjack with a shotgun, the teenaged clerk with an SMG, and two of the joygirls who had their chrome-steel fingernails extended, and joined Jar in the lobby. Nobody paid either of them any mind, and they opened the door behind the clerk's desk and went inside to a plain hallway lit by fluorescent bulbs. Paxos spotted the door for roof access and radio'd the other two down. Once everyone had reconvened, they continued down the hallway, where it came to a T.
Right was the loading dock, where they could see a group of armoured Moxes chatting and holding firearms, semi-alert. Left were two closed doors, one with a narrow glass opening showing a storeroom, the other with a tarnished bronze placard noting it to be the manager's office. Paxos ran a scan and picked up a few potentially useful devices to be used as distractions: a vending machine (serving fish soup, of all things), and a roomba with a camera on it, both in the loading dock.
For now, though, they slunk left to the storeroom, Paxos looping a camera feed as they went. In addition to all the stuff you'd expect in a department store back room, the storeroom also had a shipping crate that had been converted into a clean room to produce the Glass. Jar set about sabotaging everything there in as fiendish a way as possible (replacing random surface mount components in anything electronic, for instance) while the others kept watch.
Specter was watching the door they'd just come through when someone came out of the manager's office and headed towards the loading dock: his ex, Stacy. She was wearing even less clothes than usual, which was saying something, and carrying a heavy pistol. Jar was just finishing up, and the crew decided to have Specter wait in Stacy's office and ambush her when she came back. He snuck out into the hallway and opened the door, finding a cramped office with a desk, small cot, terminal, and a bank of security cam feeds.
Going Loud
There was nowhere for him to really hide, so he stood just behind the door, waiting for the others to tell him when she got close. The shotgun-toting Mox came back from the "lobby", presumably having dealt with Paxos' false alarm, and after a minute or so, Stacy headed back to her office. Just as she was about to open the door, Peacock gave the signal; Specter pulled the door open, and punched Stacy in the face with his cyberknuckles. She bounced off the concrete wall behind her and blood poured from a shattered nose, but Stacy stayed on her feet.
Specter tried to trigger his sandy, but it failed to wind up, then quick-drew his pistol and growled "Don't move, chooom". Peacock stepped out from the storeroom and pointed their handgun at her as well. Stacy looked back and forth at the two of them, then turned invisible and started sprinting down the hall to the corner. Unfortunately for her, Peacock has IR vision and could still see her heat signature, and clipped her with a shot from their suppressed pistol. Still, she stayed up, and made it around the corner.
Rather than shoot their way out, they decided to fall back for now and retreated through the department store from the storeroom. They got out fast enough to be able to blend into the store before the undercover Mox guards made it to the storeroom. Though they had to lose Specter's rifle in a coat rack, they just left through the front entrance, walking right past the Moxes sitting outside. Their mission incomplete, the crew went and drowned their sorrows on cheap beer.
Round Two
The next morning after everyone had sobered up, the crew started planning out how to destroy the rest of the blue glass. Given the lab was down for weeks (at minimum) due to Jar's sabotage, they only had whatever was in the loading dock, which was probably enough for a single shipment. They hung out around the area for the next several days while they waited for the delivery van to come in for the pickup.
Finally, in the middle of the night, the van pulled up at the loading dock with extra muscle, one in back, one in the passenger seat. As the van was leaving down the alley behind the loading dock, it ran over concealed spike strips. The driver brought the van under control just as Specter emerged from behind a dumpster hefting his rocket launcher, and gestured for them to stop. Reasonably, the guard and passenger raised their hands in surrender, while Jar and Peacock opened up the back and took the shotgun from the woman inside.
Jar grabbed the duffle bag holding the rest of the Blue Glass, dumped all the smaller baggies out on the floor of the van, and doused the pile with the anti-drugs juice, destroying the last of the drugs. Their mission completed, the crew dissolved back into the shadows and fled in Peacock's car. A few days later, Jar handed over the footage to Jackstadt (making sure to edit out their faces, first; can't have the NCPD having that).
Word came through the grapevine that Stacy had recognized Specter, even through his disguise, so he decided to move. Meanwhile, Paxos came back to her den in the vents one day to find that she'd been evicted; the email from her landlord contained a forwarded message from Militech telling him to evict her.
A couple weeks later, Paxos got an abrupt call from a Downtown fixer who was in the big leagues: Reality Black. She was extremely dismissive, telling Paxos that this call usually wouldn't be worth her time, but that the client had asked for her crew by name. Client's name was Sabela Elara, and after confirming that Paxos had the contact info, Reality hung up.
Notes:
Specter put a point into Forced Entry and bought a crowbar. They can now finally defeat a locked door consistently!
Peacock has to go without a helmet if they want to stay unencumbered.
Specter tried to hide above the door in Stacy's office by doing the splits (the walls were close enough) but didn't make the roll, even with Luck.
They ran into the problem of combat breaking out and Jar and Paxos not having any weapons (or armour). I think it was entirely possible to take out the entire building of Moxes in combat (like 15 maximum mooks, most of whom weren't armoured), but they decided to play it safe. In fairness, it's been a while since we last played, and everyone forgot that mooks go down automatically if they take a major wound.
I somehow lost the notes on how I priced the Chameleon Skin, so I now have to reverse engineer it from the finished stats on Stacy's.
Nobody (including myself) had asked what the name of the department store was until the very end of the session. It is officially Sears 2.
MVP by player vote was the rocket launcher.
The crew got full pay for this mission despite not technically doing what they were paid to do. I had a random 60/40 roll, and they got lucky this time.
Technically there's a lot of downtime stuff to do at the start of next session (which might not be until September, sadly), but it's always fun to end on a cliffhanger.
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