Deckers:
The three samurais have each broken apart to deal with their own opponent in single combat. Katanas crackling with energy as they slice at your group. Nanashi grabs at his shoulder where blood begins to seep out of the joints in his armor.

Trixie lashes out in a quick parry and succeeds at keeping the samurai from eviscerating her. Steel sharpened with the hottest code on the security market bites into the red armor that wraps and protects the young elf.

Deep breath, wait for it.

The cowboy had laid out a plan of contingent coding in his mind and unleahes it right as the burly security decker moved in. A flash of the setting sun reflects off the golden star pinned to Jack's coat making the carmine warrior turn his face. Unfortunately his sword is already in motion and pushes cleanly forward with a powerful thrust.

In the meatworld, beads of sweat begin to form on Trixie's forehead, while in the matrix the battle rages onward. Once again she lashs out with her katana, then sets herself to parry.

Calisto moves to her gear, fishing out the med kit and begins to set up shop near the decker's prone bodies. Looking to Donovan. "Let me know when I need to and can supply first aid."

Realizing he was out of his league, Nanashi backed into the shadows, letting them wrap around him, concealing him from sight. (hopefully)

Donovan says, "Right. Get your kit ready. They're all engaged in some type of activity, and we may need it soon."

He takes a moment to inspect all three deckers astrally to ascertain their physical state.

Deckers:
The furious onslaught from the Renraku team leaves two of your number staggering. Trixie shrugs off the worst of the attack, as Jack clutches his side where the katana had slid into his unprotected flesh. Only the odd sense of survival that has been garnered over years of decking kept his digital self in one piece.

A slight buzzing fills your ears as feedback is generated from the three Renraku katanas.

Resolve crystalizes upon the young girl's face as Trixie lashes out with her blade. The thin decker that she has been fighting makes a quick attempt to parry but her blade slides forward. With a quick flick of her wrist, Trixie twists the blade and slashes upwards.

The lead Samurai, turns his attention for an instant to face the stronger threat of your group. Nanashi sensing his chance, vanishes from sight, as shadows engulf him in the deeper recesses of the archive.

Trixie's samurai flickers slightly as the will behind the persona shakes.

Donovan:
Stress and tension spikes and streak out from each of the astral forms bound tightly to the decker's inert forms. The source is probably some intense battle being fought within the Matrix. Spots of darkness have taken root in Nanashi and Jack's minds and small red tendrils creep out into the healthier flesh showing flashes of pain and the headaches to come. Trixie still appears uninjured though her mental state seems to be doubled up as if her body was giving away it's own will to live and boost her mental prowess.

Deckers:
"He cannot flee, take the leader."

The samurai barely notices Nanashi fleeing deeper into the system and focuses on Trixie. Raising his sword into a high guard, he strikes quickly. There is no kiai as the blade swings downward.

Nanashi wanted to help the others, but he realized that to do that, he needed to mend his injuries first while they were still ignoring him as insigifigant. Pulling a pot of medicinal salve from his pouch, he applied it to his wounds.

Cursing and reeling from the sword wounds, Jack growls and snaps the pistol into his hand, firing two shots from the western-style revolver at the red armored samurai.

Donovan moves over to Nanashi and Jack to try and heal their wounds.

Maybe I can heal them both..

He makes the effort to touch both deckers at the same time and heal them, stretching from finger to toe to reach both as magical healing energy is channeled. Donovan closes his eyes and concentrates.

Deckers:
Bullets ricochet off the heavy samurai armor even as Jack and Nanashi feel their minds clear of the persistent pressure between their ears. Sensing the impending demise of the cyber cowboy, the samurai pulls back and shifts his attention to Trixie.

The young elf is surrounded by all three Renarku samurais, hacking and slicing as best they can to break her defenses.

An old man cackles.

Donovan:
You feel the mana push into both bodies restoring life an health to tissue that had been nearly destroyed through neural feedback. The weight of the effort comes crashing down on you as if you had just finished a marathon.

As Trixie is swarmed by the samurai, the sweat on her forehead starts to pour on, but so far she has managed to avoid any damage. The laughing only enrages her...

Knowing that her original opponent has taken a few hits from her, she turns her attention at each of her new targets, throwing an attack at each of them, testing their defences.

Donovan smiles and goes to sit back down on the sofa and rest. The strain of pushing the mana through such a powerful spell twice in one go hadn't even registered, thanks to the pain editor he had had implanted a while back, but a quick check of the biomonitor on his wrist showed Donovan that something had happened.

"Phew! I did it. I'm gonna sit back and rest a while Calisto. Those spells were a bit of a strain."

He lays his head back and closes his eyes to let his body recover from the task of channeling so much mana.

Deckers:
The otaku girl slices forward catching a lucky hit and drives the blade of the katana between the heavy plates of armor that the Red Samurai is wearing. His body staggers, twitches and then goes limp. Luck only happens once though, the second blow to his companion bounces inconsequentially from the armor leaving him untouched.

Within the depths of the archive, Nanashi finishes patching his wounds.

With his wounds mended, Nanashi was ready to jump back into the fight. Attacking an opponent from behind wasn't the most honorable move...but neither was ganging up on an opponent, though Trixie had already cut down on her odds. His sword slashed down at the injured decker twice, hopefully bringing the odds down a bit further.

Deckers:
Gold armor glints in the lighting of the archive as Nanashi steps out from behind one of the large scrollcases. He drives the sword deep, muttering a quick prayer that it will find a soft point in the armor. The ancestor spirits smile down upon him as the blade bites deeply into soft joint under the arm of the samurai.

The renraku samurai stiffens momentarily and turns to face his attacker. The second swing slices evenly across at the shoulders, and his scream is lost in the high pitched whine of data terminals losing connection.

As Jack readies himself, he can sense the impending departure of the third samurai, a tactical withdrawal to summon additional reinforcements.

Deckers:
The Renraku samurai bugs out and Jack focuses his effort on getting the download finished as fast as possible. Nodding to signal that the file has completed, the team ghosts back out of the machine. Moments are tense as you step from each host, fully expecting to be hit with another round of IC or for Security deckers to turn the corner.

Walking at a sedately rushed pace, you move past the line of waiting sararimen to get their technical support. You quickly log off as the Tokyo LTG receives the bundle of your infractions against the Renraku host. Digital echoes scatter in different directions distorting your tracks and making it impossible to find you.

Nanashi's Apartment:
With Donovan leaning back in one of the dining room chairs, an ice pack on his throbbing head, and the aging rigger guarding the door, all three deckers shudder back to life.

Jack gasps and shouts, tugging the jack free, laughing and talking quickly, obviously still a little wired on the whole experience.

"Hoo-ee, you guys sure had those 'Raku hacks running!" He turns to glance at Callisto, Donovan, and Jester.

"Think we grabbed everything we wanted and a little more."

Perking up a bit at their safe return Jester smiles at the cowboy.

"Do we need to evac?"

Trixie flashes a big smile over at Jack, "We sure did. That was fun than I've had in a while. Good work guys!"

Turning to Jester, "Nope, only one of the security deckers got away, but we were able to cover our tracks before he came back with more."

Its kind of nice for the team to see Trixie smiling for once.

"Good, Ill out the watch dog to bed to recharge her batteries."

Jester paused for a moment as he sent his thoughts to the orbiting Firebat. The onboard computer acknowledged him and started its auto flight to return to the waiting arms of the van.

"Alright Jack, lets bust that baby open and see what dirt its got for us..."

Trixie rubs her hands together nervously, like a kid waiting to open presents on Christmas morning.

Jack:
You run a quick scan of the information. It appears to be a complete personnel file of a mid-level executive from the Arcology in Seattle. This file was flagged because it has video, neural mapping, and a sim-sense feed that looks to be recorded during and shortly after the shutdown.

Donovan continues to rest on the couch. A loud snore, followed by a snort, is the only response he gives to the reawakening of the three deckers, unconsciousness making him fully oblivious to their circumstances.

Jack whistles as he scans the data.

"Scan this, I've got full sim and vid from a 'Rak sarariman during the shutdown! This'll sell for a fortune to half a dozen corporations, I'll bet."

He glances up and around. "Course, it's going to take some delicate fingers to go asking around about buyers. Anybody got an idea of where to start?"

"I was hoping you guys would know what to do with it. My contacts are limited at best."

Calisto begins to pack away the med kit as the deckers rise and move around. "I don't deal much in data brokerage at my end, sorry."

Jack shrugs, "Sorry, I usually have buyers before I have the info."

Trixie shrugs, "I'll give Zoe a call and see whats up."

The young elf brings up her contacts list and dials the number.

Trixie:
You call the number in your phone book and can hear the tones as the call gets hopped from one system to another in a complicated web to make it nearly impossible to pin down.

"Good evening. Ohh, hey girl, how you been? Got a few new treats for me, okay. Give me a few days to see what I can get, until then drop the chip through the usual path and I'll see what shakes loose."

A few minutes of idle chatter passes between you and you hang up the phone.

After disconnecting, Trixie fills the team in on what she found out from Zoe. "It'll be a few days before we hear back, so if you guys don't mind, I'm going to spend some time programming while I wait for The Fool to get back."

Pending any objections, Trixie jumps online. She hangs out in the local building host, sitting lotus style in the server, reprogramming her mind.

Jack glances at the rest of the team after Trixie speaks.

"Ah agree with the gal. If we don't have anything else pressing, ah'd like to get some time in on my deck as well. The hard part's done, after all. Now we just need to sit back and wait for the cash." He flashes his customary grin, and does much like Trixie. The next few days are spent plugged into his deck, running the programming suite and tinkering.

"So are we going to sit around and wait for the next couple of days?"

Trixie pauses before jacking in, "Nope. I'm, hopfully, going to go meet with the Otaku tribe. If I do convince them to let me use their Resonance Well, I'm going to need some protection. I'll be jacked in for what could be a few days or a few hours, I even saw it take as much as a week before. While I'm out, I'll be depending on you guys to make sure nothing happens to me."

Jester looks around and waits for the obvious.. when it doesn't come he pipes in.

"I can take you, and may the Resonance be with you."

He delivers the line with as strait a face as could manage.

Trixie cocks her head to the side, not too sure what to make of his comment. "...Thanks, I think. When The Fool gets back, call my phone, it'll connect while I'm online."

At that, she jacks in.

::Day 4 0130::
With deckers buried deep into their machines and the young elf gone to change the way her mind processes the streaming information of the Matrix, an eerie quiet has settled over the apartment.

The Fool jerks his body as his consciousness drops back in with a physical thump. He slowly pulls the cord from the datajack, a mechanical disembodied voice calling out "Water". After he wets his mouth from the nine hours of sitting limp in the corner, he stretches with bones and joints popping.

"Good news. The Tribe has agreed to meet with her. Also a few hours ago, some of the otaku sensed a tremor coming from the Tokyo LTG--the same kind of thread that my people have been looking for. They think that He is in a connected system."

He sips more water.

"What have you discovered while I was out?"

Jack:
Leaving the programming suite to compile the code you wrote and find any keystroke errors, you shift your attention over to the packet of info that you downloaded from the Renraku host.

Initially the feed is fairly bland, so you cycle through faster to find more salient bits. The executive appears to have been fitted with an internal sim-rig to record everything that he felt, thought and experienced while in the Arcology during shutdown.

A shadow-team assists in the insertion, they take his money and head off deeper within the arcology in search of other individuals to take out of the controlled nexus of buildings. The Executive appears to have voluntarily been indoctrinated by Deus and subjected to experimentation. An indeterminant time passed before another team came in to involuntarily extract him. This team is gunned down directly in front of the executive. There's a sense of vindication as he watches the shadowrunners die, the runners who probably saved his life in the long run.

Notes continue tracking his progress in re-adjusting to a normal life. While he has maintained a set of mannerisms that he did not have before the experience, overall the Executive has normalized.

Donovan sits quietly on the floor and composes spells in his head. Though he seems to be just staring, he is arranging symbols into a series of hermetic words on his image link via his wrist computer, which is jacked to his skull.

Jack blinks as he comes up out of the thread.

"Hey guys, ah just realized...We've got the paydata, but whiffed on the BTL production stuff. We've gotta drop back in now that things have settled down a bit, and got after it. It's the best link we've got to Father."

Calisto watches with dettached interest to everything happening around her. This work was so different from the jobs before. People talking and bonds forming, it left her feeling unsteady. "Agreed. Are you all ready to try decking again?"

"We probably want to give the system a day or two to cool down. Meanwhile we can do some tinkering in order to be better prepared for the next time."

Jack nods. "Yeah, at least a day. Nanashi and ah need ta swap some apps around anyway."

He looks to the Fool. "Well, we hopped into the Renraku node, but got jumped before we could find the data on the BTL production. We did manage to grab a little paydata we can offload to fund our expedition. We're planning on going back in in a few hours to find out about the BTL's.

When does the Tribe want to meet with Trixie?"

"They will meet with her at 10:00. That should leave enough time for us to sleep and eat before the representatives will be here."

Turning to Trixie, the Fool adjusts the volume on his hand held device.

"You must convince them of the gravity of this situation. They will not listen to me except to arrange this meeting. I am not Otaku, for them, I do not understand."

"I understand. Tribes are very private and guard their Resonance Wells tightly. Thank you for settings things up for me though. I'm almost done working on a new Form... er... Program. When you guys get around to eating, let me know and I'll jack out. I'm up for anything, so whatever you get is fine with me."

Trixie continues her meditation, reprogramming her mind to create the new Complexe Form she'd been working on all day.

Donovan says, "Well, I'm all rested up, so whenever you're ready, let me know as well. I can provide magical support for you again."

He continues designing spells in his image link.

Hours pass as the deckers and mages work and process information. Food is ordered, people eat and sleep. There is something almost mechanical in the motions of such mundane tasks that must be done even in the overwhelming understanding that a nascent digital god is laying in wait to conquer the world and rebuild the matrix in his own image.

::Day 4 0900::
Calisto:
The world has crystalized around you, fitting into the tightly formed schema that your mind imposes across every perception. Peaceful, your consciousness rests just outside the flesh of your body. The meditative trance that fills your body as you work through one kata after another is disrupted slightly as you hear your cell phone chirp. Call ID displays "Jaron Falcone"

Team:
Rising from his rest on the couch, the Fool begins to pull his coat back on and make ready.

"It is time."

Trixie's eyes open from where she'd been sleeping on the couch. She'd finished up her programming several hours ago and layed down to catch the little sleep she needed to get by.

"Give me fifteen minutes to catch a quick shower."

She rushes into the bathroom before anyone can beat her to it and sounds of water splashing around follows. Twenty minutes later she is cleaned up and ready to go. She even did a fair job of throwing on some make up and it strikes you just cute this young elf is when she wants to be.

She grins a bit and you catch a spark on excitement in her eyes, "Ready."

Jack yawns and stretches, heading into the bathroom after Trixie for a quick refresh.

While he doesn't return for makeup, he is meticulous about cleaning and loading the pistol and tucking the knife away under his leather duster. He palms the pistol and squeezes once to activate the smartlink, data readout scrolling somewhere behind his eyes before holstering it, apparently satisfied.

With a pause and a deep breath, Calisto slips the cable into her data jack.

Morning Mr. Falcone.