"You haven't had the right BTLs then, there are definitely, scary ones.
But yeah, the guy moved like an adept, so I'd suspect something like Kamikaze or similar.

All the more reason to talk to the Candy Man. So: Where. Can. I. Get. In. Contact. With. The. Candy Man?"

Kynos replied, now slightly annoyed.

The man chuckled "I stay away from these things, Candyman is a gang, but they look like cooperate suits. Their local representative is Victor Golovanov. People here usually try to stay out of his way, but the credit card has a phone so I guess you can reach his assistant or something." He hands you Golovanov's business cards, the affiliation reads "CEO of Candyman incorporated".

"Sheesh, sometimes I wonder if I've sold my soul in the wrong business. Thanks, and good day to you."
Kynos left the shop and returned to the other runners to fill them in on what he learned.
He turned to Nyx: "Would you mind calling this Candyman gang boss and try to get him to spill some info on Alfie? As his dealer he might know something pertinent - for example that Alfie expected two paydays by selling his singing girl twice, or some such..."

"Call?" Nyx frowned and shook her head "I could call, but it would give us nowhere. I don't know enough at this point, I have no leverage, and too much is lost in a call. Meeting him directly would give better results. I'm pretty sure it's the only way I'd get results in fact, unless I have far more than we already do. The kind of pressure you usually…apply… has no effect over a 'link and only knowing he's a dealer is far from sufficient for more subtle things."

She thought about that for a few seconds, then shrugged "So either we try to learn a lot more than that, or we need a meeting directly with him. Which by itself would require knowing more: does he usually meets prospective customers? Does someone have to vouch for them, stuff like that."

"Well, I'm no expert, but you could call the guy to ask him for a meeting. He can't say more than no, can he? It's more a desperate measure anyway - I just don't want to go to Strawberry next."
Kynos replied.

"Strawberry? What for? He can't say more than no, but what do we have that would make him want to say yes?" Nyx frowned "Playing the mystery card only gets you so far, and people in his line of work tend to be a bit paranoid. If we have nothing, which is exactly the case at the moment, he will give us nothing. It may even be counter-productive."

"Strawberry is the mage who asensed the what happened at the club. She could maybe tell us more about how and why this guy started to fly of his rocker and beat up the whole room - creating a convenient distraction for the singer to vanish.

But back to topic: What we can offer to the Candyman: A modest bribe, maybe 200 Nuyen for a tip where we can find his customer or close associates of him, a promise of good relations with the Finnegans or the threat that we curb stomp him if he doesn't cooperate.

You know what, I like the last option.
Iris could you try to locate where the Candymen are?"

Sure I'll take a look.

@Irris First you have to sift through many pictures of candies, child videos and even some porn that takes the title candyman. It seems routine when looking for something which is not very distinct - but this time it is worse. You feel like all you can find is junk, perhaps the information is there but it would take you some hours rather than a quick search. You may be paranoid, but you begin to suspect that this gang either does not exist or it is actively erased from media feeds.

There's nothing here. These guys have to be pretty tech savvy, if they really exist. I'll have my agent keep looking but this appears to be a dead end.

"What are you talking about? I gave you a comm number and a name: Victor Golovanov.
What kind of tech are those guys sporting that you can't find them?"
Kynos replied with genuine surprise in his voice.

I can call him and try to track the number but there is nothing on the net about this guy I call the comm code ready to trace the number if the group indicates agreement.

The call connects and a voice answers the phone with an accent that you cannot exactly place. Saying "Hello... what can I do for you?"

DNI: (Group) What do I say to this guy or should I just hang up?

In order to let Iris focus on the matrix side of things, Nyx said "Just let me talk to him".
Once connected, she answered "Good day. I am finding myself in need of some…services…I was told you could provide." That was true, even if it wasn't the kind of services anyone would probably think about. She considered saying more, but since the goal was to trace the call, the longer the conversation went on, the better the chance Iris would get anything. So saying things little by little was probably the best way to achieve that: it would force him to ask questions.

The man replies "meet me at the Digital Dragon server... come alone and be hot. " Digital Dragon is a privately owned secure server. (R6). Nyx is granted a mark as well as some instructions to reach a certain beach site cafe within the server. The mark is non transferable.

Yeah, nothing. I figured if they had the chops to actively erase their presence from the matrix a simple trace wouldn't work. I got a host but that's it.

"Hmm… Alright, so… Good news is that he agreed to meet. Bad news," Nyx grimaced "Is that it's in a Host I don't know, with a token I can't transfer to anyone… And that he wants me to go there in Hot Sim - at least I suppose that's what he meant by being hot - something I have no way to do…"

I offer Nyx three marks on my deck. I'll be able to keep an eye on you and pull the plug if anything nasty happens. Try not to fry my deck okay.

"Hmm, you being able to monitor what is going on can't hurt but... There's still the Hot Sim problem. First because I don't want to have anything to do with that, I'd like to keep my brain unscrambled, second because...Well... I don't have a Jack, I simply can't go into Hot Sim."

Nyx shook her head and shrugged "Ha, well, whatever. I'll go in AR since that's all I can do, and we'll see how it goes. Worst case scenario he'll leave and we'll have to find another way to find him, no big deal. Hopefully." Shaking her head, she went to the Digital Dragon server and entered it, looking for the indicated beach site cafe she was instructed to find.

@Nyx The Digital Dragon is shaped as a palace, or a large cooperate building. You appear at the reception and two guards ask you politely "Why are you here?"

Nyx looked at the guards with a frown. Or she would frown if her avatar was all that good. Considering that it was a standard one though… "I'm meeting someone at the beach cafe."

The guards said "Go right up" and gestured through a metal detector - that scanned her icon for the appropriate marks. Once the scan was concluded, they gestured "Third floor, there is a private booth with your name on it."

Nyx nodded and proceeded to walk to the meeting booth. She had no real idea of what she was going to say, but… Well, she'd have to wing it. Hopefully it would be enough. Being simply in AR, she said to the other two "If you have ideas of things to say or ask, don't hesitate to mention it."

The restaurant is actually busy and crowded... a bit difficult to forget that the food is but an illusion. Information and bits and pieces. Perhaps this is a way to eat and still watch your weight. The hostess quickly guides Nyx to the booth, where a short dwarf in a fancy suit awaits her, accompanied by a black leathered short woman that carries a rather large beg and watches it intently. The man introduces himself as Victor Golovanov, and the woman simply refers to herself as 'Buzz'.

Seeing that Nyx is only in AR, he comments "Why didn't you come hot? How can you sample the goods like that?!". He seems nervous, but is disciplined enough to only subtly show it.

Nyx didn't like the Matrix. She might not really be there, but it made things difficult as far as she was concerned. At least the Candyman was there in VR, which meant she would be able to read his behaviour and reactions. There was at least this. But still. Matrix. Meh.

Nyx had her avatar to sit in front of the dwarf, legs crossed at the knee. She ostensibly observed him, not saying a word for a while. Finally, just before he opened his mouth, she said "I'm not here for a simple and unique transaction. The individuals I represent lack access to the goods you can provide. They could of course divert some of their resources yo fix that but... Why go through that trouble if someone was willing to do that job for them?" she paused to let him digest what she had just said. Before he asked a question, she asked one of her own "So tell me... Would you be willing to expand your business?"

The dwarf said without hesitation "No offense, but I do not deal with who I can not trust, and I do not trust you... you smell bad. If you are not looking to buy BTL then get out! There is nothing for you or your kind in here."

Nyx snorted "If you do not deal with anyone you don't trust, how can you build that trust?" She shook her head "What do you propose?"

Victor replied "Get someone I trust to vouch for you... would be hard given the fact that you are not interested in our product, or dare I say, in any aspect of virtual reality. " Buzz yawned and added, "We are wasting our time here."

"I see, that's quite unfortunate." Nyx snorted "I think you misunderstand. While I do not care about virtual reality, those I represent do. But we are not the kind of people who would lose ourselves in the products we're selling. It's a beginner's mistake after all." Nyx looked at the other two. She had nothing, there was no way she'd be able to go anywhere with that. Even if she wanted to, she couldn't go to VR. She couldn't threaten, she couldn't even dangle an interesting offer in front of his nose since she didn't even really know what he could find attractive or not. At this point, the only thing she could do is try to keep him talking, hoping Iris would be able to do something.

"Let's look at things another way. I want someone I trust to sample your merchandise. How do you want to proceed?"

Victor seemed quiet and observed Nyx for a short while, uncertain how to progress.

He shot a look at Buzz, and then back to Nyx "Look, we started on the wrong foot. If you want in the BTL distribution business you need someone to sample the goods. You have 30 minutes to get that someone here, or there is no deal, Kapish? Don't play with us."

Nyx squinted, a bit suspiciously, as if she were wondering if the offer was genuine. Finally, she nodded "Alright. Send me a token I can share with the...tester then."

Buzz saidbin an indiffetent voice as if shed rather be someone else. "Done, Augmented... now go fetch someone interesting..."

Nyx nodded "Will do." That said, she logged off. Turning to the other two, she asked "Alright, one of you wants it? Or has a good idea on what to do with it now?"

"Well, only one of us has a deck with a hot-sim module. But I volunteer to test those BTLs if that is what it takes to get some info on this motherfragger."
Kynos replied.

"The test is one thing but how do we go from that to grab that guy?" Nyx frowned "Given how paranoid he seems to be, I don't see how we'll be able to manage that from a BTL, and it's not like we have much to offer. In fact, we have nothing. We don't even know anything about him…"

Kynos shrugged: "I had hoped you had a plan during your conversation. Our main aim is still to find the agent. And since the Candyman seems to know how to contact his clients, we'd need to get them to meet with us, so we can ask them with a metaphorical carrot and stick to tell us.

On the other hand we could give up on this lead an just head over to Strawberry to get her take on what happened at the bar and lear which mage was behind the augmentation and dementation of this poor sap.
Personally, I prefer not to interact with Strawberry - and I'd assume that to be mutual."

We could hire some drek hot decker to hack them but with their active matrix presence they are clearly out of my league.