April 1-7, 2097
The week started with Wizkid knee-deep in his "hobby," chasing down Provolution leads across the Matrix. It's not glamorous work, but it’s profitable—fake purchases, setting up fake meetings, or simply causing confusion by misusing their members’ SINs. The haul was a few thousand nuyen, nothing huge but enough to make it worth the time. You can't just outright steal money from someone's account, not with the kind of safeguards that exist now. Try it, and you'll have an AI on your tail within seconds. Financial crime is not just a big deal in 2097, it’s the kind of crime that gets you buried, with every step tracked and every transaction under some form of surveillance. No, the fun is in the subtler moves—leaking fake data, creating a scandal here or there. It's like playing a game, but with much higher stakes.
The big win of the week, though, was something way bigger than a few thousand nuyen. The deal with Skyview Elite got locked in, setting up the team for an executive protection job for Halo's upcoming six-month world tour. It's high profile, high stress, and, more importantly, high-paying. The kind of job that pushes you from the shadows into a spotlight you can't afford to mess up.
The team was set—TB as lead, of course, with Wizkid and Eclipse handling the Matrix, Tag's drones providing surveillance, and Vanya covering astral protection. Muscle-wise, we’ve got Slag, the ex-corp security vet who looks like he's always ready to dive into a firefight, and his dwarf buddy, Fuzzy, who prefers to solve problems from a distance with a sniper rifle. Blink’s hanging around, not fully committing but not ready to walk away from 400 nuyen a day for six months, either (that's 800 for me, plus 400 for Wiz, more than 200 grand in the bank). And then there’s Kate—she's no shadowrunner, but she’s more than capable when it comes to handling the admin and logistics of a big operation like this.
This whole deal wouldn’t have happened without Vancouver Island. The aftermath of that entire mess turned into more connections than we could’ve dreamed of—Halo pulling strings here, Zara Coatl dropping a nod there, and JJ smoothing over the details. That kind of favor-calling is how you make it in the shadows, not just doing the dirty work but knowing who owes you and when to cash in.
The week ended with another bash at Serj’s place on Saturday. This time, Halo was the main event, hanging out with the team at Serj’s penthouse. It's a wild mix of industrial grit and high-tech gloss—exactly what you'd expect from a troll model with more money than most people will ever see. The Aztechnology deal is still hanging over everyone’s heads, though; once they start building on the waterfront, that sea view is history.
And, of course, we didn’t just stay in Ironview. After a few too many drinks, Halo wanted to check out Redmond and dragged the entire group to the Black Wolf. What started as a random visit turned into one of those nights you can’t plan for—Halo got on stage and gave an impromptu performance. The word spread fast, and suddenly, thousands of people were trying to get into the club, turning the Redmond Safe Zone into a madhouse.
Sunday? Well, Sunday was the quiet day we all needed. Hungover and exhausted, barely able to function. Even runners need a day off, and this was one of those days where you just let the world run itself without you.
This week is the start of something bigger. We've leveled up, made connections, and are in the middle of a long-term, high-stakes job. It’s not the time to let our guard down—this deal might make us, or it might be the thing that brings everything crashing down. Either way, it’s going to be a wild ride.
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