"I was talking about the pirate broadcaster."
With his fingers drumming on the table, Wraith hesitates for a moment, then nods.
"Yeah, I'm seconding that sketch. Good work."

"Thanks" bnc says with a smile. "I left one thing open: there's no firm or organization logo yet on the sketch. In order to make it authentic, we should have one, especially as we need something that the "back to Austria and ready to crush" would refer to. I was thinking of something like "Crystal Cruisers" or so, to make her aware that we know about her condition and she doesn't have to be afraid to reveal it to us. But I'm unsure whether it might not have the opposed effect. Maybe something more neutral?"

Anna asks "I got your story right - but I try to place myself in her shoes. There are many people that can recognize her physique, including the psychopaths that attacked us at the museum, as well as people like tinman. Any place she shows herself someone would notice her... However, if she is hiding in a Muslim ghetto. Who would notice a woman with a burka to obscure her entire body and face. She can move around like that without raising much alarm.

Then again, your story is about the Lemon Chili, Kitchen&Bar I assume they serve alcohol which is forbidden by Islam. So, a religious muslim girl should not seat there... Perhaps this is what provoked that student.... but you are right, she should know better if she tries to be disguised as a Muslima.


By the way, do you want to check if there are security cameras nearby? Or to find the student? "

"I don't think we should include anything that also rings a bell for the Harvesters. They know about Kerstin's transformation, they know about her crystals, so 'Crystal Cruisers' might catch their attention. Unlikely, sure, but possible.
I'd rather do something that hints at you, factcheck - that's the pirate channel - Mr Nacl, or whatever. An association with a friend, that her enemies hopefully don't get."

"We should keep in mind that a place like the Lemon Chilli is easy to surveille, in case the Haarvesters also caught up on this lead. Perhaps the student - or the blogger - might be a safer approach for a start?
We could approach the student in a 'we want to teach that bitch a lesson'-fashion, that might get him talkative - if he has any significant knowledge about her, that is."

"I don't know. It doesn't at all feel like Kerstin to dress up as a muslim. But yeah, we'll find out soon enough. I do agree that we should contact the student or the blogger first. I'll do some research on them."

bnc nods appreciatingly at Wraith. "All right. Something neutral then. I would leave Nacl out of it - unless you think of something like Salt and Sunshine - because there's no way she can make the connection. But we could hint at you."
She looks him in the eye. "She'll know it's me if she knows it's you. What about a link to Saint George or so?"

"Me?", Wraith asks honestly surprised - perhaps even flattered.
"Hm...You sure a saint would make her jump on a lead? That's a little vague and I'm not sure she'll catch a concrete lead, what does she know about saints?",


He remains still for a few moments, murmuring "Wasn't there..." while doing some research in the matrix, then his face brightened up as if he just came up with something.
"How about this!", and he pulls up an ARO showing a seemingly old band-logo that read 'Twisted Sister'.
"That's a band, quite an old one. Guess for us it would be... let's say Twisted Sister Revival Corp, or something like that. In that style. To anyone noticing it or doing some research on us, it's nothing but the logo of some neo-rockers. Fits perfectly with the 'what pirate-channels do you like'-stuff.
To Kerstin, however... The revival of the twisted sister can mean only one thing: bnc is back."

Then his face grows darker, as if he just thought of some bad news.
"But it has one weakness:
The Harvesters found out Kerstin's private livelihood, remember that. How did they get such information - or from whom? Call me paranoid, but it could theoretically be through someone from factcheck, Kerstin's former team.
If one of her comrades betrayed her, they can read that as well... and then this bait will lead them right to Kerstin and to us."

At first, bnc doesn't even take him seriously. When she sees the band logo, she starts saying something along the line "C'mon, she knows there's a Saint...", but then she pauses mid-sentence, and reflects about the thought. At the end of his explanations, she grins widely.
And then he slaps the grin out of her face. Her expressions darkens.
She answers sourly, and in a slightly louder voice then ususal: "You have no idea what you're talking about! I know them longer then you do, and better, too, obviously. They'd never betray one of them. Not everybody's as disloyal to their master as you are. And even if-"
And suddenly bnc realizes what she's just said, and, likely for the first time for anyone in they group, they see her terribly and truly sorry. "Drek, sorry! Sorry, Wraith, I didn't meant that. That just blurted out. I'm sorry, really, I just, I couldn't believe that you - really, I didn't mean it. I'm sorry."

Wraith is visibly hurt by that and quite angry. He jumps up from his chair, takes a step forward towards bnc and points one finger accusingly at her: "You have no FRAGGING right call me disloyal. Not you!"
His usually calm voice is almost a shout.

Sharkboy doesn't leave his chair, but he does shuffle his feet and change his posture in case he needs to quickly get up and physically separate the two.

bnc just stands, unblinking, unbreathing, for the beat of an heart. Then she swallows hard.
"I deserved that."
Then bnc hastily breaks eye-contact, her features hardening. She fetches the eltropaper from the table and turns to leave.

While bnc takes the scolding stoicly, Wraith stares at her with angry, narrowed eyes. The moment she breaks eye-contact, though, he already seems to regret what he just said.

He steps back and bites his lip, being seemingly unhappy about how the situation went.
"I... frag.", he murmurs and runs his hand over his forehead in a nervous gesture.
When bnc turns around, it looks like Wraith was about to say something apologizing - but his mouth closes again into a sour grimace of both regret and anger.

It takes him a few more seconds of glaring bnc as she packs and makes her way to the door to finally swallow his pride and say:
"Sorry. That was... the wrong time for that. How 'bout we...", and he clears his throat, "...forget about that for now and finalize our plans?"
His voice is calm again shows no intention to continue their quarrel for now.

"Go, fuck yourself, freak.", bnc snaps without turning. Then she turns and addresses the group in general.
"Plan's finished. Twisted Sister it is. We leave after breakfast."

She reaches for the door, then hesitates, biting her lip hard. Then, with visible effort, she turns back to the party and adds in a voice as steady as she can muster.
"That is, unless someone of you wants to say something."

Anna looks at Shark, clearly amused, though she has nothing to add, to the entertainment. Anna barely knows what the two are talking about. "The two of you take yourself so seriously, what was that all about?" she asks nothing in particular.

Wraith's eyes and brows narrow, but he doesn't respond to bnc's insult.
"Just a... quarrel about a previous job.", he replies hesitantly to Anna's question.
"Nothing that will impact this mission."
He doesn't seem to be in the mood for storytelling.

Sharkboy releases his tension, "Well as long as it won't impact this job, I hopefully won't need to do anything about it."

"Now then, I'm going to see how long until my clothes get out of the cleaner."

bnc doesn't even so much as react to Anna's question. Her eyes shortly dart to Sharkboy but as he, too, doesn't wish to prolong the meeting, she nods stiffly towards the group (without making eye contact to either Anna or Wraith), say "Departure at nine. Is that okay?", waits for an answer, then briskly leaves the room.
Back in her appartment, she smashes in the mirror with her bare fist, then tends to the cuts on her hand. After that, she Jumps Into James, leaves the hotel and runs to blow off some steam. She'd chase through forests, jump rivlets, climb rocks, swing from the branch of a tree to then drop thirty feet to the ground, get up, run more, jump more, climb more. She'd be out for more than two hours before finally returning to her appartment. Back home, bnc returns to her own mediocre meat bag and tend to the scratches and dents James might have suffered.

Only then her mind is clear enough to proceed according to protocol. She forces herself to focus on the task again, trying to avoid to think about the end of the task: her broken sister.
She lays herself on the bed, closes her eyes and goes full VR. Time to hunt you down, motherfucker

Wraith nodds at departing at nine in the morning.
He waits a few seconds to compose himself, seemingly thinking about what tasks are still to be done. He looks like he wants to move on with business and best not ponder about their disagreement.

Clearing his throat, he seemingly came up with something for him to do:
"Now... We still have that alchemical wonderbox we got from the mage. I'd rather not sit on such hot stuff for too long.
Before we move away from Linz, I'll contact my talismonger-friend in the city. She should give us a good price for it.
Or... anyone have other plans for Pandora's Box?"

If no objections come, he'll contact his friend Silvia, a fence for (mostly) magical goods in Linz, and hopefully arrange a meeting.

Wraith didn't find a direct confirmation that their ruse with the axe had worked - at least nothing that had made it into the news. Although there were a few news items about accidents and fires that might have been connected to a retaliation action.
At least his connection came through and offered to take the goods of him for the standard 20% market value.

bnc had more luck: The blogger was easy to find: Marisa Chechaszec was a student at Salzburg University and housed at a local student accomodation. Soon she had both her address as well as some useful background info on her likes and dislikes.
The Burschenschaftler was part of Gothia Salzburg, a fancy fencing student organization. Only his first name was given in the blog post: "Thomas", but a bit of digging identified him as Thomas Oberreuther, son of the famous pianist Marcel Oberreuther. Thomas' living arrangement were within the Burschenschaft building - easy to find, but not necessarily easy to access. The best bet to catch him would be at Uni after his law courses.

Sharkboy went to get his outfit from the cleaners, and after returning it and finally getting suited up, he sent a message to the team.

@Team>> My required getup is a bit loud to walk around this city. Unless you need me be a distraction and cause trouble while you finish your prep on the breadcrumbs and magic boxes, why don't I take the van and make the rendezvous with Abdecker and get our gear? Anyone who wants to tag along is free to do so.>>

@team:
<< Good idea, Sharkboy. If he has our stuff ready, that is. Anyone heard from him?

Contact takes box for 20%, will go to town and meet her. If anyone wants to join, meet me downstairs in 5 min. Anna, if you want to get to know a trustworthy local talismonger, I can introduce you.>>

Anna replies >> sure I don't mind meeting a local talismonger... I never use reagents, but they seem useful and I should be more open-minded toward them as a chaos mage.

A quick message to Abdecker revealed that the consignment would be ready to be picked up in another 24 hours.

After informing his contact that he'd like to introduce her to a collegue, Wraith sets off to the arranged meeting. The Suzuki is a bit slower with two riders, but still makes the trip into the city in no time.
Wraith introduces the two women and then gets down to business.
He'll of course ask his contact about who would be using such a container and if she can make out any details about where or by whom this box could have been purchased.

Silvia looked the box up and down and smiled:
"It's a so called vault of ages - but a very expensive, portable one. High quality, quite a lot of radical reagents went into it's production. This has corp research written all over it. I can give you a good bit of cash for that. I'm just not sure how safe it is to open. I think I'll have to prepare a homunculus to do that for me. Warning lables like that aren't usually a bluff."

Nova was glad, when the little outburst was over. She didn't want to get entangled in that stuff, that clearly had nothing to do with her. When Wraith offered to take the box to one of his contacts, she obviously agreed. She didn't know anyone better-suited for that stuff. She just replied with a little thumbs-up-icon.

When Sharkboy offered to fetch their gear, she replied: << @Sharkboy: Since part of our gear is a bike for me, I guess I better tag along. >>

"How much are we talking here?", Wraith asked.

He seemed surprised about the dangers of the box.
"Oh, be careful, then, Silvie.", he smiled back at her. After a short moment of hesitation, his curiosity got the best of him. That, and a mixture of pragmatism - a Homunculus could be a tedious thing to create - and business-sense: in case anything special was inside, it was bettee know about it before selling it.

"Uhm... perhaps we can be of help with opening it. Anna here knows a really wiz spell that she can use to open things from a safe distance. Right, Anna?
And I can create a barrier to shield us from... ah, what kind of threat were you expecting?"