The fact that a wave of bank robberies flared up in the city isn't the cops biggest worry. The big worry is where the money is going. Rumor has it the stolen nuyen is going to towards the arming of an underground organization determined to wipe of the city's police force. And the cops are beginning to get worried.

When the runners meet with their Johnson he won't directly say that the cops are their employers but he will lay out the situation, and the rumors, thus enabling the runners to make the deduction themselves. The runners will also be given the address of a bar at which one of the robbing gangs, the Nixes, hangs out. The Johnson will also lay out these basic objectives:

1. Infiltrate the Nixes.

2. Find out where the underground organization is located.

3. Blow it to Hell and back.

The Nixes hang out at a dirty old bar just outside the barrens called Fred's Pit. They look like a typical street gang but all members appear to be in their late twenties and early forties. And, although they act like a bunch of drugged up crazies, they have yet to kill somebody during a robber and don't really seem to do any drugs. If the runners act the same way they do it will, oddly, make them more leery of them. What the runners are going to have to do is, somehow, get the message across that they're capable of slyly pulling off a bank robbery without hurting anyone. They may be able to do this by semi-audibly planning a non-existent robbery, discussing infiltration, etc. The leader of the Nixes is equipped with hearing amplification and will overhear any conversation. It may take the runners a few nights at the bar to fully gain his trust.

Eventually the leader of the Nixes, Frengo, will ask the runners if they'd like to go to a "party". If the runners agree they will have them follow them, in their vehicles, into the barrens and to an old theater building from which loud music and flashing lights will be emanating. Once the runners enter the main theater area, in which all seats have been removed, they will realize that there aren't any actual people at this party. One of the Nixes members, Sheena, who is actually a street shaman, will cast a spell creating a bubble around the runners and the gang, preventing the noise from getting in, allowing for audio levels more conductive to conversation. If the runners look around the theater they may also catch a glimpse of a few white noise generators. It is important to make the runners realize that, although this place is pretty slick, it is NOT the main headquarters for the so far nameless underground organization.

Frengo will then drop his drugged gang member act and begin communicating like a normal human being. He will explain that one of his members needs assistance in carrying out a robbery and that the runners will be paid for their assistance. He also makes them swear that A: they will not kill anybody during the robbery and B: that they will keep this meet secret. He reinforces his last point by pointing out the fact that, if the runners squeal, he has many, many friends that will make them sorry. If the runners agree he will pay them in advance, tell them where they can meet with the gang member they will be escorting, and in form the runners that they are now "part of something big. Real big...."

The gang member the runners are meeting, Dreamline, doesn't look like a gang member at all when they arrive at his nice hotel room in a B section of town later that night. The runners will notice that hotel is located across from a bank. Dreamline will lay out the basic plan. They storm the place right before it closes at 5:30pm,, somehow handle the 4 guards, and the runners play crowd control while Dreamline jacks into the bank's computer system and downloads the cash onto a credstick. The runners, by this point, should have more and more of idea at how well organized and how well funded the Nixes really are. All are armed with new, top of the line weapons (most non lethal) and Dreamline's gear is top of the line. Also, all of the members seem to be well educated and, well, nice. After the robbery they are to B-Line it back to the Nixes theater.

How the robbery goes down isn't really important. If they do it quick they'll be gone before the cops get there. If the runners kill somebody, however, it'll all over. Lower their rep and call it a night. The Nixes have no sense of humor when it comes to this.

In any case, if the runners play nice they'll end up back at the Nixes' theater. They will then have the runners execute a similar robbery, again with Dreamline as an assistant, the next day. And, essentially, for the next two to three weeks, the runners will assist on similar robberies. This will take patience, but the Nixes aren't too keen on leading every person who walks off the street to the underground's MAIN headquarters. In fact, the Nixes won't even mention where the money goes until they are absolutely convinced the runners are trustworthy.

Speaking of, at the end of the third week Frengo will ask the runners if they wish to transport the stolen cash to the headquarters of Savior, their parent organization which they will, finally, speak of out loud. The name Savior should, at the least, strike the runners as an odd name for an anti-police organization but, if they're bright, they'll keep their mouths shut about it. He will send Sheena along as an escort and they will be driven there by Gridlock, a rigger. Frengo will INSIST that Gridlock drive. And, Gridlock, will insist that the runners ride in the back of his van which, surprise surprise, has no windows. But, since you're the GM, I can inform you that the van will enter the deepest, darkest part of the barrens, enter an old concrete parking garage, descend to sublevel 3, and park. When the runners exit the van they will see many, many more vans of all types parked throughout the garage.

The entourage will enter an elevator which appears to be at the lowest possible floor but, as Gridlock presses a thumb print scanner button, a door slides up revealing another button. The elevator descends for about a minute and then, after sliding to a halt, the doors open.

What they reveal is a CAVERNOUS, football stadium sized room filled with about 200 people of all ages and tons upon tons of: FOOD.

Guess what, folks, the cops screwed up. Savior isn't an anti- police organization, it's more of a Robin Hood type set up. The various gangs have been using the stolen nuyen to purchase food and distribute it to squatters around the city. At this point the runners have a few options:

1. They can blow it up anyway if they want to be pricks.

2. They can, somehow, try to convince the cops that this isn't a terrorist organization by gathering some kind of evidence, such as trid footage, that these people are only buying food and not weapons. If the runners take this route the cops will go "oops" and drop the whole thing. Yeah, right. The cops won't care. The runners will eventually meet personally with Sgt. Orval Brazer who will simply state that the weapons are inside the food and will want them to blow everything up anyway. If the runners say no they might gain some bonus points for morality but, in the end, it will still damage their reputation.

3. The runners can meet with Samantha Brooks, who will introduce herself as the director of Savior when the runners arrive. If the runners simply break down and explain the situation to her. She'll at first be pissed off that somebody was able to infiltrate the group but, since she can't kill the runners or keep them in captivity forever, will have to find some way of helping them out of their situation. She'll inform the runners that there is an older, smaller, underground facility Savior used to use on the opposite end of town which is now abandoned. She is willing to allow the runners to blow this up, thus making it at least look like they completed their job, in return for absolute secrecy regarding Savior's operations. If the runners agree she will give them a chip containing all information needed to locate and access the facility. Gridlock will drive the runners to where ever they'd like to go, spit on them, and then drive off.

If the runners blow up the old facility the cops will be pleased. The run is over.

Speedbumps

When exposing the runner to the fact that the Nixes are actually a fairly nice bunch of people be very subtle. Make it look odd, but not too obvious.

The various bank robberies will be spaced out around the city and, depending on what city you're using, they may even rob some banks on other towns. Each has been chosen on the basis of having lax security although ALL will have cameras. Most of the time Dreamline will be able to rig them via the matrix to go down when the robbery begins. Other wise they can be defeated by simply shooting them off the wall or by having everybody wear masks.

Once the robbery begins the runners will only have about a minute before the cops arrive. On at least one occasion the cops will already be there and they will have to abort the mission. On one or two other occasions one of the bank patrons will be an off duty cop, although they will back down if faced with superior firepower. And, on one other occasion, somebody in the crowd will try to play the hero and will open fire on one of the runners with a small pistol. Remember all the while that the runners have been strictly forbidden from killing anyone.

Hellraisers

About a week or two into the runner's robberies Sgt. Orval Brazer will dispatch a rather incompetent underling to keep tabs on the runners. The runner's Johnson will suddenly inform them that their employer (he will not directly mention Orval's name) wants the runners to meet with a cop (the Johnson WILL say "cop") named Stuart Pugs to discuss the group's progress. When they meet him at a fairly decent bar (AWAY from the Nixes' territory) he will be incredibly drunk and, although dressed in normal clothes, will give the impression of being a cop. He will demand that the runners give him all of the information regarding their progress so far. The runners should be able to deduce that this man is a complete idiot and may, possible, mess up their progress. If the runners lie to him, giving false places and info, Stuart won't be a problem, he'll just end up wandering around trying to figure out where these fake places are. If the runners tell him the truth he'll end up staking out the Nixes' theater in an obvious manner. Eventually the Nixes themselves will become suspicious of him and then of the runners. Eventually the runners will have to figure out a way to quietly, and non lethally, get rid of him.

About a week into the robberies the Nixes will send another "new recruit", Pelter, along with the runners and Dreamline. Although he will appear to be quite normal before hand, once the next robbery begins he will take advantage of the Nixes aversion to killing, grab a pedestrian hostage, put a gun to his/her head, and tell Dreamline to hand over the stolen nuyen. Dreamline will freeze up (he's a decker, not a negotiator) and the runners will have to defuse the situation before the cops arrive. Pelter is a fairly intelligent individual and is extremely resistant to psychological manipulation so negotiating with his probably won't work. The runners can get out of this by somehow knocking him out (I hope the gun doesn't go off) or simply giving him the money. If, somehow, either Pelter or the hostage end up dead there is going to be hell to pay if Frengo finds out. Dreamline will quietly suggest that they just keep the incident to themselves.

Unfortunately, Frengo watches TV and will hear of the incident. He will want a damn good explanation as to why the situation went down like this. If the runners somehow point out that it was his fault for letting in somebody like Pelter in to the group in the first place Frengo will back down and never bring up the incident again.

Aftermath

Anybody the runners meet who are connected with Savior will completely ignore them after the run. However, sometime in the future Savior may run into trouble and may be looking for runners they know are good. Stay tuned.

Personalities

Frengo

Archetype: Human Gang Leader

Information: Before Frengo became the leader of the Nixes he was a member if a theatrical troop. Really. He still uses his acting skills to convince everybody that he's just another scummy gang leader and not in charge of a branch of the city's largest Robin Hood like food running organization. While not a very good fighter, he's a good social actor, negotiator, and manipulator. He's loved by his gang members, all of whom are willing to die for him and his cause.

Sheena

Archetype: Elf Gang Member Mage

Information: Sheena is a very powerful magic user, although she only lets a little bit of her ability shine through. She doesn't like to kill, but is more than willing to use her abilities to defend her leader and her cause. She never talks to anybody but Frengo and it appears as if they have some sort of unsaid, but romantic relationship.

Dreamline

Archetype: Human Gang Member

Information: It is nearly impossible to talk to Dreamline about anything but computers. It's almost like he thinks in binary. He has no fighting skills, hates violence, and just wants to get his decking duties done so he can return home and work on programming new utilities.

Gridlock

Archetype: Human Rigger

Information: Gridlock doesn't like the runners and was much happier when the Nixes was comprised entirely of Nixes. He is constantly waiting for the chance to prove that the runners are there to harm the Nixes, not help them.

Sgt. Orval Brazer

Archetype: Human Cop

Information: Orval should have been kicked off the force years ago but his ties with higher ups in the city have gotten him off the hook many a time. But even with these ties it will probably only take one more major screw up before Orval's career comes to an end which is why he's so determined to make his current project work.

Stuart Pugs

Archetype: Ork Cop

Information: Stuart is an idiot alcoholic and, if the runners aren't careful, he'll screw up the entire run. He has virtually no sense of subtlety and his desire for recognition in the police department causes him to do brash, sometimes idiot things.

Pelter

Archetype: Human Thief Physad

Information: Pelter is a master of disguise and has spent most of his life practicing his quick draw. He doesn't like to deal with anybody's crap and would rather kill somebody than negotiate with them. He's also a good actor and most of these underlying traits probably won't manifest until the robbery.

Samantha Brooks

Archetype: Human Humanitarian

Information: Samantha doesn't believe in killing which is why the Nixes, and all other gangs working for her, are forbidden to harm anybody. Any group that does is immediately kicked out of the organization and usually convinced through non-lethal, but frightening, scare tactics to leave town. She's probably going to eventually suffer a heart attack from all the stress Savior brings upon her and recently she has turned to numerous prescription drugs to ease her anxiety, some of which also cloud her judgement from time to time, which is probably why she will let the runners off so easily.