Editing Getting the Band Together (section)

===Gateway and allies===

[[File:ADV-Colette.jpg|150px]][[File:ADV-Wrecker.jpg|150px]][[File:ADV-Reggy.jpg|150px]][[File:AV-Rafe-Slugger's Deck.jpg|150px]][[File:AT-Dalt2.jpg|150px]]

She pulled out a couple decks of cards, tarot cards by their size and shape, looking through them. A Trump card was more than a picture—it was a door. Hold it in your hand, focus, and the image became real. Like calling someone on the phone, except you didn’t just hear their voice—you could step into their world. She remembered her introduction to the cards with Lord David. The card grew cold in her hands, the painted image shimmering like water. Slowly, the air around her twisted, colors bleeding together until she could have stepped through—no longer in Hub of Mandalay, but in a sunlit courtyard of the Dramaturge.

Shadow was vast, infinite in its possibilities, with worlds ranging from medieval kingdoms to high-tech dystopias. Mandalay was just one of them, a central one of balance—her home, a place of green fields and shimmering towers, where wolves roamed as kin. 

She looked over her King Random's deck.  That would mean calling Dalt directly.  She looks over her Green Deck, the deck of her homeland, Mandalay.  David would help her but that's a nuclear option.  She considers the wolves of her pack.  Dwarf would come if she asked.  That's a lot of trouble but she may need someone to oversee this massive dog problem.  There are hundreds of wild dogs in the area.  Generations of wild dogs, hungry and hunting.  Capturing a dozen is just a start.  Dwarf, and the triplets could herd them easily.

"Maybe later...."  Putting away her Green deck and her King Random's deck.

She thinks carefully.  Dalt is a nuclear option.  David is a nuclear option.  Dwarf is a blitzkrieg on his own and if he brings the triplets the humans of this world are likely to freak out at the sudden organization of the dog packs in this part of the state.

Raphael, she thinks..He would probably come himself if it sounded adventurous but then this would be his show and not hers.  She doesn't need the whole guild.  But maybe just a couple.  Yes, Wrecker and Reggy.  Tough, dangerous, creative, and probably willing to listen to me. Doc Len would be too noticeable.  Colette though would fit in perfectly.  Call Rafe and ask.

She concentrates on her magical inscription for the realm of Pocai and opening a contact with Raphael.

"Who?" comes the response to her call. "Gadget," she answers.
 
The voice at the other side of the mystical barrier seems surprised, "Hey, Gadget! Great to hear from you. Didn't know you had a Trump for me. So where've you been? Whacha up to?"
 
She responds. "I don't have a trump, Rafe.  I have an imprint of Pocai.    I am.... I have a situation.   I have someone who is hurt.  I'm in a world that I can't use magic openly.  I need a doctor and maybe some muscle.  I was hoping I could borrow Colette and Wrecker and Reggy.  The time ratio is about the same as Ang Ri.  I need them for about a month."
 
"Yeah Gadget, no problem. Whatever you need. You know you just have to ask. Give me a sec, they're actually right here with me."  Rafe turns to his companions at the Ludus on the world of Ang Ri. "Colette, Wrecker, Reggy; Gadget needs your help, now. Colette; someone's hurt, get what you need. Wrecker, Reggy; you're the muscle. She said she can't use magic openly, so I suggest human forms for the both of you."

He focuses back on Gadget. "Can you transport with this Pocai connection? Or do I need to bring them to you?"
 
"I'm in the King Random Trump Deck and on I'm in an earth world"
 
Rafe says, "Right. Hang on a sec."

He looks over to Dalt. "Dalt, can I borrow Gadget's Trump from your KRD? I'll give it right back."

He was looking over at the trio as they prepare. "She says it's an earthworld, dress and equip accordingly."
 
Dalt asks, "Can you use Amber trumps?"
 
"I'm pretty sure I can...? If not, could you contact her and pass these three through? Please and thanks."

He nods, "Ah... Sure...I suppose"
 
"Thank you, Dalt. It's appreciated."

"Is there anything else you need, Gadget? How serious is the situation?"
 
"Its a complicated and musical.  We all have our favorites.   Shadow is filled with them...I'm here to rescue one set of them...and bring them to the Dramaturge eventually."

"Wooow... sounds like a great adventure. Hope it turns out well. I look forward to hearing the tale one day. Safe Travels, my Friend. Adventure Abounds. You ready for your support team?"

He looks over to Dalt and the trio to see if they are ready.

Wrecker says, "Were we traded to Cleveland?"  As he's putting on his earth boots.
 
Rafe chuckles. "Don't think so. Probably just temporary....? But time will tell."
 
He gives Wrecker a few moments to wonder, then I chuckle and say, "She said she's only going to need you for about a month."

Wreck says, "It'll be a let down after the Buffet at the Hall of Water..."  He steps through,

"Everything's going to be a let down after that buffet" Rafe says as the portal closes.

Stepping through the portal the three look around.

Colette says, "We are not really dressed for it here."

Gadget says, "It's morning.  There is a Walmart about four blocks from here. Here's about a thousand dollars.  Get clothes.  Doc, come back here, knock on that blue pipe and I'll come to get you.  They need stuff. Get some blankets, 6 sleeping bags.  Cheap folding chairs.  Medical supplies.  Food-Bread, peanut butter, jam.   lunch meat for today.  Fruit.  An ice chest. A bag of cat kibble.   These people have been living like wild animals.  When they ask we'll tell them you're a friend from home. Leave where vague.  I don't know if they'll believe me but they will be grateful for the supplies.  "

She says, "Runaways?  I know the streets.  Was on them myself in Chicago as a kid.  The charity angle won't work.  Tell them I'm a family friend.  I brought this stuff because you called and asked for help.  I'll talk shit about your "Parents."  I'll leave off giving you some money.  If there is any change."

She nod and pulls out another thousand.  Then decides to give Wrecker and Reggy each a thousand dollars of the money from Wart's stash.  
 
"Wrecker, Reggy, there is a heavy crime problem here.  Take a few days looking the place over and get a sense of things.  I have a police contact that can help.  When you have a sense of things let me know and we'll decide how to handle it."
	 
She sighs,"sorry....It's good to see you all."  she exchanges hugs.  Then the three head off to Walmart and she goes back into the squat.



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====Call a Friend====
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Gadget sits in the squat for a bit, treating Cali.  The blankets under her are threadbare and dirty.  
"I called a friend for some help.  She's a doctor.  She doesn't hate my parents as much as I do but its close. "

"You gave her where we are? " Jax asks, looking wildly.

"I told her to hit the pipe.  Leave her car a ways away.  Bring some supplies "

Eddie says, with a look of fear in his eyes, "Gadget.... You really shouldn't do stuff like that without asking us.  We vote as a group."

Tiffy holds the cat close.  "You say she's a doctor?  Can she help Cali?"

"That's why I called her. She treated me after one of my father's parties.  She was kind to me.  After that she was there when i needed her."    

A couple hours later the silence was broken by the banging on the pipe.  Holden stood and looked to Eddie who nodded.  He follows Gadget out to the pipe.  

Colette was there with three shopping carts filled with supplies.  Gadget caught the sense of Wrecker and Reggy a ways away. She hugged Colette.  

"Holden, this is Colette.  Lets get off the street."  They push the carts into the corridors and turn through the labyrinth.  Holden says, "What is all this..  There's food in here."  He looks  at the basket in front of him with naked longing.   

Getting to the tight squat Gadget starts unloading the carts as Colette kneels over Cali.  

"Guys, this is Colette, a friend of mine.  She's a doctor.  She treated me years ago for....family stuff.  We've been friends ever since.  "

"Hiya, glad to see Gladys has made friends.  "  Gadget growls, "Gadget!!"  Colette nods.  Eddie looks at Gadget and silently mouths "Gladys?"  

Eddie then came over to look over the carts.  "Whats all this?"

Colette looks over the devices she set out next to Cali. "Gadget, told me you guys were living tight.  This won't won't solve everything but it can't hurt. I figured i owe her this.  Gadget, get me a couple of those chicken broths.  Bring some of the chicken chunks.  Get a pot on that burner going.  Theres a pot in there someplace.  Heat the broth.  There is a cot on there too.  Set it up there.  Get a sleeping bag open.  "

"You, m'lady," looking to Tiffy, "ah, come here.  We have to undress her and clean her.  She has no broken bones. But there are cuts.. and.. she's been doped up. "

Holden and Eddie set up the cot and spread a sleeping bag out open, laying a towel down in the bag.  Colette directs them to put Cali in the cot. 

After a few minutes Colette stands, "Ok, I need the room.   Gadget, why don't you sort out the stuff i brought."

The guys and Gadget go and look over the supplies.  While they are concerned about Cali the sudden riches give them all wide eyes.  Gadget takes a loaf of bread, slathers mayonnaise and mustard on them, with meat and cheese, slipping each sandwich into a zip-lock bag.  Despite their hunger Holden and Eddie help while Jax stands by the makeshift curtain for Colette and Cali.  

Eddie asks, "No ketchup? "  Gadget chuckles. "Colette knows i hate ketchup!"

Colette looks out at Jax as he hovers, "You are?"  He says, "Jax.  How is she?"  "She's asking for you.  You can help me. "

She looks to Gadget and whispers mentally to her, ''She has a lot of bruises.  Signs of repeated rapes.  A lot of scratches and cuts.  Can you get them to play some while I use the Total Warrior Medical stuff? "

Gadget, Eddie and Holden fix 20 sandwiches and tuck them into the ice chest.  They set up chairs and sit, and Tiffy, Eddie, Holden and Gadget sit after Gadget slips a sandwich to Jax.  They eat in silence.  

Gadget gets her guitar out and starts strumming.  After a few moments Eddie and Holden pick up theirs.    Tiffy picks up her violin and leans it against her chair as the cat resettles in her lap.   She open the bag of cat food and bring a handful of kibble for the cat to eat.

Behind the curtain Cali is cleaned, and settled in the sleeping bag.  Colette gives her a injection from a Total Warrior device with a broad-range antibiotic as well as pain medication.  Secretly she casts her '''High Order''' Healing Spell, and the Clean ''cantrips''.  Jax brings over broth and spoon feeds her.  Colette tells him to cover her up when she was done and to eat his sandwich.  He smiles at her gratefully.  She then leaves to join the others.

She opens a chair and sits, listening to the jam session.

Eddie finally ask, "How is she?"

Colette says," She'll heal.  She mostly had bruises and a few cuts.  Its pretty clear she was beaten with a belt, but probably as part of the rapes.  She was starved for several days to be sure.  Dehydrated. The physical stuff will heal.  She will sleep now.   I gave her a dose to sleep.  She will have psychological damage to be sure.  That will take a long time to get over and she'll need help.  Did you call the police?"

Eddie lowers his head.  Holden says " Wouldn't do any good.  They always get away with shit.  Police connections."

Gadget signals to Colette to change the topic by using the hand sign language.  "How long can you stay, Colette?"

"I'll leave in a few days.  I want to watch her."

====Finding their Sound====
Several days passed as the band remained in hiding. The band spent the time playing music, getting to know each other's playing rather then the singular sounds the busking they had been doing taught them. They ate well, finishing off what Colette had brought.  She stepped out to make another food run on her last day before she left. 

Cali sat beside Jax, silently, her hurts mended as best as medications can but the memories went deeper.  Those scars may never heal.  

During that week the group played for each other as they never had before.  They shared the squat but had never shared their music.  Now they did.  The hallways echoed as they developed rhythms, harmonies, and solos.  Sang all the songs they knew and shared the ones they wrote.  Gadget sat back a lot, playing her bass guitar and lamenting that the only thing she missed from home was her piano.  She let Eddie take the lead on guitar.  Holden played rhythm.  Tiffy was a Virtuoso on the violin, weaving her sound among the others, playing counter-point and playing solos.  Gadget nearly cried.

Gadget would go out at night alone. She met with groups of dogs that had heard about her and she bound them to her, as her father and mother had taught her.  Her skill at the bonding grew quickly. 

The streets were eerily quiet, the distant hum of a generator the only sound as she walked through the deserted industrial areas near the Station. Gadget’s boots scraped against cracked pavement, her mind drifting to Mandalay. In her world shadows whispered secrets; here they only swallowed sound. She tightened her grip on the Trump card in her pocket. No magic here to guide her—only instinct.

Jax was pretty good on the bongos.  He told them about the music store at home that let him play their drums.  The school he and Cali had gone to had shut their music departments.  Eddie talked about the private school he and Tiffy had attended. It was wonderful to them but their homes were hells.  

The group opened up to each other, sharing their lives. Something they had never done before.  

Gadget told a tale that paled to the others but her's was fiction.  They were not ready to learn her truth.  Mandalay, Fleece, Snack, the Dramaturge, her pack-the Hounds of Mandalay, Rapheal, Ang Ri, Fort Garland. 

After four days Cali was walking, Jax supporting her arm. She carried her bass guitar but didn't played it.  The closest she came was quietly tapping out the beats Jax played.  

Jax told a story, "This one time, we played for an audience of zero. Just me and my drums, Cali and her bass in some crummy bar in Wisconsin. Felt like a rehearsal—until the bartender started crying."

Gadget smiling faintly, "Why cry over a song?"

Jax, "Said it reminded him of his son. Music's like that—it hits people in ways you don't expect."

Gadget stared into the camp stove flames, silent. Music and magic weren't so different. Both were bridges.

Gadget reveled in the experience. Eddie Black and the Stone Bench Group, here, before the fame, before the glory.  And in this shadow Cali lived and didn't become the inspiration for Jax's sad ballads and his descent into alcoholism and self-destruction as happened in so many shadows.  She knew shadow was vast, and there were places this group never suffered their tragedies.  Those shadows sometimes had weaker groups, without the passion.  Bands that played at State Fairs not the Coliseum or Madison Square Gardens.  It was a gentle process, but Gadget coaxed them into sharing their tragedies and building on them. After all, they all had horrors in their pasts.  Things that brought them together.  

She knew one day she would leave them.  Leave them to their glory.  But till then she became a member of the Stone Bench Group.  She wished she could stay.

Eventually the claustrophobia began to grow on them and a time came when they returned to the plaza and reclaimed their stone bench.  This time when they took turns leading, singing, solos, the rest of the band played to back them up.

Now the strollers stopped more often.  They bought pizza and ate while listening.  Some started taking their regular lunch breaks from offices and businesses near by to come and listen.  They might even be the seeds of the fandom that would one day follow them online as well as from city to city.

After a week on the plaza Waldo showed up.  He was apologetic but Cali couldn't stand the sight of him.  She admitted that Waldo had never touched her but he had been part of Wart's group.  He was a shadow of his former swaggering self.  Gadget knew Wrecker and Reggy had taken to correcting his attitude.  She wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not. In time Waldo started helping carry things and set thing us.  Pignoses, a few cables.  A mic-stand. Gadget's eyes nearly popped one day when Waldo brought chalk and drew a half-circle around the front for whoever was doing their lead.  The famous singing circle. The cover of their epic first album before her eyes. 

Somewhere in there he and Cali made peace but Gadget knew that in most the shadows Cali was known to hate the chief roadie.  She guessed in this shadow that would be Waldo.  She never saw Holden exchange more then a few words at a time to Waldo and he always managed his own amp.

Eddie started to develop the stage presence that would make him famous.  Tiffy on her rock and roll violin matched his every note making his voice sound musical. His fingers danced on the strings, while she held the back line steady and soulful. Gadget closed her eyes as the melody washed over her. Each note was a heartbeat, a reminder of what they were fighting for—a world where music didn’t fade into static, where hope lingered in the chords.  She could see Cali's fingers matching her own.  It wouldn't be long till the two of them developed the dual bass sound the group would be famous for.  Then Gadget would be replacing stray bassists the band would pick up for a gig or two at a time.  Maybe, just maybe, she could stay.

--------
A few days into their second month Gadget saw Wrecker and Reggy stroll through the plaza.  They listened and threw a wad of bills in the guitar case.

Gadget slipped away and met them behind Little Caesar's.

Wreck lit a cigar as she approached, half offering it to Gadget, who declined.  "What's up?"

Wrecker, the brains of the two, said," We have a target.  Your contact helped sort it it.  ''The Blind Reapers''.  A motorcycle gang.  They have deep pockets and deep protection. They have a bunch of cops on the payroll."

Reggy says, "Hey!  That doesn't make them bad cops, just realists.  "

Wrecker looked at him incredulously, "Really, Officer Clifton?" Reggy Shrugs.

Wrecker continues, "They are middlemen for sure.  They get good product from the people down at the port.  They stomp on the stuff at their clubhouse out in Daniville.  We've looked the place over.  10 targets at least including two high value targets.  From what we have learned drug running is top but they run guns and girls. Slave trade. The gang leaders are Black Carl Smalter and Dale Genkin. They have contacts all over the place. Permission to scrub them."

Gadget asks, "What did Lisha say?"

Wrecker tells her, "They are unofficially untouchable by the cops."

She nods.  "Conditionally, permission granted.  We need to know more about them. Talk to them first.  See if we can flip them. "  She turns and returns to the band.

Wrecker nods,"Infiltration it is."

The pair leaves and Gadget goes back by way of Little Caeser's for a few $5 dollar pizzas.