Casefile #5a
A nice, comfortable flight back to what’s left of my home life, and it could not have gone any better without the inclusion of some sort of situation to drag us away from the comfortable doldrums of a flight home. When we lost contact with Clark, I was more than a little worried. But when I found out that we were attempting to stop the good guys, well, that just cemented it in my mind – today is a normal day.
Edgerunner Notes:
Sam Henyo – One of the last times there was a shifty looking man on a plane with some sort of blade, it didn’t go well. I’m starting to think whenever he starts doubting our mission, things inevitably go horribly.
Devon Wongraven – One of the more disturbing things in life is watching someone stripped uncomfortably, and I have never seen a man more uncomfortable than Devon after we went through security. We both had to stash our kit, but it looked positively painful for him. The more I think about it, the more I’m convinced that neither one of us would make a good father figure, which leaves either Clark or Sam as the more fatherly option, and that’s borderline horrifying.
Clark Morrisey – I never thought I’d be glad for Clarky-boy’s peep-senses, but when it comes to picking up on trouble, he’s world class. Causes more than he picks up on, mind, but it’s good to know he has his creeper-sense tuned up.
Casefile #5b
The moment the little brat screamed, I figured we were spitted, gutted and thrown over a firepit. I guess Pitbull has been on the job long enough that he can make even the most insane situation sound rote and routine. All the better for us, considering. I’m not relishing the idea of intentionally crashing the plane we’re flying. But not before we intentionally hijack it. If only we had stayed in our seats..
Edgerunner Notes:
Sam Henyo – It looks like Sam’s incessant tinkering paid off – his insistance on making my internals easy to reach has a nice addition of being excellent proof of who I was, who I am. Unfortunately, it makes me sick every time I have to use it.
Devon Wongraven – It’s hard to believe that someday, that man has the potential to be a father. I’m a bit jealous, but I’m not sure any of us are decent role models aside from Sam.
Clark Morrisey – He’s been the most stuck-in on this flight, and he’s handling it rather well. His quick thinking made sure we were keened onto the shenanigans on this flight, and is letting us take some action.
Casefile #5c
Our planning is impeccable – we get brand new identities, and the first thing we decide to do is hijack a commercial airliner. Without any of the proper tools, improper weaponry, and what seems to be an arsenal of sex toys. We’ve been up against bad odds before, but this is a problem of our own creation. Made worse with our little snafu of a firefight. At least the bullet I took was more irritating than really painful. Now I know how one of Wormwood’s victim’s feels.
Edgerunner Notes:
Sam Henyo – It’s always the quiet ones you need to be a careful of. Someone brought some inappropriate armament to bring onboard a plane and punched a hole through the fuselage. I realize our plan is to crash the plane, but this is a bit absurd – it’s supposed to be a controlled crash!
Devon Wongraven – He had one job to do, to cut through the plane’s cieling. Of course, he picked the local arms convention to do it under. Not that I’d mind under ordinary circumstances, but he got me shot. I dislike being shot.
Clark Morrisey – Seeing Clark in action reminds me of one of the old Archival Criterion flicks I caught, Creeps on a Plane. Only he would think the best way to incapacitate someone is with a mindshattering orgasm. Touching that he hulked out after I got shot, though.
Casefile #5d
Barricaded in a rapidly depressurizing kitchen, facing an angry mob between us and the flight deck, and only five minutes until we’re on the ground in cuffs. Granted, with how our performance actually turned out, that might have been better for us in the long run – cuffs instead of coffins. Between all of us, we sustained enough trauma
Edgerunner Notes:
Sam Henyo – I have a feeling that if we weren’t kitted out like hijackers, Sam might have been able to talk the civilians down. Although if we weren’t dressed like hijackers, I doubt we’d actually be hijacking a plane, either… I’m a bit nervous about him flying anything else after he took the wing off this plane by hitting the ground when all he was supposed to do was point it at a body of water.
Devon Wongraven – You can take the texan out of the military, but you can’t fly with him commerically without him shouting at all the people in first class. Some people… smoking on an international flight? No respect for the aviation industry, refuses to follow posted rules. And this time, it cost him a leg. A horrible lesson, but maybe it’ll teach him to be more careful.
Clark Morrisey – After having seen him take some nasty damage to his legs, it’s comforting to see him leaping around on a plane. Even more comforting knowing that he has my back when I’m dead to the world.
Casefile #5e
Being in a sinking airliner is certainly out of my element, for sure. Out of element for the plane, too, certainly. When Clark asked me to hop to and get the hatch on the plane open, I had forgotten that there was a whole ocean on the other side of it waiting to get in. All to eager, the ocean was, slamming us with wave after wave, forcing us to move quickly or abandon hope. Fortunately, after scaring us, Dweezil and my sister emerged from the watery depths to be our salvation.
Edgerunner Notes:
Sam Henyo – In all our circumstances, I have the most faith in Sam being able to get Devon out alive. Devon can’t swim on his own power, so unless Sam can come up with something for him, we’re stuck trading off the heaviest can of beans the Texan army has ever served up, and I don’t think we can pull that off for long. He’s been full of miracles today, not least of which when he pulled me out of the damn ocean.
Devon Wongraven – How he’s going to get out of this mess alive is anyone’s guess. Even if we can get him out of this sinking coffin, there’s still making sure he doesn’t bleed out on the long trip home.
Seranya – It’s always nice to see my sister, but she seems so much more confident and self-posessed now.
Clark Morrisey – Sometimes, it’s simultaneously comforting and horrifying to know that I trust him completely enough to tear open one of the few barriers between us and the wide open ocean. Fortunately, that level of trust and friendship eases my worries in sticky situations, like when I’m trapped in a waterfilled cockpit, with no way out.
Casefile #5f
I’m pretty sure it’s just an implanted memory, triggering in self defense, but I’ve always mistrusted hospitals. Now I have to, because without this place, Devon’d be going under the knife in some back alley shop, and that just wouldn’t do for something of this magnitude. Night City may have a good reputation, but that doesn’t mean all of it’s denizens do. As long as we’re in town, it made sense for us to poke around the old HUB AI core development facility – it’ll be good to get Devon back to feeling normal again.
Edgerunner Notes:
Sam Henyo – I’d say that Sam will salvage something incredibly worthwhile from the AI core labs, but I can’t think of anything more valuable that could be salvaged since Seranya – finding a sister you never knew you had is hard to beat. It’s also hard to beat his wit – I’ve never felt more guilty laughing at a crippled friend than when Sam is around.
Devon Wongraven – The image of the wounded warrior laid up in a gurney is a classic one, made slightly less charming by the morphine slurred words, but we can’t have everything. Although it seems I touched a bit of a nerve implying he might not be good at taking care of kids.
Seranya – It’s odd to think that after all this time, I’m following my sister’s lead on something, but I think she’s been developing nicely while we were overseas, following her instincts. I wish her instincts hadn’t taken her to a gang enclave with a few hundred active members, but we can’t have everything.
Clark Morrisey – Of all the wierd things he’s done that have wierded me out, hands down the wierdest is seeing him happy – genuinely, honestly, happy. And while I absolutely love it, it worries me – I fear that if something were to disrupt that feeling, he could fall apart in a very messy way.
Casefile #5g
As much as I am anxious to bring down the HUB and prevent a horrible future from coming to pass, I could deal without going into another Combat Zone. It’s made all the worse by being forced to go in through the sewers. Miles of sewers with no clue what they hold, or how long it’ll take us to find the smuggler’s bolt hole. The group of Zoners we ran into was depressing and unfortunate. Although we managed to find our way through the wall, at least.
Edgerunner Notes:
Sam Henyo – I’m impressed with how he’s managed to keep his clothes clean, compared to the rest of us. For his sake, I hope he doesn’t end up the way of Wormwood and Pitbull, needing new limbs. The fact that he almost made me add more mess to the sewer is a testament to his knowledge of all of the buttons to press.
Devon Wongraven – He picked possibly the worst time in history to fail to follow the safet protocols on a flight, aside from being on the Ad Astra. Now we have to cater to our injured comrade in ways that might not be purely beneficial to us.
Clark Morrisey – It’s odd, being grateful that he had the hobbies he did – knowing all the ins and outs of the shadier part of the world is coming in handy. I’m comfortable that his skeever senses will be able to pick up on any trouble before we get into the thick of things.
Casefile #5h
In for a penny, in for a pound, the saying goes. Classic gambler’s fallacy. In our case, our penny is the size of a manhole cover, and our pound is a pound of flesh which we must pay for our trespasses. Cutting through the heart of the Zone is risky, but we can’t afford to take the long road. Unfortunately, a human spectacle of a roadblock ran through my carefully thrown together route. Even more unfortunate was the subject matter – a lynching, a public ‘demonstration’. Worse still was that I was powerless to help the powerless. Fortunately, my friends had a bit more power to change the fates of those who were helpless, while I just watched.
Edgerunner Notes:
Sam Henyo – I’ve never seen my boy flustered in quite the way Sam tripped over his tongue when he thought he upset Wormwood. In all we’ve been through, that’s the closest I’ve seen him come to truly scared.
Devon Wongraven – As much as I am sure Devon’s preferred method of travel would be to plow through any obstacles in our way, but even in the Zone, that seems like it might cause us no end of trouble. The thought of him deploying a grenade launcher against a crowd of people, even our enemies, is horrifying. Throw in civilians, and it’s downright unthinkable.
Clark Morrisey – I’m not sure I expected him to understand what I was getting at. Even though he made perfect sense, even though leaving those poor people was the right thing, I hated it. Down to my core, I hated that decision. That’s why I was so overjoyed when he decided that using the Zone’s power struggle to our advantage was both the most expedient, and best, course of action.
Seranya – Sometimes I find myself wishing that my new sister would revert to her old self. Her new conciousness is cold and altogether too calculating, almost soulless. It makes me sad, but she is growing, and according to her own wishes. That they are not aligned with my own is not something I can fault her for. Although part of her old self shines through on occasion. I think deep down, she wasn’t okay with just waiting, even if her reasoning was a bit different than mine.
Casefile #5i
It started with a shot – that led to another, and more until five innocent men were dead. The number could have been higher, but every life saved is one fewer that sits on my conciousness. Unfortunately, each life that is destined to be spared by our actions will be nurtured by the bodies of those who stand against us, and there seem to be many of them. Worse still the broken bodies we leave behind, a burden to those who will care for them, and a burden for our minds. Although before us seem to be more insurmountable challenges – what can make our day worse than an attack helicopter?
Edgerunner Notes:
Sam Henyo – It’s hard to see what this must look like through the lens of his experience. Even for a gambler, these are incredibly long odds we’re running up, going up against the HUB. A weaker man would have folded like a bad hand of poker long before now.
Devon Wongraven – There’s something twisted about setting up an ambush in the middle of a children’s playground, but I think it would take more than Wormwood’s creepiness to keen Pitbull onto it. There certainly is an explicit joy in how he distributes carnage like a cigar trails smoke. Although it might behoove him to learn some caution, as not everything is as cut and dried as he might like it.
Clark Morrisey – He tried. Better than what I could have done. At least we saved the majority of them, which is honestly more than what I could have expected from that situation. Heck, since meeting up with the Edgerunners, there have been nothing but horrible situations cropping up.
Seranya – It’s comforting to know that when my mind is clouded what feels like a strange abstraction of emotion, my sister seems possessed of a lack of the same, and while that’s extremely useful, it makes me a bit sad.
Casefile #5j
The first step we need to take is to get in to the compound. From there, it’s a matter of chance and luck – if we can use the helicopter against them, things become a lot easier. If not… well, it’ll be fairly normal. Getting in seems to be easier than anticipated, as we have the world’s best sneakthief. Unfortunately, if we go up against something that shreds electronics, that puts the lot of us in a tight spot.
Edgerunner Notes:
Sam Henyo – I wonder what sort of surprise he has planned with that whirlybird. I think I’ll have to ask him to put together one of those phones for me once this is all said and done.
Devon Wongraven – I wish I knew what drove his mind, sometimes. He’s got some odd predilictions, that’s for sure.
Clark Morrisey – I’m afraid of what is in Wormwood’s head. Genuinely afraid, sometimes. He’s a bold and brave man, but his past does worry me. What if he relapses?
Casefile #5k
I’m not a fan of minefields. I understand the need for security, but this is really throwing the baby out with the bathwater into a raging tsunami. If I step foot into another minefield in this lifetime, it will be far too soon. Getting to play around with a rocket launcher might have made it all worthwhile, though.
Edgerunner Notes:
Sam Henyo – Before this is all said and done, I might be the most human of us all, if Sam can’t get Devon patched up.
Devon Wongraven – He must have been a hell of a soldier. Must be a hell of a soldier, to keep soldiering on like he does. I know I couldn’t do it. Am seeing him do it, and don’t know how he’s managing..
Seranya – I’m not entirely sure if my sister’s bomb defusal skills would get her into the military, or if they mostly consist of eeny-meeny-miney-mo, but at the very least, she’s our way through the minefield.
Welcome to News 24/7’s Movers And Shakers – the interactive news and gossip show for webizens focused on what’s going on behind the news in Night City. I’m your host, Robyn Curia.
