As I get out of the cab, it immediately strikes me that I'm not in Kansas anymore. Figuratively, that is. I've never been to Kansas. Anyway, this isn't what I'm used to, is what I'm getting at. Running the shadows of a single city for so long does mean you get into a certain routine, and when that routine gets fucked up, you notice. Of course, it's not like I'm in much of a position to choose here. My last run back home went pear-shaped to such a severe degree that it necessitated my entire team and I split up and go our own ways to try and get the corp and cop heat off of us, and I really do not want to go into details. It was an ugly story. Suffice it to say I needed to get out, and I was not in a great position to be picky about where to get cash from.
Thankfully, I got contacted by a Johnson looking specifically for an outsider to take part in a run in ${City}. Not sure why he was looking for an outsider, but like I said, can't be picky, and that is why I'm now standing on the sidewalk of a poor section of ${City}, looking for a bar, because that is where I'm supposed to meet the leader of the team I'm going to be working with. I was not given any details on the run at all, not on who the run is against, what the target is, anything. It's pretty clear he was looking for someone desperate, and boy, I guess he found exactly who he was looking for in me.
After a few moments of reorientation, I do spot the bar I'm supposed to be going to and make my way over there. Stepping inside, I am once again struck with this sensation of "I don't belong here", and to be honest, it is at this moment that I realize I might've been way too comfortable at my usual haunt, to the point of it possibly being a dependency. Perhaps this enforced change of scenery will be good for me. For a few seconds, I consider ordering something to drink, but remember I have no idea what the good stuff is here. Perhaps best to meet up with the runner I'm supposed to meet first before possibly making a bad first impression. Remembering the description I was given by the Johnson, I scan the bar, and before long, I think I found what I'm looking for. There, alone in a corner at a side table, sits