Booker bows his head and rubs his eyes. """It ain't that simple, Kris. It's not a single case, and it's not allowed to be. It's a policlub. They got some big friends - look, can we not discuss this aloud?"""

"""Look, sir; We are already on the dreklist. I figured while we were there, we could at least be useful to you. If you don't want the help,""" Karmakaze started walking away midsentence, """then we will find other work."""

She headed for the counter with her slushy drink in hand.

Booker turns to Blue with a jaundiced look, and vast weariness in his eyes. """Quick matix chat, chummer?"""

"""You got it.""" He opens a matrix link to Booker. <<<What's up?>>>

Booker looks relieved, and starts to quickly subvocalise through the Matrix to Blue:

<<<Awright. Look here: PoliDemos is a policlub, but unlike most policlubs which push a specific agenda, these lovely ladies - yeah, most of their upper structure is female - started in one place and ended up in a totally different one. Originally, years ago, they were all about private gated communities. They wanted the kind of lifestyle that corpozones get, complete with local jurisdiction. Well, frag that because they were never getting to seceed, nor do the AAA extraterritorial thing, scan? So they shifted their focus. They way they saw it, their real competition was corporate power and they particularly identified their enemies as being private security. See, they tried to contract with Knight Errant at first, but Knight Errant refused to do some things that PoliDemos didn't have the right to do. Anyway, long story short they now have a plan to return police and security functions to state hands. But while doing that, they're blending in protection racket and vigilante stuff and trying to give blame for their failures to corpsec and criminal elements, and credit for their successes to mainline politicians. This is why they're cleaning up the streets, but also pushing heavy on small businesses and local nonconformists. Scan? But there's more, because now local politicos have realised that PoliDemos is a potent backer.>>>

Blue forwards the matrix info to Karmakaze and invites her in. <<<More secure in here than out in the air of S Shack. So, Booker, a bunch of wealthy society women are pushing the political and security agenda, with their own twist added in. We met one of these ladies a few days ago. Is there anyone pushing back? >>>

<<<Pushing back? Sure, I guess. But not too openly, because telling Mommy Cookiebaker to face the wall for supporting the gov'ment and lawnorder looks bad. The problem really is that these ladies have lots of expertise too. They're not just staying home and minding the bots and zoning out on TriD; they're executives and marketers and psychologists and they have skills and knowledge and they get it done. Add in, many of them have high-powered husbands that they use for intel, swing, and subversion of opposition. It's hard for Chris Corpoman to say no to his wife when she has his balls in her hands.>>>

Blue opines. <<<The whole thing looks really nebulous. K and I put the boots to one lady's machinations, but I'm not sure where to go next, or even if we want to. >>>

<<<Depends on what you wanna do, I guess, but as far as we're concerned they're organised crime. On the surface all political and fluffy, but kidnapping hundreds of people and shipping them over borders? That's trafficking, at least.>>>

"""Well, I've got a long list of things to do and buy before I get too involved with local politics. So, I'm glad your back home, Daisy, and maybe you can keep doing what you do without the Home Owners' Association getting on your case again. If you do get deported, well, Karmakaze and I know where to look for you, anyway. """

Blue finishes his drink and looks at Karmakaze. """I guess it's time to head home."""

"""I guess so. I just hate leaving things left undone."""

It is late, but not by the shadowrunner's clock, let alone that of an owl shaman.

"""You want to get dinner somewhere? There is a Stuffer Shack XL on the western shoreline of Ballard..."""

Blue looks at her, but isn't sure if she is joking or not.

Booker simply nods in quiet farewell, and heads out to take Daisy away, no doubt for an extended debrief.

Blue replies to Karmakaze as he nods a goodbye to the other two, """OK. I am a bit peckish now that i think of it. """ As they head to the other location in her car, Blue adds, """ I've got a couple of weeks worth of work to do to set up my magical lodge, acquire some goodies, learn a spell or two. We can keep in touch, and think about how we might approach the things we know about.

"""I am still worried about my erstwhile friend's niece who is still in danger of being recruited into evil. I might want to look into that if you are willing."""

"""While you are on your magical retreat, I will try and do some light recon on their area of operations. I have a feeling this isn't the last time we are going to be dealing with this poli club.

"""You can contact me when you are done with your rituals. We can follow up with your niece, continue looking into this policlub, if there is money in it, or we can look for work."""

"""Sounds good. Let's eat!"""

After a tasty snack and a ride home, Blue bids Karmakaze adieu. """Thanks. We've done well together so far. I've got some rebuilding to do, lodge and spells and things, so I'll be busy for almost three weeks. If you hear from your guy about those two items I asked for, some form-fitting armor and a knife, if you can, please take them off his hands. Here's 5000 nuyen that should cover the deal. Once I'm free to talk, I'll get in touch and we can carry on with whatever we think should be done next."""

Blue goes in his apartment and summons Sweez once daybreak comes.



::: Thanks for Coming, Sweez. I got some work to do here that'll take me two or three weeks. I'm gonna need protection for that time, so I'd like to call on you a lot during the work. I know that'll be a heavy on you, so I'll try to think up something to make it up to you. For now, keep vigil in the astral and let me know if something comes our way. :::

Once Sweez is on patrol, Blue drops a line to Mary Margaret and gives her a shopping list of things he woulds like to buy. He tells her he will be out of touch for about six days, but will contact her on the seventh. He lets her know he is good for the money it will take.



Then he sets out the materials for his magical lodge and begins the construction and purification process.

"""Null sweat. I got some stuff to get from Jaxx, as well."""

Karma returns home to her place for some much needed R&R. She is about to pull in the one-car garage, but then paranoia gets the best of her. She parks on the street and inspects the approach.

+++I should have asked Blue to summon a spirit to protect my place.+++ She laughed to herself. Two weeks ago the idea of spirits creeping about gave her the chills. Now the fact that one wasn't creeping about, she felt uneasy.

After clearing the house, checking the doors and windows for sign of disturbance, and clearing the perimeter, she pulled the car in the garage, reentered the house, and finally tried to relax.

She sat down on the couch and looked around again to see if Blue had left a spirit to protect her hearth.

Blue is aware, at a periliminal level, of Sweez apparently engaging in a long-running rave. He can't quite recognise the music, but it blends effortlessly with the pounding from the club when it's running. He can't quite guess what drugs might be driving Sweez - but maybe it's just his nature. He sees glimpses of flickering lights, and when in the process of establishin his lodge he views the astral directly it's like slipping into the dungeon of a wildly overpowered psychedelic club. With an owl theme. Owl's eyes seem to stare in rainbow hues from everywhere.

Karma's only identifiable disturbance is a vagrant huddled behind the garbage bins. Of course, she could not see any spirits, but other than that there are no signs of penetration or vandalism in her domicile. While she tried to work out the knots developing in her shoulders, headline news drifted through her electronics:

CRYSTAL CHURCH CHARITY CREATES CHEER
ENCLAVE ARTISTIC REPUTATION LEGACY NOT REALITY
CONTRACT RENEWAL YEAR HERALDS TOUGH NEGOTIATIONS
BARRENS RECLAMATION REVIEW PROJECT REPORT LEAK
INVASIVE SPECIES OR BENEFICIAL? DEBATES ON METAHUMANITY

With nothing pressing, Karma checks some of the articles.

BARRENS RECLAMATION REVIEW PROJECT REPORT LEAK
+++Maybe this has to do with the rescue of Daisy?+++

INVASIVE SPECIES OR BENEFICIAL? DEBATES ON METAHUMANITY
+++Maybe this has to do with a certain policlub?+++

She checks out each article.

The barrens reclamation project actually has nothing to do with Daisy - not even remotely. There's been a big push from various bigwigs to either gentrify, or bulldoze and rebuild, various barrens regions. The leaked report (genuine or otherwise) claims that they've run into all sorts of problems. The leaked document (assuming that it's genuine) tells a long, sad story about how everything is failing, the barrens are doomed, and frankly there's no hope of success.

The invasive species one has more to do with angry environmentalists describing metahumanity as a blight on the world. They're not getting a lot of traction, because there's a whole bunch of other arguable blights that people keep shouting about; insect spirits, for example.

The crystal church folks are spreading love and peace and kindness and tranquility in their own special way; mostly involving clothing distribution, apparently.

The enclave artistry one is about Seattle's purported claim to fame as "Music City" and an analysis of the fact that the vast majority of artists claimed by Seattle actually come from areas that are now not even part of the UCAS, and a long tradition of hostility to venues, busking and the like.

The contract renewal article may have some nearer relevance to Karmakaze's situation; it's for city and enclave contracts, including for Lone Star. There's apparently a serious push from some elements of the city government to aggressively renegotiate everything from performance figures to costs, putting Lone Star in a corner.

CONTRACT RENEWAL YEAR HERALDS TOUGH NEGOTIATIONS

Karma reads through the article a second time, looking for ties to the names and parties provided by Booker. Maybe this will finally link Polihumas to a party, group or individual politician or bureaucrat. Even if it doesn't help her cause, it may be worth something.

After some time she needs to look at something else.

CRYSTAL CHURCH CHARITY CREATES CHEER

+++Maybe there is some good in the world.+++

She doubts it after a few seconds. She does a little digging into the Crystal Church. Karma comes across a lot of loot. Maybe it can be donated here rather than discarded or fenced. If the church isn't some hidden nefarious front for policlubs, radicals or criminals.

Karmakaze thinks that the Crystal Church bunch are probably a weird sort of half-cult, half-pyramid thing, with scammers on top and dupes as their footsoldiers. That said, they're polishing their image until it gleams.

The culty bit seems to be that their churches operate as something between compounds and miniature almost-arcologies. People go in, and spend most of their time there doing ... nothing clear on the record.

As for the contract renewal thing, PoliDemos names don't come up - but their talking points do. One politician in particular, a fellow by the name of Grenville, loudly proclaims that Lone Star needs Seattle more than Seattle needs Lone Star, and that Seattle should go back to a government-run police structure. How the public feels about this is not recorded at present.

..

Once all the learning and bonding and lodge-building are done, Blue sends a message to Karmakaze. He is almost down to his earlier level of paranoia, seeing as Big M. hasn't tried to kill him in the last three weeks.

<<<Hoy, KK. Finally done all my magic here. How are things with you? Got any lines on work? >>>