bnc smiles with satisfaction, though with no one to see.

"All right guys, little time left. Does anyone of you have the means to burn that shit down? 'Cause I'm neither keen on leaving specific traces nor on having them continue this fucked-up crap.
Think of something. Meanwhile, I'll delete the log files."

Then bnc again focusses on the matrix network and leaves the physical havoc to her teammates.

"I just have some high-ex grenades in my bag in the van."

"Bring 'em. Better'n nothing"

Anna texts >>I just summoned a fire spirit...She really likes burning things and increasing the entropy.

It took bnc a few moments more but then she had modified the log file and could leave the host, while her team mates debated what to do with this factory and the unconscious guards lying on the floor.

<< We got a few more grenades from earlier. @bnc: You should know best, where to place them, in order to destroy the storage units, right? >>

Sharkboy went into his bag, got out the grenades and handed them to bnc to place where she felt it would be best.

I'm going to lose half my earnings to replacing ammunition.

bnc nods a thanks to Sharkboy, then says: "I don't think, I need many o' them if Anna can indeed command a fire spirit to burnt that shit down. Get the van ready, I'm almost done."

bnc quickly arranges one or two of the grenades at an angle where she can be confident to take the servers out with some certainty, and distributes potential flammables (curtains, plastic containers and stuff) to further increase the damage potential, knowing that her work is but the tip of the iceberg. Still, whatever can be done hastily, she does (or asks idle teammates to do). Once the most important things are set, she gets onto the van. "Fasten your seatbealts, girls. Time to unleash hell!"

Anna frowns at bnc's doubt, she can torch things with fire spirits - but making sure that no people are killed when you start a fire is a problem. She texts >>Help me place them outside of the warehouse so they don't die in the fire.<< She then drags the unconscious guards out of the warehouse one by one (Possibly with the help of Nova and Sharkboy) Once the guards are out of the way, and their loot stored in the van, Anna enters the van afterward and instructs her fire maiden to torch the place down starting with the servers, and take extra care to ensure that the servers are unusable before burning the rest of the factory.

"Sure, why not." Nova said and helped Anna with the guards.

bnc, phyically unable to lift any bodies herself, instructs James to assist, while she herself Jumps into the van, heats up the engine and turns, ready to leave at a moment's notice.

Seeing that his comrades got the situation handled quite well, Wraith goes to scouting the area: Stepping just outside of the mana barrier, he uses his god-given powers to detect approaching enemies and murmurs "Lord, you know the hearts of all men. Reveal our enemies to me." .

Sharkboy drags people by their arms out of the building, two at a time, and then takes care to properly carry the guy with the broken leg.

It didn't take long for the whole building to be enveloped by flames. In the distance sirens could be heard.
Wraith didn't notice anything yet, but that probably would change soon if they stayed.

"Guess, the neighbors weren't too happy about the noise. We should move. Don't forget the other car."

Anna closes her eyes, and astrally project to clean up the signatures left by the team. Her heart pounds with excitement as she notices how much fun her fire spirit is having. When she returns, she has a silly eye-to-eye grin on her face and she says "Some people just like to see the world burns..." She is fascinated as she watches the warehouse getting smaller through the rear window.

bnc relaxed visibly once they were out. Even through the suppression of the VR system, a hint of a smile breaks through onto her face. It can definitely be heard over her voice, though.
"Good raid, chummers. That was professional and smooth!
But first: Where to? Right back to the maneater?"

<< We need to fetch the other car. Then, we should make sure, that we are not followed. Then, back to the boat. >>

"Right. As soon as we changed rides, we should send this one - the one they'll be looking for - towards the nearest border. Or wherever, just far away from where we're going."

The retreat went on without a hitch. Moving all the loot two the rented car was a bit of a hassle, but the team managed it with no particular difficulty. Sending the car on autopilot without grid guide was no problem either.
While you return to Linz, two fire trucks pass you as they had in the direction you just came from.
The unconscious man, the team had placed on the floor began to stir. It wouldn't be long before he regained consciousness.

"Does someone have handcuffs, or are me and Nova gonna need to put a tag-team submission on this guy?"

"James should still have the handcuffs with which we restrained the drivers. James-sweetheart? Do you still have them cuffs you played with?"
"Yes, mommy, but my playthings are gone. Can I has new ones?"
"See? Still there. Good boy. Someone give Jamesy a pat"

As the man woke up, he found himself cuffed and restrained. After pulling a few times uselessly on them, he asked: "Alright, who are you and what do you want."

Wraith was keeping his detects enemies a spell up while they were driving away from the scene.
<<I don't see how this guy has anything we need. Do we need any info from him?
Regardless, let's message Abdecker's bouncer that his package is on the way. He might send us to a different destination, after all.>>

Anna replies in a calm voice "Who we are is of no concern to you. As to what do we want - I am sure you can guess, want to give it a try?"

bnc kept to herself, concentrating on the steering of her car, observing the van and arranging a date with the Abdecker.

Abdecker confirmed the meeting and gave the team an address close to the Danube port. The maps showed the place to be a small garage.
The prisoner replied: "I'd say you are hired guns. Which means you have someone paying you for this. Let me go and I can double whatever they are offering you."

Sharkboy might have considered the offer if this wasn't part of what had already become a quagmire of a manhunt.

Anna replies "I'll be surprised if your pockets are deep enough to hire us. I do admire your tenacity though, and I am not without sympathy to your situation. In the spirit of conversation, any idea who is most likely to pull such a shtick and what would they want from you?"

She texts as to not annoy her team >> I'll see if I can get him to tell us anything of value.

<@team<sure go ahead prying info out of a pro u just kidnappd. best luck>>

Once everything is set - the cars are driving, the messages are handled - bnc moves a copy of the two files to her commlink and turns off the cyberdeck - which is still seriously damaged from the previous engagement with the spider. She then returns to her meat body, shifts and moves a bit to get the blood flowing through her system and opens the files in AR to read them and memorize them properly. If there's time left, she'll do some background checks on Herrero and potential other persons and places mentioned in the files.

The content of the file is very complex and quite a lot is just machine code, but bnc finds the gist of it readily enough: Knowledge won from studying CFD victims has been used to create a new form of BTL chips. Users have their personality subsumed with that of a highly trained individual. Pain reception is dulled in such a way that users don't notice the over extension of their untrained muscles and artificial induced fight or flight instincts ratchet up the adrenaline production.

Meanwhile the prisoner replied: "I see. So despite this hit being quite daringly and meticulously done, you say you didn't do your homework. Oh well. Would you mind letting me speak with your boss? My pockets are indeed deep enough and then some..."

Nova had to bite her tongue in order not to laugh. What was Anna saying there? Sure, that guy had deltaware implants, but couldn't afford to hire a few runners. That made sense. On second thought, though, she was probably right, and maybe that was what she was actually hinting at. No money in the world would be enough, at least for some of them. It was a family matter, after all.

Wraith didn't didn't show any interest in joining the questioning. He focused on keeping his spell up and communed with his spirit to thank it for its aid.

Anna replies "Not at all, you will meet him shortly". She had to give it to him, he seemed pretty calm.

"Speaking of...", Wraith chimed in on the team's channel, "When we deliver our package, I guess I'll offer Abdecker my help in extracting whatever info he wants from this guy. Mind-reading beats questionning, after all, and saves them breaking fingers. Should he accept, what's our wishlist? I say we could use some more toys for more firepower. "

"Id love to know what he needs these files for."

<< @Wraith: Some hard-to-get stuff, probably. He mentioned, that is something he specializes in. >>
<< @bnc: You know, he actually explained that... >>

The meeting point seemed to be abandoned, except for the garage door opener that was clearly visible on the matrix - protected only with the most minimal firewall a device could have.

<<@Wraith I'd obviously appreciate some replacement arrows and grenades. If he has any Ares mono tips or seeker shafts he's willing to give up, that'd also be appreciated. That drek's too expensive for the usual side-gig>>

"Actually, I don't. Care to enlighten me?"

Nova mentally shrugged.

<< @bnc: And there I thought, you are the brainiac here. Anyways, in case you really missed that part of the conversation, he told us that he wants the data, in order to learn from it how to infiltrate their network and who is behind the whole thing. He plans to neutralize the Crusaders faction entirely. >>

Wraith ran a quick astral check on the meeting point to make sure it was indeed abandoned.

There seemed to be only one person inside:
Schorsch, the barkeeper.

"Schorsch is inside, the barkeep. Let's blindfold our prisoner and then let's get this over with.
Oh, and... I don't know a lot about weapon-tech. So if it comes to bargaining, let's do the negotiations together."

"That's why I ask, smartass. What he sent us to fetch is not info about who's behind - which, by the way, I could find out - but the schematics needed to produce or reproduce the beetles. Oh, and the engineer. If he wants to know, who's behind, I give him file B. But if he needs the schematics, which is what we were sent for - I'd love to know what he needs them for. Because I don't wanna be used by some self-named cannibald king who tries to build his own zombie army - cannon fodder and ghoul fodder in one.
I'd love to hear what he has to say to that."

bnc encrypts both files and protects them with a databomb.

<< Yes, obviously they have the schematics in a factory where they produce those chips. He needs to analyze these to be able to get into the network, which is what he told us, and which is what he will tell us again, if you ask him. If he has additional motives, that might very well be, but why would he reveal any of that to us? It's how these jobs work. If you ask me, there is no point in bringing this up. This is a matter of trust, and you want him to help us get your sister back. Might not be the best idea to question his motives and potentially piss him off. Also, he's a ghoul. He already has the means to build an army. From what we know about him, he is very careful not to spread his disease. Maybe give him a little more credit. >>

bnc ponders on this for a second, then says: So-ka. I'll leave the talking to those who understand it. Don't expect me to trust a total stranger who didn't even meet us face to face - while demanding the same from us - and plays us to do him a favor. But you can expect me to shut up.
You got the info that I have both the schematics he wanted and infos about who is behind. I'll leave it to you what you bring up in what manner."

<< It's good to be careful, but I have no reason to believe, that he wasn't being honest with what he told us. And so far, everything has checked out. Doesn't mean I would trust him with my life, but at the moment I trust him enough to keep his word. He might not have told us everything and why should he, really. We are as much of a wildcard for him as he is for us. Remember, who has brought us into contact with him. And him not meeting us face to face? I actually appreciate that he does that. It is to protect us from him as much as the other way around. I wouldn't want to stay too close to someone with that affliction. >>

"Yeah, sure. He hides from us just to protect us from his urge to eat our brains, but in his heart he is, despite being a smuggler, fixer, hacker and monster, a sweet and caring man who's deserving of our trust solely on account on his words. I'm absolutely with you. Maybe we should just present him the additional infos as a sign of our trust, eh?
Just bring it behind you withtout drooling, so-ka?"

As a safety measurement, bnc copies file B to a stealth tag, attaches it to her rotodrone, and sets it off to fly the city in a regular pattern. The other one, she copies on her commlink, leaves it to James and has him drive off with our van. She then erases all traces of the two files on her deck.
"Ready when you are."

Anna is happy to see that bnc is keeping herself busy and morally engaged. She personally does not care if the ghoul starts a zombie army or not - as long as he delivers the promised information they need to find Bean Si. She is surprised that bnc is not more desperate than that, but it is a good surprise - the decker cares for other people than herself. It is a welcomed change, or perhaps she misjudged her friend.

At any case, Anna replies "I'd love to have some custom made RP poncho or something similar, I am addicted to that polymer. The second skin is like the best cloth ever, and my rising huntress dress (like Sleeping tiger) is my all-time favorite. I'd love to use this stuff in places that do not accept high fashion though, but clothes customized with RP which are not mass produced are difficult to come by."

...

Anna gets herself ready, and astrally scouts the place prior to exiting the car to look for any astral threats or things she needs to notice.