"Okay, I guess that makes sense," Siren says, wondering if there is a way for them to use the rumormill to their advantage here.

"I will look into it and get back to you, when I know more. Thank you!"

Before turning away, Siren remembers the reagents and thus speaks to Kassandra again.

"Ah, we can handle those reagents, though, while I am here. Eight is a decent offer, but I'm sure you still have a bit of a margin there that you can spare, right?"

Siren

The talismonger looks at you speculatively. Quickly enough you begin good-naturedly haggling over pricing. She holds firm at 10,500 after a few minutes. Sensing that was as high as she would go, you authorize the transfer. Cred quickly changes hands and you have the funds deposited in a holding account that is used for some of your less-legal activities.

Kassandra reminds you to bring the relics by the shop as soon as your people are done with their research.

"Ok, done. I will let you know once I have more info on those relics. See you later!"

On her way back, Siren informs the team.

<< @Team [Siren] The reagents are sold now, got the price up to 10.5, hope you are happy with that. Need more information on the spirit formula relic to find a potential buyer. So, if you can find out more about it, that would be great. >>

<<@Team [Papa] Siren - Go ahead and sell the regents. Let's hold off on the formula, for now. I have some ideas for the job; let's use the security asset to our advantage.>>

While she is already on the way, Siren recalls, that she forgot to ask Kassandra about something else.

She quickly calls her number in the commlink and asks about the spell formula, she meant to buy.

If possible, she will simply return to the talismonger shop and pick it up in exchange for the appropriate amount of nuyen, before continuing on to the house, where the rest of the team is waiting.

<< @Team [Siren] Could use a two or three days for preparations, if that's ok. >>

Sunday -- July 24, 2072
Team

Days pass by. Papa comes and goes from the house, seemingly constantly immersed in digital upkeep of the house . Siren has a leather cord wrapped around her hands like a cat's cradle. The leather has esoteric markings and she moves her hands and the cord through a series of intricate gestures, intuitively lining up different glyphs as she whispers to herself.

Guns and knives are cleaned and oiled. All is made ready.

In the evening, shortly after eight, the van pulls into the parking lot across the street from the target. Foot traffic at the mall is light, but constant enough that another vehicle pulling through goes unnoticed. A myriad of nodes populate the AR space near Papa as he polls for active and passive 'links in the area. Sifting through the noise, he quickly separates the mall traffic from Hollywood Simsense Entertainment. Inside, there are twelve employees broadcasting HSE AROs and roughly fifty clients.

At the house, Dalma and Father began work on researching the specifics of the box.

She had taken up resident in one of the rooms, not needing anything from her own place, she simply required a small bed for her and another for Father. Dalma generally stuck to a common routine in the mornings.

She would get up and meticulously make tea that she had brought with her (she always travels with it), she had a variety of tea, Green, Black and others and she would make it in the "Old fashion" way, boiling the waters, preparing the leaves, it was an art form for her and she would enjoy every minute, up to and including serving the tea to any who would ask or just look longingly at what she was preparing.

Father would always sit by, reading some news from what ever source was available or just generally looking around, he would always end up with a cup of tea near him and he would drink it in a way that almost seemed to make no acknowledgement of Dalma's hard work, but after each cup was finished he would walk over to her and pat her lovingly on the head with a smile.

After the "tea performance" she would find a place with enough room for Father and her and practice her Tai Chi for about half an hour, she would then eat some break feast and move on the her work for the day, studying the magical box.

Brock is seen coming and going from the house not always telling people where he is going he seeks what he most hates. Knowing he is on the job thou he tries to control himself so as not to attract any attention. He does his normal rounds around where he stays only to keep riff raft out of his neighborhood. Seemingly gearing up for the run kept most of his attention with working out routines and maintenance and waiting to hear back any info with the names and photos he sent about the other team.

Siren isn't around much during the following days, saying that she needs some privacy to learn her spell, and a familiar environment. Of course the necessity of her magical lodge isn't the whole story, but the rest wasn't for everyone to know. It was her life after all.

She would be available by commlink, however, whenever necessary, even at odd hours, and she would come around to visit the house every couple days.

The last week has been strange - Olethros found himself going through the motions of what passes for living in this place. Living in a house has offered strange insights into this condition. Feeling things slide from strange and disconnected to familiar and comforting. It felt like growing a second skin and he wasn't sure it was something he enjoyed. The diversion to the HSE was a welcome one.

Looking over the group in the van one last time, he reaches for the door and exits the vehicle and walks his way towards the store front. He smiles and nods at the people walking by - eyeing all the attractive examples of metahumanity. The disassociated feelings of lust and need swam in his belly but he pushed them aside as he strode into the store - feeling the cool air envelop him. He quickly pulls up a small window and connects a feed from his contacts to the commlink to the rest of of team back in the van.

<<@Team [Ollie] So what should I be looking for in here?>>

Inside HSE

At first glance, the area is sparse with broad tables and large support poles. The surfaces are all rounded and lined with a soft padding. Posters spread around the building depict celebrities, media icons, and sim-characters.

With the AR overlay, HSE is packed. Sim broadcasts play on tight loops, compartmentalizing sound and light into tight spaces. AROs float overhead for private screening rooms, hardware upgrades, and service. Each of the employees has a virtual overlay of characters, each dressed in a bright green polo shirt and khakis. Seeing Neil the Ork Barbarian, virtual sword hovering over one shoulder dressed as a sales clerk causes the edge of your mouth to twitch slightly.

One employee, with a virtual overlay of a muscle-bound pope, stands by the door with a stun-baton. A few meters away, a red panic button is stationed on the wall.

The customers all appear distracted, sampling various sim-feeds. Some of the more action-packed feeds can be seen with trid projections hovering over spheres of clouded glass. The spheres roll and turn as wannabe action heroes charge through office buildings in a hail of simulated gunfire.

A public node allows for easily grabbing the attention of clerks and has an automated response system allowing for scheduling of service appointments. All purchases are directed to a broad counter in the back of the store for transfer to your device. According to the node, digital deliveries can also be made for some products.

Olethros makes a show of looking at some AR display while interacting with the group.

<<@Team [Ollie] So I see the concealed door and it seems one person has a small hidden weapon. Other than that I'm not seeing much in our way.>>

[Deleted. Trying again below.]

Jenni was fidgety. On the hunt, at least, she had something to focus on. She was used to being active almost all the hours she was awake. If it wasn't dealing with trouble on the ranch or the livestock, it was hours on a trail, waiting behind a blind, covering a single watering hole...But this? She didn't have a target, she didn't have a goal, she didn't even really know what they were trying to grab, besides the fact that it was expensive. She'd spent a bit of time unpacking the complicated weapons case in the bag, and she now sat, one legged propped up on the dashboard with the rifle cradled in her lap behind the tinted windows, waiting for a target and a reason to act. She picked at corners of fabric on the seat covers, checked her phone a dozen times, and had even begun to toss coins like miniature basketballs into the cup holder near Papa's knee.

Plink. Plink. Rattle-buuurrrrrr-clink. Plink.

For Papa, the days passed quickly. Research, matrix recons, upkeep on the house, hacker accounts to maintain the house... He was up all hours of the day and night, walking the house or the neighborhood when not in full VR to combat any onset of atrophy from so much time in the virtual world. He slept little, pushing the use of his sleep regulator to the limits and sleeping like the dead when he did sleep.

Sitting in the van, across from HSE and mostly out of sight, Papa reflects on the plan... or the lack thereof. Watching the video feed from Ollie he tags the various hardware chips and data chips containing software in order of priority. The high priority targets included upgrades needed for the team and items that could be easily fenced for the highest return. During Ollie's recon, he takes time to hack several vehicles in the area. Nothing like several thousands pounds of plastic and steel for a few diversions.

<<@Team [Papa] Once I take over the parking area security, the rest of the team can disperse. I have taken over several cars in the area that can serve as both a distraction and to snarl pursuers. The security for HSE appears to be hard-lined. Ollie - Smash in grab once everyone is in position? I've tagged chips for you. Are you sure you can break the case materials?>>
He turns his attention to the security in the parking area. Time to make us disappear.

Siren takes the time to change her appearance quite a bit, casting a number of spells while singing softly in a beautiful voice, which seems to help her concentrate.

When she is done, her clothing, her face, her hair color and style are all completely different, and she also seems to be a little taller, which must be the heels, though.

Her hair is now a brunette ponytail, with some strands framing her still very pretty face, even though she looks like a completely different person.

The tight-fitting leather dress stays, but is altered significantly in appearance.

Papa

Sliding through the hole in the firewall of the security node, you step into a wireframe model of the mall. Several points hover above the frame, outlines of cameras glowing brightly. There are numerous other sensors throughout the mall. Fractal patterns form in a constantly changing wave at the cameras focused on the entrances to the mall. The parking lot is sparsely covered with cameras.

Olethros makes his way out of the store while sending a message at the team.

<<@Team [Ollie] Can I get my helmet from the van and a little magic applied to my look to make sure I'm not on the next news cast?>>

He moves quickly and efficiently through the space to an out of the way location near the store waiting to get his helmet and hopefully some magic to alter at least his clothes. The heat of shame moves through this vessel and once again he struggled with these.......feelings.

<<@Team [Ollie] The cases should be no problem at all but thanks for checking.>>

When Olethros makes it back to the van, Siren helps him with the disguise by altering his clothes in a way that suits him and that should disguise his figure well enough to not be taken for the guy who just left the store.

<< @Team [Siren] I can go inside, posing as a customer, in advance. This way we have another ace in the hole and I could create a diversion or help out otherwise, if necessary. We just need to be sure, that our commlinks do not leave traces. >>

Stepping in and blending into the node, the team's hacker goes quickly to work. While his first step in to lay in a back door for later, first he goes about looking for alert triggers tied to system edits like logs, access, etc. Anything that might trigger an alert, editing those out of the way. Then he drops in his previously mentioned back door before going to work on the video feeds well in advance of Ollie's departure from the store, finishing with some edits to the system logs. Once completed he signals the team:

<<@Team [Papa] We only own the cameras from the Mall, so all escape routes should utilize those angles. I'll follow up with a little chaos in the Mall, in addition to the cars, when it comes time to exit. Any requests from the matrix side?>>

HSE

Customers move around the store, continuing their shopping. Siren blends seamlessly in with the crowd, looking at a display of CalHots and providing a camera feed on the main counter. As the doors slide open, the towering, broadly muscled Brock stands half a step closer than Olethros. Both are armored, with dark helmets covering their features. The guard near the door goes pale below his AR projection.

Brocks grins at the little at tge metas reaction to himself and Ollie's appearance. Uttering only what necessary while moving into action to prevent the guard from hitting g the panic button "everyone on the ground!" as he throws the hammer into action to knock out the gaurd with the stun baton.

Brock swings the hammer in an overhanded arc drawing the guard's eye, then shifts his weight and drives the haft square into the stunned man's solar plexus. There's a sharp exhalation of air. An elbow to the jaw knocks the guard out cleanly.

Battle Pope slumps down on the floor, the AR icon unaware of the failing health of its meat counterpart.

Olethros takes a brief moment to reach down within and force open a small conduit to his power - the well of it still out of reach and some of it just unable to reside in this vessel without risking long term damage and eventually death. He feels the power flow through him - his limbs feel light and his movements feel crisp. The second flow he opens to increase the physical force of this body only to watch in frustration and rage as a trickle seeps out. He could feel the heat and presence of the power, HIS power, just out of reach.

Shoving it aside with an oath in Naacal, he strides forward easily moving around stunned customers to stand in front of the nearest case marked for theft.

As the raid begins, Siren takes cover behind some nearby counter, from where she can survey the scene. Shifting her senses to the astral, the mystic adept looks around for potential problems from that angle.

Papa running matrix over watch keeps track of the physical from the various shared sensors of the team as well as from the vehicles scattered around HSE that he now controls and the mall cameras. His goal currently is to locate security, plain clothes law enforcement or civilian wanna-be heroes.

Papa

Scanning through the mall, you quickly identify a half dozen uniformed security guards walking the area. Some of the body language stands out on shoppers--coffee drinkers slightly too vigilant--which you expect are plain clothes. None of them are able to see the events across the street at Hollywood Simsense. In the smaller parking lot by HSE, you see a bright pink jeep turn in. The driver, an attractive woman wearing a corset, is holding an animated conversation with the three men in the jeep. The men are all wearing club clothes.

From the TeamNet, there is screaming and chaos as patrons begin to find cover.

Jenni

Scanning across the distance, nothing looks immediately out of place. City slickers looking to fry their brains before abusing their feet with tight shoes and their livers with alcohol. Opening your other senses, you feel a wash of mana from the mall. A spell is active and searching.

HSE

The customers begin to scream as they dive for cover behind tables and display cases. Most are huddling in tight balls, curled up with arms and legs close. The employees behind the main counter drop down behind it. Headlights flash across the front door.

One oddity stands out among the crowd. The man with the gun hidden under his coat is laying on the floor face down, with his hands behind his head.

Brock b lines it for the oddity that stood out and immediately dis arms him and searches him for his com and goes to smash it. Not wanting him to call in for reinforcements.

Sitting forward all of a sudden, Stetson tilting down over her eyes with the abrupt movement, Jenni hisses and thumps Papa in the arm.

"Someone's tossin' mojo down there, trying to sniff something out. Yah got anyone standing around looking weird on any a' them camera's?"

Brock

The distance between you and the man falls away under your long strides. "Be careful" is all the man says as you sweep the gun out from under his coat. The grip has been modified in some way and you feel a bite of electricity between your fingers. Turning him over to grab the commlink, you feel a necklace of stones and metal in the pocket as well.

The jig being up, Papa looks to cause a distraction of his own. Choosing the compromised vehicle farther from HSE and not opposite their chosen exit vector, he initiates an override to the vehicle, nullifying the safety protocols to drive into one of the mall shops. He leaves the person avoidance protocols mostly in place in an attempt to keep from their being any fatalities. Meanwhile, he begins to mentally tag the various plain closed security including the man on the floor, his comlink translating that to AR tags for the team.

Olethros looks over the cases in front of him and balls up his fists. The mana ripples around his hands and he strikes one case then the other in rapid succession. He feels the power resonate through him and out his flesh seeking out the weak points in the objects he struck - to unmake them and give up their treasures within. Hearing the man's warning and call for caution, he tilts he head towards the prone figure.

"Be careful of what?"

His tone is curious and detached - no hint of threat or malice.

HSE

The man looks up from the floor, avoiding eye contact and keeping his hands firmly behind his head in a non-threatening manner. "The gun will shock people grabbing it."

A necklace of turquoise beads and silver feathers comes out with the commlink as Brock nearly pulls the pocket off the man's coat. Safety glass shatters under each of Ollie's fists as he drives them into display cases.

Inside HSE

With a sweeping arm, Ollie slides the contents of the first display case into his large duffel bag. He takes a half step to shift himself in front of the other display and sweeps more electronics in to the bag with a mix of safety glass.

A half-dozen steps away, there is the crunch and cracking of plastic as a commlink sends its last string of ones and zeroes. Brock's massive boot twists, bringing more cracking and popping from the broken electronics. The necklace and pistol fall into the voluminous pockets of the troll's overcoat.

Outside HSE

In the parking lot, the jeep pulls into a parking spot roughly. Clearly, someone started their party long before getting behind the wheel.

Across the street at the mall, a Range Rover's engine roars to life. Tires squeal as it peels through the parking lot, easily jumping the curb. There's a scream from coffeeshop patrons. A waitress, the same one that brought Jenni coffee just days before, drops a tray in her panic. The coffee scalds a young man in a t-shirt and jeans.

Two stores down, the cute sunglass boutique with a glass storefront is ravaged as the SUV plows through it.

Olethros moves quickly with a smooth gliding jog to another case and shatter it open with little effort. He seems ready to slide its contents into the duffel to join the other stolen items.

Inside HSE

There are more screams as glass shatters on another display case. The disarmed man lays still, his hands still resting behind his head. A woman near Siren shivers as the young woman sings to herself.

"Are you going to help us?"

The rest of the people are hiding behind displays, making surreptitious glances around the room.

Outside HSE

The passenger side door of the jeep opens. One of the men gets out, folding the seat forward for the guy behind him. On the driver side, the woman looks like she is about to get out.

Brock feeling the room in his pockets grins as he releases the items into the pocket and looks around for a thing else of value he could stuff In his pockets.

Outside HSE

The rest of the people clamber out of the jeep. The woman throws her arm around one of her companion's waists and begins to cross the parking lot towards the front door. They are having an animated conversation with the exaggerated gestures that come with inebriation.

Inside HSE

A muffled shout becomes ear-piercingly shrill as the concealed door behind the counter swings open. A woman, athletically muscled under a skin tight black jumpsuit, comes charging out with her hand outstretched. There's a pulse of light as two darts shoot forward at Olethros.

Further into the back room, Siren and Ollie can see a coruscating barrier of light in the astral.

Inside HSE

Turning to face the scream, Olethros leans far to the right using the display case as cover. The darts whiz through the space that his chest had just been, eventually landing on the floor. Wires hang in the space between the guard and the tips which arc with lightning. After a few seconds, the taser darts stop jumping around on the floor.

Looking over the woman and sparing a glance to the darts on the ground he speaks to Brock, his tone is firm but detached.

"I don't think its needful for this woman to die so have a care when striking her."

Brock sees the guard reach her hand out and starts to make a B line to intercept her, hearing olliie mention non violence he only reaches back as he is running and attempts to throw a hay maker.

Inside HSE

The guard throws a hand up in slow motion, almost as if she was in a action sim-flick. Her arm barely rises to touch Brock's massive forearm as his fist connects with her jaw. There's a thick, wet crunch as her lower jaw dislocates several inches. The woman, dressed as Cyber-ninja Kikuko, collapses to the floor like a sack of potatoes.

Brock feels the jaw dislocate under the weight of his punch thinking the girl wouldnt be so fragile he watches as her body goes limp unconscious onto the floor. "easier then I thought" <@papa[brock]"any other hidden doors to worry about?>

With action beginning, Papa reaches out to the two cars nearest the team that he controls and issues the command for them to start and pull out into traffic.

<<@Team [Papa] I have several cars that will be in motion. I've flagged them in AR as friendly. My thoughts are to extract the team in the forward vehicle and snarl pursuit with the latter.>>

Olethros shakes his head slightly at the sound and sight of the lone security guard being dropped in her tracks.

<<@Team [Ollie]: Do we want to make sure this woman is stable before we leave?>>

At the Mall

Patrons begin running to help the wounded, as a wide circle of on-lookers starts to form. When it becomes clear that there was no one in the car, there are shouts to look out for other murderous cars. Screams of technomancer and Sojourner ripple through the crowd. Several people start paying attention to the parking lot.

Outside HSE

The quartet continues ambling across the parking lot, stopping for a second when one of the guys points across the street to the mall.

Olethros quickly moves the items from the shattered case into the duffle while looking around to make sure no further interference occurs.

HSE

With a nod between them, Olethros smashes the last case and sweeps the merchandise into his bag. Brock's menacing air and the overwhelming force by which he took down the guards is more than enough to keep the shoppers cowed. The two of them head out of the store, black jumpsuits and helmets firmly in place.

In the parking lot, the quartet see both runners coming out of the building.

"Holy shit guys, they just got robbed."

"Fuck! I'm holding! Vamanos man, before the cops get here!"

They start booking it back for the jeep, ignoring the doors and scramble over the sides to get in.

A silver sedan slows down near Ollie and Brock, the doors unlocked. An ARO above it blinks on TeamNet as one of the cars Papa is in control of.

Brock jumps over the hood and goes for the passenger side door.