:: After 24 hours of research, surveillance and checking with contacts, you all check your individual time meters and realize it's 9pm. Perhaps now would be a good time to converge and share what you've learned? ::

Wraith rubs his eyes. He'd been going over these notes for 5 hours non-stop. Only model left to look at is the cheapest and I doubt they have it, but just to be sure I'll check it after the meeting. He places a call to Trace.

"Hey, its Wraith. I got a lot of data to go over with everyone, maybe we should all meet up and go over our current findings?"

Finishing the column for the weekend, and finishing up recording the questions that he wishes to ask Mr. LaBonte tomorrow at 3:00, PD sends his column to Alex with another thank you for the chance to do some reporting at Factor Five and then puts in a call to Trace: "We getting together?"

With her alarm clock screaming like a well paid whore, Sully scrambles from her bed and begins the "day". She takes a quick shower and lays out her working clothes. Eating a soy energy bar she calls up Trace. "Hey, it's me. We should probably get a little face time in tonight. Got a place we can meet?"

In the dream he was naked. He always seemed to be naked. It made him wonder what Freud would say. The dragon was only the size of a large bus this time. Much easier to move about in after being eaten. The dragons heart pounded loudly in Trace's ears, the funny thing was it sounded just like his cell phone....

He crashed out of bed after reaching for the phone. He grabbed the bed stand instead, lost his balanced and tumbled to the floor. The grogginess of sleep pulled at him like some sort of really sticky goo. He took a deep breath and shook his head a couple of times. The goo started to dissipate. He found the phone by blindly groping for it on the table next to his bed. His vision was still to foggy to actually see the phone, so he just put it next to his ear and hoped the auto active circuits worked.

"Hey, its Wraith. I got a lot of data to go over with everyone, maybe we should all meet up and go over our current findings?" Wraiths voice sounded like he felt, tired and ready to go back to bed. "Right," he said, still fighting not to slur his words. The world was getting brighter, he knew it was a good thing, but he just wanted the sweet embrace of sleep. "Pizza place on capitol hill, Pagliacci's make it an hour, hey can you call Cowboy Jack and let him know, thanks. Later kid."

The phone had barely blinked off when the shrill ring split the air again. Trace fumbled once more, but this time it was to switch the volume off, then he answered it.

"We getting together," PD's voice answered. "Yeah, I just talked to Wraith, Pagliacci's in an hour, see you there." He hung up the phone half expecting it to ring again. When it didn't he took a deep breath, the last of the goo was gone. He stood and stretched, trying to decide if he had time for a shower. He did. He was halfway through the 'massage' cycle when the cell rang yet again. damn, grand central station here.

"Yes," he said loudly so the phones receiver would pick him up.

"Hey, it's me. We should probably get a little face time in tonight. Got a place we can meet?" The calm voice of the deadly women echoed in the shower. He hit the faucet off before replying. "Hey Sully, I just heard from everyone else. Pagliacci's on Capitol hill, it's a pizza joint, about an hour okay?"

The phone disconnected leaving Trace in peace for a few moments. He contemplated unleashing his elementals on it, ordering them to destroy it next time it rang. The though brought a smile to his face while he dried off. Damn if it hadn't been a while since I had something to smile about. His closet was full of identical black three piece suits with clip on ties and dark trench coats. The unofficial uniform of the F.B.I. He hadn't had the money to spring for a new wardrobe, and this one fit him well, he liked the 'everyday' man look, and tried hard to project that image. And if an opponent underestimated him because of it, so much the better.

He was ready to go when thoughts of the Shaman entered his mind. Luckily he had keyed the number into his cell phone, he punched it up and let it ring.

"Hey, Trace here. The meeting is on for," he paused and checked his watch, "thirty five minutes from now. A pizza place called Pagliacci's on capitol hill."

Ember's cell phone murmurs pleasantly in her ear, stirring her from her light doze. She stretches lazily and reaches up to tap the earpiece on.

"Speak."

Trace's voice buzzes through, letting her know about the meet, and a small smile quirks at the corner of her mouth.

"I'll be there." She taps the phone off and lays there for a moment, stretching her toes, before finally getting off the couch. She hadn't shed any of her clothing from the morning's business, not even her longcoat. She runs a hand through her black hair, and retouches the black kohl lining her eyes, and her velvety red lipstick. She considers a bit of glitter for her face, but decides that would be overkill, and she doesn't want to give the game away.

She shows up to the pizza place about twenty minutes early, and is three slices into her pie by the time the others begin showing up.

Wraith puts a call through to Jack, "Hey man, we're meeting up at Pagliacci's in an hour. Its a pizza joint or something. See ya there."

Wraith shows up at Pagliacci's 15 minutes early and orders himself a beer, then looks for any of the others to show up.

A few minutes after Wraith arrives Trace walks in the door. Hair combed and clean shaven with fresh clothes he looks almost brand new. He spots Ember and Wraith, but doesn't say anything. He finds a table in the back, without a direct veiw of the front door and sits down with his back to the wall. He orders a large hawaiin from the in table menu and a couple pitchers of coke and waits for the others to come in.

Ember raises an eyebrow as Trace brushes past her to find his table in the back. He doesn't say anything, or give her any other acknowledgement of her presence. Shrugging, she picks up the rest of her meal and makes her way back to where he's seated himself and slides into the chair opposite him.

"Fruit on pizza is a sin, you know," she informs him as she helps herself to some of his coke.

Trace nods at Ember as she seats herself. "Right, let's get one thing strait. Pizza is never a sin, as long as it has cheese on it." He says to her. He catches Wraiths eye and waves him over. "Hey Wraith, this is Ember. Ember, Wraith. She's our new 'asset'. The rest of our little club should be here soon, I'll hold off further intros till there all here."

Sully pays the cabbie and strolls into the pizza joint. Wearing more street oriented clothing. She quickly sorts through the various food odors. Looks like Trace brought his mystery woman along. She grabs 2 slices and a cola. She makes her way to the back area where the others trails lead. She frown at the odd shift to the side table but follows on to the new table. "Hey all." With a nod she grabs a seat.

"Hey Sully, good to see you got some rest." Trace smiles as she sits down. "Sully, this is Ember. She's the replacement. Ember, this is Sully."

Another hour's worth of tinkering with that damn frame and he was about ready to pitch his deck out the window. The ringing phone on the wall of the shed was a welcome change.

"Jack." He listens to the meeting information, and nods, resisting the urge to give the scatted compenents a final kick as he stepped out of the shed.

45 minutes later finds him pulling up in front of the pizza shop, the plain blue denim shirt and jeans almost looking natural under the heavy leather duster.

He grabs a few slices, something piled high with meat, or whatever the accepted substitute was, and wound his way through the crowd to the back, grabbing a seat next to Sully and nodding to the rest of the crew, already inhaling the first slice.

PD arrives last to the pizza place. He enters, grabs a soy-cola and a slice of white pizza with broccoli before looking around. Taking a bite, he gives a little head nod to let you know that he's seen you before coming over. "Hello, ladies and gentlemen. Hope your previous day was a bit more productive than mine, but I do have good news." Then, turning an eye to Ember, PD wipes the grease from his hand on a napkin before extending it to shake the shaman's hand, "Joe, but most call me PD for private dick."

Sully gives a nod to Ember. "So you're the one who got the boss lady's panties in a twist." She has a lop-sided grin on her face. "Nice to meet you."

Wraith takes a seat and gives Ember a nod. "No problem, I'd rather wait for the others too so I don't have to tell the same story 4 times."

When PD arrives and asks about others being productive, Wraith smiles, but continues waiting for the others.

Ember nods to Wraith, PD, and the denim-clad man inhaling his pizza, and then turns to lift an eyebrow at Sully.

"I do? And here I thought it was a character flaw." She smiles a genuine, although vaguely savage smile. "The pleasure is mine."

The girl--despite her obvious sensuality, it seems somehow a mistake to call her a woman--is sprawled languidly in her cheap vinyl covered chair, not unlike a cat of some sort. Or a reptile.
Her deep velvet red lipstick, the ring adorning her lower lip, the red satin corset, and the excruciatingly low pants all come together to present a person who ought to be out hitting the clubs, or sleeping off the previous evening's entertainment. Certainly not grouping to plan a run.

"Right," Trace says as he finishies off his third slice of Pizza. "Let's get the ball rolling, Wraith go ahead and fill us in with what you got."

A visible flicker of annoyance passes over Ember's features as Trace brushes her off the second time. Her full lips are pressed into a thin line of obvious irritation, but she says nothing, instead turning in her seat to hear Wraith's reply.

Sully smiles at the liquid sex kitten in the booth. She makes eye contact with Trace or at least look his way. Her everpresent shades make it hard. She takes her right index finger and taps to to her forehead, then motions with it out to Trace. "Looks like you slept too."

Trace gives her a nod. When the typical seattle waitress, darkhair and everything pierced that could be, steps up to refill the coke picture. He uses her presence to mask the casting of his spell.


Hey. Whats going on?

Wraith pulls out a small black box, sets it on the table and presses a button, everyone notes that it is a white noise generator. He then pulls out a small display screen and lays it out on the table. He then connects a dataline from it to his temple. A large scale city map shows up, and then zooms down into the area around Form Factor Five.

"I drove the entire area and put together a mapsoft, including all the details like manhole covers, sewer grates, and alleys. I did a walk around the building and put together a small surveillance video.”

Another window opens up on the screen, showing the building. The video lasts about 5 minutes, with a few cut scenes of the local security guards sitting around, laughing and drinking coffee. The camera zooms in on the front and rear doors, showing their access points and surveillance cameras.

“Thanks to Jack, I have an inventory list of all security devices within the building. None of it is anything fancy and I should be able to get us through any checkpoints. The only piece to the puzzle we’re missing is the retinal scanner. That wasn’t on the list, which leads me to this it is a new addition, likely installed to protect their latest project. I’ve spent the last several hours studying the details of every retinal scanner that Ares makes. I’m counting on it being an Ares model, but even if its not, I should be able to get through. PD, you mentioned that you may be going inside the building for a tour, if you can get me a picture of the retinal scanner, I’ll be your best friend.

Local security is a joke at best. I watched them sit around for an hour talking about sports and the chick one of them is hoping to lay. They didn’t seem to have any awareness of their surroundings at all. The only thing I can say about them is that because they take smoke breaks so often, it is going to be hard to tell when they will be near the building.

For our entry, I’m thinking the front door may just be a good bet for us. What I’m thinking I can do, is us the camera at the front door as an access point to hookup a dataline tap for Jack. Jack, do you want me to send the signal by radio, laser, maser, or what? I can bypass the doors without much trouble and once I get Jack access to their network, he should be able to deal with the cameras.

The only wild cards that I can think of so far are the retinal scanner and any magical protection.

If any wants a copy of the data I’ve put together, just hand me a dataline. Anyone have questions?”

Sully slides a card with a LTG address on it. "Tight. Can you send a copy of all this to this address?"

Well, talked with the boss and Trickster was tossed in the circular file at her request. I haven't had time to verify the info but she says he was being a chatty Kathy with a mafia snitch so she had his memory wiped. I checked with my sources and I can tell you his memory was all zeroes and the snitch a paper weight. Trickster is staying with the Finnegan's for the duration. I have someone keeping an eye on him in case he changes hands. She wants him left where he is. As far as she's concerned end of story.

"No problem....Done."

"I'll be going on-sight for a story about Factor Five's activities surrounding the Tour de France tomorrow at 3pm. I've got enough head memory and the vision magnification to get you a good photo of the retinal scanner. With any luck, they'll be a logo or something on it so we can prepare for it. With the information that our employer gave us, if I have to I'll get "lost going to the bathroom" and get the shot for you. I'll take roving shots, as well, so that we can have a look at things like the size of the hallways, things that might be in the way -- plants, chairs, that sort of thing. Plus, I'm actually probably going to get to write the story." PD finishes with a grin, and then finishes his pizza.

Turning back to Wraith, "Oh. I took your suggestion and have begun the search for some encryption/decryption gear for my communications."

Wraith gives PD a nod, "Good. When you have the internal surveillance done, send a copy of it to this address."

He slides a card to PD with his LTG number on it.

"Will do."

"So, sounds simple enough," Jack mumbles around another slice of pizza.

"Ember and Trace go in as magic backup, Sully's in for mundane stuff, Wraith handles the security, and I'm running electronic interference?"

Trace nods after Wraith finishes. "That's good Wraith, damn good. If your sure you can do the tap, this is what we will do. Will hit the place sunday night just after 1 a.m. Ember and I will hit the watcher and take it out. Once that is done, she will use a spirit to conceal Wraith and Sully as they move in. Wraith takes out the door and hooks up the tap. Sully will deal with any guards that get curious. Everyone clear so far?" Trace makes eye contact with each person before continuing. "Here's where it gets a little fuzzy. We have to upload research data into their main frame," he pauses to wash down a slice. "Without detection, Jack can you do that from the dataline tap, no maybes, I need a %100 certainty. If you can, then great. Once your in their system upload the data. At that point I will join Sully and Wraith and proceed to get the armor. Ember and PD will provide physical security for Cowboy Jack, and astral security for us. If," he points at Jack, "he can't do that from the tap, the only thing that will change is that Jack will join us onsite. Ember will still remain off site and cover us astrally and scout for us, while PD covers her physically. Once the armor is secure we will evac the same way we came in. Then I'll cover any trace that we where there. Any questions?"

Sounds good, I'm glad she didn't geek the kid. Anything else I should know?

Sully nods as she gets her points in the plan.

Nothing concerning Crimson but I would at least give the girl some response before she bites you or something.

Wraith nods. "Sounds good to me."

"Works for me, too. Especially since I don't have to go inside again. I'd rather not risk that. Who in the group has cars? I know I have one that we can use as necessary -- it's got no modifications what so ever, but it'll get some of us in and out again."

"I got a bike, sorry."

PD raises his eyebrows, "No problem. Wasn't trying to say I needed to drive anyone, just trying to figure out how we were all gonna get there and back again."

"absolutely under no circumstances do we drive our own vehicles to the site, I don't want any chance of your own identities being traced back to you. We need a van if possible. Jack, Wraith: can either of you, or both of you, boost a Bulldog or something by tomorrow, and get the plates switched so we don't have to worry about the star coming down on us? If you need help call any of us you think is needed. Any other questions? I want us to meet tomorrow at seventeen hundred hours. I'll call and let you know where." Trace sits back when he finishes waiting for any other questions. He gives a small nod to Sully. "Ember, I know where going kind of fast here, is there anything you need to know that we haven't gone over?"

PD shrugs and nods at Trace's comments about driving, conceeding the point.

Jack shakes his head, swallowing a last bite.

"If you want no traces, ah need to be able to run at maximum I/O, which means ah gotta be on site and tapping directly into tha' system." The southern drawl is a little stronger as he looks distracted, staring at the wall as he speaks, obviously running numbers in his head.

"Then we go with option two. Jack and I move in after Sully and Wraith secure the area. Jack, uh, jacks in and takes over building security, deleting the cam's etc. Ember goes astral from the van and PD watches over her. Sound good?"

Ember nods to Trace in reply. "I'm good."

"Works for me. I've never boosted a car though, but I'm sure I can figure it out."

Jack takes the plan in. "Sounds good and looks like we have everything covered."

Sully finishes her food and nods when spoken too. She seems satisfied with the teamwork thus far.

"What should I do outside if the guards head inside? You want a warning or should I try to deal with them somehow. If I'm outnumbered, it could get a little dicey but I'll try. Also, what are our contingencies? Let's assume the drek hits the fan. Do we split and walk away seperately to break up persuit, should I come in to help, should I try to bother anyone who'se trying to get inside to bother you, etc. Or, should we react as we see fit when the time comes?"

"Good point PD, any sugestions? Anyone?"

With a nod toward Ember, PD continues, "If she's doing the out-of-body thing, then I don't feel too comfortable just leaving her to "sleep" without someone watchin' so I don't think I'm going anywhere unless she gets back to her body."

"I don't think it would be a good idea for PD to initiate any fights. He would be going it alone and leaving Ember defencless. Best thing for him would be to just give us a warning if we are going to have anyone coming up our tailpipe and defend himself only if nessisary."

"Ok. so here’s the contingency plans. If we meet more than twice the expected guards on site we bug out. That means if there are twelve guards instead of five we call it for another day without entering. Once Wraith does his thing with the locks though we are at the point of no return. At that time we go regardless. If during the op, but not before Jack and I have entered you guys get caught or meet opposition to strong for just Sully to bag, then the two of us," he points to Cowboy Jack, "will come in and lend support. If that happens though the cover is blown and we go loud. If, after we recover the armor but before Jack is done uploading the data, backup arrives on site. PD is to warn us via radio or other signal, he is not at any time to leave Ember. She would be to vulnerable. If this happens I am going to assume the op is hosed. We will evac to the roof, and I will, well I will guarantee no guards follow us. From there I can get everyone down or to another roof who can't climb down. after that we make our way a block or to south and have PD pick us up in the Van." Trace gives everyone a look, encouraging discussion or suggestions. "Listen people, Crimson may want me in charge here, I may have experience being in charge, but this isn't the army, if you got an idea that's better then mine I have no problems going with that instead, so don't be shy okay? But once we all agree it's the way to go, we stick with it. Questions?" Trace leans back and empties the last of his coke and starts on his sixth slice

"I don't have much experience driving anything in a stressful situation, if you know what I mean, but I'm not opposed to trying. Just thought I'd let you know that it's a little outside my area of expertise, so to speak. Other than that little detail, it sounds find to me."

"None. The plan seems solid and something we can all handle. Only thing left to do is for PD to get me the picture of the Retinal Scanner so I can make sure I have the details on it ready. After that, its just waiting for the right time."

"I like the plan. I just want to find out what limitations our magical talent has. I don't need a complete list, just general things. Can we count on any spirits helping us out? Also I like to know if either of you need more or less protection from me when and if things get hairy."