The Found Arcana - Chapter 13 [IC], Urban Exploration - 13 is the luckiest number... Options

[Jack_Spade]

<<Tuesday Morning - 08:30 - June 20, 2079 - SIS, Redmond>>

Tamarind's greatest fear finally had manifested: Three weeks had gone by and no new business had appeared - none - nada - zilch. Not even the usual cheatees and neighborhood lawsuits that usually kept the team running had found their way to SIS HQ.

Bobby had gone off for the fourth time in half a year to improve his astral form or whatever he called it. This time he hadn't taken anything with him not even an emergency commlink. Only a small vial of blood in the freezer with a note to Rachel: For emergency contact only!
His intended target was looking once again for Bonita, picking up the trail from three months ago. Not much of a chance, but potentially a payday - or an unmarked grave.


Boredom and a touch of anxiety were palpable in the office. With Bobby gone, it was Rachel's turn to (wo)man the front desk.

The ringing of the doorbell automatically opened a camera feed on the holo display. There stood a young, Hispanic looking woman with long black hair, wound in a complicated braid, wearing a kind of jumpsuit or motorbike protection gear. Rachel's trained eye immediately identified it as a cheap knockoff of an Urban Explorer body armor, pink and mint green, missing only the helmet that likely wouldn't fit over the braid.

The girl had an obvious datajack on the side of her skull and sported a very decorative tattoo along her jawline - looking at first glance like a very fine lined line of roses, but in the magnification revealed itself to be a collection of tiny skulls.

Her posture revealed urgency and fear. She looked over her shoulder, revealing a large XIII tattoo across the back of her neck, and ringed the bell once again, even though not more than a few seconds had passed since her first ring.

The second ring send an immediate alert to the rest of the team's commlinks, showing them the same feed.

[Thanee]

Rachel was about to get up from her chair, when the second ring of the bell makes her jump up. There is a sense of urgency in the air.

"Yes, I am on my way!" she says, even though the woman in front of the door surely can't hear her.

A moment later, she opens said door.

"Hola! Welcome to SIS!" she says with a big smile. "How can we be of service."

Her own outfit is a bit more casual today. White jeans and tank top with black, chunky-heeled boots. Her nails are also black, hair open and flowing over her shoulders. There is a little silver pin in the left strap of her top, and she is wearing her orange sunglasses.

[Jack_Spade]

The young woman stepped inside and closed the door - almost forceful - while starting her introduction:

"You've got to help me. My boyfriend is missing - together with his whole crew. Sorry, I didn't know who else to turn to. I don't go lightly against the embargo, but Brent told me you got him back as well."

She had to take in some air after that desperate rant. Her accent was only slightly tinged away from the Seattle baseline - definitely not a native of Redmond though.

Rachel - as any with the ability - chanced a glance into the astral to see her aura. The girl was healthy, though she had some serious cyberware in her head and along her spine. The foreign tinge of cultured bioware ran along her arms and legs as well. She was nowhere near Mato's level, but probably only because her ware was a lot higher in grade. Her aura showed the same emotional turmoil that she displayed to Rachel.

Asked to slow down, tell her name and start from the beginning, the girl visibly pulled herself together with a long breath, showing that she had training to deal with stress, but apparently not enough yet.

"Alright, sorry, yes. My name is Felicitas Aglimente - stage name - you can't make it in the business as Maria Gonzales." Another deep breath. "So, you see, I just recently signed a contract with Ares Entertainment for their Combat Biker Show Urban Hunter. It's basically Urban War with a focus on bike chases. Huge market. My FP-views regularly go over three million and the TP-views on my back tripple that." There is genuine pride in that comment with the joy of someone still new in showbiz.

"Anyway, before I got signed I was part of that extreme sports club Downtown - you know, bungee jumping, free climbing, downhill racing, ghoul hunting, bike racing... that's where I met Diego - Trece to his friends. He was always big on Parkour and urban exploration. He and his friends have a totally rad channel going where they go through old buildings and tunnels, filming what they find while simsensing that whole experience to the viewers. It was his connection with Ares that landed me my break.

So now, he told me, he had found something really crazy and was preparing an expedition, that it would be his big break and my manager would stop trying to break us up after that.
But now he has vanished completely and it's been over two days and no-one has heard from him or his crew. I've been at his place and it might have been ransacked - though I can't be sure. He was never particularly tidy with his stuff. Even worse, his feed numbers are close to collapsing without new content.

You have to help me find them. Please."

[Beta]

Tamarind was in the garage, giving a little TLC to the team's vehicles, when the AR window showing the front door popped up. No doubt Rachel could handle things, but all the same with a mental flick she launched Uncle and the Aunties into the air and the four Flying Eyes zoomed through the building to the vestibule, taking up position near the ceiling above Rachel. Another quick mental call sent Stitch quickly rolling towards the kitchen to make tea (the mechanics helper drone was good at tea, but never seemed to get soykaff quite correct).

She pulled one of the Pellipers out of the van and got it up on its fans then opened the garage door enough for it to slide out and then pop about 50 meters up into the air where it could keep an eye on the area around HQ, looking to see if anyone else seemed to be paying attention to the building or were loitering unconvincingly.

Finally she banged the worst of the dirt off her coverall and hands, and walked towards the conversation while monitoring the feeds. On the way she made a list in her link of things she already wanted to know: where the boyfriend had gone, did he own a vehicle and if so was it missing, last known location, his link info, names of friends who might know more, when had she last seen him and had they argued. There would be more, but she'd found that the sooner she started the list the less likely she was to forget to ask important questions.

[Thanee]

"Alright, alright. Lady, you need to calm down a bit. Take a deep breath. In... Out... In... Out... Yeah, like that. That is good! Okay, now why don't you start at the beginning..."

As Felicitas - or Maria - explains what is going on, Rachel sends a quick text to the rest of the team (sans Bobby, since he has left without any ways to contact him, well... kind of).

<< We have a client! And I get the distinct feeling that this is very urgent... >>

While she listens and nods to her story, Rachel guides the woman to a place where she can sit down.

"Okay. Let me first say, that Maria Gonzales is a super cool name. Probably not 'exotic' enough, though, for the biz. I mean, Felicitas Aglimente, that one rolls right off the tongue. Anyways, you came to the right place. As you know, we have found some hard-to-find people before. And we will do what we can, to get Diego and his crew back."

"The others will be here soon. Can I get you something to drink? Something to calm the nerves? Tea? Something stronger? I mean, who cares that it's early in the morning, right?"

When she heads off to the kitchen area to get some drinks, Rachel also uses the moment to cast a spell on herself (Increase Charisma F6: 6 hits; no Drain; sustained with Focused Concentration).

"When you have calmed down, maybe you can think about anything else Diego has told you about that big thing he was going after? Has anything from this been streamed, already? Any rivals... or enemies you can think of that we should look into? Anything else you can tell us about that Ares connection of his? And we will definitely need to see his place, especially after what you said."

"I also noticed that you seem a little paranoid yourself. Do you think someone was following you?"

"And... ahh, I always hate to mention this... but you do know, our services are not free, right?"

[Jack_Spade]

"Thanks, but just water - or a herbal tea. They are monitoring my intake and the implants are pretty new."

Another trap of the corporate (shelf-)life: Making big money comes with severe limits to your personal freedom - unless you are making really big money.

"Yes, he did - kinda. He made a big secret about it with his last announcement on stream. Here is the link."

She flicked her wrist and a video link popped up, asking permission to be played on the rooms holo display.

The time stamp sat at the end of a two hour video titled: "The Secrets of Saeder Krupp uncovered - What's really going on in the dragon slayer workshops"

A man in his early to middle twenties was on screen - olive complexion with thick curly hair and a ridiculous attempt at a mustache, with a small collections of piercings along his ear and a data jack on his left temple. His eyes were striking though, giving him a very soulful look. The scene opened in a very dark, concrete structure. The light of the camera only caught the first four meters or so around the man's head and upper torso - obviously filmed by a small drone with limited lighting capacity.
"...So you see, that's what remains of the dragon civil war. All those recruits that went through here - gone! And all for that greedy Euro-Trash Dragon. We'll analyse the chips we found and maybe, just maybe, we'll find out what happened to the people recruited here.

Though that's for another time - our next project is a lot closer to home. Seattle history, I tell you. Gruesome history. Enough to turn the reddest samurai white. Can't tell you more right now. Premium viewers get the content first as always you others will have to wait until next week. Like and subscribe for more Urban Mystery"

The video ended with a cartoon assembly of four caricature people sporting cameras and baseball bats running through endless corridors, punching ghouls and other monsters before jumping out of a window and the building exploding in the background.

Felicitas picked up the conversation again: "If you look at the comments you can see a bunch of haters there. Some are from the Extreme Sports Club - there's Martin Marten and his solo project - he has stolen Diego's ideas before and butchered them with his quick but only surface deep reporting. You know, Diego spends most of his time researching the objects he goes into. He, Dave, Roberto and Skull know what they are doing. They always send in drones first and never go unarmed. The parkour they do on screen looks so great because they study the layout first and plan their route.
He got an offer from Evo to switch his sponsorship, but he rejected them in favor of Ares Entertainment, because of his contact there - Roy Charleston - and of course because I'm now under contract there as well."

When asked about being followed, she said:

"Yeah, after going to his apartment, I saw someone quickly walk away. Tall elf with a trenchcoat. Didn't think much about it, but then I saw him again at the club and then again when I got home, sitting on a bench.
And of course I don't want to cross the Crimson Crush. Getting on their bad side would complicate my work in the Barrens.

I've got money - and Diego and his crew too. I still have most of my signing bonus as well as the royalties from my tantra fitness feed.
How about 10k per person you find and double that for Diego. I don't want to go to his parents. They are loaded, but they hate what Diego does. If they find out he was really in danger, I don't think they would keep letting him do what he does.
But you need to find him within the next five days. The drop off will be brutal, especially if the premium subscribers don't get their content before the regular viewers."

[Tecumseh]

Mato is reasonably philosophical about the lack of business. Sure, consistent cash flow was and would be nice, but he has nerves of steel (or titanium-and-carbon-fiber alloy) when it comes to things like this.

"We'll be fine," he says if Tamarind expresses any frustrations. "Remember that 95 percent of our income comes from the big jobs. All we need is one."

Mato's bigger concern in the changing of the seasons. Today is the last day of spring; tomorrow will be the first day of summer. Summer means heat, and as a quadruple amputee Mato's thermoregulatory responses are constrained. His body compensates by increasing the sweat rate of his chest and back. He's often shirtless in the summer to help air out and cool down. He'd be self-conscious, but then there's Bobby setting the bar for both public and private nudity, so Mato thinks little of it.

When he hears that they have a visitor, he decides to pull on a long-sleeve shirt. He doesn't yet know about the client's extensive implants, so decides to cloak his metal arms. The cyberhands remain out though. He's not going to put on gloves indoors.

Mato arrives at the meeting, sees that the potential client is Latina, and hopes that his Aztlaner heritage will help set her at ease. "Un placer conocerte," he says, saying that it's a pleasure to meet her.

Mato doesn't know much about Combat Biker or Urban Brawl, but he is familiar with the local parkour scene and, to a lesser extent, urban exploration. He thinks back to what he knows about the players involved.

"Alright, so Diego is currently sponsored by Ares," Mato says. "How long has Diego had that sponsorship? Is Ares aware of his disappearance?"

<<Long list of possible suspects>> he comms to the team. <<Evo, the spurned suitor. Saeder-Krupp, the subject of Diego's investigation. I'm not going to scratch Ares off the list either. If they consider Felicitas to be the more important asset then they might be willing to sacrifice Diego if they consider him a distraction or, worse, if the relationship impairs her marketability. Then there's Martin Marten and the other haters, and elves in trench coats. Or just general misfortune, like running into more ghouls than they could handle.>>

<<But if she has so much money, why the cheap Urban Explorer knockoff? Is it to go slumming in Redmond?>>

"You mentioned the Crimson Crush," Mato says. "How would any of this put you on their bad side?"

[Jack_Spade]

Mato had actually heard and seen Diego before - about three years ago, the guy already had a big channel, focused on Parkour tricks and fitness tips. It was moderately entertaining, but for Mato's taste quite a bit amateurish. He did work with an ork though - Skull - who helped him set up his stunts and acted quite often as his booster and stepping stone for vertical acrobatics.

Felicitas smiled when Mato greeted her in Spanish, but immediately became serious again when he asked about the sponsorship:
"He has been doing this for the last two years, half a year in, he got the sponsorship when he managed to break 100k subscribers. It's not rolling-in-money money, but enough to finance his flat. The rest comes from the premium subscribers. I asked Roy if he knows where Diego is, but Roy hadn't heard anything - just that Diego is working on something extra juicy. So as long as he doesn't miss his deadline, Roy didn't want to do anything about it just yet."


When Mato asked about the Crimson Crush, Felicitas frowned: "The embargo... don't you know? There are gangers about warning people against going to you because you are supposed to work on a big thing for them. So I took my oldest gear and snuck past their post."

[Beta]

Stitch almost had the water boiling by the time their client stated a preference for herbal tea, so Tamarind passed along to her drone to make up the lemon-ginger, and a few minutes later the tracked drone rolls in with the tea.

Tamarind waits to come in just after, having paused to start reviewing their client's matrix channel. She almost doesn't go in, somehow she suspects that she's not the client's target demographic, but she makes herself go in all the same. Just in time to hear about the embargo.

<<Can I have a drone drop a pizza box packed with grenades on his head? I'm sure if we worked at it we could get some white phosphorous ones, that seems appropriately horrific to deliver a message.>>

<<Big Stank that is, not our client's boyfriend>>

In public she puts on a sympathetic smile, and offers "I can send out a drone screen to make sure the way is clear for you when you are leaving, or drive you out in my van and take you somewhere safer."

[Thanee]

"Where are my manners... Felicitas, I am Rachel. These are Mato and Tamarind. And the tall one, that will surely join us soon, is AM."

"That is a decent offer. A little below our current standard, but a good baseline."

[ Spoiler ]

Negotiation 7 hits

When there is an opportune moment, she will text the team.

<< We will have to have a word with those Crimson Crush folks. What are they thinking!? >>

[ Spoiler ]

Was going to ask about that embargo thing, since that didn't sound familiar to me. I was assuming, though, that was something from before (since it was mentioned right along with Brent).

[Jack_Spade]

Felicitas nodded:

"Yeah, I see. I can add maybe a success bonus? Like if you find him and he gets to air his episode on time, I can add another 10k - I'm sure Diego will chip in."

To Tamarinds offer she smiled: "Oh yes, that would be great. I've hit my old bike down the road in an alley."

[ Spoiler ]

Negotiation: 10d6t5 1
Yeah, you get the maximum she can afford

[Tecumseh]

A boycott! Mato thinks. We're important enough to boycott!

He gets a strange satisfaction from it, taking it as a sign that the agency is moving up in the world. After all, a man without enemies is a man without qualities.

<<Oh, it's perfectly obvious>> he tells Rachel. <<They wish to incentivize us to pursue their case, to cut off all other options and opportunities. Although I personally think it would have been more effective if they had actually told us. This is rather more passive-aggressive than I would expect of ork gangers and the associated criminal syndicate.>>

"For future reference, we can come to you if it's safer," Mato tells Felicitas. "Why, there's a lovely ice cream shop in Bellevue where we met the clients who hired us to find Brent.

"As it happens, I am familiar with the community you are describing. Diego hit my radar about three years ago. His channel was already big by that point. I even participated a bit myself, more for the physical outlet rather than the publicity.

"So, to be clear, the list of missing persons includes Diego, Dave, Roberto, and Skull, correct? Are any of the others sponsored?

"And what exactly does Ares sponsor Diego to do? Acrobatic feats and exciting explorations? Or are they underwriting the investigations as well?"

[Thanee]

<< I get that. But they could just hire us. Or do they expect us to do the work for them for free? I might not be fully up to date on this whole relationship. >>

[Jack_Spade]

Felicitas replied:

"The whole channel is sponsored - the team mentions the gear they are wearing, show of the features and discuss which cool new shows Ares Entertainment is currently streaming. The usual stuff.
Yes, all four usually go out together - especially when they do deal with ghouls. They have Ares guns and swords as well as armor.
Diego is the face and leader - as well the main researcher. Dave is the drone specialist and hacker - he has some pretty impressive custom builds including some real combat crawlers. Roberto has a bit of magic talent - he can see in the astral and knows how to deal with wards and stuff. Skull is the bodyguard for the team - he is really good with swords and guns - did spent three years in the army."

[Gilga]

Weeks of idleness have made AM a little lax.

The confrontation with her mother left her empowered — but also drained. Like a stone had been removed from her chest, only to leave a hollow ache in its place. A strange clarity, followed by a lack of motivation.

So, naturally, she spent the night buried in VR, playing Urban Brawl until nearly 4 a.m.

She’s late to the party.

“Must be an actual client if Rachel’s calling me in that voice, she wouldn't do it for a casual case.” she mutters, rubbing her face as she exits the sim.

Of course, she already knows. Trouble is lounging in the living room, pretending to be a cat and doing a very poor job of being unnoticeable.

She brushes her teeth, strips without ceremony, and throws on jeans and a loose tee. It won’t win her a fashion award, but it also won’t get her hit with a harassment complaint if there’s a minor present.

No makeup. No fixing her hair. Just mission mode.

She ignores everyone as she descends into the shared space, heading straight for the kitchen. She sets the water to boil and leans against the counter like gravity is a little too heavy this morning.

“Good morning,” she says flatly. Pure formality. There’s nothing good about waking up at 8:30 when you’ve been sim-gaming past 4.

She stifles a yawn.

“I’m AM. Short for Amy. I’m the team’s decker.”

No mention of magic. That’s Rachel’s domain for now.

“Care to give me the very short version? I got smacked down with a digital plastic chair in the Brawl. Real biofeedback and everything. Got caught off guard. Didn’t expect a chair to be a viable weapon.”

She pours her coffee, finally making eye contact with the client. She’s awake now — technically. But she’s not entirely here yet.
She still need a few sips.

[Tecumseh]

<<In fairness, Big Stank did offer to pay>> Mato replies to Rachel. <<Indeed, now that the reward has been doubled, the official offer is basically the same as Felicitas'. The primary difference is that the assignment to find Bonita was framed more as a bounty rather than a dedicated job. We'll see what Bobby finds, besides love and his inner light.>>

Mato nods along with Felicitas' explanation.

"Yes, it sounds like a competent operation. That's no surprise, since you don't last this long if you're a gonk.

"As the clock is ticking, we should get started soon. It would be helpful if you could provide us access to Diego's residence, plus any contacts who may have clues about where Diego went. Do we know where Dave, Roberto, and Skull live?"

Lived, he thinks darkly, although he tries to shake the thought out of his head.

[Jack_Spade]

Again the young woman nodded:

"Yeah, that's easy. They rent a big house together in Bellevue. Diego gave me the password to enter. I'll let you in and show you where everything is. But as I told you - four guys living together - it looks pretty chaotic. Bring me to my bike and follow me."

[Gilga]

>> Big Stank is an asshole. I told him to his face we're not looking for Bonita when he didn't lift a finger to protect us from his own syndicate. I told him that... while struggling with debt because the dude might have voted to blow our office in their little syndicate committee. You were the one getting blown up Mato, how come you are so positive about this buissness opportunity?

I leave out the part where I wish him a humiliating death as a tuna fish out of water... I picture me and Bobby smiling at the sight... but even Bobby is looking for Bonita in his own bizarre way... The Bobby I once needed to restrain from doing such things. The one that spoke about killing Nightmare to make the world a better place, even he has become tame as if he mastered the beast, I guess he had to being so powerful.

So the irony of my life is that I'll have to humiliate myself and take money I don't need from a person that nearly sniffed part of my soul and is completely indifferent to our interests.

When the client, whose name I didn't quite get speaks about going out, the thought of leaving for that apartment cheers me up. I take another, slow and pleasurable sip from my coffee, and smile for the first time because driving the Mirage is sure to wake me up.

I place the coffee with a click on the table to indicate that I want to go.

[Tecumseh]

<<I don't take it personally>> Mato tells AM. <<They weren't trying to blow me up; I was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.>>

<<That was four months ago and they haven't tried anything since then, at least not until this boycott. I was hoping that the hatchet was buried, but I guess we need to pull it back out.>>

There's a separate line of thinking that Mato doesn't articulate. His extreme cybermodifications and Essense loss create a disconnect between his body and mind. What happens to his body is like something out of a dream, or like watching something happening to someone else. The sensation is almost floaty. It's like he's the passenger and his body is the vehicle.

"Yes, that's a good idea," he tells Felicitas. "Hmm, Bellevue. Usually I would dress up to blend in, but given their profession I'm guessing their neighbors see a lot of odd characters come and go."

Maybe I can score some gear out of this, he thinks idly to himself. I wonder if Skull will have anything that fits me....

Mato won't admit it out loud, but he is torn about Ares' Globetrotter line, as that's what he was wearing when he was blown up in February. One side of him is superstitious and considers it bad luck, but the other side of his mind counters that the Globetrotter jacket probably saved his life. A compromise, perhaps. A Wild Hunt jacket instead, even though it costs more than double.

He gets his things ready to leave.

[Gilga]

I read Mato’s text and don’t respond right away.
I don’t lash out. Don’t try to convince him.

The absurdity of the whole situation paralyzes me.
I don’t even know what I could say.

He got blown up.

And yet, I’m the one still shaken, four months later.

He’s moved on completely — calm, reasonable, impossible.
And I’m here, jaw clenched, rereading his words like they’ll somehow make sense on the second, third, or tenth pass.

I stay poised.
We have a client.

But what I want is... I don’t know.
To slap him?
To kiss him?
To stab him — and then apologize?

To do something that might make him less impossible.

Or maybe I’m just green with envy —
Because he’s healing so fast, and I’m still in pieces carrying the emotional scars.

Praise Iktomi for... whatever the lesson is supposed to be.

Looking for a distraction — and realizing I’m about to be seen like I just rolled out of bed and grabbed the first clean shirt —
I cast Makeover.

The spell takes hold instantly.
My hair’s clean, styled. Fingernails: a perfect pink and white.
My cheeks are gently blushed. The dark signs under my eyes? Gone.

Outside, I’m flawless.
Odd sense of fashion, but well groomed.
Inside... just don't look inside.

[Jack_Spade]

Felicitas stood up, took a last sip from her tea and nodded towards the garage: "Alright, let's go - every second counts."
Her movements reveal the extensive reflex enhancement she must have received - as well as a pronounced twichyness.

[Tecumseh]

Mato's eye gives a funny twitch when he sees Felicitas move. He feels a certain kinship toward the cyber-enhanced. Is she an evangelist, a true believer, or someone just looking maximize her earning years? The accountant in him wonders how much Ares paid for versus what she had to chip in herself.

Mato isn't the fastest and he knows it. He's okay with it because he considers himself well-rounded in other regards. But, still, he's fast, and it's unusual for him to come across someone who is probably even faster. It intimidates him, but also makes him extremely curious. He resolves to watch Urban Hunter when this is all over.

[Beta]

Tamarind gives a mental call out to her drones <<OK gang, to the van!>> They all know what to do when given that command, right down to Stitch heading down to open doors for the others to get into their holders. The one exception is the the Pelliper-1, which she launched earlier to survey around HQ. That one she sends to start flying towards their destination, of course following approved delivery drone airspace once in Bellevue.

This job is time sensitive, we may not make it back here for a bit, better bring all that might be useful. She walks Felicitas to the garage and invites her to make herself comfortable in the van, then hurries back to the main part of the house to grab her big go-bag, the one with armour and weapons and tools and so forth. It is a heavy, awkward, duffel bag, but at least it is ready to go. And feeling like she is prepared is part of how she deals with the anxiety of a new job.

Once she is back to the van she makes sure that she has whoever from the team plans to come with her rather than in or on their own vehicles, then takes Felicitas to where she stashed her bike. She does mention "I know it was mentioned earlier, but you can arrange to meet us elsewhere, should you need to do so again."

[Tecumseh]

Mato follows Tamarind's lead and packs up a duffel bag of grey-market equipment. Most of what he needs is already in his head and cyberlimbs, but sometimes it's necessary to carry specialized equipment.

He jumps in the Econovan with Tamarind as her drone gang settles into their places.

Making idle conversation, Mato asks Felicitas, "Given your profession, do you hate driving out in the real world? Or do you just drive the same way you do at work and race up and down the freeway at 200kph?"

[Jack_Spade]

Felicitas laughed:
"If I didn't love driving in the city, I'd have the wrong job. It's not just about speed, it's predicting what happens next, knowing the terrain in detail and having the right tool ready for every situation."

The drive is a short one, before the team reaches the hiding place of the bike. Felicitas removed a tarp to reveal a genuine Ares Warfighter - Ares' answer to the BMW Blitzkrieg.
The weapon mounts aren't obvious, but for Tamarind it's obvious where the modifications have been made.

Felicitas now with the right contact data sent the address of the crew's house. To the team's surprise, the address is only about five minutes on foot from their own neighborhood. Even the security is the same as in their own gated community. Which was going to be a welcome asset in about a minute when they approached the manned gate. Felicitas had already been let through when the team arrived and was stopped by a tall Japanese looking rent-a-cop:
"Do you have an appointment with a resident here?"