"That's the number the elf called from to let me know he was coming out."

Biomage speaks with some effort, gritting his teeth while maintaining the spell, though not entirely from the strain of the spell itself. The situation angers him, and he seems to almost growl as he speaks.

"Where can we find your contact?"

"Moscow. He said he'd call me if he needs anything else."

Reaching into the assassin's gear, Calisto fishes out the optical chips. She re-sheathes the sword. Pulling her sleeve back and flipping her wrist up. She begins to slot the chips and examine the contents.

Jester continues to monitor the situation outside with ihs drone. Active sensors from the van feed into his vission and mesh with what the drone is seeing.

Inside:
There is a disconcerting sound following Calisto resheathing her sword, as joints pop out of place and push back in. Before you have time to react, you see that the assassin has slipped his hands free of the restraints and appears to wriggling his feet free from the softened plasteel.

Jester:
Reaching out with the sensors, you notice first the subtle build of heat and then movement from the assassin's motorcycle as the engine rolls over and begins moving toward the mall.

"Cal, the tango's bike has activated on it's own, he may be trying to escape, I am going to neutralize his bike."

Jester deployed the turret on the Firebat, the one time hunting rifle swung around on it's motor, taking careful aim at the motorcycle.

The assassin rolls off the back of the table away from the team and breaks into a dead run. Stitches audibly pop as muscles are flexed and the thin threading snaps. He seems to be ignoring the pain and riding the endorphines that his brain is pumping rather than slowing him down.

Calisto's hands are moving as the assassin takes his first steps. She pivots on the ball of one foot and tracks his movements moving to place herself between the young elf decker and a possible threat. The fleet-footed Russian pushes into the waiting room as a pair of small darts jump out of Calisto's hands.

Ducking at the last second, the assassin avoids one of the darts but the other lodges into his deeply wounded thigh. He stumbles but keeps running.

Outside, the muffled report of a rifle cracks the night air once. Impacting with the bike, the bullet does minor damage but is enough to throw off the gyro-stabilizer. Screeching metal and sparks comes from the bike as it tips and grinds to a halt a few meters later.

Biomage scowls at the assassin as he leaps into action and begins running from the room.

Why the frag did she put away her sword?

"Stop him!" he shouts to the trolls in the waiting room as he runs after the assassin and starts to go for his gun.

Frag it. I don't feel pain either.

With no time to do anything else, he casts a spell at the assassin, hoping to burn out enough of his life to stop him with some lead after he clears the door.

Bruises crawl up Biomage's arm as he forces mana to coalesce and tear through the assassin's body. The remaining stitches are torn free as muscles pop and the Russian's mind is reduced to jelly. His body collapses in a useless heap of shattered bone and leaking fluid.

Biomage snarls at the now dead assassin's pile of remains.

Looking back at Callisto as he turns around, he says with a hoarse voice, "You sheathed your sword." He sighs and addresses everyone still in the room.

"Ok. We need some garbage bags and something to clean up this stain on the carpet. Dr. Roth is somewhat of a friend of mine, and I don't want him mad at me for messing up his waiting room and not cleaning it up."

Leaning back into the waiting room, he says, "Brian! Chuck! Does Dr. Roth have any cleaning supplies? Hydrogen peroxide, a carpet shampoo machine, a vacuum?"

Trixie's eyes go wide as the man falls to the ground. She slowly backs into the wall and slides down it, pulling her knees up close and wrapping her arms around them. She stares at the body while images of drones tearing her best friend appart flash through her mind. Slowly a single tear forms and makes its way down her cheek.

Jack freezes, staring down at the corpse on the floor for a long moment before looking up to BioMage, obviously about to say something. He chokes it back as the mage growls at the assassin, eyes going a bit wide as he bites it back, and he turns, dropping down to a knee to try and comfort Trixie.

She slowly raises her head to Biomage and quietly asks, "Why'd you kill him? We could have just turned him in to Star or something..."

She seems completely baffled by Biomage's disregaurd for life.

"Yeah, under the sink." Brian's voice rolls out echoing from the depths of his massive chest. The pair of trolls look at one another to the body and back to each other. Something seems to pass between them without words and the shotgun toting troll moves into the treatment room to get a large trashbag.

"You gonna want anything from this fragger? Otherwise I'm gonna get rid of him." The usually quiet troll looks to you for an answer.

Outside:
Sensors report that the bike's engine seems to be powering down, almost as if realizing that further energy use is pointless.

Calisto leans towards Biomage. "You just get one with me." She turns and moves back towards the room where the questioning took place.

Biomage ignores Trixie for the time being.

"Anytime, Callisto.." he says with an evil grin.

To the troll, he leans into the doorway and answers, "Nothing. Dr. Roth can have any cyber he was carrying that is still working. After that, please, get rid of him."

Biomage moves to help the other troll with cleaning up, grabbing a pair of exam gloves along the way and whistling a happy tune.

That's the trouble with killing people all the time. What do you do with all the bodies?

"Whistle while you work! Doodoo doot doot doot doodoo~"

The large troll picks up the body like it's a piece of wood and drops it into the bag. He then strides out the door and can be seen parting the crowd of the Crime Mall. Outside, he climbs into a truck at the other end of the mall from where the assassin had laid in wait. The large pickup and the troll drive away into the cold, darkness of night.

Trixie stands, watching Biomage with complete disgust. She storms out of the office and runs outside. After taking a few deep breaths to calm herself, she walks over to the van and climbs in to join Jester.

Jack stands, tugging the duster closer around him as he leaves the room as well, heading out to the van. He pauses as he steps up next to Biomage, not actually looking at him, still facing towards the door.

"Ah almost hope you step ova' that line again..."

He continues on outside, ignoring further comment from the mage.

Biomage doesn't make any reply to Jack. He watches him walk out, and then turns on the compact carpet shampoo machine that he found under the sink to begin cleaning up the spilled bodily fluids.

After he finishes cleaning up, he empties the dirty water and puts away the shampooer. He takes off his gloves and straightens up his coat, whistling all the while.

To the troll still in the office, he says, "Thanks for staying late with us, chummer. We appreciate all your help."

He takes out 100 nuyen and says, "The two of you can split this. Tell him I said thanks. Please give Dr. Roth my thanks as well."

He lays another 200 down next to Trixie's 2,000.

On the way to the van, Biomage stops at the gun shop he located on the directory earlier. He walks in and greets the person he sees working with a friendly, "Hoi, chummer!"

Biomage:
The man takes a deep, wet inhalation through his nose, pulling a season's worth of colds back in. He wipes the excess on the back of his hand which he extends to you for a shake.

"Hoi, what you be coming to Eddie about? You need a gun, I've got guns that'll blow that punk with a predator right out his boots."

Calisto moves back to the gear left behind and resumes examining the contents of the optical chips.

Calisto:
The optical chips have several recordings on them, they seem to before and after newsfootage masterfully cut and edited to change the details of various stories. You remember seeing some of the stories on the International News Network and realize that if you hadn't watched both back to back you never would have noticed the small points that were adjusted.

A text file bears an LTG address and a simple message:
"Come to me or you are next."

God! That's gross. I hope this doesn't get me sick. Better use the cybered hand.

He extends his right arm to shake hands.

With a smile, he says, "Eddie. You look like you're a bit under the weather. You feeling ok?"

Biomage:

"Yeah, I'm fan-fraggin'-tastic. What can I do you for?"

Biomage straightens up and says, "Do you buy guns too?"

Biomage:

"Only if they work and I can sell 'em to Joe Cutter."

Your cyberhand glistens along one edge where the mucous slid down his hand and met yours. This guys hygiene is atrocious, but if his guns work...

"Joe Cutter? Who's that?" Biomage asks, trying to resist the urge to wipe his hand off on the man's face by first ripping it off and using the skin as a handkerchief.

Maybe this wasn't such a good idea.

Biomage:
"Joe Cutter, you know, any ganger on the street. Are you daft or just not used to the street?"

Biomage says, "I don't spend that much time on the streets, so I'm not as familiar with the lingo as you. The guns I have work. 'Joe Cutter' could cause quite a bit of trouble with them if he wanted."

He takes out one of the pistols and holds it up.

"I have two like this. Don't need them anymore. Fully ceramic, so they can go anywhere. Nice power too."

Biomage:

"Alright, I'll give you a hundred for each of them."

Biomage looks at the gun store owner and says, "A hundred? Chummer, you could easily sell these for two thousand each. They're state of the art. And I'm giving you ammo with them. One has AV, and the other has APDS; almost a full clip each. That's expensive ammo. How about a thousand each?"

Biomage:
The gun merchant looks over the guns, sliding the clips out and pushing them back in.

"With the clips half full, I'll give you hundred twenty each. And you may want to check your sources, 'cuz that's EX-EX not AV."

"Alright. 750 for each then, since it's EX-EX, and not AV," he says.

Biomage:
"Since I can only imagine how it must feel to be dumber than a brick, I'll give you two hundred for each but that's it."

"Hey sweetheart, " Jester's voice flows from the van inter comm. "Hey, you okay, your shaking?"

Biomage says, "No, thanks, chummer. Your filth and low bidding show that you are dumber than a brick. I have a friend whom I think would buy them for a better price. I was afraid he'd get himself into trouble with these, but I need the money."

He puts the guns away and says, "I'll take an SMG kit and be off. How much?"

Biomage pays for the kit and leaves the store. He stops in the bathroom on the way to the van to wash his hands and then gets into the van.

To Trixie, he says, "To answer your question, he was getting away. I couldn't let him leave alive. He would be able to report his failure to whomever hired him and try again to kill you later. His next plan might have worked; we couldn't risk it. This way, we have some time before the assassin's contractor figures out that he has failed and hires someone else. If we're lucky, we can slip out of the country unnoticed aboard the ship Hafiz has chartered, and whomever wants us dead will have to try and pick up our trail again."

Jack, sliding his deck into an out of the way place, glances up at Jester.

"I think we're ready to go..."

::Day 2 2030 Hours::

A few brief comments pass over the radio and Calisto comes down to the van. After the firebat docks, your rigger programs the van from the backseat area and you begin the drive over to the Hotel California. Pulling into the non-decript parking lot in Ravenna, the group takes a look around at what is now their last safehouse before leaving the country.

You cross the open lobby to the escalators and step out to the Mezzanine level. The Sundowner cafe is quietly bustling along, rich velvety tones of jazz music and a voice that wraps around you like a fur coat comes from the stage. Taking a moment to appreciate the comforting sadness of Moira's song, you hesitate in the archway. Your eyes scan the room and eventually find Hafiz and Jaron at a table along the back wall.

Trixie only flashed Biomage a glare out of the corner of her eye when he spoke to her. Once at the hotel, she walks up to the table that Hafiz and Jaron are sitting at and slumps down into one of the chairs, still silent.

Team:
Gesturing for you all to sit down, Jaron orders drinks for the team.

"I presume that your business from earlier has been taken care of. While you were out Hafiz has made the arrangements for transportation and lodging in Tokyo. He just needs to know what gear you are going to need to bring across to find out if it would be easier to smuggle everyone across the border or just get gear through customs and his contacts on the other end."

Calisto gives Jaron a half smirk. "If you mean did someone else with a high powered sniper rifle show up and one of our team members disappeared, then yes." She takes a seat and slides the chips over to him. "This mean anything to you?"

Team:

There is a brief flash of shock before Jaron is able to control his face again.

"I see, I was not sure what you had been working on for the last ten hours. But that would explain Wren's absence at the moment."

He slots the chips into a palm computer and begins to look through the files.

"Can I contact a few people and get back to you about these? I am not familiar with them myself, but I know several people who could tell me more."

"Call who you need to." Calisto flags down a waitress and orders a mineral water. " As the waitress walks away. "We had a little medical emergency we had to attend to. We ran into a working gentleman and he was hunting for Trixie and her so-called tribe. He's not local talent that I have ever heard of. You know anyone with a wider knowledge base?" She pulls back her sleeve and angles her wrist computer towards Jaron. "This was the fellow." Conversation dies down as her drink arrives. "Things are getting murkier by the minute."

Calisto:
"Send me a copy and I'll see what turns up."

Biomage sits down at the table.

"No change for me. My gun and my 'ware are illegal. You'll have to smuggle me. When do we leave?"

Trixie speaks up, to simply say, "I have no real gear, there should be no problem with me. But... I'm an Elf, so what does that mean for getting me into Japan?"