Neo-Tokyo - 04/24/2008 – 1415

Ayaka and Aoi answer, although they sound and look a bit tired - apparently, it got later than usual. From the way they look, they didn't sleep much during the night, and are now busy helping with cleaning up the campus - something about a feud between the computer and the chemistry students, edible foam, and drones getting out of control. It also explains Ayaka's new hair color. It looks like pranks are still as popular at the university as they were when Kambei attended.

The two girls chat for some time - both out of interest, they want to know how Kambei is doing on his case, and likely also out of an interest in taking a "commlink call break" from scrubbing green foam from walls.

Then, about an hour later, the Korean - called Jun by the bartender - leaves the "Red Flower", not without slapping the waitress on her butt in passing. Her surprised squeal is followed by a pouting smile. Kambei might have thought she liked Jun, or such treatment, if he had not seen the program in her head.

Neo-Tokyo - 04/24/2008 – 1415

Kambei finishes the rest of his drink, pays his tab, and heads out after Jun twenty seconds or so after he leaves. He looks around hoping he hadn't made a quick turn so he can continue to shadow him.

Neo-Tokyo - 04/24/2008 – 1415

Jun starts to head back towards Dr. Wu's house. Unfortunately, he doesn't seem to take a short cut through a side alley, or otherwise get away from the main street.

Neo-Tokyo - 04/24/2008 – 1415

Kambei curses as he follows the Fat Bastard – the name he gave Jun in his head – back to Wu’s house. Once back to staking out the house he checks to see if he can still log in with the admin password in the cameras he hacked inside the house to see if he can find the other guy in there or whether Jun is alone.

Shit... there's no way I'm going to be done by this by tonight... and then just a little bit longer before I crash.

Neo-Tokyo - 04/24/2008 – 1415

Kambei's password still works - for how long he doesn't know though. Checking the camera's feeds revelas that Jun is just leaving the appartement of the other korean, and going up to his own. The other seems a bit spaced out - probably chipping.

Neo-Tokyo - 04/24/2008 – 1415

Kambei glances at his time display anxiously, way too early for the doctor to be coming in right now... the only question is do I go in there and risk having to deal with one of the guards while the other one is in the same house... or do I wait till I find a good opportunity to find one of them alone...

Sometimes Kambei recalls his time of getting orders telling him exactly what to do as simpler times, and this was one of those times. Frustrated from being awake for so long and the distruption of his normal routine, Kambei decides it's worth the risk to go in now and try to get this job done with.

A five grand bonus is totally worth this risk, Kambei justifies to himself.

He'd have to be a lot quicker this time because he didn't have his chameleon suit on. Thankfully he already had backdoors and codes through all their systems as long as nothing was changed by surprise. Kambei moves into the drone's node and attempts to spoof the feed so he can break in through the window he used last time heading into the chipper's apartment, with his jacket loose and his gun readily accessable.

Neo-Tokyo - 04/24/2008 – 1415

The drone too seems still under Kambei's control, so sneaking into the building again is no problem.



Once inside, Kambei has not much more trouble evading the chipped korean - he seems lost in his collection, but Kambei doesn't cross his line of sight anyway. Only the man's heavy breathing cuts through the silence. The door to the stairs can be reached without coming close to the korean.

Neo-Tokyo - 04/24/2008 – 1415

Kambei logs into the stairwell camera's node and spoofs the video feed so he can sneak out of the apartment and head up to Jun's door.

He waits at the door and quickly tries to locate any wireless surveillance inside the apartment.

Neo-Tokyo - 04/24/2008 – 1415

There doesn't seem to be any wireless security in the apartment, or not anything Kambei can pick up. That means wired, or nothing. But if the doctor's apartment is not yet upgraded...



From inside, Kambei hears the ding of a microwave. It looks like Jun will go out to drink, but eats cheap food at home.

Neo-Tokyo - 04/24/2008 – 1415

Ksmbei quickly replays a portion of the recording of his previous encoursion into this apartment to memorize the lay out. He waits and listens till he thinks he is either in a bathroom or a room without a direct view of the entrance before using his previous knowledge of the lock to slip in the door, silenced Predator in hand.

Neo-Tokyo - 04/24/2008 – 1415



Judging from what Kambei can hear about a minute later, Jun is heading back to the kitchen, getting himself a cold beer. If he's fast enough, that's an opportunity to enter.



Even with his prior knowledge, Kambei's wired skills are not that faster, so he loses valuable time entering. Once inside, he has barely time to close the door, and quickly look for some hiding spot.



There's not much of a choice - either jump in the next room, or - how clichee - hide behind the couch.

Neo-Tokyo - 04/24/2008 – 1415

Kambei curses himself. He was never at good at the mental stuff as he was at the physical stuff and sometimes it got him into trouble. He quickly ducks behind the couch and waits for an opportunity to come up with his gun close enough that Jun would know it would be foolish to resist.

Hopefully he isn't wasn't wired to shit, not that that's likely for a guy in his position, but still...

Neo-Tokyo - 04/24/2008 – 1415

Jun returns to what passes for his living room, burping loudly - he must have drank half the bottle already. He walks toward the couch, but must be missing Kambei since he flops down on it, sending small clouds of crumbs and dust up.



The korean leans back with a satisfied sigh, and raises the bottle to his mouth again. From the way his slightly greasy hair is visible to Kambei, he is close enough. Kambei raises, and holds his predator to Jun's head, the silencer touching his ear.



Jun is completely surprised, and freezes, the bottle still at his mouth and his eyes and mouth wide open. Beer starts to run out of his mouth and down to his chest while his lips tremble.

Neo-Tokyo - 04/24/2008 – 1415

Kambei leans out from the couch slightly to its side so he isn't holding his gun at an angle, which he hates. He speaks slowly so he only has to say this bit once, "listen carefully."

"I do not intend to kill you or harm you," he says softly using his Korean lingchip, "I have some information that should convince you that cooperating with me is your best option, career-wise, and obviously health-wise."

"I expect that you will cooperate, is my assumption correct?"

Neo-Tokyo - 04/24/2008 – 1415

Jun tries to speak, but his mouth is still full of beer, so only a gurgling noise comes out. Then he nods, and more beer flows down his chin. His shirt is soaked, and the smell of beer covers the smell of the nuke-it burger on a tray next to him.

Neo-Tokyo - 04/24/2008 – 1415

"Good," Kambei stands up, his gun still level with Jun's head, "now sit up slowly, and show me that you have no weapons on you."

"Lift up your shirt and show me the back of your pants too. No surprises or our little talk is over real quick."

Neo-Tokyo - 04/24/2008 – 1415

Jun stands up, and drops ofbeer spill on the couch. His pants are soaked too, and if not for the smell it would look like he soiled himself. He puts the bottle down very slowly, and then lifts the shirt up, which clings to him since it's wet with beer. He is unarmed.

Neo-Tokyo - 04/24/2008 – 1415

"Alright, now, one last warnings," Kambei says, "if I hear a noise, see or feel anything odd, I'm going to fire first and ask questions later. So it's in your best interest to not call you buddy up from downstairs or try to pull any shit, understand?"

Without waiting for an acknowledgement he continues, "alright, now that we got the foreplay out of the way, let's get down to the basic facts.

"You've been taking chips without permission from your bosses, the Yakuza, stealing actually and then using them for yourself or selling them on the side. Do I have that part right? And no use lying to me, I've seen you at the Red Flower, I just want to hear from your own voice that it's true."

Neo-Tokyo - 04/24/2008 – 1415

Jun starts to deny the accusation, then swallows his words when he takes a better look at the heavy pistol - the firearm, and especially the silencer must be making a big impression on a bruiser used to people carrying blades and other melee weapons. He switches to stammering some excuse, which is as good as a confession.

"It's not stealing, they still have it, I just made copies... and I didn't take them from the yakuza, I took them from the doctor... who are you anyway? Who are you working for? I got money, if you want money."

Neo-Tokyo - 04/24/2008 – 1415

Kambei nods and respond ignoring the questions regarding his employer, “good, at least we are on the same page now. But I don’t want your money, I need information, and you are close enough to get it for me or know who can get it for me.�

“Now, understand, if I ever find out any of the information I’m giving you right now or if you ever tell anyone what I am interested in, Dr. Wu and his bosses will have proof of everything you have done. And I seriously doubt they give a shit about the difference between stealing and copying their goods for your own profit and personal use.�

Neo-Tokyo - 04/24/2008 – 1415

Jun pales, and starts to sweat at this threat. Obviously, he thinks his life won't be worth any nuyen once the Yakuza get wind of his activities - they are not known to be overly fond of koreans, even the more open Yakuza.

The bruiser nods, his mouth not fully closed, and his lips tremble slightly as he swallows some remark.

Neo-Tokyo - 04/24/2008 – 1415

"Ok, good," Kambei says, "now, your bosses had a certain girl p-chipped recently, and then she had things done to her, very bad things and it was all recorded like she was herself, just willing to do all those horrible things the chip made her do."

He pauses for a moment before continuing, "that sound like something one of your chips could do?"

Neo-Tokyo - 04/24/2008 – 1416

Jun opens his mouth to answer, but no sound comes out for two seconds. He licks his lips - still wet with beer, and his eyes shift.

"Well... those are not my chips, those are Yakuza chips. I just copied one or two... and it's actually a good thing, you know? That sort of stuff would happen to them anyway, and that way, they are happy, you know?"

Jun's eyes are trying to watch the muzzle of the predator at his head, and his breathing gets slightly louder.

"It's not my fault, I am just trying to make a few nuyen on the side."

Neo-Tokyo - 04/24/2008 – 1417

“I wouldn’t try to justify using those chips on a woman,� Kambei says with a harsh voice, “it’s not going to help win me over.

“As far as making a few bucks,� he looks at his gun and smiles, “I clearly understand, but so am I. Now I have no doubt that you don’t know the particulars of this situation, nor do I care. What I do know is you know how to get a copy of a chip here or there and you aren’t averse to taking risks when it’s to your benefit.

“So, what I need is a copy of the type of chip I described. One that would leave your baseline personality intact, making a sim feed seem like the feed of someone not riding on a p-fix, but that would make her compliant to all the things that were done and make her like it.

“You can get that for me,� Kambei’s voice makes it clear that he isn’t asking a question.

Neo-Tokyo - 04/24/2008 – 1417

Jun swallows whatever he was planning to say next. He licks his lips again, and nods.

"I have some here. Which one do you want? The 'Bimbo', 'Slut' or 'Slave'?"

Jun, as sleazy as he is it was expected, must have kept copies of the chips he sold, and is now talking about the personality types the chip alters the victim into. So, there are different types. The one used on the waitress in the "Red Flower" is probably the "Bimbo", as Jun calls it.

Neo-Tokyo - 04/24/2008 – 1418

“I’ll take all three,� Kambei says, “I’m sure you are enterprising enough to find yourself another set.�

“Now for the second part of what I need. I need to know why they would do that to this particular girl. Seems like a lot of trouble to go through for a simfeed they could have gotten off any two bit girl they got off the street. Do you know which girl I am talking about or do you need me to spell it out for you?�

Neo-Tokyo - 04/24/2008 – 1418

Jun slowly gets up to get the chips, as careful as he'd be walking through a minefield. His answer takes some time too, probably because he's focusing on not moving hastily.

"I don't know about the girls, I just took the programs from the doctor's apartment."

Jun bends down, moving evne more slowly, and losens the cover of the entertainment system. There's a chip taped to the casing, and Jun hands it over to Kambei.

Neo-Tokyo - 04/24/2008 – 1419

Kambei takes the chip and pockets it without easing up on the pistol, “I have no doubt that you don’t know about the girls, but I’m pretty sure you can point me to someone who would know exactly what I need to know. I need to know and I can’t really take no for an answer.�

“Remember, you help me get this done quick, no one finds out about our little deal and you can go on doing what it is that you do. I don’t get what I need and it becomes a bit more… complicated for both of us.�

Neo-Tokyo - 04/24/2008 – 1419

Jun swallows audibly, and his color doesn't improve, but the glimmer of hope he got is enough to make him pull hismelf together.

"That's Takashi Zunigata. He is the doctor's "handler", he's the one in charge. He brings the girls, and tells the doctor what to do with, to them."

Neo-Tokyo - 04/24/2008 – 1420

"Great," Kambei says, "now tell me everything you know about him. I need to know where he lives, where he hangs out, how much ware he's got in him, how many people does he keep around him.

"Remember, you feed me any bullshit and this info is going to find it's way to the right people. Give me what I need to get what I want and no one will ever know you helped me."

Neo-Tokyo - 04/24/2008 – 1430

As it turns out, Jun hasn't that much information on Takashi Zunigata - not surprisingly, since the yakuza doens't mingle much with koreans, but what he knows he spills, even though he needs some questions to remember more.

According to Jun, the man is in his 30s, or looks like it, average height and weight, and dresses and acts like a sarariman except for his yellow cybereyes - and even those were in fashion half a season back among the middle-management.

Jun thinks the man is gay, since he never seemed to show any interest in the girls brought to the clinic, on the rare and not repeated occasions a new yakuza made some lewd remarks. Form what Jun knows, Zunigata has all his fingers, so he never messed up, and is treated with more respect by his men than yakuza his age usually get. No visible tatoos - but then, Zunigata always wore a business suit - and no visible weapons.

Neo-Tokyo - 04/24/2008 – 1430

“Okay, two last questions,� Kambei says, “where do these guys, people in his position, usually work out of? And where do you keep the drugs you use to knock people out, I assume you have them.�

Neo-Tokyo - 04/24/2008 – 1430

Jun is sweating again.

"I don't know, but the kumi he is part of, the Sarenzen-Gumi, those guys have an office near our quarter. Not a good place to hang out as a Korean, you understand, so I don't really go there, but I guess that's where the man would be present. That or a gay bar in Shinjuku.

About the drugs... I don't got drugs to knock people out. I deal with chips, and watch the house here, that's all. I don't do no kidnapping."



Kambei isn't entirely sure, but Jun sounds as if that's true - although he seems to be hiding something as well.

Neo-Tokyo - 04/24/2008 – 1430

Kambei sighs loudly, “I think we were starting to get along, you trying to hide something from me?�

Neo-Tokyo - 04/24/2008 – 1430

Jun shakes his head, looking more nervous again. His language gets rougher as well, showing some accent.

"I am not hiding nothing, I don't do no knock-out drugs. I ain't no kidnapper."

He hesitates, but a glance at the predator makes him prattle on.

"I got chips, people slot them, you know? Just have to ask them, and they'll slot them. Don't need no drugs."

Neo-Tokyo - 04/24/2008 – 1430

"Okay, sure," Kambei says. "Alright, now we are gonna walk out of here together, you in front."

"Your roommate should be dozing on a bettle downstairs and the camera won't record shit right now," he gestures with the gun, "lets go. Once we are outside, you walk towards that bar of yours and I'll walk the other way and hopefully we never have a reason to see each other again."

Neo-Tokyo - 04/24/2008 – 1430

Jun does not quite move like a man going to the gallows, but he comes close - the sleaze probably expects a bullet to the back of his head any second, even though he should know that Kambei would cap him in his apartment if he wanted to kill him. Probably the scene from "Stone Cold Returns", where the hacker is shot right when he thinks he was getting to survive is lurking in his subconscious.

However, Jun's got the right survival instincts, and behaves, so the two separate outside the building, and the korean doesn't look back until he has reached the next corner. By that time, Kambei has disappeared from his view already.

Neo-Tokyo - 04/24/2008 – 1430

Kambei walks back to his bike – while fiddling with the chip in his pocket - and rides back home to get the nano-paste disguise completely off his face.

Once back home he puts the relevant – as in useful for blackmail – portions of his recent outing onto an encrypted chip and stores it in the small locked box he keeps for such things in the compartment underneath his floor boards.

Okay… so I got the chip, now I just need motivation and I can get my money and get some proper sleep. Now I know who the man I need to go after is. I think it’s about time for some outside help.

Kambei settles into his couch and rings up Rattler on his commlink. Hopefully he won’t mind me calling at this ungodly hour.

Neo-Tokyo - 04/24/2008 – 1445

Rattler's icon, the cartoon snake, appears in Kambei's visual field wearing a sleeping cap and a nightshirt and yawning demonstratively.

"I do hope this is either an emergency, or another lucrative business call, Kambei-kun."

The icon floats over to Kambei, circling around him.

"Do you ever sleep?"

Neo-Tokyo - 04/24/2008 – 1445

Kambei sighs loudly, “not lately man, it’s been rough. If anyone suggests you take Long Haul to stay awake, my recommendation is to slap them.�

“Anyway, I did wake you so you can make some money, so there’s that,� he says, “I’m looking to track down a Takashi Zunigata, a member of the Sarenzen-Gumi, though I understand if you prefer not to. I’m looking to track down where he goes, what he does, etc… and most importantly where I can find him today.�

Neo-Tokyo - 04/24/2008 – 1445

Rattler's icon makes a face.

"Long Haul? Uh... that reminds me of long days of coding... but enough of that."

The snake icon sheds his nightshirt like a skin, and picks up a big book.

"Takashi Zunigata... hm... I should be able to find him, but it'll cost you - and I'll expect, of course, that should you get caught doing whatever you plan to do, you'll have the courtesy to make sure you'll not mention my name.

Isn't there this samurai tradition of dieing before capture? If not there should be... "

Rattler doesn't sound that serious, but he's also not using his joke voice.

"Anyway, about my fee...."

Neo-Tokyo - 04/24/2008 – 1445



After a bit of friendly negotiation they agree on a fee of ¥1,900 for his services. "And don't worry about your name," Kambei says, "I'm not sure I'd call myself a samurai but I would never rat out a friend."

"How long do you think it's going to take you to find what I need?"

Neo-Tokyo - 04/24/2008 – 1455

The snake shrugs.

"Given the usual Yakuza habits, probably in the evening. No promises though - that depends on his activities. But I do not think I'll find him prior to that.

So... before I get to work, how are you doing with hacking?"

The snake grins again, widely.

Neo-Tokyo - 04/24/2008 – 1455

"Not too bad actually," Kambei laughs as he talks, "maybe a little slow for a dangerous situation though, I need to get a lot better before I can trust myself to pull that shit in a tight spot. I need a lot of other programs too before I can do everything I need to do."

"But I gotta say, it's a lot of fun! I can see why you would want to get real good at it."

Neo-Tokyo - 04/24/2008 – 1455

Rattler gets more serious again, even ominous.

"It is fun, Kambei-kun, but it's dangerous fun. Don't get overconfident - there's more to the matrix than buying programs and hacking commlinks, and more dangers than you can think of. It's a whole world, and you've just caught a glimpse of it yet."

The snake icon starts to fade, but Rattler keeps talking, his voice growing faint.

"And once you have caught more than a glimpse of this world, Kambei-kun, you might realise you don't just want to get real good at it, you have to get real good at it..."

With that, the last pixel of the hacker's icon fades from Kambei's view.

Neo-Tokyo - 04/24/2008 – 1455

Kambei promises to heed Rattler’s warning. Odd… he doesn’t get preachy like that too often.

He puts the chip away in his small safe in the floor compartment and then lays out the gear he needs on his bed the way he usually does.

I gotta decide how to approach this guy once Rattler finds him. I doubt he’d be as easy to work over as these recent guys… but it’d be nice surprise though.

After all his gear is arranged and properly arranged he lays down on the couch to just close his eyes and relax his muscles while he goes about taking care of his personal business which he has neglected recently on the matrix while Rattler’s recent warnings echo distantly in his thoughts.

Neo-Tokyo - 04/24/2008 – 1455

Kambei promises to heed Rattler’s warning. Odd… he doesn’t get preachy like that too often.

He puts the chip away in his small safe in the floor compartment and then lays out the gear he needs on his bed the way he usually does.

I gotta decide how to approach this guy once Rattler finds him. I doubt he’d be as easy to work over as these recent guys… but it’d be nice surprise though.

After all his gear is arranged and properly arranged he lays down on the couch to just close his eyes and relax his muscles while he goes about taking care of his personal business which he has neglected recently on the matrix while Rattler’s recent warnings echo distantly in his thoughts.

Neo-Tokyo - 04/24/2008 – 1955

A few hours later, a message interrupts Kambei. The message has no signature. It says that Yuna Endo, known as "YE", a singer, will be performing in the club "Freefall" tonight at 22.00. "Z" has been seen at her last two gigs, and it seems very likely that he'll attend this one as well - a booth in the club was reserved by the Kumi.

Neo-Tokyo - 04/24/2008 – 1955

Kambei smiles when he gets the message and scopes out the publicly available information on Freefall and purchases a ticket if it’s required for admission. He was never really into the live band scene so he hasn’t heard more than just the name being bandied about occasionally.

He lays out some appropriate – and subtly armored - clothes and considers his weapon options. Tonight might get violent, but this place will definitely have MAD at the door, but the place seems too nice for frisking.

He settles on his ceramic sealed heavy pistol and puts it next to the small container of nano-paste disguise for tonight. There’s no way I’m gonna let them see my real face.

Seeing as how he can’t exactly bring a backpack along he strips down the equipment he’ll bring to the necessary minimums. After he makes sure he has everything – breaking and entry gear, secured stealth tags, medical patches, an extra clip of HE, plasteel restraints, and a flashpack and his jammer to put into his bike’s storage compartment – he waits impatiently for the right time to head out.

He considers leaving Aoi and Ayaka a message but he decides to let them just do whatever they planned and he’ll just talk to them when they called or after his job was done. I don’t need any extra distractions tonight…

After he is dressed up and ready to head out he grabs his two commlinks, one in the front pocket and one inside his vest pocket and heads down to the garage and then to Freefall.

Neo-Tokyo - 04/24/2008 – 2135

The drive to the club does take a bit longer than expected - some accident blocked off a major lane. But Kambei arrives with time to spare still - bikes are almost unbeatable when it comes to giving jams the slip.

As far as AR signs go, Freefall's draws attention: An always changing view of a floating astronaut in orbit beneath a bright star. The entrance is clean and the bouncers wear suits, and the AR node as well as the conventional sound system are top notch, interfacing with Kambei's commlink very smoothly. There's valet parking, which might offer one way to get the yakuza, if he comes by car and Kambei can replace the valet when the yakuza leaves again. The parking garage is underground, but doesn't seem that secured compared to the club.

The bouncers at the door do not pat Kambei down, trusting their security system to scan him for weapons.



Kambei's prepared for that though, and both his disguise and fake SIN as well as his ceramic gun pass inspection, and he can enter the club.

The interiour is styled as slick as the tech is. This club is clean, modern, and has a state of the art sound system. Currently, there's some band playing rock on stage - soft rocks and ballads, very retro, but with outlandish hairstyles. The booth Zuginata reserved is not occupied yet, so the yakuza is probably not here yet.



Kambei manages to spot Yuni Endo though, the girl is passing from the bar toward the club's backstage area, already in her skimpy show costume.