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

[Tecumseh]

"Wiz," Mato says, if the description is relayed to him, perhaps with a touch of curiosity and a dash of envy. "Time to make some new friends."

Mato hasn't put on the Wild Hunt yet, knowing it would look out of place in the city.

"I'll go say 'hoi' then," he announces as he pulls on his armor jacket. Before stepping out, he makes sure that all of his cyber's wireless functionality is disabled: eyes, ears, and nose, certainly, but also things like his hydraulic jacks and everything thing else in his cyberlimbs too. He leaves behind his firearms but fills his pockets with throwing knives and shuriken.

"Let's go dark," he says, switching his commlink off. "Tam, maybe put the family to bed. Sing them to sleep so they don't wake up with nightmares.

"If you need to peel out, just punch it. I'll catch up. If it all goes to drek, pick me up at The Big Rhino."

Mato double-checks that he's not transmitting anything, even a SIN. That's a no-no Downtown, but fairly low on the list of no-nos that may be publicly committed within the next five minutes.

Popping out, Mato leans on the van casually, using it as cover as he gets a good angle on the direction of the motorcycles' approach. His vision magnification still works even without wireless connectivity, so he zooms in and tries to get a good look before the new chummers arrive.

[Thanee]

"Right."

Rachel also disables all her wireless connections, which isn't a whole lot to begin with.

[Jack_Spade]

The three riders didn't show any trace of magic, but they certainly showed surprise when they saw Mato standing there.
Slowing their bikes, They came to a standstill next to the billboard. Suddenly, the eyes of the one in the lead narrowed. Mato could follow his gaze easily - he had discovered the thin fibre optic cable that led to the van.

All three suddenly looked much more alert - Mato could now see that each of them was a healthy looking human man in their twenties. They all wore biker leathers with open helmets on identical offroad machines. Each of them carried a baton in a holster as well as a heavy pistol. One could have mistaken them for corpo-guards, yet they lacked any identifying markers - at least to an AR-blind vision.

The one in front spoke:

"Who are you?" HIs voice was flat and monotone, revealing nothing about his feelings. No hostility but certainly no friendliness either.

[Gilga]

AM is aware of the disruption. The pressure rises — the quiet before the plunge — but she still takes a few precious moments to finish the upload and retrieve the cable.

"No gunshots yet." she mutters dryly, glancing at Tamarind, then at the biker. She checks if everyone’s buckled up — especially herself. If Tamarind decides to ram or retreat, she wants to stay in one piece.

It’s strange for her not to be the one driving. Unsettling, almost. But Tamarind is a great driver — even if AM hasn’t witnessed it firsthand. And she accepts Mato's verdict to go matrix-dark, even if she doesn’t fully agree.

Meanwhile, Trouble doesn’t wait for permission or protocol.

"Aura is strange," they announce — not aloud, but manifesting just enough to impress the message directly into the team’s minds. "Almost like spirit possession… but technological. You might not want to share food with these guys."

AM tightens her focus, casting her counterspelling field. The protective magic spreads outward, threading through her teammates. No need for flash. Just strength. Just readiness.

Then Mato decides to approach the biker — unarmed.

AM unbuckles and trails behind him, her heart pounding. Fear, or excitement. Maybe both. It’s strange to feel protective over someone like Mato — someone built like a walking tank — but since the explosion, that feeling’s been there. And right now, it’s louder than the common sense whispering that they should run.

So she follows, ready to intervene. Still too overwhelmed to speak without grounding herself first. So Mato is likely to be the one starting the chat.

Trouble, meanwhile, has made themselves comfortable near Tamarind. They perch on the dashboard for a good visage point, relaxed as if this whole drama does not concern them, claws flexing, eyes glittering. And if cats could anatomically smile, they would have. Trouble can feel the tension like a thread pulled taut, and they like every moment of it.

[Thanee]

When she gets a chance, Rachel will also take a closer look at their auras. Apparantly, there is something curious to see. She stays in the car for now, only peeking outside through a small slit, just wide enough so she can use her astral senses.

[ Spoiler ]

Assensing 7 hits

[Jack_Spade]

Rachel saw the same as Trouble and was able to confirm: Nanites saturated the auras of the three men, most likely CFD victims turned into Monads

[Tecumseh]

"Security," Mato says simply.

Ah, I should have had AM or Rachel give me a uniform, he thinks belatedly.

"Facilities Management detected an issue and deployed a maintenance team to investigate."

It's a bulldrek story and Mato doesn't really care if they believe it or not.

"And who are you?" he replies. "Triplets, biker leathers, no uniform, packing heavy pistols, riding offroad bikes Downtown. It seems to me you're out of place. What are you doing here? "

[Jack_Spade]

To Mato's words the three stared at him wordlessly for a second. Then the leader replied:
"You are not showing any authorization badges. You are required to turn on your AR here. Your voice pattern shows contempt and dishonesty.
You are lying.
Answer our question truthfully or we will use force."

Synchronous, they all pulled their shock batons from their holsters.

[Gilga]

Watching the bikers reach for their batons makes AM step up and close the final steps to Mato, her voice steady but unmistakably pointed.

“Why the violence?” she asks, just loud enough to make them listen. “He’s not lying. Not the whole truth, sure—but you don’t exactly create a space for honesty, do you? So how about it—are you going to tell us what this is really about? or are we lining up to compare dicks?” she says eying the batons with a half smirk.

She lets the silence hang for half a beat before continuing: “As for honesty, we went dark because you spooked us. Not the guns. Not the bikes. You. Now its your turn to say something real.”

[Thanee]

Since the situation seems to be non-violent for now, Rachel quickly dresses in some illusionary clothes (pretty much what her Executive Suite looks like, that she left in Bellevue), as she only brought her gym clothes, expecting to buy a more suitable outfit at the Mall. In hindsight, she probably could have brought some more clothes, they do have a car after all, but she didn't expect to need it.

[ Spoiler ]

Physical Mask F8 9 (8) hits (No Drain); sustained with Illusionist (Physical)

Stepping out of their car, she does not move to Mato's and AM's side, but stays near the vehicle, to have some cover to duck behind, if it should be needed.

"We are not Knight-Errant. We are private security. You hacked the traffic controls and you expect us to keep our gear online? Come on! That's security protocol 101. And you are not exactly an authority out here. That being said, we are both looking for something. Maybe we are not even on opposing sides here? How about we, you know, talk this through, and figure this out. We share some information with you, you share some information with us. And then we find a compromise that works for everyone. How does that sound?"

[Tecumseh]

"Ah, you're wasting your breath," Mato says to nobody in paricular. "See the synchronization? They're not in charge of their thoughts, let alone their bodies."

To the goons he says directly, "I'm here because I was hired to be. You're here because some puppet master is pulling your strings. Who is it? I'll talk to them."

[Jack_Spade]

Another second went by, before the leader said:

"Positive match for Miguel Ángel Torres, Rachel Moore, 87% match for Amy Maka Green, members of Seattle Investigation Services.

You are receiving a warning: Desist from intervening in our affairs. You are accessing data not intended for you."

Synchronous, they put their weapons away again.

"There is no room for compromise. Should you continue, we will unearth compromat on you individually and as an organization. Already our crawlers have found traces of major irregularities.

Desist - this is your only warning."

At this moment, the billboard went dark, losing it's presence in the matrix completely.

[Thanee]

"Yeah, fuck that! You are the ones out here breaking one law after the other. You must also be the ones that broke into the apartment in Bellevue. Put up all that surveillance gear that collected the data. This data right here. It was illegaly obtained and therefore does not belong to you at all. You might be able to erase your presence from the Matrix, but you won't be able to do that from our cameras, that are recording everything right now. Your presence is known. No more hiding. How long do you think it will take until a corporation will come into your little den and mess everything up, once they learn about you? Is that really what you want?"

[Beta]

At Mato's warning, Tamarind stayed calm and just took a few precautions. She ordered all of her drones and gear to go wireless off, unspooled the cable from her data jack and plugged into the van directly, and then told the van to go wireless off. She stays in AR, however. Then she turns on her burner link, which broadcasts one of her burner IDs, Jennifer Wolf, but is otherwise blank.

The implied threat to her drones puts her in a state of steely focus, ready to commit whatever violence might be necessary. But for now she resists the urgency of her heightened reflexes and other than readying her SMG she sits very still, waiting to see how the talking part goes.

[Jack_Spade]

Another second passed before the answer came: "You are offline. Your threat is meaningless. Any action against us will trigger full retaliation. You have been warned."

Once again, the three began moving at the exact same moment, heading back to their bikes, getting on them and driving away once traffic permitted.

[Thanee]

"Well, looks like talking is not going to get us very far here..." Rachel comments as she gets back into the car.

Still astrally perceiving, Rachel says to Trouble. "Hey Trouble, can you tell AM, that it might be a good idea for you to follow them? Just an idea. But if you do, be very, very careful and keep your distance. Just to figure out where they are headed."

[Beta]

Once the bikers had departed, Tamarind re-booted the van, closed off her burner link, then gradually brought the essentials back online (leaving her drones powered down for the moment). Then she did a careful check of everything and everyone for marks, in case the Synchronized People circled back to leave marks.

Once all that was done, she thought to ask AM "Before they arrived, did you have time to download the observation data?"

Once that was confirmed she brings up the next topic "Do we continue to the pyramid now? If we do, should I make efforts to try and lose ourselves in traffic and confuse any camera based tailing they are doing? Or do we just go quickly? I will note that this van doesn't have any illegal, but useful, features like a license spoofer, modifiable plates, nor color changing, but it is pretty generic and there are tricks that one can use -- it is just that it is all pointless if they simply trace our IDs through the matrix."

Then she twitches and adds "Or I could send the van on a drive around, with my burner ID left inside, and we bail out somewhere without easy camera access, and hope that they are lazy enough to just focus on the van, especially if everyone runs backup IDs."

[Thanee]

"We would also have to look different, since there will be cameras along the way. Plenty of them. But we should be able to do that."

[Gilga]

Trouble meows once in response to Raven’s request, then drops to the floor and vanishes into thin air—slipping into the shadows to trail the bikers from a safe distance.

AM turns to face them, voice composed but coolly direct.
“Make it a full match, and call me AM if you need me.” She pauses just long enough to let it land, then continues:
“May I ask who we’re speaking to—and what exactly you’d prefer we not interfere in? You’re assuming a lot about how much we understand your interests. We’re not here to get in your way. And I’m not sure this is a zero-sum game.”

Meanwhile, she pings Tamarind with a quick update:
>> Got everything. Software kind of flopped—considering how fast they clocked us. Whatever this drop was, it mattered.

[Jack_Spade]

AM's questions remained unanswered, as the three drove away - apparently under the impression that their orders had been clear enough.

Trouble had no problem following them from the astral as they steadily drove north east, heading towards the northern bridge over Lake Washington towards Bellevue.

[Gilga]

When Trouble reports AM seems a bit surprised "Trouble, says they are heading toward Bellevue out of all places..." she says. Not entirely sure if this is some powerplay or these creeps are actually based so close to home.

[Thanee]

"Might be headed for the apartment, or our place even," Rachel ponders. "We will probably know soon."

[Tecumseh]

"Damnit," Mato mutters to himself. "I was hoping to have someone to interrogate. I was thinking they would be rational actors, not puppets."

He supposes that it's a good thing that he didn't get into a fistfight in Downtown Seattle, but he had gotten his hopes up a bit.

Mato returns to the van.

"They could be going back to Diego's place. But if they were the ones who were there earlier, what kept them out of the basement? They wouldn't have had any issues with the maglocks. I wouldn't think that an astral barrier would stop them."

[Thanee]

"If it is as you say, they are being controlled, that requires an active connection to the Matrix. Would a Jammer be useful? Do we even have one? Just thinking out loud here, I have no clue about how that stuff works."

[Gilga]

"A cyberdeck can also be a very expensive jammer in a pinch but I can't just leave it on like that. "