Things have calmed down after the action from last time. Mari got a settlement from Saeder-Krupp to keep it hushed up. She is going to use it to help her mom, and she is incredibly happy and thankful around us. She knows we saved her from a bad situation. We are finally back on regular duty. The runs have been mostly boring, but there does seem to be an increase in gang violence.
Things have gotten a little rougher around the neighborhood, and the regulars at the Triple Tap are carrying more weapons. We still hang out there several times a week. One night we are hanging out there when Isaac gets a high priority message from Dr. Hyun. Her 20-year-old nephew Ayun has been missing for 3 days. He was part of a young person’s organization that went on a humanitarian project in the slums. He has not been seen since. They have not found anything around his last known location.
We recognize the symbol as the Universal Brotherhood. They have a cover as being an organization about the sharing of universal truth and companionship. However, we know they have a violent side as well and they have gathered weapons. The founders of the group created it to promote peace, however they both got sick and committed suicide. At a guess there are 18,000-20,000 members in the Chicago area. We decide to keep our eyes and ears open but keep doing our regular runs. We cannot afford to get in trouble again.
The next day we go back out on patrol like normal. We get a call around midnight on Thursday. We notice that the name is Franz Donner, Thumper’s cousin. The signal is coming from down by the docks, which is nowhere near the restaurant. It is coming from a warehouse. As we pull up, we see several Eagle security units with bullet holes in their cars. The ping from his bracelet is coming from inside this building on the south side. We get the cops to move and then pull the ambulance to the south east corner of the building. There are no doors on this side.
We sneak around to the West side and find a side door, along with Edge and Scales, the shadow runners we ran into before. They try to wave us off, but we come up anyway. They say there is a blood bath in there and we might not want to go in. Thumper tries to break the door but fails. He shoots out the hinges and then runs into the room, yelling for Franz. We see the same orcs that were bothering the Triple Tap, part of the Sewer Rats. As we move into the room, we see a group of trolls on the other side. Many of them are people that Thumper knows, but some of them are dead and others are wounded. They are in bad shape.
We manage to stabilize Franz and get him on a stretcher. As we are loading him up one of the trolls says they were selling the weapons so that the gangs would destroy each other. As we start moving towards the door, the big garage door explodes inward and a combination of Eagle Security and Corp Sec busts in. They immediately start exchanging fire with the orcs.
The EMTs look in the bins and find some riot shields. They grab them and use them to cover the stretcher as the group starts moving towards the door. The trolls start following us, and the orc gang members start shooting at them and us. Espadas drops one gang member who gets close to us, and Bright swings at another and wounds him. The orc gangers and the corp sec keep exchanging fire. A couple of the troll gangers take wounds.
Icebox gets the stretcher and Franz out the door, while Espadas drops another ganger. Thumper also kills one. The group piles out into the alley and runs for the ambulance, with Ryoshi and Thumper covering the rear. We all head for the ambulance, and two of the troll gangers also escape. Isaac keeps working on Franz, who seems to be getting worse. We keep driving to headquarters and rush him into emergency surgery.
Isaac helps with the triage and surgery. Thumper waits at the emergency room. Franz is in surgery for three hours, but he does pull through. Espadas and Ryoshi go back to the restaurant. A few of the trolls that are usually there are not anymore.
Franz wakes up around mid-morning. He is covered in bandages and very weak, but lucid. He says that 3 months ago he was approached by corporate guys who said they could make money while the gangs tear each other apart. Franz wants to get rid of all the other races, metahumans and otherwise, then trolls could take over. Corp security shows up soon after to question Thumper and Franz. Icebox rolls up behind them and starts telling them they cannot question him now. They leave.
Thumper gets the details from Franz about the weapons shipments. There were 8 shipments with assault rifles, pistols, armor, shields, and cannons. The shipments come from Germany and are smuggled through customs then they sell them to the gangs at cost just to move more of them. The meetings were anonymous (his face was masked), but we have the location and time.
The cops come back and separate Thumper and Franz. They grill Thumper in their paddy wagon. He cooperates and tells them what he knows. Eventually they let him go and he comes back to the restaurant. Ringo had no idea that any of this was going on with Franz.
Our next move is to try and meet with Edge and Scales to see what they know. Thumper’s fixer does not know how to contact them, but suggests we get a message out on Noose-net. Isaac wows us with his hacking skills and can find a way to contact them. We also find out there are possibly thousands of sewer rats and other gangers underground that come out at night, commit crimes, then go back underground. A user named SuperWiz has tons of information about them including maps of activity. We also find that Edge and Scales work with SuperWiz, and they are helping law enforcement. We decide to try and meet them at a restaurant near us and send SuperWiz a message.
We agree to meet at a nearby noodle bar in the afternoon. SuperWiz shows up and asks is we have some information on the Sewer Rats. Thumper and Icebox talk to him and agree to share to their knowledge about the weapons deals. Icebox will give him the video from the warehouse fight (minus Espadas face of course). They arrange for a drop point. The decker reveals that his actual handle is Charlie Zero, and SuperWiz is an alternate username. After the drop we get a message says he has it and will be in touch. We go back to work for Doc Wagon.