Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 10:37 PM, Redmond


Zo does one last sweep with his AK in the back of the gas station, using the ultrasound sight to pick up anything he might have missed. Not seeing anything he breathes a sigh of relief.

<@team>The back of the gas station is clear. I'm covering the north side garage doors as well as the south side ones.

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 10:37 PM, Redmond

As the team took up defensive positions, and Jovan argued with his timid watcher, a low, eerie howl grew into the night, echoing off buildings, and filling the silence. This howl brought with it a strange magic, and those that heard it found their muscles beginning to stiffen. Even Jovan could hear the low howl back at Rusty's place. The ghoul before Professor cocked his head in recognition of the sound as well, and he stood looking for a moment at the dwarf without moving

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 10:37 PM, Rusty's Safehouse, Redmond

Jovan rolled his eyes at the watcher's behavior. That's what I told you to do the first time, you stupid tool, he thought to himself. <<@team: I am surprised you seem not to have run into more ghouls before this one. Isn't it eating the rat?>>

Then he heard the howl, far in the direction of the others but still audible to his sensitive ears. He felt his whole body tense up at the sound. He could still move around in the chair, and probably could stand if he so desired, but he felt somewhat sluggish, as his muscles found it more difficult to respond to the signals from his brain.

He signaled his elemental. There is a gas station north of here, approximately 3 miles. There are several healthy metahumans there, though they may now be inside. Can you spot that location from here?

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 10:37 PM, Redmond

The howl burrowed deep into Professor's mind, and threatened to twist his frame into painful knots. He refused to succumb.

Now he had to decide which was the greater threat... the disease carrying ghoul, or the huge dog with jaws full of teeth.

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 10:37 PM, Redmond

As Ferret turns his attention to the Cross Labs node, his ears perk up at a strange noise.

The howl seems to come from all around him, building to an ear-shattering wail that freezes him to the spot. Even though the rational part of his brain realises the sound is not coming from the nodes around him but from the real world, he still finds himself momentarily unable to move.

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 10:37 PM, Redmond

Acme shivered at hearing the howl. Things had just ratcheted up to about 5 on the Trouble Meter in his head and he started trying to figure out where the howl came from. Between the threat of more ghouls and the beast that made the howl... He mentally added another thousand on his request for hazard pay.

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 10:37 PM, Redmond

Zo was covering the garages, hearing the howl of a dog off in the distance he kneeled behind cover instinctively and without thought. Unnoticed by him his hands began to tremble.


Drek-----ghouls--why does it have to be ghouls? I hate ghouls....

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 10:37 PM, Crosstown Gas, Redmond

Oswald was waiting for a response to his query about drawing out the dog when Jovan's text came in. What the hell is he talking about, ghoul eating a rat?

Already physically still, his mind froze as his headphones picked up the sound of teeth grinding bone not far away. Had he been left alone, outside, with a ghoul coming towards him? Was he expected to watch his own back as well as everyone else's?
He heard the dog's howl filter in through his digital sonic anchor to the outside world, and noted how everything seemed to go silent in its wake. The moment was frozen. Oz knew that he'd have to drop out of VR and risk losing the dog, or stay in VR and risk losing his head.

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 10:37 PM, Redmond

The dog is far away, but there's a ghoul right here, and a rat certainly isn't enough food. Oz, however, stringy and old as he is, is a much more satisfying meal.

Professor zooms in with his goggles and takes a shot at the ghoul. What with explosions and howls going on, he figures a couple of shots won't make much difference in the general hubbub. He may not do much damage, but it should decided to go elsewhere.

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 10:37 PM, Rusty's Safehouse, Redmond

The Powerful wind spirit though about the distance, and gave Jovan a skeptical look,"I will see what I can do"[/i] He said, floating away through the roof of the building and out into the night. [i]"I see a tiny spirit floating in the sky, and specks that move upon the ground, that are alight on the magical plane. But there is little I can tell of them from here. Perhaps it would be wise to move closer to your team, if you wish to take advantage of my services. "

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 10:37 PM, Rusty's Safehouse, Redmond

Jovan let out a sigh. Perhaps. If that proves necessary, then so be it, but for now, let us see what we can do with what we have to work with.

He turned to the two watchers who had been directed to check up on the others. You two have been quiet for some time. You are near the metahumans, I assume. I believe they may be under attack by persons and/or paracritters unknown. For anything that is currently attacking or looking to attack the group, I want you to circle around its head and do everything in your power to distract it. Be creative.

Turning his attention back to the elemental, I have two other tiny spirits acting as spotters for you now. They will fly around any creature that is currently attacking the team. I want you to disable those creatures to whom the spirits draw your attention. I leave the modus operandi up to your discretion, but try to incapacitate rather than kill them.

<<@team: Backup on the way. When you have a free moment, take a look at the man in this video [attached clip of a man in a long coat, hat, and beard, walking down a dark sewer tunnel]. I'd like to know if any of you have seen someone like this recently - he is a ghoul, for those of you who can assense auras. This man is connected to these events with Long Legs, I'm sure of it, so keep an eye out for someone who looks like him while you're out there fighting ghouls. If you happen to see him, or even if you think you see him, then for the love of Ghost you must not shoot him!>>

The message sent, Jovan paused briefly, going back over something the elemental had said. How many of those dual-natured specks on the ground do you see?

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 10:37 PM, , The abandoned gas station Redmond

Zo, up on hearing the shot perks up and heads toward the missing door to get a better view of the outside.

<Zo yelling>"Prof-Acme, what ya shootin at?"

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 10:37 PM, , The abandoned gas station Redmond

"The ghoul closing in from the east," Professor replies.

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 10:37 PM, Rusty's Safehouse, Redmond

Not answering the new guy immediately, Acme focuses on the image coming over the link. He frowns, realizing that ultimately, Coyote was right. He had a lot to learn; especially about how things one does can bite them in the ass later. He let out a weak chuckle and rubbed the back of his head.

<<@team: Huh. Cute. That looks a lot like the guy I pissed off today. He was right outside my apartment when I grabbed the cab he was trying to get to where Mizz J was, though I didn't know it at the time. Damndest thing too, Coyote and I sniffed that his trail led from her hotel, though her bouncer guy looked really serious when I mentioned it to him.>>

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 10:37 PM, , The abandoned gas station Redmond

"The ... guy ... I just shot is known to Ms. J.?" Professor went through various scenarios in his head. None were too happy.

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 10:37 PM, , The abandoned gas station Redmond


Well if he is dead, ya know he raises a bunch of questions. The most importan bein, does Ms. J know or care he's here? An number 2 iz, if we're still gonna get paid.

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 10:37 PM, , The abandoned gas station Redmond

While the grey Ferret remains motionless, nanoprocessors in his brain kick into action. They switch his interface mode safely from hotsim VR to vanilla AR, gracefully log him off the Cross Labs node and jack him safely out of the matrix with a pleasant 'bing'. His eyes pop open in alarm.

"What the frag was that" he grumbles as he unplugs the fibre optic cable from behind his ear, leaving it linked to the ancient terminal. He stretches his legs out and scrambles to his feet, looking nervously around.

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 10:38 PM, , The abandoned gas station Redmond

"Well I'd say one of two things," he replied. "Either he's with her or he tried something. Maybe he's a backup plan, it's not like all ghouls stepped out of an ancient Romero movie."

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 10:37:00 PM, Cross Town Gas, Redmond

Oswald couldn't take chances with his life. The dog would be a problem for later.
He logged out of VR and with his pistol already in his hand, waited quietly for whatever had been making that sound to show itself to him.

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 10:37:00 PM, , Cross Town Gas, Redmond

The Ghoul took a slug to the chest with a jerk. The fight or flight kicked in, and this one chose fight. He breaks into a run, a growl growing into a scream. The rat drops to the ground as he pumps his arms. He seems to be barreling down on Oswald. He closes half the distance in a blink of an eye, saliva flying from his teeth. Oswald awoke from VR to see the beastly figure charging him, and leveled the laser at him while he charged. The beam split the darkness, and seared a hole straight through the monster's chest. Momentum carried the body another step, and flung it face first onto the curb of the street.

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 10:37:00 PM, , Cross Town Gas, Redmond


Upon seeing the Goul run past Zo gets a spaced out look on his face.


Zo stares at the 8 year old female ork, and sees a ghoul approach from behind her. He screams but nno sound comes out. The goul grabs her by the arm and pulls her toward itself. Then she screams, "Brother--Help meee!!!!!!"
As she screams the ghoul grabs her belly ripping it out. The internal organs spilling over Zo......As the ghoul consumes his sister, a gun goes off annd the ghouls head explodes...Zo stands still waiting to be the next meal.

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 10:37:00 PM, , Cross Town Gas, Redmond

Acme wheeled his hands around to try and hit the Ghoul from behind when suddenly it dropped in front of him. "Well shit Oz," he said with a laugh. "We're going to have to stop worrying about your potential for defense it looks like." He looked around, taking a quick scan for anything else in the area. Hopefully this was a loner...

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 10:38 PM, Cross Town Gas, Redmond

It took a moment for Oswald to steady himself. His heart was racing in a primitive display of nervous response. His bladder clenched and his mouth ran dry. All actions perpetuated by his sympathetic nervous response to danger. He steadied himself fighting back the feelings, thankful that his robotic hands would not go white or shake as blood was routed from the surface of his skin to his muscles and brain. He knew that this whole autonomic process was worthless to him. His heart could stop, and the nanites in his blood would keep him in fresh Oxygen for a lot longer than this fear response could hope last. Old relics, these feelings. Outdated, stone-age bullshit. Hyperventilating was meaningless. Dilated pupils, not helping. He massaged the carotid sinus in his neck to reduce his blood pressure and heart rate, tricking his body into calming itself. It helped some.

Oswald had moved over to where the ghoul skidded to a halt, and, looking at it, flipped it over with his boot. It looked like the laser had cut straight through the mediastinum, severing the aorta and the spine through the T3 and T4 vertebra. As clean a kill-shot as a man could make. Even a shot to the brain would have left the heart pumping blood to failing organs for minutes. As the blood oozed out in the ground, Oz wondered if he still could have saved him from such a wound. It would have been a challenging surgery...

"Romero had some good ideas though. Like boarding up entrances. This seems like a pretty good demonstration that we can't rely on spooks to watchdog for us. Let's move inside, block up all entrances, save one, and put our chief gunner on it. Zo, I hope you're up for guard duty. I'm going to bring the blimp in closer to try and tag the two geeks northwest of here. Our local commotion might draw some more cadaverous attention, and I want to give them somewhere else to focus. Any more contacts pop up, fucking shoot them for me, please."

Oz moved inside, bringing the Blimp's controls up in AR, he turned it away from the building in east, towards the last known position of the two ghouls, hoping that they were still there.

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 10:38 PM, Cross Town Gas, Redmond

Ferret glances around nervously. He moves to the window and sees the dead ghoul.

"What about that hellhound or whatever the frag it was. I could hear it's fragging howl in the matrix."

He shivers, rubbing his scrawny arms, then returns to the terminal.

"Okay. I'm going back in. Just keep the fragging monsters from chewing on me, please. "

He settles down and blows out a sigh. Once he feels a bit calmer he jacks back in and returns to his examination of the Cross Labs node. His nose twitches jerkily, then he dives into the menu options and scurries towards the Bistro.

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 10:38 PM, Redmond

Jovan's air elemental hovers in the clouds, staring at the scene in the distance,"Your spirits circle a creature that is now dead, I see three other creatures of dual nature even further off, they seem to be running away.I can barely make them out from here"

Zo stands lost in memory, Shivering and sweating in the dark garage by himself. Oswald and the others were congregating in the front room as Ferret got back online. Oswald watched the Blimp's sensor array as it sailed east to find the other ghouls. He spotted them heading north. They were running now, and had covered a good amount of ground since he tracked them last. The one with the corpse on his back trailing by a few car lengths.

Online once again, the shiny ferret made it's way through the Gas stations node to check out the system. This seemed to be an old fashioned "Tiered Access" system where every node was connected to a main node, including te gas station, you had to access the main node to reach anywhere else. As he accessed the Cross labs Directory with his public account, He noticed something else, The main node was on high alert. His Firewall and systems analysis were in the red, But public access wasn't being shut down. Considering he hadn't even hacked a better access yet, this alert was most likely going off already. The Main node was a blocky green paradise growing over ancient ruins. A bright red phoenix soared in the sky and a shimmering lake glowed a teal blue ahead of him. Ferret brought up a side bar and flipped through to the "Morning Bistro" The scene before him blurred by and zoomed in to a small restaurant on the first floor of a large building. The place was empty except for a waitress in a green and white uniform, another user interface. The whole set up was way out of date,"Can I take a reservation or carryout order?"Another sidebar popped up with more options, including leaving a message for the staff.

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 10:38 PM, Redmond

<<@Team: Frag me, the main node's on high alert. Either our snake friends have been here already or BDLL is a totally paranoid fragger. It's going to be a bitch to get in, and even though this code is about as old as me, I doubt I can brute force it. I'll give it a go but if it doesn't work, I'm going to have to do it the sneaky way and that is going to take time.>>

Ferret hacks up a slimy scrap of paper and hands it to waitress with one of his paws.

'Can you pass on this message, please' he squeaks at her.

<<@BDLL. Mrs J has sent us to ensure delivery of her goods. If you need assistance with delivery, please contact me. Ferret.>>

Then, with a twitch of his whiskers, he snaps back to the main node. He spends a few moments scanning the various icons present: ruins, lake and particularly the glowing phoenix. I don't like the look of that burning bird, he thinks to himself.

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 10:38 PM, Redmond

"Northern Ghouls are on the run away from here. That's encouraging, but they've also got their food, so they've never been too much of a direct threat. I could still tag them just to remove them as a potential threat and to draw attention away from this location. That last geek didn't seem too put off by the gunfire, and it was hitting him."

Oz was sitting, facing the door and watching his feeds on AR.

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 10:38 PM, Redmond

Professor checks out jacked-in Ferret. "Looks like our hacker has his work cut out for him. Till he's done, I'll keep an eye out to the south and east."

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 10:38 PM, Redmond

<<@team: No. It can't have been the Vipers. The prisoner said they didn't know where Long Legs was holed up - they wouldn't have ripped through Twisters like that if they did. I suspect that it was Jonathan and his band of feral ghouls who may have set off the alarm. Perhaps Jonathan is a hacker, but it would not be necessary, methinks; setting off a node alarm can be done through a physical intrusion into the node's facility as easily as through a Matrix intrusion, can it not?

Acme, your claim that the ghoul is somehow connected to our employer is worrisome, but if you have seen Jonathan before then that could simplify this process greatly. Perhaps a spirit search for that man is in order.

Oh, and by the way, I truly hope that you all do not honestly mean to tell me, through your suspicious lack of response to my earlier question, that you have been seeing feral ghouls carrying food around in the streets and buildings. Last time I checked, that is not normal behavior for feral ghouls - they eat their food roughly where they find it, they don't transport it elsewhere. Surely that is not the case here?>>

Jovan sighed again in exasperation. My spirits are silent and incompetent. Very well, do not worry about that then. For now, at least.

I have a question for you, elemental. There is a man, a ghoul, whom I suspect is somewhere inside that toxic area you see to the north. That ghoul is connected to the series of events that have brought me and the other metahumans here, I am sure of it, and those specks you see running away are, I believe, feral ghouls that came here with him. It seems now that one of my teammates unknowingly encountered the man earlier today, and probably saw his aura, so we would be able to search him out astrally, but since this man is an Infected and a "friend of a friend," so to speak, I would prefer to deal with him personally and away from the rest of my team, one predator to another.

I wish for your opinion and cost-to-benefit analysis on this, elemental. Do you believe that getting in and out of this viper's nest quickly and getting some straight answers from that ghoul is worth the risk of stirring up something toxic?

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 10:39 PM, Cross Town Gas, Redmond

Satisfied for now that there were no more ghouls rushing him, Oswald slipped back into VR.

<<@Ferret: Well, it's possible that it's always been on high alert. This place ain't exactly open for business. Good news is that a general alert like that won't matter at all since there's no one minding the store. So, IC may be swarming, but at least they're not shielded against your attacks like if you'd set off a restricted alert. All is not lost! Also, I've got my computer, Monty, to throw at it if you like. I can just run him off my persona, and reload him to keep him in the game as needed. Just give me access to your link and I'll ride with you. An old system needs an old hand. Besides, if it's already on alert, you don't have to worry about triggering an alert, now do you?>>

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 10:40 PM, Cross Town Gas, Redmond


<softly>Sis....

Zo sheds a single tear, the drop of water splashing on his trigger hand. The sensation bringing him awake. He waits a moment for him to stop trembling.


"Is the ghoul dead Prof?"

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 10:40 PM, Cross Town Gas, Redmond

"Looks dead to me, Zo. And it looks to me as if it means more to you than meets the eye. Maybe in a quieter time if you want to talk, I'm a good listener."

<<@Jovan[cc team]: Well, I can only tell you what I saw. This guy had a nasty looking rat, maybe one of those devil rat thingies, in his hand when he appeared. Food, pet, ally... I don't know what it was.>>

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 10:40 PM, Rusty's Safehouse, Redmond

<<@team: And what of the two or three other ghouls some distance away from your location that are currently fleeing? Surely Oswald picked them up on his sensors. Were they carrying anything with them?>>

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 10:40 PM, Cross Town Gas, Redmond

<<@team: Two ghouls, one carrying a corpse, one walking with the other. Not holding hands or anything, but they were moving together. The sensor feed is available to you if you want to watch them run. It's all recorded if you want to pile through it. Wait! Let me set the proper musical score! <Audio attachment> There. Better.>>

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 10:40 PM, Rusty's Safehouse, Redmond

Jovan immediately moved to check the recorded video feed from the blimp, and quickly found what he was looking for. He narrowed his eyes suspiciously. Something is... off... about this situation with those ghouls.

<<@team: Yes. The one is carrying a body, as you said, and the other is carrying flesh. If we assume they are both feral, then there is something odd about their behavior. Feral ghouls just don't do that, they aren't smart enough to carry food more than a short distance before they consume it. And even if they are sapient ghouls, the question remains of why they are staying here in the first place. This is not a safe place to live, even by Redmond standards - there are traps everywhere, deadly poisons still remaining from the explosion, and almost no one lives here. I strongly suspect it has something to do with Long Legs and our cargo.>>

With the three ghouls currently fleeing further into the Cross Labs compound, Jovan decided that it was time for some astral fieldwork for the evening. He quickly issued off orders to his spirits as his mind separated itself from his body.

Watcher guarding this van, keep an eye on the bound captive behind my body as well as the dwarf sitting elsewhere in this building while I am gone. I do not trust either of them not to try anything. Watcher being chased, are you more clear-headed now? What is the situation with the dog? Watchers circling a dead ghoul, I want one of you to go inside the building before you and act as correspondent between me and the other metahumans, and I want the other to look through the adjacent buildings and make sure no other creatures bigger than a large rat are occupying them.

Come, elemental. We are following those specks and taking a look around the area. You can tell me your analysis on the way.

The watcher manifested quietly inside the gas station, taking the form of a large, disembodied floating eye in plain view of the rest of the team. "I am going astral to scout out the area ahead and follow those ghouls. Use this watcher to keep in touch, if you wish."

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 10:40 PM, Rusty's Safehouse, Redmond

Acme strained to remember the earlier day, things had been quite busy in the meantime.


<<@Jovan- Well he didn't look feral when I ran into him, he was fully talking and cognizent. I can only theorize that he either was faking being feral or was in an accelerated process.>>

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 10:40 PM, Rusty's Safehouse, Redmond

Ferret absently scratches at a bit error with his hind leg as he examines the icons.

<<@Oswald: Opening up a channel for you to access my node. The fiery bird is two programs, an attack and something sneaky in the tail that looks like it reloads the attack program if it gets crashed. The lake is where we want to be. It's the security systems but that also means a security account. Think you're agent can keep the IC of my back long enough for me to hack an account and rewrite the second program so it cant reload the attack prog?>>

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 10:40 PM, Cross Town Gas, Redmond

"Just a bad memory, Prof. Nothin mor ta say. In any event so we iz just gonna sit here or do we leave Oz and Ferret here, while Acme, you and I head ta one of the other buldings to see if we could find....wait a sec, Oz which building haz the room enough for the vehicles BDLL has. He is a rigger, so it seems ta reason it would be in a garage of some sort, and big enough to house a few vehicles.

Zo looks around at the empty gas station.

"We can definitely strike dis place off."

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 10:41 PM, Redmond

"So you believe these ghouls to be of animal intelligence? And this Sentient one you speak of, he is shepherding the lesser ones around this wasteland?" The Elemental soared through the astral along side his summoner. Their two powerful auras glowing In the darkness of such a dead place. They quickly gained on their targets. Two ghouls swinging west around a building.
Jovan's watcher to the north calls out to his mind,"The beast has emerged from the building and heads north east, I am sorry to have failed you before."

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 10:41 PM, Redmond

Acme sighed tiredly as he leaned against the abandoned gas station. It was a hell of a day; he'd already been slammed around pretty quickly but had recovered. This job was weighing on his mind, as he wondered why Coyote would get him involved in something like this. The pieces were there, and it seemed much bigger than just the arms shipment now, when adding in the mystery of the ghouls and their employer.

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 10:40 PM, Cross Town Gas, Redmond

"You've got the map. It ain't changed. You boys pile through to pick us a destination while I get k-rad in this bit-tacular system."

<<@Ferret: You crash the tail and I'll put my resources into hitting the bird. Or you could just go for admin access and turn the damn things off. Either way, my part of the plan stays the same, givin' the bird, the bird.>>

Oswald logged into the account Ferret set up on his link and found the port for the Cross network. Shortly he was looking at a sad digital gas station covered with old incompatible textures.

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 10:41 PM, Cross Town Gas, Redmond

"Yeah but Oz, I can see those that appear ta big enough. I can't tel if dey have an underground garages or garage doors in general."

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 10:40 PM, Cross Town Gas, Redmond

The dull silver ferret watches as the glitching icons of Oswald and his agent float past him, then sprints towards the lake representing node and dives in. He swims in a sea of bits, holding his breath as he looks for a way into the security node.

<<@Oswald: Working on it.>>

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 10:41 PM, Cross Town Gas, Redmond

"Zo, there are some likely places in the Cross Technologies compound, I'm just a little hesitant to split the team up. We've had a lot of bad luck the last little while, and separating seems to me to be inviting more.

Acme, is there any chance you could send a spirit over to start looking through the buildings?"

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 10:40 PM, Cross Town Gas, Redmond

The Small, digitally wet rodent slips through a crack in the code down into the murky depths of the security level, while Oswald's minion whips up a new access ID and punches into the verdant ruins. The Flaming bird circles in a confused frenzy, looking for a lost prey. The Analyze program glows in it's eyes, looking for intruders in its jungle.

Below the water, Ferret finds a new world an under water city complete with coral spires and crystal domes. The city reads as repeat of the structures above, but more detailed; Alert status and security readouts, There's Access to cameras in some places and in most streets. Half the city is reading <<connection lost>>. A tinge of red pulsates in the water. The Alert is more visible here. There's a message popping up about an invalid access ID and the gas station icon is highlighted in red. A few other buildings are glowing red as well. The Phoenix Mall, The CATco Tower East, and another building Labeled Annex 3 .

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 10:40 PM, Cross Town Gas, Redmond

The translucent, floating eye turns slowly to look at Professor. "I do not mean to be rude, but as I mentioned, I am already moving in that direction and would not take kindly to you spying on me. If there are a large number of likely targets to search through, then perhaps he and I can split the searching between our astral servants. However, as it stands I am currently quite able to search through buildings if you have found a more narrow list of possibilities."

The eye then rotates in the air to face Acme. "However, I am very interested in this alleged encounter you had with Jonathan, Acme. Can you tell me more about it? Did he say where he was trying to get to when you took his taxi ride from him?"

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 10:40 PM, Cross Town in astral space, Redmond

That is the assumption under which I am working, as it makes the most sense given his connection to the troll dwelling here whom I and the others have been hired to seek out. He left the group of ghouls I sometimes work with several weeks ago, taking several of the more animal-like of the ghouls and heading somewhere out in this part of the city to give those ghouls under his care more roaming space. I am confident that this wasteland is that place, and strongly suspect that their continued presence here has something to do with that troll and some military-grade weapons and equipment in his possession. To me, the most likely possibilities are that this particular ghoul is an extremist willing to use the explosives in the troll's possession for terrorist attacks designed to further ghoul rights (which, given the nature of the group he comes from, is not necessarily out of the question), and alternatively that there is something else in that collection of equipment that I was not told about. Something valuable enough to justify these ghouls staying here to perhaps overwhelm and take over the troll's compound, when there are traps and poisons everywhere and food in general is hard to come by. But here, let us see whether these ghouls are indeed as feral as I believe them to be. Jovan skirted the edge of the building in an attempt to avoid detection, but it was a poor attempt; his skill in shadowing was still underdeveloped, and his mind wasn't totally focused on it - as a nosferatu, Jovan just wasn't afraid of ghouls, as they were naturally inferior to him in his mind.

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 10:40 PM, Cross Town Gas, Redmond

<<@Oswald: Thanks for the distraction, I'm in on a security account. I'll set you up legit access as soon as I get my bearings.>>

The silver ferret turns his attention to the flashing red icons. His whiskers twitch and his eyes go wide as he scans each of them, requesting security updates on their current alert status and data on the respective alert triggers.

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 10:40 PM, Cross Town Gas, Redmond

Oswald looked at the ruined city and the icon floating overhead. He checked out his surroundings, finding very little information available to him from the old VR sim. It seemed familiar though as he unwound some snippets of code. Henry Weissmuller... God, this code has his stink on it.
<<@Agent: Alright Monty, set phasers on macerate.>>
Oz sat back and watched as the three crinkling balls of light representing his Agent began to clumsily spit out code into the walkway near the lake. It only took seconds before Oz noticed a rather nasty hiccup in the terrain, followed by a slight pulse the old man recognized as an alert response. It would only be a matter of time before the system tracked him down or kicked him out. Pausing the bot, he loaded his Spoof program in and, in a moment, had it swap out his busted ID for a fresh one while Oz relayed the new info to all his devices. Quickly swapping programs out he resumed the push into the system proper, hoping to stay on track and make it in in time to be of help. Then Ferret's message arrived.

<<@Ferret: What, you don't need me to shoot the bird? I'm almost in now.>>

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 10:40 PM, Cross Town Gas, Redmond

The old system glitched again, echoing Oswald's own words back at him.

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 10:41 PM, Cross Town Gas, Redmond

Zo chuckles"Yeah, but Prof-ya do realize that this clumped together we'd all be incenerated by a single Thor shot. Of course if somebody starts lobbing thor shots at us, I'm askin for a raise."