Sharkboy grabbed the pistol and device and got out the room, hacking smoke even through the respirator. He was moving well enough, but only due to the combination of magic, damage compensators and adrenaline.

"We found a drone. I expect you can make it worth our trouble"

Anna replies "Exactly, let's get to the fucking car before something else tries to kill us." She shrugs, and seeing Shark and Nova out of the place she pick up her pace toward the car.

Nova withstood the acrid smoke fairly well, but there was no time to linger. She headed out quickly as well, relying on her Ultrasound system to find the way in the heavy smoke.

"Damned smoke. I could use a drink now..."

The way back was accompanied by coughing, ringing ears and stinging from scrapes and cuts, but they made it down the pathway to the parking lot without encountering anybody.
Inside the van they had a chance to tend to their injuries.
By now, a thin smoke plume was rising from the castle and in the distance a fire siren could be heard. If not an HTR team then a fire brigade would soon be here...

Anna sighs and seems hesitant for a moment before she says "Bei all dem Chaos, das wir machen, sollte ich mein Deutsch mehr üben, da wir auch dieses Land überspringen werden." clearly making an effort to say it correctly, and speaks a bit slower than she would if she was truly fluent. Her cough is less than the others, and she finds it hard to suppress a grin, and then a laugh. "It feels so good to be alive!" She finally says and then looks at Wraith and says "It was soo close!... Tell God, that I say thanks for interfering on our behalf."

When the medical treatment was offered in the van, Sharkboy had little problem removing his suit jacket, dress shirt and pants. His masked stayed on. It was hardly uncomfortable for him. It was how he dressed for his real job.

"Thanks for the treatment, ma'am."

During their march to the car, Wraith visibly worried that the HTR-team might ambush them any second.
Towards Anna's remark, he replies with a grin as well as frowned brows - seemingly unsure whether she's being sarcastic. "Why don't you do it yourself? I always find thanking god relieving. Who knows, you might find solace in unexpected places"
He shakes his head, as if catching himself at a bad habit. "But enough preaching for today."

Wraith complies with Nova's and bnc's professional treatment. "Thanks ", he sighes relieved afterwards.

When the procedure was over, he closed his eyes and murmured "Omniscient god, grant me a glimpse of your knowledge and show me any pursuers."

Anna replies "Relieving? How utilitarian of you I find it strange that you speak like this. I grew up in a religious house, I am no stranger to praying. However, when I prayed I was still mundane. Nobody answered me when my mind reached for powerful entities that I did not understand. Things are different now.

Praying is an attempt of interaction with a powerful divinity. I do not understand it very much, and I do not know the risks of such interaction. It clearly has real power, and should not be attempted lightly. You know many entities actually answer when I interact with them, I must be ready for an answer but can you ever be ready to interact with the almighty Lord of creation? I mean, I am very careful with interacting with powerful spirits, and even these lesser interactions can harm me.

I felt something, like a guardian angel whispering 'Don't do that' in my ear before I opened the door. None of my senses spotted the trap, and I am usually very observant. So, divinity is a possibility and out of all divinities, I am most aligned to the Lord. I know very little of other faiths, so it'll be very strange if Buddha or the Wicca goddess interacted with me. You actually interact with the Lord so I would be very happy if you thank her for me. I do not want to appear rude or anything."

Once again, bnc was glad to have left her worthless body behind. While the others were coughing and crying, she felt perfectly fine. On their way back, she checked from the air whether there were followers or not. Still, she sighed with relief, when they finally reached their van, her heart racing. She immediately starts the engine and sends the car off. Only then did she allow herself to pause and investigate the drone, hoping a vain hope.
And her heart skipped a beat when she saw what they found.
"Oh my god", she gasps. "This could be it. Dammit, this could be it!"

Only with great effort can she pull herself from the drone. She blinks alive, her meat body stirs, but immediately her eyes dart over to the precious thing they found.
"Uuhm ... you said something about being hurt, right? Uh ... first things first, I guess."
Her heart beats fast, but once she sets herself to the task of supporting Nova, she focusses on the deed, not allowing herself to think of the precious jewel in their possession.
Once everything's done, she quickly double-checks that they didn't miss anybody, but then immediately collapses in the next seat. She grabs the drone with slightly shaking hands. Only then does it occur to her that she could explain. With a voice faint as a whisper, she says "It's slaved to her 'link..."
Then she pulls a fibreoptic cable out of her datajack and attaches it to the drone. With a sigh, she leans back and goes limp.

When bnc started the car, Nova immediately stopped her. "Wraith and I still have our bikes here. Let's fix everyone up and then leave."

Once that is done and when bnc informs the rest about what they brought back, she says: "Oh? That is great! Then we might just have the means to get into contact with her directly, right? Try not to spook her, so she does not sever that line."

Nova wraps up her stuff and gets on her bike to zip off. There would be reinforcements coming in at some point, after all.

Gaining a MARK on Kerstin's link was a definite success. The setup looked very sophisticated - even more sophisticated than what you'd expect an apparent professional like Kerstin to have. More like something an operative of the government might possess.
There were only three names logged in the directory: One went to the doorman Abdecker used to get his calls. The other was Splitterbruch. The brawling elf seemed to be still on her contact list then. The third one was new to bnc.

Three encrypted files, numbered 1 to 3 were the only other thing to be found on the link. All of them carried databombs.

Heart racing, bnc searches the commlink. On the one hand, she's a bit disappointed - this definitely was just a commlink, not her commlink - still, it was hers.
bnc can't resist the temptation to follow her most obvious first impulse: She enhances her grip on the commlink, then traces down its physical location: It might or might not be Kerstin's, but it might be another piece of the puzzle to find her. Only then, after a second pause, bnc attacks the data bombs the secure the well-protected files.

Coughing Anna looks intently at bnc and is unaware of the drama."Brainiacs and their matrix expeditions..." she says to herself. Her head was heavy, and she closes her eyes waiting for some hint as to how successful the hacking was.

It was the jackpot - likely. The commlink traced to Salzburg SAM trainstation, somewhere beneath the tracks, likely a bolthole in a maintenance shed or tunnel.

File 1 contained a pretty detailed plan of attack on the hidden Mitsuhama lab under the Kapuzinerberg. Kerstin had gone to great lengths to learn about guard rotations, deliveries, reaction times and fire drills. It also confirmed the date of the attack: Rose Monday night, when even Salzburg would be teeming with people in disguises and most personell would take off the next day.

File 3 contained research files on blood crystals, describing how Kerstin experienced her transformation. How she went blind for a day and the next found her eyes replaced with crystal orbs, allowing her to see in the dark and also the astral. How her arm had decayed, shedding skin and muscle until it revealed a crystal core that grew back into an arm with a sharpened claw and allowing her to shape it into a blade.
She also documents her regeneration ability, noting that sunlight hurts her and stops the regeneration, but nothing else. She also documents that if she doesn't eat human flesh at least once a day, she starts to halucinate and hear voices.

"Based on what we've got, does anyone think they can figure out where she might start her approach from? It'd be better to intercept her before she starts a raids on a corp facility than help with evac."

Anna had no knowledge about tactics, but she looked at the plan and worked her imagination anyhow... She had some silly ideas initillay - she was not afterall a tactician. After she got used to thinking in that particular manner she could come with a sensible plan. Or at least it looked sensible to her.

Anna's honest interest in prayer seemed to surprise Wraith. "I... um, don't see prayer as something to be scared of. But putting it like that, sure. I'll include your thanks in my prayers. Will be my pleasure."
Her reffering to a 'guardian angel' that warned her of the trap brought a smile to his face. The Lord does work in mysterious ways... He's just about to answer - likely another religious sermon - when Nova's reminder about the bikes and then bnc's 'Heureka' pull his attention back to the wordly affairs.

"...to her link? Ah, bullseye!", Wraith shouts out with excitement. Finally, their hunt was paying off... Thank God for bringing us this far.

He doesn't participate in the discussion about strategy. He's been used to being a solo player - coordinating a team isn't his forte.
"No clue.", he replies to Sharkboy's question. "But why don't we check out her bolthole first? She doesn't really ave anywhere to go during daytime - we might be able to find her. Spirits could help. Or turning into rats and scowering the sewers from there."

When bnc opens her eyes again, her heart is pounding heavily and her fingers are shaking. So close ... don't make a mistake now, bnc ... Don't scare her away!

"Yeah, I agree. If we can, we should intercept her before she starts the operation. Anna, Wraith ... if a spirit Conceals you, how high's the chance that you can scout out her bolthole without raising her suspicion? She can astrally perceive now, and while she's not used to it, she's used to being followed, she's paranoid and she grew a hell of a lot more professional since I last met her in flesh and blood."

<< We should definitely check that hideout. If we can find her, talk to her in person, that would certainly be for the best. >>

"Let's just not open doors without clearing them, next time."

Wraith scratched his chin at bnc's question, obviously hesitating. "A woman with Kerstin's abilities and powers that we don't fully understand...Plus paranoia. I'd give her decent chances to detect me. I'm not too gifted when it comes to moving unnoticed."
He glances towards Anna to see how much confidence she has in her sneaking abilities.
"But what speaks against impersonating tunnel critters? Worst thing she's gonna see is an awakened rat."

He grins at Sharkboy's remark. "You bet your ass I'm gonna double-check every fragging door I touch from know on."

Anna replies "Well... We know that she is very new to the astral as is evident by her triggering the ward at the morgue. So paranoid or not, she still needs some experience to spot me when disguising myself in the background count. What do you want me to do exactly?... and what if I am discovered? Should I knock her out? Runaway? Talk to her?"

"Talk to her. Find some way to message us the location. Stall.

"If you attack, and get astrally brained, we don't find anything out. If you run away, you might look like someone trying to find her."

Still a bit hesitantly, Wraith nods as well. "K, if you think that's the better approach, let's do it your way. I suggest we use the telepathic web for communication, so we see what you see.
Shall we inspect the tunnels around her lair first and look for her escape routes? If Kerstin freaks out and runs, we gotta react immediately. Anyone got good means for that?
I can try to petrify her for some time. Ain't easy, but if god wants us to succeed, he'll make her halt.
I trust him on that, so... I'm pretty confident we've got her this time.", he says with a reassuring smile towards bnc.

"As far as taking her down, she is most vulnerable in the astral as a dual natured person with little expirience in the astral, and likely no magic spells or spirits or any mean to fight. Stunbolt or mana barrier are good options to take her down if we must. This is assuming that she does not have magical allies. About the spell, it may work unless I need to pass award and in that case, I may ask you to drop it. I'll leave a spirit behind for communication in that regard. It will be difficult enough to cross award with the concealment power and augmented intuition. Sadly, I cannot recast the spells when projecting as they actually work on my physical body and indirectly affect my astral form. So if there is a powerful ward, I may get there without spells. "

<< Hopefully we won't need to take her down or anything like that. Before trying something that might backfire, we should be there, on the scene, or in the vincinity. So we can act quickly, if needed. Then, scouting ahead seems like a good idea. Also, bnc, can't you just call her commlink now? Or hack it and check its camera for anything useful? Or maybe just leave a message so she can call you? I mean, she was looking for you, after all. You could tell her, that she can ask that elf or Abdecker's guy for confirmation. Send her a little video of you talking to her. Something like that. Something that will earn her trust. >>

Before bnc answers, she changes the autopilot to go for an address near Salzburg Sam.

"She hasn't been using this link for roughly two days. Most likely, sending a message would be a great risk and might prove futile if we cannot go sure, she would see the message. I intend to send her our graffiti, however, from a burner link.
I can hack her cam, though, and I will...

As for the plan. I definitely want to be in the area. If anything goes south, I want her to be able to see me. And, well, I'd like to have you guys around me ... just in case she's not as happy to see me as we all hope. Anna, you won't need a spirit for communication if we use that Mind Net of yours, unless you have to breach a ward. I would very much like to have a spirit around when we go there - or at least available on the metaplanes. If Kerstin acts aggressive or manages to flee, astral spells will be our first measurement, depending on the situation. If that can be avoided, I want to avoid. Maybe we can get to talk to her ... but plan A should be to scout out her lair and then ... we'll see.

Okay, lemme do some magic..."

Biting her lip nervously, bnc again leans back in the seat, only an inch away from praying to a god she doesn't believe in. She then closes her eyes and hacks Kerstin's camera.

The camera of the link showed a dark space with a metal panel. A wire trailed from a dark hole on the top down towards the link. Likely toward an external antenna. bnc suspected, her sister had put the link inside a fuse box or some other hardware container beneath the rail tracks.