As Donovan agreed to the levitation plan, Nanashi excused himself from the others, and went to meet the mage at the roof door. He altered the ward to allow the man entrance. "Come on in. The others are waiting." he said before leading the way back to the appartment.

The 6' 4" (1.93 m) tall middle-aged man that meets Nanashi on the roof grins and offers a firm handshake in greeting, "I'm Donovan! Pleased ta meetcha!"

He has a medium build with a good figure for a guy, especially one his age. You guess he must be in his 50s, though he doesn't seem to have any trouble moving around at all. He stands straight and wears a smile that conveys knowledge or importance. His short white hair is neatly trimmed and combed back with hair gel to hold it in place. He is wearing a black 'Merlin' with large orange arcana embroidered all over it.

A feature that catches your eye right away after an initial appraisal of Donovan is his eyes. They are black as onyx with light brown irises being their only feature; definitely cyber. He wears a couple of earrings as well as a choker necklace. The one in his right ear is a small hoop that looks to be fully orichalcum and is set with several large rubies, probably real. The one in his left ear is another hoop, which also looks like orichalcum, bent around some kind of small plastic container with indeterminate plant leaves inside. The choker necklace is a solid band with a plastic sphere hanging at the throat; looks like there is gold inside. You notice a black case on his back, the strap around his chest.

A quick check of his appearance on the astral shows that Donovan is awakened. The necklace and earrings are definitely foci and glow brightly. Donovan's aura glows even brighter, making you think he has more mojo on his person that you can't see, possibly quickened spells. No wonder he couldn't get through the ward.

Listening quietly, the Fool's face begins to drain away the little color left into it as the full horror of what could be unleashed is laid out. He moves to sit down, resting on the arm of the couch. The pale decker doesn't even look up when Donovan enters the apartment and is introduced to the team.

A buzzing from the door chime is audible throughout the room.

"Well, how...I mean, how could we...how do we stop it then?" Jack stammers.

"He's in people's heads...we can't track him there, can we? Ah'm not Otaku, ah need a deck."

Jack's head turns at the sound of the door chime, and he glances at Callisto, already reaching for his pistol.

"Are we expectin' company?" he asks quietly.

Calisto shakes her head no and begins to move quietly to the door. With a free hand she motions for everyone to get down and take cover.

Trixie glances over at the newcomer, but is too engrossed in the topic at hand to say hello. Looking back to the deckers of the group, she says, "We need to get our hands on more of the BTLs. There has to be a way for us to reverce engineer them."

Her eyes light up as an idea flashes into her mind, "What is stopping us from doing a sort of wireless hack that disables the BTLs? We hack the firmware on the chips and fizzle out the wireless links. That'll cut way down on his processing power. Maybe we can even kill him that way. Take out all his links and he just fades out. Its worth looking into at least."

"Mennon is also a problem. Perhaps if we could capture him we could find out more about All-Father's plans. Maybe Mennon even has some of the data on how the BTLs are made. I mean... they have to be made somewhere, right? We track down that place and we can find out a lot more about them."

Trixie doesn't even seem to notice Calisto's motions as she rambles on about her new theories.

"Not that I know of." Nanashi said, keying the intercom. "Who's there?" he asked.

Donovan looks around and the team and says, "Geez! Is there trouble already? I just got here! I didn't invite anybody - I swear!"

He sighs and takes up a defensive position against the door opposite of Calisto. He sets his case down on the floor and opens it up, by undoing the latches and lifting up the lid. He takes out a long claymore with a sapphire-inlaid and orichalcum plated hilt and handle. Those close enough can read an engraved word upon the blade underneath the dikote, 'Soulreaver', written in stylized cursive. The sword seems to take on a shine and sparkle as he wields it. He closes the case without latching it and props it up against the wall.

"Nice to meet you guys. We'll all say 'hi' later," he says with a smile as he glances back at everyone.

Jack tips the brim of his hat towards Donovan, scooping an arm around Trixie's waist and lifting the small girl bodily to behind the nearest piece of furniture, holding a finger to his lips for silence whenever she finally notices him.

Trixie yelps as she is scooped up, but doing so breaks her concentration and she looks around. She nods to Jack, blushing a bit at being so oblivious.

The intercom crackles a little as if protesting its use.

" 'Ello, it's Hafiz. Is Candy ready? Mr. J wants his fiance down here pronto."

"She should be ready in a bit...want to come up and wait?" Nanashi replied, relieved to hear it was a friend rather than a foe, old or new. But then again... "Is it just me, or does that sound like something said for the sake of others..." If it was some sort of trap, it was likely best to have it come up onto their ground.

"Ok, I'm on my way up. Just make sure she's ready when I get there, you know how Mr. J is about waiting."

You here the maglock on the door below unseal before the intercom. Elsewhere, doors open and close, elevators rise and fall, and guns clear concealed holsters.

"Is Hafiz a friend of yours?" Donovan asks as he lowers his sword from a high ready position to a more relaxed and low position with the blade pointed down.

"That did sound a little odd to me... Is he always like that?"

"A friend of a friend for me...the other know him better." Nanashi answered.

"He's Jaron's driver and guy Friday." Calisto moves to flank the door. "It's probably him but let's play it safe." She motions for Nanashi to open the door when he arrives.

Donovan nods and gets into a better stance against the wall with his weapon at a high ready position.

In the Hallway:
The elevator opens, *DING*. Donovan's muscles feel the slightest bit of burn start creeping into them as the great sword is held high, bisecting the crisp angle created by bicep and shoulder. Jack notes multiple footsteps on the thin carpet covering structural plasticrete. "Three of them." Trixie whispers.

Nanashi leans forward almost instinctively, not quite able to make out the murmuring voice coming from the hallway. "One of them knows Cantonese," this last remark from Calisto before the silence crashes ominously down yet again.

Nanashi:
Pressure builds up in the back of your skull and then a thin knife thrusts clean in, slicing through the pressure and cutting out a piece of your consciousness you had nearly forgotten.

The ward around your apartment shatters inward.

Team:
A knock sounds lightly and politely on the door.

Calisto:
Shifting your weight quietly, you peer through the peephole. The view is constricted and gives a slight fishbowl form to everything from Hafiz's face to the gun pressed firmly into his side. All you can see of the hand that is holding the heavy pistol is the gleam of chrome and articulated joints.

Donovan motions to Calisto with a hand and a reverse head nod, saying, 'What's up?'

He whispers softly, "What is it? Do you think they're here to kill us?"

Your move chummers...

Calisto feels the ice move through her body at the sight of the gun pressed into Hafiz. The world begins to become clearer as her emotions wash out of her. Turning away from the door, she faces the group. "There is one possibly more that we need to deal with. Do not hurt the man immediately in front of the door and try to leave one alive. Donovan you're with me, the rest of you get down and be ready if we need the assist."

Cantonese...oh great. Nanashi winced in pain as the ward was suddenly shattered. "Someone just shattered my ward...any clue who these guys are? I have my guesses..." he said, waiting for everyone to be ready before opening the door.

Trixie crawls under the bed, whimpering slightly as terror takes its grip on her again.

Donovan nods. He latches his case and leaves it in place so that it's ready to snatch up in a moment's notice.

In a low voice, he says, "A shattered ward. Could be tough magical opposition as well. Yell if you need help with it. If these guys are here to kill us, let's take them out fast."

Reaffirming his grip on the handle of his blade, he says, "Whenever you're ready, Calisto."

The Fool tenses, muttering under his breath, but the words come clearly through the modified telephone-transducer. "why, why, why..."

Looking half ashamed as he hears his own thoughts broadcast loudly enough for the room to hear, the decker gets control of himself. "I'll open it and get out of the way if you'd like."

"Have at it." Nanashi said, admitting to himself that he wasn't exactly the most nimble person in the room. Leaving the door to the fool, he moved behind an overstuffed chair that had seen almost as much sleep time as the bed.

Trying to stay clear of as many lines of fire as possible, the Fool runs forward. Pulling the door open with half a thought, the old man turns just before hitting the wall and hits the ground with a solid thump. Not bothering to pick himself back up, the decker rolls for the kitchen table.

The quiet sound of well-oiled steel clearing leather and wood is heard as Calisto draws her sword from its sheath running the length of her spine. With her hair down it had been difficult to notice the handle that poked up past her jacket. Catching the gunman completely off-guard, the assassin steps forward, placing her body between Hafiz and his attacker. The metal and diamond blade sharpened to a razor's edge makes no sound as it slices cleanly through skin and muscle.

A sudden jerk with Calisto's off-hand folds the gunman's head into his chest, containing the majority of the arterial spray from his slit throat. The dark liquid begins seeping into his clothing faster than it can absorb and drips down his body onto the thin black carpet.

Galncing over her shoulder, Calisto sees Jack draw a pistol from the depths of his coat and begin to take aim at the doorway, targeting a point just below her own shoulder blades. Returning her gaze to the hallway, her mind locks on to a concept that some unseen force had been pushing her away from.

The mage melts into focus, a powerfully built Chinese male, young and full of life. He moves with the self-assurance of someone who knows he cannot be seen.

Hafiz calls out, "Behind you." and then pushes into the apartment taking the dying gunmen with him.

Donovan grabs Hafiz and pulls him to the side, replacing himself into the door way and trying to get a fix on the source of the footsteps.

Blood on the carpet...the landlady was going to have a fit. Of course, that was a secondary concern to dealing with the very present threat of the mage who faded in to sight. "Get the heck out of my home." he told the mage, preparing to send a stunbolt at him. Hopefully the mage would get the idea.