| From: | Robert Hayden <rahayden@*****.WEEG.UIOWA.EDU> |
|---|---|
| Subject: | The Underground: Volume 1, Number 3 |
| Date: | Fri, 13 Nov 92 12:00:07 CET |
The Underground
Volume 1, Number 3 November 13, 2053
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The Magazine for Those on the Edge
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Gangster Escapes Imprisonment
By - Vincent Esposito
VESPOSIT@****.sunysb.edu
(NEW YORK) -- [Friday] Convicted murderer and suspected Yakuza
hitman Tommy "the dragon" Harada made a daring escape from Metro
police friday. Harada managed to break out of the armored car that
was transporting him to New York Correctional Facility in
Westchester, and overpower the four Metro officers in the car. Of
the four, two officers were killed, one is in critical condition
and one managed to escape the scene with moderate injuries and a
concussion. The two wounded officers were brought to Bellvue
Hospital for treatment.
"Somehow Harada managed to bust through the grating and came after
us with his bare hands. In the close confines of the car's crew
compartment, we never had a chance to draw our guns. I tell you,
this guy was wired to the max!! He broke Will's neck and took his
gun before any of us new what happened. The people at medical said
he wasn't packing any chrome, but the drekheads didn't tell us that
he was a serious VatJob. Some heads will roll for this one!!! The
guys at medical scanned him for cyber, but didn't think to check
him for bioware!!!! Their f*ckup cost us two lives!!" quoted
officer Joe Shockley.
Metro authorities claim that Harada was tested negative on
all modification scans, both cyber and bio. Metro chief Davis
insists that he had help from the outside, even though their is no
evidence to support this.
Tommy Harada escaped less than five miles north of city limits, and
is still at large. He is to be considered armed and dangerous at
all times. Any reports leading to his capture will be rewarded.
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Local Dragon attempts Corporate Takeover
By - Vincent Esposito
VESPOSIT@****.sunysb.edu
(NEW YORK) -- [Friday] The Dragon Tirandor, owner of Dragon's Den
International has made an incredible two day sweep of MagnaTech
stock. According to estimates compiled by East Coast StockNet,
Tirandor now owns approximately 45% of MagnaTech stock, and is
expected to continue his run on MagnaTech. StockNet experts have
concluded that the Dragon should be able to buy enough MagnaTech
stock (51%) to become the new CEO. MagnaTech's current CEO, Jason
Sanders could not be reached for comment.
This apparent takeover was made possible by the recent plummet
in MagnaTech stock prices. This was caused mainly by the wholesale
destruction of the MagnaTech main office in Manhattan last week.
This attack temporarily crippled MagnaTech's operations and even
forced a worldwide shutdown of Magna- Tech computer systems. The
confidence of several of MagnaTech's major investors was shattered
by the sudden and brutal attack.
NewsNet managed to get a quick interview with Tirandor before
he left the city for a meeting in Chicago.
NN: What was your motivation for this attempt on MagnaTech??
Tir: I've had my eye on MagnaTech for some time now. They have
been a potentially powerful Microelectronics and Software firm that
has been suffering from financial duress and plagued by bad luck.
Thier recent troubles with their main office building could have
been a crushing blow. As a subsidiary of Dragon's Den, MagnaTech
can prosper and become a major player in the microtronics
industry. With my financial backing I can make MagnaTech more
profitable than it has been in the past five years in a matter of
months.
NN: What about the allegations that you were involved in the bombing
of the MagnaTech office?
Tir: As I said before, I've had a passing interest in MagnaTech for
several months, and have made no secret of it in the buisness
community. Any of my rivals who would want to discredit me could
have arranged to have an illusion or some other facsimilie of
myself appear at the site. I have ordered the Dragon's Den
security force to investigate the matter thouroughly. Those
responsible will be brought to justice.
That is all the comment that Tirandor would give on the subject
before taking off from his corporate headquarters, the USS
Intrepid.
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Humanis Spokeswoman Taken Hostange; Rescued
By: Robert Hayden
AQ650@****.INS.CWRU.Edu
(Seattle) -- [Saturday] Early Saturday morning, Barbara Schmidt,
chief spokewoman for Humanis Seattle, was abducted during her
morning jog. Two eyewitnesses described the kidnappers as trolls
driving an unmarked delivery van. Police immediately mobilized to
track down Schmidt and set up recordning and tracing equipment in
preparance for a ransom demand.
The ransom demand never materialized. Instead, police received a
report of Schmidt being held by two trolls on the roof of the
abandoned ChemFix wharehouse. Immediately SWAT and hostage rescue
units mobilized surrounding the building. The two men on the roof
had Schmidt bound and gagged sitting in a chair. The chair had
been placed precariously on the edge of the roof.
Soon after negotiations began, it had become apparent that the two
metas were planning a public execution of Schmidt because of her
anti-meta stances. As the crowd grew larger and the situation
deteriorated, a hush fell over the crowd as Demos, Seattle's
mystery vigilante was spotted flying overhead.
Mary-Jo Samuels, reporter for channel 16 news utilized her
cybernetic ear and video-cam eye to record the events which
followed. Included is her commentary.
"Demos is diving towards the roof now and the two men have taken up
defensive positions with Barb Schmidt between Demos and the men.
Demos has landed now. He's folded his wings back and it appears
he is speaking to the men. Let's see if I can pick up what they are
saying."
DEMOS: . . . I said, let her go.
MAN 1: What? Hey chummer, this lady wants you dead? Don't you
see the news? She wants us all dead, or imprisoned, or
both. Just ask her.
DEMOS: Bigotry isn't a crime, now surrender and let her go.
MAN 2: Hey! We're doing you a favor and maybe Humanis will get
the hint that they can't win.
DEMOS: She'll be a martyr for their cause and you'll have set back
the cause of Metas at least a decade. This will serve no
purpose. Don't make me have to stop you.
MAN 2: Stop us? We hold all the cards. One move and I'll push
the bitch over the edge and we can all watch he turn into a
puddle of Human Mush. Now if you don't wanna help, get
lost.
"Demos has pulled out a weapon of some type and shot one of the men
once . . . twice . . . he's shot the other one."
DEMOS: Shut up.
"One of the men is struggling to his feet and is dragging himself
towards Demos. Demos shoots again, hitting the troll in the
shoulder. The troll is going down. WAIT! The other guy is by
Barb Schmidt's chair. SHE'S GOING OVER!"
SCHMIDT: AAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEYYYYYYYYYYYEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!
MAN 2: Die human scum!
"Demos is diving of the roof after Schmidt! . . . He's got her!
WOW! . . . Here he comes. He's set her down in front of the
crowd."
SCHMIDT: Let go of me, you heathen!
DEMOS: (grabbing Schmidt's lapels and lifting her off the ground)
Remember who it was that saved your sorry ass!
Demos then put Schmidt down and lept back into the sky. In the
aftermath, police arrested the two trolls and they are being held
without bail pending arraignment. Humanis Seattle has issued a
staunch 'no comment' regarding the incident, but in a seperate news
release, cancelled the 1,000,000 nuyen reward for the capture of
Demos.
No word regarding the incident has been received from the police or
city officals as of yet.
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Second Group Enters into Magna-Tech Equation
By: Robert Hayden
AQ650@****.INS.CWRU.Edu
(Seattle) -- [Tuesday] Today a second group has entered the battle
for possession of Magna-Tech, a New York based securities and
electronics company currently being pursued by Dragon's Den
Industries, whose president is the dragon Tirandor.
This second combatant, Yoshida Technologies, is a large,
multi-national, Seattle based electronics and cybernetics company.
Yoshida's President, Joseph Yoshida, took a few moments from his
busy schedule to answer some questions from NewsNet.
NN: Why the sudden interest in Magna-Tech?
JY: Our primary reason for getting into this take-over battle is
because we feel that Magna's cybernetic research would greatly
benefit our research. We were late getting into this because
Tirandor moved so fast before we were able to mobilize our
resources. It may be too for us to gain a crucial 51%, but we
will be a major player in the future of Magna-Tech.
With Yoshida Tech's announcement, prices on the slumping stock have
quickly risen. Surprisingly, Yoshida has not continued to outbid
Dragon's Den, often times offering prices ten to twenty percent
less than Tirandor's offerings. Dispite this, Yoshida, at the
time of this writing has aquired roughly 22% of the outstanding
stock, while the den has been barely inching forward at 48%.
Furthermore, several companies have cancelled their agreements with
Tirandor to sell their Magna stocks with speculation that the
concept of dealing with a human, even at a lower price, is far
more paletable.
There has been no comment as of yet from Dragon's Den nor from
Magna-Tech, but rumors fly that Yoshida is negotiating directly
with Magna-Tech management in an effort to secure the corporate
held stock, which amount to 18%. If Yoshida was successful in
negotiating this purchase, he would then have 40% of the shares.
With the expected turning of stocks promised to Dragon's Den over
to Yoshida, it is expected that Yoshida will be able to yank Magna
right out from under the dragon's snout.
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Meta Humans Involved in MagnaTech Bombing, Humanis Reacts
By - Vincent Esposito
VESPOSIT@****.sunysb.edu
(NEW YORK)--- [Wednesday] Metro Police Inc announced today that
their lab analysis of the remains found in the wreckage of the
MagnaTech main office building had yielded results. The
preliminary reports stated that the remains of three, possibly four
intruders had been found. The preliminary report also stated that
two of the intruders had extensive illegal cyber-modification.
The latest lab results include an extensive genetic analysis of
the remains. The owner of the largest, and most heavily cybered
remains was a Troll before meeting his grisly demise. The second
set of cybered remains are of a dwarf, and the last, uncybered set
of remains was a human. Also, a few days ago, and investigation
team found an intact finger from the Troll buried in the rubble.
After some reconstruction, a positive identification was made. The
Troll was one Arthur "MadDog" O'Mally. O'Mally had a number of
outstanding warrants in Metro's files including : 4 charges of
breaking and entering, 10 charges of assault and battery, 8 charges
of owning unliscensed handguns, 3 charges of armed robbery, and
about 20 charges of resisting arrest coupled with assaulting an
officer of the law.
The identities of O'Mally's companions has not been vereified,
but Metro has begun a series of background checks of O'Mally and his
known accomplices in the past, and may be able to discover the
identities of the other sets of remains.
A representative of New York Humanis has expressed outrage at
this development. NYH's Stocker Bookman has publicly stated that
"This attack against the Human race could have been prevented by
the official registration of all MetaHumans. I propose to the city
council to pass a city ordinance that will make it illegal for
metahumans to be in the city unless they register their identities
and addresses with us. Furthermore, registered meta humans will be
required to wear identification badges that are to be visible at
all times. Failure to do so will result in the arrest of the
offending metahuman. We do not propose this out of hatred, but out
of concern for the saftey of the Human race."
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City Becomes War Zone
By - Vincent Esposito
VESPOSIT@****.sunysb.edu
(NEW YORK) --- [Thursday] New York City has become a virtual war
zone over the past three days. Forces bearing the marks of
Dragon's Den Security have been "on manuvers" for several days
now. Patrols of heavily armed helicopters and jet fighters have
been launched almost constantly from the flight deck of the
Intrepid, the Dragon's Den corporate HQ. In addition, sevral
Dragon's Den patrol cars have been seen on the city streets.
While it is perfectly legal for a corporate security force to field
military hardware, many citizens are concerned that open warfare
could easily break out within the city. The amount of hardware
that Dragon's Den has in the city could potentially cause millions
of nuyen worth of collateral damage should they find a reason to
open fire.
The Dragon Tirandor, owner of Dragon's Den has assured City authorities and
Metro Police Inc. that his security force is simply performing extensive
training manuvers in preperation for the next Desert Wars. He has also
assured that no live fire tests will be conducted within city limits.
When asked if these manuvers were in reaction to recent rumors
that MagnaTech would be mounting a covert strike on the Intrepid in
reaction to Tirandor's recent takeover bid, the Dragon simply
stated "Those rumors have no foundation. As far as MagnaTech is
concerned, I'm doing them a favor. MagnaTech has been in financial
trouble for several years, their board of directors is eager to
find a way out."
On a related point, there have been some reports of
increased activity by MagnaTech security troops. MagnaTech
officials were not available for comment.
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This issue of The Underground is copyleft 1992 by Robert Hayden
[INTERNET: AQ650@****.INS.CWRU.Edu] and you are free to distribute
this document provided that the contents are not altered. Archives
are available from me or via anonymous FTP at teetot.acusd.edu in
the pub/Beelzebub/Role-Playing/Shadowrun/Underground directory.
Shadowrun is a registered trademark of FASA, Inc.
