"I am not intimately familiar with our client, no," Sou-rat admits. "But I do know his explicit instructions to us, which were to avoid violence. His reputation in my circle is one of integrity, so I fully believe he will live up to the principle himself. Not all corporations are as self-serving as Arasaka or Militech."

After asking who he was, the Nomad woman seemed to ignore him entirely and focus on Sou-rat and business. That was chill. They weren't chooms. There was biz to be done, and that was why they were all there. So he took up an easy stance, looking almost relaxed.

He took note of those who had traveled with Fennec, eyeing the brusque man who didn't like 'corpos', who seemed like he was no stranger to gewalt. He glanced at CSpan when she was 'nicely asked' to move her vehicle but didn't comment. But then Sou-rat was talking and Fennec was talking, and Priest smiled ever so slightly.

He gave a shrug and nodded, pointing at Sou-rat. "Eso es cierto. It was specifically emphasized."

Some ten minutes or after after Fennec's team arrives, while they are chatting through the fence with Sou-rat's team, a black Toyota Crown limousine, riding heavy on fat tires, pulls up on one of the cross streets perpendicular to the road where the Vulpez shop is located.*  There is also a helicopter now circling above, also black, but not making any aggressive moves or attempt to land.  It is fairly large, big enough to carry a team of people, not a corporate executive model.

---

It is now T-minus 20 minutes until the meeting time.

* note: the limo is facing the gate, across a road, and stopped on a curb in a side street.
This message was last edited by the GM at 14:46, Mon 19 June 2023.

"Nova! Thats one fat noisy bird in the sky." The sarcasm in Badge's voice couldn't be any more blatant. His voice was raised to be heard over the helicopter noise. "What is this? Precautions, right?" Gesturing towards the limo and the heli in the air above, his inquisitive glare turned from CSpan to Priest and settled on Sou-rat, hoping for some explanation.

Priest looked surprised. Then a frown crossed his face. "Uhhhh..." He didn't like this. It was making him feel a little itchy. He leaned in towards Sou-rat. "What the hell, amigo? Is that our employer? And why is there a helicopter?"

He looked towards the limo on the driver side to the driver's window and gave a wave. "Hola!"
This message was last edited by the player at 18:28, Tue 20 June 2023.

Ibrahim was trying very hard not to react to the helicopter's arrival; that just made everything more difficult. "I expect the limo is our man; helo support wasn't mentioned before, though," he answered. As Priest walked toward the limo, Sou-rat answered Badge, "If you were going into a potentially hostile situation, as evidenced by all of the weapons you folks are brandishing right now, wouldn't you want to have a backup plan?

"We came in good faith. You met us with guns out, no proof that the girl is even here at all, and more than a few unkind words thrown in our direction. And you expect our client to walk into this unprotected?"

---

OOC: I think Ref said they were "fat" tires.

Fennec looked confused. “I dunno how long you’ve lived in Night City, but I don’t even shower without my pistol. Besides, you’re on Vulpez patch, what did you expect?” Her tone wasn’t accusing, but genuinely baffled. She did give some of her fam a side eye though. “And Ai is in my car. She didn’t want to get out til your boss man arrived. Guessing that’s him?” Fennec thumbed in the direction of the limo. ”As for unkind words, you’ve lost me fella.”

"Guns be here for a reason. Already had to zero a few punks, to keep Ai alive. Our girl is very popular these days. Way too popular." Scratching the stubble on his chin and shrugging, Badge seemed unfazed by the suit's somewhat accusatory argumentation. If anything, he agreed with the raw facts, but simply didn't give a damn.
"You'll have to trust us, the same we have to trust you and your employer for this meeting to happen. Being there early and bringing a heli doesn't exactly help that trust grow. So we're even." Answering Sou-rat pragmatically, he walked over to reassuringly tap on Fennec's shoulder. "It's fine. Let them bring their cavalry, as long as it is The Man we want and not someone else paying us a visit instead."
Now all he could do, was pay attention and watch Priest to confirm that the meeting was still going to happen as planned.

T-15 minutes to the agreed meeting time

Those of you not in the vehicles (Badge, Fennec, Priest, Sou-rat) start to notice small groups of men approaching from different directions.  Badge sees a pair coming up one side road, Fennec catches three guys on a different one, Priest from another direction a pair of guys, etc.  Only Sou-Rat sees all of them, and there are a lot, in total around 20 men, armed with SMGs, pistols, and melee weapons (for show or not, hard to tell).  They are wearing a strange mix of casual styles: casual business or track suits mostly, and they are all Asian, Sou-rat can surmise Japanese.  It seems the Yakuza is arriving in force and ready for battle.

---

Badge, Fennec and Priest are each aware of about 12 guys coming from two or three directions, not necessarily the same 12 guys.  Sou-rat marks them all.  He also marks on group of five all in suits, including the two guys from The Sweet Life and another in a blue suit and dark shades.

Priest started to look a little suspicious. There'd been no response from the limo and now he saw some 'thugs' coming towards them. "Uhhhh....Sou-rat? Do we have a problem here? I think we might have a problem here."

One hand went in to his jacket, to where the underarm shoulder holster was. The hand gripped the pistol but he didn't pull it out just yet.
This message was last edited by the player at 03:41, Sun 25 June 2023.

Sou-rat casually turns away from the nomads, just in case one or more could read lips. "The Yakuza," he explains quietly. "When I fulfilled my end of our bargain, I mentioned discreet backup would be appreciated to ensure the dialogue between principals progressed smoothly. They may have disregarded the 'discreet' part.

"No alarm is required on our end; they aren't and shouldn't be our problem."

CSpan winked at the guard at the gate, acknowledging his appraising look for Auwana.  She remained in the vehicle - which was probably a good thing for the moment, as she was ordered to move it.  Pulling her van off to the side, she watched as the others arrive in their own vehicles as well as surveying the obvious hardware that had been brought out.

The tensions were high it seemed.  Which meant the stakes were high.  She felt a bit out of her pay grade.

But at least everyone had nice vehicles.  The limo was too understated for her (even if it was loaded).  Her eyes glanced up at the circling helicopter.  The platinum blonde blew an errant lock of hair from her face, even as her arms rested lightly on the steering wheel.  "Hmm..." she noted quietly to no one in particular, "I can fly that..."

Seeing the situation rapidly changing for the worse, Badge spat on the ground in disgust. This was exactly why he hated dealing with suits. They always needed to have the upper hand. Suddenly he almost missed Tony, almost.

The mumbling of their counterpart contact-man only made his already quite displeased scowl more sour. But two could play that game. Stepping closer to Fennec and placing a hand on her shoulder, he spoke in a low voice, "We have company, not the good kind. Two creeps coming up the road. Maybe more." Taking a brief pause to think through the next course of action, the gruff man leaned closer and whispered. "Try to warn your packmates to watch them, but we can't afford to get provoked or too trigger happy. We're here to talk, not to start a war. I'll try to set up the parley." Patting the nomad woman's shoulder one last time before heading back up to the fence to address Sou-rat's back.

"Another layer of security - those Paint Boys approaching, hmm?" Crossing his arms over his chest, Badge shook his head in disbelief. "As of this moment, this whole meeting is getting very close to being called-off. Neither you, nor us will profit from that. So how about we agree on some more reasonable terms for the meeting which both sides find acceptable and don't involve any unnecessary things like an assault attempt? For example we keep all the iron and those packing at safe distance, three people from each side can disarm and meet mid-way between the 'camps'?"

"Sorry. Not our doing, nor our client's. I'm not surprised, though; it's been clear since the beginning that there are more than a few players interested in your client's welfare. Some are probably competent, too," Sou-rat says; he's through pretending these people are or ever were Ai's captors. "You got me on the helo, but that wasn't my idea."



"You rejected my peaceful offer out of hand just a few minutes ago. Now that you're starting to get outgunned, you're suddenly ready to talk peacefully?" he counters, not hiding his anger. "That'll cost you. Before any deal is made, I need to see Ms. Hikage in the flesh, face-to-face; prove to me right now she's here and willing to talk. If you refuse, we walk away; if she's not here, we walk away. My client won't be happy, your client probably won't be happy, but that's where we'll be, and you can deal with the consequences of worrying more than a few interested parties on your own."

Fennec listened to Badge's words and gave her Vulpez cousins a nod and an eye dart in response. She was going to be in so much shit if this meeting brought trouble, at at this point she was fairly sure that was the way it was going to go. "Do they look familiar? I could swear that's the dude that came to Tony's place..." She wasn't sure tho, so pressed her mind to the immediate situation, which was mostly that she was really starting to hate the suit. They'd not rejected anything, merely finding their footing and feeling each other out. She had to guess he was green as grass. Not wanting to escalate things any further, however, Fennec swallowed her irritation and addressed him. If the new comers were about to get nasty, she'd rather have Priest, the Suit and their driver on side...

"I'm not willing to have Ai get out the safety of my car, given the increased interest" by which she meant the increased risk of added gun-toting Yakuza in the vicinity. How the fuck did they know about this meeting anyway? "But if Le Prêtre is willing to take his hand off his piece -" She shot a look at Priest "- then you can come to the car and I'll introduce you."

Priest looked away from the approaching armed men to look at Badge and then Sou-rat as they spoke. But then Fennec shot him a look, "What?" He followed her gaze down and looked surprised that his hand was still holding the pistol's grip. "Oh."

He looked back up and grinned, "Hey, if your gun was as pretty as this one, you'd want to keep a hand on it too."

He removed his hand and then raised both hands in to the air, still smiling. "But no worries. I'm cool." He even took a step back to be further away from the car in question.
This message was last edited by the player at 16:21, Thu 29 June 2023.

A half-smile creeping onto his lips at Priest's quip, his gaze shifts from his compatriot to the Nomad driver.

"If you please," he says gesturing toward the gate for admittance.

With the okay from Fennec the man at the gate rolls it back just enough for Priest, Sou-rat (and CSpan is she wants) to enter, though not with Cspan's vehicle.  He shuts it immediately.

The group of five yakuza stop for a moment, not so subtly waiting for the rest of their men to get into good positions, four of them conferring with each other as the obvious boss stands with arms folded.

At this point Sou-rat's agent tells him there is an incoming call.

[Private to Sou-rat: When he answers you can post his side of the conversation.  On the line is a woman, Matsudaira's assistant with whom you've spoken before, and it sounds like she is in the limo with him.  "Mr. al-Souri, the situation seems to have taken a turn for the worse.  Our security team is recommending we withdraw given the presence not only of the nomads but the yakuza men.  The yakuza are opposed to us in this endeavor and we didn't expect them or bring the resources to counter.  What is your plan?  Can you regain control?"]

Badge nodded without hesitation, he recognized the two Asian men as well.

Under any brighter circumstances, Priest's remark would perhaps make even the grim frowning huscle smile a little. But now he was too busy considering their options to get out of this mess, pronto.

"Fine, have it your way. But since your employer is not here for a proper meeting, and you're forcing things ahead of the agreed time, don't blame me if Ms Ai gets upset and cuts back on the shares she was originally willing to offer him." Simply shrugging and stating ominously, he stood there whilst watching closely the approaching Yakuza members.

Sou-rat brings his agent to his ear. "Yes, I can. My plan is to verify the other party is actually here and ready to meet on time. You will receive a go or no-go from me shortly," he says. He doesn't wait for a response and ends the call, returning the phone to his pocket.

As he passes the frowning fellow, the exec replies, "My only concern is the meeting, which will happen at the appropriate time. My client's early arrival and wait is a cultural thing, which is something your client should understand." Sou-rat turns his attention to the Nomad driver and waits patiently for her to lead him to her atrociously-appointed ride.

Priest's silliness made the feathery-haired nomad smile. Maybe there was hope in this situation.

"You not worried about these other chumps at all then?" Fennec queried Sou-rat, wondering if he was playing some sort of game. In order to continue the meeting, she curtsied playfully before guiding the suit to her car and gave the rear door window a quick double tap. Only then did she open it for Sou-rat to take a look at Ai inside.

Through the tinted window, the figure in the backseat can be seen edging away from the door before it opened revealing a young woman in her early 20s, with long black hair and dark brown eyes. Even though her makeup looked well prepared, it was clear from the tired look in her eyes as well as the dirty and slightly oversized clothes she was wearing that wherever she'd been hadn't been for the last few days hadn't been the best for taking care of one's self. Her eyes darted nervously between the Nomad and the man as she raised her pistol a little in a shaking grip. "Fennec? What's going on...? That's not Mr. Matsudaira..." she asked in a quiet voice, very much aware that she had her back against the door as she tried to simultaneously not point the gun at anyone but also keep it pointedly between herself and them.

Priest looked from Badge to Sou-rat as they...well 'conversed' didn't seem to quite cover what was going on between them. 'Pissing match' was too strong and not quite accurate either. Social fencing?

He shrugged and stepped inside when offered but didn't move closer to the car that supposedly had the woman-of-the-hour in it. He didn't want to give anyone more of a reason to be spooked or jumpy.

Sou-rat didn't share the contents of the call he just had, but Priest could guess at least some of it and how it was possibly.

He glanced at the 'swarm' of men that had posted up outside. He glanced at Fennec, flashed her a quick there-and-gone grin and shook his head. "I ain't worried 'til they do something estúpido."

At the Nomad's question and Priest's answer, the exec adds, "One worry at a time." When the door is opened, he leans over to peer inside.

"Well now, who do we have here?" Sou-rat says calmly, expression neutral. He isn't too keen on how nervously the woman inside is gripping that pistol, but he surmises she has at least enough control to keep it off axis and not to be an immediate threat. "You are correct; I am not Mr. Matsudaira. He is my client, and I am here to ensure that you are the woman he is here to meet, that you are who these people say you are."

---

[Private to Referee: Since we know for certain what the real Ms. Hikage looks like, is Sou-rat looking at the real Ms. Hikage?]

Ai in the car looks very much like Ai in the photo you have: hair is the right length and color, height is hard to match from a photo, and in the photo you can't really make out eye color.  But something feels off a bit for Sou-rat, something he can't place.

The five yakuza men including the boss now approach the gate.  The boss addresses the visible, assembled people.  "I am Hasegawa Ken, and I have come to collect my daughter, going by the false name of 'Hikage,'" he proclaims loudly.  "Releasing her to me peacefully is the best course of action," he adds, flexing his hands as though full of pent up energy.

---

Remember that you have a publicity/glamor photo.  The young woman in the car definitely looks like her and looks like she has had a rough time recently (though no signs of abuse), and yet something is just off.