09:27:13 Tuesday, 11 February 2070 - Flat D, 14th floor of Alpha House, 27 Nathan Road

*** BOOOM ***

A thunderclap and small arcs of lightning shoot out of every metallic and powered item in the room and gathers itself into a 23 cm wide, 2.5 meter tall cylinder of sparkling self contained van de graaf generator effects. It ripples and speaks.

"KSj(Sdjsahkl!"

09:26:50 Tuesday, 11 February 2070 - Flat D, 14th floor of Alpha House, 27 Nathan Road
Neko Mahou - Support Shaman

The asian cat-girl listens intently on the old man's talk, sitting straight in the chair with ears pirked fully up. She nodded a bit after the first couple of sentances, but as soon as Old Wang started talking about the long hair and ritual links, Neko let out a small groan as she slumpped a bit in the chair. 'Oh... Great...', she thought as she looked back at her training with her mother.
With ears slightly drooped down, the japanese girl leaned towards Blaze a bit and put her hand up to the side of her mouth. Sounding a little embarassed, she lightly asked the american man in near perfect english with only a slight asian accent showing, "Um... I hope you can do that 'Ritual Magic' thing, cause if not, I think we're sunk. I could never wrap my brain around it, no matter how hard I tried. So... Um... Please tell me you know how to do it..."

09:27:13 Tuesday, 11 February 2070 - Flat D, 14th floor of Alpha House, 27 Nathan Road
Neko Mahou - Support Shaman

Blaze was never able to respond to Hikaru's question because as soon as she finished asking, an enormous thunderclap exploded throughout the appartment. The pink haired girl immediatly let out a shriek as she ducked down and covered her head with her gloved hands while closing her eyes tight. She had barely perfomed this instinctive act when a loud otherworldy voice boomed through the room akin to the thunderclap.
"RAIKOU OJOUSAN!"

Hearing that, Neko snapped her eyes open and bolted straight up in her seat, her eyes wide with surprise and amazement. Staring at the sparking and arking object, she slowly opened her mouth and whispered, "O... Okaasan..."

09:27:15 Tuesday, 11 February 2070 - Flat D, 14th floor of Alpha House, 27 Nathan Road


Wu Xian is sitting quietly listening to the others while running ideas through his mind on how to proceed when he is startled by the loud BOOM.

He quickly hops up, draws his pistol and scans the room for any threats. It doesn't take him long to find the source of the noise. Once he does he shakes his head while thinking, I have the wrong gun for this threat, damn!

09:27:13 Tuesday, 11 February 2070 - Flat D, 14th floor of Alpha House, 27 Nathan Road

Willow had quietly said her hellos as people had come to the flat throughout the morning. As the elder Wang reviewed the information he had uncovered overnight she listened carefully but with detached interest. When the topic of what to do next was broached she waited till she could interject an idea about reviewing the footage of the fireworks and was about to speak when a loud boom ripped through the flat and sparks shot from all the electronics she had been watching.

Covering her ears she rolled quickly and with an element of grace off the chairs she was sitting on and crouched slightly behind them as she looked around for the aftermath she spotted the cylinder of sparks and it's garbled attempt at some type of vocal communication.

When Neko whispers something, it seems either she's in shock or surprise, or was it awe of the electric cylinder.

"What is it?" She quietly inquired to the group but to Neko in particular.

09:27:35 Tuesday, 11 February 2070 - Flat D, 14th floor of Alpha House, 27 Nathan Road
Neko Mahou - Support Shaman

So affected by shock, the japanese girl paid no heed to anything but the glowing, arking and familiar cylinder of lighting that floated above the table she was sitting at. Slowly, she gripped the edge of the table with shaking hands, her claws scratching into the once unmarred surface.
With a light voice, Hikaru started talking in fast japanese to the floating being, asking, "O... Okaasan sent you, right?" As if the floodgates were opened with just that question, she started rambling on at the fast pace, though the volume of her questioning was raising with each one asked.
"What does she want? Is she ok? Is Otousan ok? Has something happened back home!?", she spouted out in an endless torrent of questions, her claw like nails digging deeper ruts in the table.

09:27:30 Tuesday, 11 February 2070 - Flat D, 14th floor of Alpha House, 27 Nathan Road

After a second, the old man looked at the lightning effect with a surprised face, as if he hadn´t heard the boom. Only those keeping their eyes on him would have noticed, that his imediately went on the intruding entety, when it first apeared.

His instincts told him, that knifes probably would do little harm to this thing, if it where of mal intend, so he didn´t bother to draw his only weapons, only standing up in a fluid but slow motion. Pushing his chair away far enough, to generate the minimal amount of maneuvering space, he began to slide into a classical Tai Chi Chuan posture, but expertly changes the pattern of movement into a non-agressive gesture of greeting, when Neko starts to communicate with the electric entity, though he allways keeps the lightning thing in the corner of his eyes, while he scans the room for other threats.

So much for the mages doing their job and preventing any astral spies...

09:28 Tuesday, 11 February 2070 - Flat D, 14th floor of Alpha House, 27 Nathan Road

While Could is surprised by the appearance of the spirit, he is not too alarmed. The spirit's appearance seems to be more flamboyant than threatening. He recognise the fact that if it is a threat, it is beyond his ken to deal with anyway. He takes note that the flat is not warded and that needs to be rectified quickly.

As the catgirl deals with the situation, he finishes his meal and begins to search the flat for surveillance and monitoring devices. He also takes note of the people out on the street from the windows of the flat.

09:28 Tuesday, 11 February 2070 - Flat D, 14th floor of Alpha House, 27 Nathan Road

Blaze forgets about the cat-girl's question entirely when the column of lightning appears in the room. He backs up and looks serious for a moment. He puts his arms out to his sides, and gets ready to strike, if the situation gets dangerous.

09:28 Tuesday, 11 February 2070 - Flat D, 14th floor of Alpha House, 27 Nathan Road

The crackling tower of sparking electrical arcs twists and bends slightly, and then speaks.

Comprehensible to all the static speaks.

"Daughter of Lightnings. My mistress, and yours, will be delighted to learn that once again I find you in the company of strange old men recovery from a night of typical Mortal debauchery. I have come far and sought long after you in this strange place. But before I depart to report the glad news that you have not honorably departed the Mortal Plane but have chosen to consort with .. well... if you could see the naked evil of their souls as I see them... enough! A message."

A different Voice... in Japanese. "After casting the prayer sticks, your Father has confirmed the situation. Be warned and stay safe.... I know you wish to prove yourself, but remember there is no dishonor in the protection of the family."

The static voice resumes, "After I speak to her of this place and how I have found you, My Mistress may come herself."

**** BOOM ****

Lightning arcs throughout the room, fading into the walls, ceiling and floor.

In what initially appears as a visual afterglow a familiar figure shifts into view in the same place, a caucasian woman in oriental dress, Hilary Green projects her voice into the room and comments in Cantonese, "Whatever wards I had in place are definately gone now. You may wish to take that into account."

"So what have you been able to uncover so far?"

09:28 Tuesday, 11 February 2070 - Flat D, 14th floor of Alpha House, 27 Nathan Road

As what he assumes is a spirit departs in a flashy display, Wu Xian eyes Hikaru out of the corner of his eye and shakes his head. What an interesting way to get a message from home, he thinks as he holsters his pistol.

Then the young man turns to the old man to see how he will respond to Ms. Green's question, especially considering they really do not have anything new.

09:29:04 Tuesday, 11 February 2070 - Flat D, 14th floor of Alpha House, 27 Nathan Road

Oh, that´s just fantastic! Mommy and Daddy have to check on little Neko and tare down all our magical protection, just to save some fone-money. Ludites!

Jhonny Wang´s 'uncle' didn´t display his anoyance on his face, instead politly greeting their newly -or not so newly- arrived employer.

"Actually, we have just been exchanging amongst our selves what we have found out so far, when we where interrupted. We have started to backtrack Mr. Wang´s latest steps in the last year. Given the time of the day and the short hours we had however, we have been mostly restricted to electronic research as of yet. Have your own forensics turned up any new hints, Ms. Green?"

09:29 Tuesday, 11 February 2070 - Flat D, 14th floor of Alpha House, 27 Nathan Road

"As a matter of fact we have determined nothing."

After a pause, "Of course, that in and of itself is very interesting. In between staving off various incarnations of snoops and officials in their queries and investigations my team has analyzed and investigated each and every guest, employee and visitor and their movements and accounted for everyone's evening from 10 pm last night and onwards and can find no cross correlation or intersection of any kind of relevance."

"Nothing."

"Except, we also found nothing where there should be something. Views of empty hallways, empty elevators, empty rooms, missing streams when there should simply empty ones."

"As far as we can tell, we have a trail of nothing arriving at approximately 12:47 am, nothing entering the lobby, nothing using the elevator, nothing entering the hallway, nothing opening the door to the suite, and nothing leaving at approximately 2:05 am... until you all arrive."

"This is a very interesting effect, I can assure you in my experience it is not a magical effect that I am aware of, though ti certainly appears that way."

"Our analysis results and supporting data should be in this apartments comm unit for you right now."

09:29 Tuesday, 11 February 2070 - Flat D, 14th floor of Alpha House, 27 Nathan Road
Neko Mahou - Support Shaman

Hikaru was nervous and afraid for her parrents as the spirit started speaking in it's electric voice. That, though, changed very quickly as her cheeks flushed to untold redness as her embarassment had no bounds. The embarassment flowed well with the anger that started to rage in her as the spirit continued to speak, though when it finially changed it's voice to the sound of a japanese woman, the cat-girl was well past listening to anything her mother had to say.
The girl's face was awash with mixed emotions by the time the spirit made its exit, which was as explosive as its entrance. Neko's emotions were almost as explosive though, with embarassment, anger, insolence and annoyance all vieing for top priority. Throughout the entire scene, the girl's claws continued to dig deeper and deeper into the table. So far, in fact, that when she stood up to walk away, she had to tug a bit to release her hands.

Ignoring the astral form of Ms. Green, Hikaru barely held on to the most minimal of courtisies by letting out a small "Gomennasai." With that, she walked away from the table and into the hallway that led to the main entrance, while picking the commlink off her belt and selecting familiar options.
Holding it up in front of her so she could talk into it, Hikaru listened to the ringing that was coming through her earbuds. It didn't take long before the ringing stopped and an AR window opened up which the japanese girl was expecting. Without waiting for the person on the other end to say anything nor the picture in the window to appear, the girl started talking in japanese, clearly angered and annoyed, "Okaasan! Tobihi was just here! He embarassed the hell out of me and insulted my teammates!"

09:30 Tuesday, 11 February 2070 - Flat D, 14th floor of Alpha House, 27 Nathan Road

Glancing at the apparently flustered Hikaru, Cloud says,"Thank you, Miss Green. I think our first order of business, however, is to reestablish some sort of magical defense for this place. Perhaps our friend can persuade her parent's pet spirit to knock before knocking down the door the next time."

"I think it might be a good idea to split into 2 groups to gather the information we require. If the effect is a magical one, perhaps one of our magical friends can find out more. If the effect is a technological one, then perhaps our hackers can piece together some clues. Perhaps we can find out more once we go over the data Ms Green has provided for us."

09:31 Tuesday, 11 February 2070 - Flat D, 14th floor of Alpha House, 27 Nathan Road
Neko Mahou - Support Shaman

"Whoa... Well, a grand 'Good morning' to you too, Kitten", an obviously male voice replied in clear english. As the man finished speaking, an image appeared in the window showing man with short sandy blond hair and deep brown eyes while wearing a grin on his lips. "Dad!", she replied in the same language as surprise was plain as day on her face and in her voice.
"Well, yes... You do usually call me that. Though, I'm not really used to you calling me 'Okaasan' after calling my commlink...", Roland jokingly replied, though the look he gave his daughter was one of fatherly inquiry. Confused, Hikaru pulled up another window in her AR screen and then groaned as she saw it was her father's commlink she called, fore it was right above her mother's saved number.
"Anyways, you were saying something about 'Sparky' being there and I'm guessing he was his usually antaganistic self... Your mother's spirit has always been like that...", the westerner continued as his voice dropped to an annoyed tone since thinking about his wife's spirit. "Really... I wish she could control that... ouch!", the man exclaimed as his face showed sharp pain.

"Ok, ok, ok! Yes, dear, you're right. I need to get to the point.", the cat-girl's father said to someone out of sight before composing himself into a serious visage. During this usual exchange of love between her parents, Hikaru couldn't help but let out a slight giggle, though she was quick to stop when she saw her father's serious face.
"Kitten, I've heard about what happened down there and so has your mother, hence the spirit in your face. I dont know exactly how she found out, but I know word travels fast, especally when something happens to someone such as Mr Wang. See, daughter, he held alot of power and when someone like him dissapears from the scene, people take notice. Now there is a hole, a big one, and there are bound to be conflicts to see who exactly is going to fill it.", Roland explained to his daughter in a serious tone.
"Think about how your mother and I found out about it. Something this big is already having an affect on things back here in Japan. It's not going to be pretty, Kitten.", the man finished, emphesizing the importance of Mr Wang and the scope of damage his loss has caused.

Stunned at the knowledge her father had bestowed to her, Hikaru was silent for a bit before she finally said anything to her father. "O... Ok. I think I understand. Thanks, Dad. Um... Could you do me a favor and tell Mom that she can just give me a call next time she needs to tell me something?", she asked her father with the tone of a daughter trying ot use one parent against the other.
Roland quickly understood what his pink haired daughter was trying to do, but knew it was a reasonable request, so just smiled at her. "Sure thing, Kitten. Is there anything else you have on your mind while you have me on the line?", he asked just in case. Thinking for a second, Hikaru replied, "Yeah, there is one thing. I sent a package to you that I need you to help me with. Once you open it, you should understand."
Smiling, the man ran a hand through his short blond hair as he let out a small laugh, "Causing more work for me, even after I went through all that trouble to send you off to another land, huh? Ok, Kitten. I'll see what I can do." His face took a more fatherly look again as he stared at his daughter's image while saying, "Remember, Hikaru, Yuki and I love you and wish you well. Please, keep yourself safe. I dont know what your mother would do to me if something happened." He finished with a slight nervous chuckle as Hikaru also did the same before she said goodbye to her father and closed the commline.

Walking back into the room with the rest of the team, the half-japanese cat-girl seemed to be in better spirits as the talk with her father helped calm her down. Though, seeing Ms Green's floating astral form and the team's concentration brought back to Hikaru the seriousness of the situation. The teenager chose not to sit at the table again, instead she stood off to the side as to not interrupt anything.

09:30 Tuesday, 11 February 2070 - Flat D, 14th floor of Alpha House, 27 Nathan Road

"Hmm," the old man grumbled quietly and nodded to Cloud´s proposal. With a mental klick, he fired off a generic text-message to both deckers.

When do you arrive? We need your assistence.

Looking at Ms. Green he thought better of speaking about their last assignment´s objective, but memorized the proposal for when she was gone.

If someone has a contact at one of the temples or with some other geomancer, it might enlighten us a bit, to find out something about the purpose of our assignment.

Matrix Message Stack for Fooey

<<
Message Stack

Summary
17623 Total
17597 Flushed
3 Undetermined
23 Standard Priority Known Origin

Undetermined Preview
-- South China Morning Post 06:32:45 --
Society Section Editor Jong Lee, my sources inform me that you are a skilled in Matrix investigations and willing to undertake a sub contract. I have a short term offer of 5,000 nuyen on successful completion of concrete information of a particular sensitive nature. This offer expires in one hour.

-- South China Morning Post 07:32:45 --
Society Section Editor Jong Lee, I am renewing the offer, and raising the fee to 10,000. This offer expires in one hour.

-- South China Morning Post 08:32:45 --
Society Section Editor Jong Lee, I cannot raise the offer, however, should you prove successful in this sensitive matter, I can place you in the SCMP pool of recommended matrix investigators, which is used by all sections of the SCMP.

Standard Priority
-- Old Man 09:30:15 --
When do you arrive? We need your assistence.
>>

Anytime before noon Tuesday, 11 February 2070
Fooey - Asleep
Vector Xim - Automatic

All calls receive the following immediate automatic response (voice or text as appropriate):

<<
I wish you joy, peace, and prosperity in the New Year. Too much joy leaves me temporarily indisposed. I should be back to normal this afternoon, and will respond to your message at that time. That is all.
>>

09:31 Tuesday, 11 February 2070 - Flat D, 14th floor of Alpha House, 27 Nathan Road

Hilary Green turns her head slightly, as if listening to something in the distance, then says, "Excuse me. I must attend to something, I look forward to hearing your analysis later."

With a bow her ghostly form fades from view.

09:32 Tuesday, 11 February 2070 - Flat D, 14th floor of Alpha House, 27 Nathan Road

The old man returned the bow, even as the woman´s astral form had allready vanished from view. After a moment he turns to the magicians and asks.

"Is she gone?"

When he was sure that they where among themselves, he went on.

"Mr. Cloud is right we should have the wards renewed as fast as possible, which probably leaves our gifted friends occupied for a few hours - unless the Paninsular´s magical technicians are allready on their way. Our matrix support won´t arrive untill afew ours to get a look on the hotel´s data, as it seams. Maybe we can win some insight by finding out what was the ulterior goal of our latest assignment in the mean time. Dos anyone have a contact to one of the temples or another sorce of geomantic lore?"

09:33 Tuesday, 11 February 2070 - Flat D, 14th floor of Alpha House, 27 Nathan Road


Wu Xian relaxes even more when it is apparant that Ms Green has left them. He listens to the old man go over some ideas and plans for the team. As he does so a thought pops into his head.

Wu Xian clears his throat a little and then says, "Speaking of contacts, maybe we should all check with our contacts to see what the word on the streets is in regards to Johnny Wang. Maybe we can find another path to investigate."

09:33 Tuesday, 11 February 2070 - Flat D, 14th floor of Alpha House, 27 Nathan Road
Neko Mahou - Support Shaman

"From what my father just told me, people on the streets know what is going on right now. My dad... Well, he knows people and he says that things back in Japan are starting to change already due to what happened over here.", the pink haired cat-girl spoke up in response to Wu Xian's comment. "As for finding out anything else, I dont think I'm the best person to be asking around about this...", Hikaru continued as she motioned down at herself, her tail swishing back and forth a little.

"What I can do, though, is try to make up for what my mother did when Tobihi...", the half-japanese teenager continued as she cut it short. Looking from the younger chinese man to Old Wang, she just left it off because they were there. She took a quick breath before she continued. "I can make a new ward for the building. It might not be as strong as the last one, but it's better than nothing. Right?", she finished with a nervous grin on her face and ears pirked up.

12:00 Tuesday, 11 February 2070

Sea Snake, Stealthed Submersible, Victoria Harbor

Having successfully negotiated the various underwater hazards, sensor nets, guardian spirits, and centuries of detritus accumulated in the harbor, the sleek asymmetrical surface of smart materials reshapes into launch mode revealing sets of dispersal ports from which the encapsulated loads can be unloaded and sent to their assigned targets. A subsonic code pulse carries the readiness signal to Aberdeen Control Center.

Inside the cocktail of biochemical drugs is altered to prepare the awaiting shock troops for release.

South China Morning Post

Weng Lo was about to give up. He'd tried everything and everyone he could get a hold of, even resorting to a blanket bounty offer and spamming the most marginal of possibilities. No results.

He was going to have to do something he hadn't done in decades. With an effort Weng Lo opened his eyes and lifted his 200 kilo dwarven frame out of his chair. He was going to have to go in person.

But first he sent a mental signal through the Matrix for his assistant to come lift him up from the floor.

Knight Errant Intelligence Division

The official requests from the accounting Agents he could handle, they were simple enough to fool, but eventually he was going to have to explain to someone real why he was blowing at least a months operational surveillance budget running 3 full teams at the Peninsular Hotel and the Nathan Road sub station on something he wasn't even sure happened.

All Officer Li knew was a lot of people weren't telling him anything.

Temple Street

Another ten hours of divination came at a steep price. Several members of the Beneficent Orange Scarf Society were in a deep sleep from which they wouldn't recover for at least 4 hours, well after the lunch of fish and rice.

As usual the divination didn't provide all the answers, nor explain what had happened, but one thing they did determine for sure, which was something had definately been changed.

It looked like they were dealing with a tiger of a different type then expected.

12:00 Tuesday, 11 February 2070 - Flat D, 14th floor of Alpha House, 27 Nathan Road

"Xiaobao. Yun(Cloud)."

"Where are you? I've heard about your employer. Is there anything I can do to help?"

"See if you can find anything or anyone that would want the Johnson dead. Keep a low profile, the people that did this have some serious juice. Call me when you have something. Stay alive, brother. Yun, out."

09:34:00 Tuesday, 11 February 2070 - Flat D, 14th floor of Alpha House, 27 Nathan Road

The old man grumbled in agreement to the little changeling.

"Allright. I´ll go and take a walk, to think about our situation. If necessary, you can reach me via comlink. Whoever has nothing to do should try to get our Hackers online. I´ll try to be back at neen, if the matrix support didn´t check in by then, we might have to go looking for them."

10:08:30 Tuesday, 11 February 2070 - Public toilet, 3 blocks away from, 27 Nathan Road

After a few minutes infront of the mirror, TaiLo´s brown eyes looked into his own face again. After making sure, that nobody followed him, he had disengaged his disguiese and changed his outfit. Now he headed back to the public transit station, again keeping an eye out for tails, walking some loops around the block and taking a few short rests on a bench or at a corner -nothing unusual when taking into acount his apearance- for on the first half of the way.
He sent Susannah Liu, his great-granddaughter -who´d in her short lunch-break, bring a small meal for him to the park- a short voice-mail.

"Good morning my precious. I have little time, so I´ll make it quick. A lot of things happened last night, we can talk about it in more detail, when we meet at the usual time and place. But I´d like you to check out the net for information on the last night´s events with the biggest social impact."

10:27:40 Tuesday, 11 February 2070 - Public toilet, 3 blocks away from, 27 Nathan Road

A quick ride later, he entered the park, where he usually met his friend. In days long gone by, he´d rather have called the the other man a fiend, or at least a rival. Since then however, everyone they had known had passed away - with nobody else they could really relate to, the old men started to talk to each other.
He waited for his friend, to finish his sham therapy on some guilible patient, then set down with him, to play some Mah-jong. Neither of them was very good, but the routin was as much about conversation, as about passing time - they´d never play against the pro´s who where in it for the cash.

09:45 Tuesday, 11 February 2070 - Flat D, 14th floor of Alpha House, 27 Nathan Road

Wu Xian checks the time and sighs, knowing that it is too early for him to do any checking around with his information source. So instead he plops down in front of the trid with plans to kill some time. Instead of paying a lot of attention to what is on the screen he winds up paying more attention to Hikaru and her magic ritual.

11:29:40 Tuesday, 11 February 2070 - 6th District park, Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon, Hong Kong

It's called a park. Unlike parks in other parts of the world everything is formed from quick setting extruded cement. Benches are single piece constructions, tables of various sizes scattered somewhat randomly provide surfaces on which to play various games, the occasional bit of color is provided by the immobile pots from which sickly young trees struggle to grow upright, and the beautiful worn colored marble inlays in the cement tables provide settings for chinese chess, western chess, checkers.

Portable tables and chairs are set up in a formerly open area for the horde of mah jong players idly gambling the day away. It's the middle of the lunch hour, or the start, and normally huge crowds of speed picnickers sit perched on every available flat surface choking down hastily bought curried squid balls, bowls of noodles, rice, sticks of satayed malaysian grilled soy meats, and even the occasional hamburger. Today it's much more leasurely with a few entire families together with pre packed meals, and a smattering of people who don't have many other places to go or people to visit on this New Years day.

"Chicken!"

In disgust the other players look down at the cheap low point hand and shake their heads. The random set of tiles utterly lack the elegance of finishing with all the bamboo, or coins, or the lucky figures sets.

As the players pool the tiles face down and start moving the entire set around in circles by hand in the shuffle before redealing Tai Lo's opposite player, his old friend, or more correctly, his friend who was old, comments, "I got asked by the head office if I did any sub contract work last night."

"Can you imagine that? Me working on New years? That's bad luck."

"Anyway, turns out they are worried about some un authorized activity, they were just checking."

The group of players start stacking the tiles in the double lines with a clicking rhythm.

"What's the world coming to, they think anyone would want to work on New years?"

<<Revered Elder:: Remember, no peanut sauce! You know what it does to you. I am not sure what you want to know about. Other then the governing council unanimously declaring the most successful fireworks ritual in the cycle, and the entire Feng Shui team agreeing with them, something that hasn't happened in a decade, the most significant social events from last night involves Marlene Chu, from the Gods of Cooking show getting bit by a shark as she lost a cross harbor skinny dip race to Donny Cheng, the Pearl Channel news anchor. The big bets are on lots of shark being featured on the next show, and there's a wild bet that if Marlene' left leg shows up in the shark that the producers will insist on the contestant using it as a wild card ingredient.

Next, there was a sighting of ghost porpoises at Sai Kung again...>>

A excellent summary stream of the latest society gossip starts running through Tai Lo's commlink.

12:01 Tuesday, 11 February 2070 - Flat D, 14th floor of Alpha House, 27 Nathan Road

"Hey Yun. Wow, what a wild night. Anyway... I DO NOT WANT TO KNOW what happened. Got it?"

"I just got word, some of the big numbers are really steamed and burning the comms trying to find out if some idiot did an unauthorized. Whole things gone to a war footing. Safe houses, escorts, full security routine while a special team runs an internal looking to clean house. You know how this will turn out, even if it turns out no one inside knew anything,some ambitious punk will use this to get rid of some undesirables, so be very careful.

"Kicker is, I heard the ritual group is going nuts, so it may finally be someone figured out how to break the ritual blood oath."

"Do what you do best, keeo an eye out eh? I'm thinking of going to Macau for a few days."

11:33:51 Tuesday, 11 February 2070 - 6th District park, Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon, Hong Kong

"Ah, sure nobody would want to -except for some stupid gwailo- but some have, obviously."

The bald and wrinkled man grumbles, the notion of bad luck stinging in the back of his head. He makes no effort to end the freshly started game quickly, despite his anouncement to try beeing back at noon. Being 1 or 2 hours late was the previlege of his age. Besides, they could still reach him if anything important turned up.
As the young woman´s message scrolled over his field of vision, the old man instantly fealt the urge to buy some hot and spicy soy-chicken with peanutsouce from the street vendor, out of spite, but resisted for the benefit of his teammembers and for the strain the extravagant meal would put on his food budget. The stream of news and rumors sourly reminded the veteran runner, that Susa´s boss made the bulk of his money with profane and boring observations and background checks.

"I wouldn´t have to consider it, if you whouldn´t have me waiting so long every day!"

Not that that he was really hungry. The rich breakfast had been more then enough for him, usually he wouldnt have eaten anything untill noon, when his great-granddaughter broght him the leftovers from her office´s lunch-break.
Today however, they would have their customary newyear´s picknick. Meeting in the park was the only way none of the two headstrong, oldmen would feel slighted by having to leave his home and visite another like a youngster. Though I´m much older then this young brat! It anoyed him, still, which was partly, why he was so impatient with his granddaughter. The fact that he had told the others, he´d try to be back at noon was marely a factor, but he had stuff to do! He didn´t consider it work, but a matter of family-honor. No hollyday would stop him from persuing it!

12:15 Tuesday, 11 February 2070 - Flat D, 14th floor of Alpha House, 27 Nathan Road

The door buzzes. Waiting in the hallway is a delivery drone stacked with a still steaming assortment of delivery Dim Sum.

12:15 Tuesday, 11 February 2070 - Flat D, 14th floor of Alpha House, 27 Nathan Road

Wu Xian is interupted from watching the warding ritual by the door buzzer. He is a bit surprised that someone would be ringing but gets up anyway and takes a look out the view hole. When he sees the lunch delivery he almost opens the door but pauses at the last instant. Who ordered lunch, he thinks as he backs away from the door.

He quickly sends out a text message to the others:

Did any of you order lunch? There is a delivery drone at the door of the safe house.

12:16 Tuesday, 11 February 2070 - Flat D, 14th floor of Alpha House, 27 Nathan Road
Neko Mahou - Support Shaman

For almost three hours now, Hikaru had been completely focused on repairing the damage her mother had inflicted by sending Tobihi. She could feel the flow and ebbs of mana changing as she made her way from wall to wall nursing the growing ward. Slowly waving her hand over the walls, feeling the rough plaster under her fingers, the young half-asian girl could see and feel it grow stronger by the minute, but it was having an effect on her already.
The feline shaman had lost track of time since beginning her self appointed task. A light sheen of sweat had formed on her brow, a testament to the exertion her actions caused. She knew people had left the safehouse or been moving around the room, but she didn’t keep track of them. Her concentration wavered a bit though when she heard the door buzzer, though she continued her efforts to raise the ward as she noticed Wu Xian check it out.

After a few seconds had passed, she saw a message pop up in her AR and quickly read it while continuing her arm movements. The cat-girl’s brow twisted into one of confusion as she quickly raised a hand and wiped the growing sweat from it. “I didn’t order any… Maybe it’s part of the deal with the hotel?”, she asked to the young chinese man who was checking it out.

12:16 Tuesday, 11 February 2070 - Flat D, 14th floor of Alpha House, 27 Nathan Road
Blaze - Pyrokinetic

Blaze was snapped out of the long wait by the activity at the door - but he didn't feel the need to get up from his seat. At the mention of food, his eyes lit up. "I didn't order anything, but I'm starving - bring it in."

12:16 Tuesday, 11 February 2070 - Flat D, 14th floor of Alpha House, 27 Nathan Road

"Hmmm, maybe", Wu Xian responds to Hikaru. Then in response to Blaze he says, "I may acting a bit paranoid but I would like to confirm that the food is supposed to be here before I open the door."

12:16 Tuesday, 11 February 2070 - Flat D, 14th floor of Alpha House, 27 Nathan Road
Neko Mahou - Support Shaman

Hearing Wu Xian's response to Blaze made the japanese girl remember what the old man said to her earlier in the morning. Thinking it over for a second, she also thought it was a little suspicious to just have something like that show up. 'If someone on the team ordered it, I'm sure they would have said something...', Hikaru thought to herself as she continued to work the weave of mana.
"You said it was a drone, right? Can you talk to it using your commlink? Maybe there is a delivery message or something.", the pink haired girl said towards the hallway were Wu Xian stood.

12:17 Tuesday, 11 February 2070 - Flat D, 14th floor of Alpha House, 27 Nathan Road


Wu Xian smiles at Hikaru's suggestion and says, "Yea that would probably be a good idea. Let's just see what the drone says." The young man then fiddles with his commlink to send an inquiry to the drone outside. Inwardly he hopes the inquiry doesn't trigger any problems.

Once his comm gets a response from the drone, Wu Xian gets a puzzled look on his face, repeats the response for the others and says, "Are we considered team tiger? Who do you think the short friend is?"

12:18 Tuesday, 11 February 2070 - Flat D, 14th floor of Alpha House, 27 Nathan Road

"Check with those that aren't here. See if they ordered anything. I'm no tech wiz, so can someone else scan the thing?"

Noon Tuesday, 11 February 2070
Fooey - In transition
Vector Xim - Automatic

Fooey awakes to the smell of fried devils and fish congee being prepared by his robo-batman. This tin-man knows his master well enough to substitute coffee in place of the usual silk-sock milk tea whenever Fooey sets his wake-up for after 10:30 AM. Fooey has just enough time for a quick shower and shave before breakfast is served.

After breakfast and an abbreviated meditation Fooey finally gets down to business. First, he alerts last nights party-goers that he has returned to the land of the living.

Greetings, fellow Tigers. Chan here. I am ready to assist you after you finish digesting the Dim Sum. Bon Appetit!

Then, he scans the headlines of his regular newsfeeds. Finally, he reviews his message queue.

To: Jong Lee, Society Section Editor, South China Morning Post.
Was unable to process your offer earlier. Am now able to consider offer at original fee, if job still available. Please advise.

Hope I didn't blow that one...

12:18 Tuesday, 11 February 2070 - Flat D, 14th floor of Alpha House, 27 Nathan Road

Wu Xian is about the mention that he did send everyone a text when his commlink notifies him of an incoming message. After scanning it he shrugs then walks over to the door. As he opens it to let the drone in he says to the others, "Apparantly Fooey sent over lunch so let's enjoy."

12:21 Tuesday, 11 February 2070 - Flat D, 14th floor of Alpha House, 27 Nathan Road
Blaze - Pyrokinetic

"Nice. I thought I was going to have to go dine-and-dash or something. Lotta good Wang's gold is gonna do my stomach." As the drone entered, the smell of chinese food made its way across the room.

Too bad I'll be starving again in an hour.

12:21 Tuesday, 11 February 2070 - Flat D, 14th floor of Alpha House, 27 Nathan Road
Willow – Stealth Adept

Hours had passed since the blonde woman had entered the flat and and long disappeared, leaving a non-descript young Chinese woman in her place seated cross-legged on the couch. The conversations in the room couldn’t tear her attention away from the video feeds in multiple windows and she was all but ignoring the messages that crept across her lower field of vision. The smell of fresh steamed Sui Mai however from across the room made her pause and her stomach rumble.

“Fooey sent it over? Remind me to thank the little guy next time we see him.”

She left her spot on the couch and made her way over to the stacks of food that the drone was carrying and picked her way through the steaming baskets, hording orders of Sui Mai, Har Gau and Char Siu Bao for her meal.

12:22 Tuesday, 11 February 2070 - Flat D, 14th floor of Alpha House, 27 Nathan Road
Neko Mahou - Support Shaman

Hearing the front door open, Hikaru could smell the wafting scents of the chinese food as the drone entered the apartment. Her ears twitched and twisted as she also heard the happy voices of her teammates as they opened the packages and started eating the food. As she felt small pangs of hunger from her stomach, she also felt the tip of her tail twitching back and forth in agitation.
“Could one of you save me some? If I stop working on this ward it’ll collapse…”, she called back to the people a the table, hoping that someone would do as she asked. ‘Just a couple more hours…’, she told herself as she felt the weave of mana gain strength as the minutes past.

12:23 Tuesday, 11 February 2070 - Flat D, 14th floor of Alpha House, 27 Nathan Road

"Right," replies Cloud. He picks up a random selection of foodstuffs and puts them into an emptied basket for Neko.

He gets another selection of the dim sum for himself, sits himself in front of the trid and sets it to a local scream-news channel.

12:23 Tuesday, 11 February 2070 - Flat D, 14th floor of Alpha House, 27 Nathan Road

She had settled herself back onto the floor and had picked up a single Char Siu Bao to take a bite of. Her teeth sunk into the deliciously soft bread layer and into the pork before she bit into something hard. She pulled the bread from her lips and looked down at a small case containing a glittering object.

Confusion clouded her features as she plucked the object from her lunch and examined it more closely. Seeing it was an optical chip in a protective case she shook her head and offered it up to whomever wanted to slot it.

"Looks like Fooey left us a present. Anyone want to take a look at what's on it? Or am I the guinea pig?"

12:23 Tuesday, 11 February 2070 - Flat D, 14th floor of Alpha House, 27 Nathan Road

Not really being all that hungry and always careful of what he eats, Wu Xian just grabs some water and sits down while the others are eating.

His eyes open in surprise as Willow holds up an optical chip that she nearly ate. Now I am really glad I didn't have any, he thinks as he looks around at the others.

"If no one else wants to then I will see what on the chip", the young man says as he reaches for it.

Once Willow hands it to him he plugs it into his commlink and first has his agent scan it. After he is satisfied that it is ok he takes a look at the contents.

12:23 Tuesday, 11 February 2070 - Flat D, 14th floor of Alpha House, 27 Nathan Road

<<
CommCodes for which there is no public match

270EE25C-6914-4061-A9D5-F49278AE4CB8 *
4FADA11F-4270-4FDB-BEB3-7AA595ADD730 *
467A976A-ACF4-4B4F-8C72-FABE87B79B69 *
B58FC932-55FF-4858-9635-AAC5B0D4EC23 *
28CA0EAE-5C4E-44FF-9478-0F3DB7F2135C *
BA0F7638-D025-4073-AC1A-6083A1485AA6 *
61A03AB6-AF21-45D3-967C-C9B139E917E9 *
5E20D0A6-FB41-407A-9D42-90E3EACA4068 *
6C888EC1-1C1B-4DAE-BD1D-64BF686D56F2 *
B56BFC45-6F03-47A4-8A65-235C79734789
B3FD2B47-0710-45BA-8FB0-867FD163BC02
6A1CCAA2-7AE4-438E-A30E-6261CC98B4CE
41A67194-D774-429B-AA44-4A26B95C9B96
90EE3BF5-9827-44D4-92FB-93AEF6FF1A4D
517C9356-FE64-4872-A681-10AAAB60295F
C4E8BE0C-9A5D-4619-A1EF-AD76DD8FBF59
6A054CFE-0A9D-4832-8997-B6580FAA5B30
6210DF54-9464-425B-A249-CB52964D5060
C7314911-BEF2-4014-A897-E829C87E2283
FE3CBBDA-6883-4B76-B14F-E31FC9B385BC
8C49AD83-36BD-412E-8D65-7DE6D83AA71C
06DF363E-EAA1-4868-950F-9D84EA08C1F3
F232AC86-551A-4712-A085-DB162859843C
8848F91E-1FFC-4D6F-8ECF-53BD5CEE929C
456B8CE9-C7AD-4A78-B971-AA242AED4176
2E2FB1EE-E050-446C-B23D-42BC37CA56E6
B8A8B84E-3BDA-43A8-AC77-807A94510D75
6E594C58-32F4-40A8-9983-6750B1B8ABD1
DCDA3553-A7D1-47F4-BC69-AE6DD5209142
FE350B04-28BB-41D2-A78D-5A635397F570
14520FC4-E56F-4D82-A256-0B62A8D49962
78AFC847-3749-4BFD-B4A8-763F2CC4D31C
F47281E6-0014-41DD-86AA-0D679D92E236
CA0CE6F3-06DB-4219-B9F0-564E0197F82D
E543EA7B-FA96-48F8-85B2-A87D11896A6A
1744672B-906B-4140-A3A3-385A150B939F
5A364142-94D1-4304-B1BE-9688297540CC
6881E7A6-0101-4CCF-9069-8BB479AB050E
42A4AFED-EB21-496B-8A5F-77AF969050E9
F6FFC409-4283-499A-B195-512CB8DCAF2B
3EF481FA-6368-442D-A1E0-76F06173AB00
44724BF7-B125-4F6E-B21D-44500EF135B9
173BEA52-9D65-4539-A48E-2F8696F600CC
ECBD09E8-1FD4-47F7-8346-EBF9C4CA930F
55E9EBBC-5099-4F26-879F-EA329101A6F7
3F15CD98-B404-45EB-95B6-27C8B8EC85FC
ECA05C41-5399-4765-8D0C-944BC3C76239
0790E4BF-6CD4-48D3-9E16-79F104A57564
A876B79E-9C47-4FB2-B7FF-5EAA57A84D5D
6A97BD3A-FE6B-46F9-BC30-8EC6B66E55F7
38F939F1-AD43-4C90-8C8C-E79F0974F496
8A5507E0-C14B-4E00-AFB0-633927A18F75
3C4AE848-1CC6-4761-B476-EBCA03B9F005

Out of 2736 total commcodes available

No detail available
No journal available

* Check these out! Do you recognize them? Fooey
>>

12:24 Tuesday, 11 February 2070 - Flat D, 14th floor of Alpha House, 27 Nathan Road

Wu Xian quickly scans the data and then lets the others know what is on the chip, "Fooey sent us a list of Comm codes. They are probably from Johnny's commlink. He has marked a few of them an wants us to see if they are recognizable. Here, let me send you the info.'

Wu Xian then uses his commlink to send the file to the others in the room.

Then he takes another, more detailed look at the highlighted comm codes to see if any are familiar.

12:26 Tuesday, 11 February 2070 - Flat D, 14th floor of Alpha House, 27 Nathan Road

After taking a few moments to look over the comm codes that are highlighted, Wu Xian realizes who they belong to. After looking over the others he is not sure who they might belong to so he turns to the others and says, "Well it looks like we know the comm codes with an asterisk but does anyone recognize the other ones listed?"

12:33 Tuesday, 11 February 2070 - Flat D, 14th floor of Alpha House, 27 Nathan Road

Blaze closes the AR window almost as soon as it popped up, and shook his head. "Assuming you already marked mine - there ain't a chance in hell I know any of those other ones." Setting his dirty dishes back on the tray, he said "... if our hacker can't make heads or tails of it, I don't expect we're going to do any better. And that's a long list of people to track down... most of which probably like their privacy, you know... 'private'."