[X] My Assistant

[Bastard]

Karma follows suit and walks to the car casually. The motor sputters to life, and they quietly pull away from the house at 15 mph. A few houses down, she slows down and stops in front of a house that is a little different from the rest. After a few seconds she pulls away and continues down the road, looking for other houses that in someway standout from the cookie cutter layouts, all the while keeping watch on the drone behind her.

[pbangarth]

In the car, Blue forwards the message he got from Billy to Karma. """ Looks like I could write a book about how not to make friends in low places. If the drone made my image its owners will be able to link your vehicle and you to me. Sorry. """

[Koekepan]

The drone putters along behind Karmakaze's car, never trying to catch up, never showing anything except its presence. Presumably, on the innocuous side of explanations, the car is the most interesting thing around so it's following without any follow-up action.

Then again, it is HuangBilt branded.

[Bastard]

They soon leave the area before the drone can get too close.

"""Well, that thing probably ran my plates, so I would say my place isn't going to be safe for a while."""

[Koekepan]

The drone does not follow as they leave the construction area; either it didn't care that much, or it got what it needed. Either way, as Karmakaze's little vehicle pulls further out from the valley, the two can see where the lights of the grid glow, and where in the valley things are still blacked out except for occasional flares and flickers where the barrens reach. So close, both in lawlessness, and in the slight tang of woodsmoke that the car's scrubbers can't quite cleanse.

[pbangarth]

"""Well, you can crash at mine, but you will only be able to sleep during the day. Even with major sound insulation the music from upstairs during bar hours is very loud. It's fine for me, because I'm a night owl.

""" I better have the spirit drop its Concealment on us. Wouldn't do to enter an intersection when others don't notice us. """ Blue instructs the spirit accordingly.

""" I'm ambivalent about what to do next. You were thinking of investigating HuangBilt, and my source tells me they are now torqued off at me, so maybe finding a way to neutralize that threat would be good. You got any ideas how to proceed? """

[Bastard]

"""We still got to meet my contact. Can you find the closest hotel with a full service bar? That would allow you to conceal yourself in the lobby or the bar area and watch my back while I make the meet. I prefer not to use regular places for meets while on the run, so going some place I have never gone is a plus."""

[Koekepan]

The very nearest would be right back up the hill, near the traditional haunt of the hotellier; Seatac airport.

Slightly further, in case the dynamic duo feels a little nervous about Seatac for some reason, would be the old casino areas around Fife and Tacoma.

[pbangarth]

Blue sighs. """ It looks like the nearest is Seatac, back the way we came. But I don't feel like going anywhere near where that drone saw us. Next is the casino district up by Tacoma. I'll find one that fits. Then I'll chuck this burner, as Billy and I have communicated on it, and that could be the way I am being tracked.

""" I look forward to the day I don't have to, well, burn through these things. But maybe that's the new reality. """

Once Blue finds a suitable location, he communicates the address to Karmakaze, opens the window, and throws out the burner. """ If we pass a Stuffer Shack, let me pick up a few more of those. """

[Koekepan]

The one thing of which there's no shortage is Stuffer Shacks. In fact, particularly around casinos, where people short on cash and long on hunger and other needs tend to congregate, Stuffer Shack does a roaring trade.

It's just another twenty minutes or less on the way. Karmakaze's 'link is happy to collect headlines that Blue is missing.

<<<URBAN RENEWAL CONTRACT BIDS PENDING FROM MAJORS>>>

<<<ENCLAVE INVESTMENT UP MONTH-OVER-MONTH>>>

<<<ORGANISED CRIME - DISORGANISED LIVES>>>

<<<ENCLAVE SEPARATISTS PETITION UCAS>>>

[pbangarth]

Blue picks up the best deal he can for a set of 5 units. Back in the car, he hands one to Karmakaze and sets one aside for himself. """ Let's use these two to communicate between ourselves, so your regular unit isn't compromised. I'll use the other three as one-offs when I need to talk to my contacts or others. """

Twigging to the fact that entering the Stuffer Shack sent his city spirit home, Blue calls up another one for backup.

[ Spoiler ]

Summon F2 city spirit, target 2, 5+2 =7 dice: 6 successes
Drain resistance, target 2(L), 6 dice:4 successes No Drain.

""" I've summoned a smaller spirit to help us out if we need it. For now, I'll get it to help protect us from driving mishaps."""

::: Spirit of the City and the Night, Guard us from mishaps as we travel. :::

[Bastard]

Karmakaze parks her car near the main lobby of the Red Wind Casino. From there they can walk across the lot to one of the hotels. They chose the Emerald Suites, which has a large bar and cafe area, and has a moderate 2.9 stars by local residents and travelers online.

"""I am linking Badger now. I don't know if you want to conceal yourself, or just blend in with the other bar patrons. Maybe get something to eat."""

<<< [KARMA>BADGER] Can you meet me at the Emerald Suites hotel bar? I can meet you there in 30 minutes? I'm buying. >>>

[Koekepan]

Badger answers fairly soon.

<<<30 minutes? I'll be there. Crowd noise is a kind of quiet, I guess.>>>

This is a fairly apt description of a long-standing casino that survived the turmoil of redrawing the map of North America. The expansion of gambling methods hasn't kept many of the oldies out of the mix. You can still spin a wheel and watch a ball, or you can play virtual games to throw money around.

The restaurant area is relatively friendly, but the casino security is tight. Both as a matter of law, and as a matter of business practice. Summoning spirits in here will raise all sorts of alarms.

[pbangarth]

Once the car is parked, Blue directs the city spirit to conceal the pair of them. Hopefully, that would make tracking them from the car to the bar harder. Once in the bar, of course, the city spirit would disappear.

[Koekepan]

Not all spirit powers are convenient, though the choking cloud of ill-combusted kerosene fumes that follows them to the hotel doors would surely be effective. With slightly watering eyes, Blue and Karmakaze can enter the hotel and make a left into the bar area.

[pbangarth]

Blue situates himself at the bar such as to command as much of a view of the room as possible. He wipes his watery eyes with a paper napkin and orders a beer. Something that can be nursed for a while without seeming obviously out of place. One sip, and he is reminded of the beers back home. Some Canadian traditions had not yet died out, and high-alcohol-content beer was one that held on tenaciously.

Not that Blue could hold his beer as well as so many others of his metahuman strain. 'Mind over body' pursuits had left him less fortified physically than some.

He notes where Karmakaze sets up for the meet, and then opens his perception to the astral to see what floats around in this environment.

[Bastard]

At the far end of the bar, where Karma could watch the entrance(s), she slides up to the bar. She scans the bar to get an idea of the other partrons, how much a threat they may be. When the bartender approaches, she orders a drink and sandwich, and awaits her contacts arrival.

[Koekepan]

The patrons in general are an evening casino crowd, in one sense; they're the people one would expect to buzz around, slamming back a drink or three, or trying the artisanal gyoza.

On the other hand, at this hour most of the heavyweights are draining their credsticks in the casino, so the bar is actually pretty empty. Fewer than a dozen patrons sit around. The bartender is taking time to set up for the later rush, the two waitresses are chit-chatting at the coffee station. It's a lounge are that is nearly a century out of date, and yet timeless in its way.

Eventually, Karmakaze sees Badger coming in. As always, he looks rather like a weasel, as if he'd been dangled by the tip of his nose and all the rest of him had dripped and sloped down at an angle. Still, he's a bounty hunter and a successful one at that.

He's wearing a fairly nondescript ball cap, a dull old jacket, faded jeans and boots. He could have been anything from a dock worker to a security guard to a truck driver to a repairman - all part of the deal. He's wearing wrap-around glasses, which are fairly typical in the area for those with unaugmented eyes, but his are certainly augmented.

He strolls over to Karmakaze as if he'd always intended to sit at that end of the bar and plonks down on a stool one away from her.

"""How's it going?"""

When the bartender shows up a little later he says: """Soykaf, just sugar, and crispy chicken."""

[Bastard]

It takes a while for the coffee to arrive, longer than it should with the bar as empty as it is. As her contact stirs in the artificial sweetener from individual packets delivered with his drinks, Karmakaze slides over into the seat next to him.

With a lowered voice, she gets to business, """So what is the rest of the story with "Big Jeremy", and what is this plan of yours?"""

[Koekepan]

"""Jeremy's a big man - you know how it is. And he's also a hungry one. He sees a chance, he takes it and he doesn't care who else gets hurt."""

Badger looks down at his cup and stirs thoughtfully, with the spoon making little clinking noises against the ceramic.

"""So when he hears that Big Mittenhammer's looking hard for someone, with money attached, he starts leaning on people to find out who knows something, then he sets up his boys to make a grab. Easy money. Maybe a little extra in the wallet for the catspaws too."""

Badger pauses to sip the coffee, then puts it back down and reaches for another packet.

"""Then the whole thing blows up in his face. His name is attached, to death, destruction, and the kind where he took it instead of dishing it out. People are calling for payback. Now he's not in it for money any more. He's in it for honour; for respect. You get me?"""

[pbangarth]

Blue sees little of interest in the astral, so he draws his full attention back to the material plane.

The beer is reasonable, the crowd is light and quiet. He keeps a non-chalant demeanour as he scans the room and entrances for anything potentially dangerous. And of course, there is his friend the bounty hunter talking with another one of her profession, about him.

+++ Note to self: up the range of Mindlink. +++

[Bastard]

Taking another small drink from her beer, Karma listens. +++Who the frag is Big Mittenhammer?+++

She takes another drink after Badger finishes.

"""So who killed his guys? There wasn't much destruction, and there was no death. I left his guys all alive, and even treated the worst injury while the staff called for an ambulance. Then this morning we read on the screamsheets that there were five dead in a massacre."""

[Koekepan]

"""I have no idea who gakked them. Chiptruth. But let me answer your question with a question; how much do you think he cares, or his street-level associates care who did? More than anything right now, he needs to win. It's not about saving money, it's about saving face."""

Badger pauses while the bartender slides along some crispy slices of what are probably lab-grown chicken cells, and flicks a credstick for a tip.

"""So you really shouldn't be surprised when you hear that your client is worth five figures on the public market to the Big Mittens, but is worth six on the black market to Camelia's. C.O.D."""

He takes another sip of coffee while she absorbs this information.

[Bastard]

"""So who is calling for payback on Jeremy because of this? The enemy of my enemy might be my friend."""

[Koekepan]

Badger chuckles, slowly shaking his head. He takes a strip of fried stuff and crunches it, then sips from his cup before answering.

"""You're looking at this in the wrong screen. See, a guy like mister Huang, he rose up the cliff of society by stepping on a lot of people. Some dead, some broken, some just cowed into submission. All of them left, and all of their families resent that, and all of them want a big, fat, meaty slice of Huang hoop fried just right. Sure, the families, if they know, and the friends, if they have any of his muscle are torqued off about this, but probably not at Jeremy. No, Jeremy is like troll surrounded by devil rats. While the troll is swinging a hammer, he's in charge. But let him slump to his knees and they're on him like a cloud of rage and teeth. Jeremy has to prove that he's still swinging that hammer. Now, this raises a different question, see? Does Jeremy actually have half a meganuyen just sitting around as vengeance money? Maybe. Maybe not. But even if he does, it makes other things tight, and a man like Jeremy has vices too. So if you're looking for an angle on Jeremy, not that that's a safe thing to do, I would start by asking to whom Jeremy owes money. Maybe they want to know that they'll see a return on their investments."""

Badger dials up the bar's built-in menu interface, and selects a krill-and-kelp salad. It beeps softly, and the bartender, who doubtless got the message in AR, gives Badger a thumbs-up before turning to the kitchen hatch.

Badger adds to Karmakaze, gesturing slightly with another piece of fried chicken cellular culture: """You'll see I'm not taking Huang's cash right now. I think it's suckerbait."""