[center][h1][color=6ecff6]Extracriminal[/color][/h1][/center][hr][hr]
[indent][quote]
[i]-you'll each have to get very used to working with one another if we're going to keep me honest. Your skills may complement one another, but your personalities may take some adjustments. Or not, I don't fucking know, I'm no psychic. Anyways, the paint shop on 48th Croach-[/i]
[/quote][/indent]
The modulated voice of The Senior emanated from the small, very archaic tape recorder that rested in her hand. He'd sent each of them one, and on it he detailed the skillsets of each of the Crew's members, providing only the necessities out of respect for their privacy, of course. He also provided details on travel plans to reach their base of operations - located in New York, NY. These details came from a voice that sounded collected yet somehow dulcet, in spite of the radio-esque transmission.

Nadia listened to the tape intently, despite finding the device a bit unwieldy due to its age. She'd only been a few hours out of the way when she'd received the instructions laid out on the tape. The Senior had given them a few days to finish up their prior engagements before scheduling the meetup, but Nadia didn't exactly have her hands full, considering she was still in hiding. To mention it, she wasn't exactly sure how The Senior had found her. She covered her tracks well - or at least she thought she had. In any case, the ride to NYC was the furthest she'd traveled since arriving to America and going into hiding, and it was honestly slightly nerve-racking. The Romanian Mob didn't hold much power in The States, but it only took one man to pull a trigger. She had to admit though that what little she'd seen of the Americas so far was pretty impressive - not the least of the reasons being that there seemed to be quite a bit more wealthy establishments than back home.

But that would come later. For now she found herself slowing to a stop in front of a two-story building with a large, triangular digital sign that read [i]"Cheng's Paint"[/i]. Nadia raised a hand to her mouth and plucked the short remnant of a cigarette from her lips before she flicked it onto the sidewalk and ground it out with a heavy leather boot. The shopfront was [i]mostly[/i] opaque, the windows slathered in paint merchandise of both Chinese and American make, with only a couple gaps available to see inside. At the center of the shopfront though were a set of glass double doors devoid of most obstruction, allowing Nadia to see inside easily as she pushed one of them open and stepped inside.

The shop didn't seem particularly popular, though not void of activity either. It appeared well-stocked, though some shelves were more sparse than others. It did look a bit raggedy at first glance, but those interested in art or painting could tell the products weren't knock offs or low-quality. [i]For the most part[/i].

Nadia paused as the door closed behind her, her eyes shifting to the man standing behind the counter on the back left side of the room, which was no larger than a small gas station. The man was a bit short, around 5'8" or so, and his black hair was balding. His slightly wrinkled hands absent-mindedly tapped the magazine he was looking down at as he stood behind the counter, but eventually his eyes drifted up slowly to the new entrant.

[indent][quote]
[i]-Mr. Cheng, the shop runner, is an associate of mine. He's in the know about our business ventures, but we need spare him the details.[/i]
[/quote][/indent]
Came the voice of The Senior from the recorder, oddly well timed for her entrance into the shop.

[indent][quote]
[i]The back room is where you'll head. There's a panel at the back of the freezer - leads to a basement.[/i]
[/quote][/indent]
Nadia wasted no time in following the instructions, walking towards the door at the back of the room situated almost behind Cheng's counter. The man, of obvious Asian decent, spoke something under his breath as he nodded to her. She couldn't quite catch what it was but it sounded like Mandarin.

[indent][quote]
[i]Also - Mr. Cheng's English isn't the best, so unless one of you plans on learning Mandarin any time soon, I'll translate.[/i]
[/quote][/indent]
The door closed behind her as Senior finished, and she found herself in a room overflowing almost with paint products. Boxes on boxes of backup merchandise. She stepped around a few cans sprawled across the floor, punting some to the side as she stepped to the freezer and opened it up. It was mostly empty aside from a few large boxes.

She listened to the instructions on the tape, removing a panel from the back of the wall and punching in a few numbers on the revealed keypad which, similar to the tape recorder, seemed oddly archaic. Despite that though it seemed to work fine as a portion of the wall shifted to the side, letting in a short wave of warm air and revealing a downward-leading staircase. It was a short walk to the bottom where Nadia placed her hand on a more modern print-scanner, which granted her access to...

[color=c1cdcd]"Damn.."[/color]

..their base of operations. It was a basement filled to the brim with equipment. Computers of many, many varying sizes - some larger than Nadia even knew existed - cables running across the floor, the ceiling, the walls, monitors all over the place. Just the first room looked hard at work even as unmanned as it was. She'd been around quite a few techies and their own base of operations - but even if she wasn't a techie this gear looked impressive.

[indent][quote]
[i]Welcome home.[/i]
[/quote][/indent]
Nadia shifted the hefty duffel bag from her shoulder and let it drop to the floor as her eyes scanned the place. This guy really meant business.

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It wasn't long before Nadia found herself reclining in one of the lair's comfy armchairs, waiting for the rest of the crew to show up. It'd been a bit of a hot minute since she last went on a job, and apparently he had something laid out for the lot of them. A warm-up of sorts, he said.
Hopefully this 'crew' was reliable. She herself'd been put in danger enough times by the incompetence of others to not bet money on it - but The Senior didn't seem like the type of guy to make easy mistakes.. so far. They'd see.