Wraith wasn't quite done with him yet. His word is fine, but not enough. Right noe, he was glad that his helmet hid the cold smile appearing on his face.
His spell clawed through the mercenary's mind, looking for any weak points with emotional attachments. Having found the lead to his mother, he searched for any information necessary to find her: her full name, address, and so on.
Next, he used his spell to dig up certain happy memories: His mother laughing, smiling at him - suddenly interrupted by a memory of Assault meeting Johann, which was immediately followed by a series of questions: What if she stopped laughing? How would you feel, if she never smiled again?
Wraith knew how it felt to lose a mother-figure and he digged up thoughts and memories in assault's mind that fuelled exactly this loss, all in combination with the earlier accessed thought "meeting Johann".

He carefully observed Assault's reaction to the subtle threat and also probed for any thoughts concerning turning against the team.

"That's the easy part. He's got something called a 'pain editor'. I shred it to pieces, his body reacts how it is supposed to: by shutting down. Far as I can tell, there's not even any need to Stunbolt him - p'rhaps a tiny bit - hid body should give in the moment I frag the thang."

The merc shed a tear as Wraith continued to psychological torture him, but kept his mouth shut.
As bnc got to her part he gritted his teeth and spat: "Careful with cutting into my brain or the kink may get you."

Anna feels weak, a bit overwhelmed by the situation.>> bnc - can't you just sedate him with the medic kit, you know with Special K... I mean Ketamine? Or will it hurt him or something? Gosh, I know nothing of first aid

Ketamine as a street drug, causing psychedelic hallucinations and induced sleep state but without full unconsciousnesses so that airways are kept open and muscle tonus is preserved. Ideal for bored street kids that raided a pharmacy and relatively harmless. Anna has no knowledge of first aid, but she was at the receiving edge of Ketamine in her formative years, and that was fun.

>>Wraith isn't that enough? We have a solution to keep him sedated in a safe house. Let's get on with it, you probably have leverage on him as well by now? What is the point? Do you want to make sure that he is vindictive or anything? You are pushing so hard.

While the helmet hid his face, his tense posture and a sudden head-tilt towards Anna indicated that Wraith wasn't quite happy with her.

@Anna (assuming that was a private message)
<<Pushing so hard? Oh Anna, he's a mercenary, not a puppy, for frag's sake. Putting his life on the line is part of his job, and as you made pretty clear that we're softballs, we gotta make sure that he really fears for his mother. I'm doing what I can so he'll never come after us again, as we can't keep him in the safehouse til he dies of old age. >>

@team:
<< Good news: He has a mother that he holds dear. I'm working on showing him how a rendezvous with the mage might "influence" his mother's health, then I'd say if we work together for some tough words, the risk of him getting in our way is minimized. Or... Any other plans?>>

#It was
She texted Wraith trying to get some sense into the talented mage with terrifying mental powers.
>>> A threat is worthless if he calls your bluff, are you really going to harm his sick mother in retaliation? I won't, if he comes after us, I'll kill him myself but if we did not kill him, why would he believe that we will kill his mother. I wouldn't... You can't program people like computer programs... as impressive as it sounds, and terrifying. People are complicated, irrational, emotional... we are chaos. I'd say treat him with respect, tell him we'll keep him sedated until it is safe to release him and that we are not going to harm him or his grandmother if he behaves.

He is an expensive investment, but creating more people like him is mainly a question of money. A lot of money, but not impossible money in cooperate scale. Whoever operates him, can have a dozen more ex-military jarheads just like him. Why fear the pawn and not the king is beyond me. I assume that we may already have people like him after us... We killed that Austrian mage, and now powerful adept agent, if any releasing their 2 million nuyen tin-man unharmed will make his employer less hostile and vengeful toward us personally. Competitors - yes, foes yes but enemies no.

"Yes, I can sedate him. Don't worry, we will not harm your beloved psychopath. You don't have to have nightmares because we didn't treat the one who tried to hunt down my sister like a wild hog kindly and softly. Now get your fucking ass into the van and stop fucking around."

"Wraith, you done here?"

bnc looks positively pissed as she slowly strides towards the man and the medkit which still lies next to hime.

She enters the car and says softly "bnc, it really is hard on me. You make him sound like such a monster, but our teammates got exactly the same orders as Robocop. Anna grins and gives bnc a silly look in an attempt to break the ice of her friend Besides, you know that Kynos is the only psychopath in my heart.

"Our teammates got the orders to save a fragging innocent, this tinbox is out there to hunt her down. I know that details sometimes confuse you, but even you should be able to get this one. Now would you kindly shut the fuck up?"

"Well that all works for me."

It was going to happen whether or not Sharkboy agreed with it, but he might as well be polite like Nova suggested. He did have one last word for Anna, though.

@Team >> Ms. Black, please bear in mind for next time that we aren't fishing with the family on the lake. When we bring someone in, it ain't going to be catch and release. If you don't want to be in the room when we gut the fish, we understand. Just don't break into it and make real promises for their safety you can't keep.

Anna is furious, but she tries to keep it bottled up. "Save an innocent", they are in it for the money, mercenaries shadowrunners. Just like him, she really sees no difference and is not so certain that Kerstain is an 'innocent' given that she is a shadowrunner herself, not a damsel in distress. Sure she needs help, but this mess... it was their doing. How can bnc be so blind to her sister, which is many things and perhaps not a bad person but what is the difference between her and Mr. tinman? She does morally ambiguous things for money, so does he. They both need to make a living somehow.

Then the Shark says that murder is okay but lying is wrong, so strange. >>ARG... Can you be less annoying?

I am not stupid and while you disagree with me, I do have a point. Yes, I don't want to kill him - no it is not as black and white as you portray it. It is not that killing him is the unquestionably the best route, and I force your hand into an inferior solution due to my damn sense of morality. Every action has a reaction, this guy is dangerous but his employer is 10 times as dangerous. Kill his two million tinman - and they'll want retribution.

When Anna doesn't shut up, bnc mutes her in the group channel after the fourth or fifth sentence.

She continues for a while and then realizes she was muted. Anna should be angry, furious maybe, but then she realizes the situation and grins, laughing at herself.
She says softly to bnc, That was naughty... kind of funny though.

Wraith took a step towards the mercenary. "Stay out of our way if you love your mother.", he said before stepping aside to let bnc sedate the man. "He's all yours."

He kept the spell active until Assault's mind faded to black, watching for thoughts of retaliation or opposition.
Once the man's mind is unreadable, he's ready to board the van.

For a moment, bnc is entirely nonplussed. That turn of mood came unexpected. Wasn't she yelling a moment before? Chaos mages...
"Uh, was it?" is the cleverest response she can produce.
"Work to do..." she then mumbles, one third to Anna and two thirds to herself.

She undos the lid of her medkit, penetrates a vene and gently puts the half-man to sleep.

"Done. He shouldn't wake up for a couple hours, but we can't be sure. With all these mods things might work different on him, also I don't know which kind of bioware the fella's got in him. So, let's keep him restrained.
So, how do we go from now?"

bnc unmutes Anna sends a message into the teamchannel (including Eliza): "How do we go from now? I could hack a car and send him to Innsbruck. We checked him for tags, so by technical means it should be impossible to locate him before he arrives at Innsbruck. The mage might, however, have a blood sample which makes it a very risky choice to send him away and flying without us guarding him. If we go with him, however, we lose 6 hours for sure, probably more."

Nova had been watching silently until the matter was resolved.

<< I think we should accompany him, or at least some of us, if there is something urgent to do in the meantime. The main question is, what are we doing now to find Bean Si? Do we want to talk with the Abdecker? If so, some of us might suffice for that, so we could split up. Two accompany Assault to Innsbruck and the others go and meet with the ghoul. >>

"Sounds fair enough to me. Unless Nacl has a heavily armed taxi driver idly waiting for a job."

While the two are still alone in the car, Anna replies softly "Sometimes this slitch needs a good slap."

As the team joins in the car, Anna agrees with Nova "Alright, then who goes where?"

Eliza replied: <<I can take care of the transport - provided you can do without the van for a time. I can rent a vehicle for you in the meantime.>>

"Hope your'e only stinging him extra gently.", Wraith sniggered sarcasticly while bnc sedated Assault.

Once the man was asleep, Wraith took off his helmet and stretched his head, deeply breathing in the cold winter's breeze before he got back into the van.

"Splitting up works for me. One mage, one muscle with each team, I'd say.
Right, restraining.
If you want to make absolutely sure he's not going anywhere: There is a special spell, I'm not using it idly, but in this case... It could turn him to stone. No chance to move, no chance to send a message, not even a thought. And once I end the spell, he'll be back to normal.

If that's how we wanna do it, I'll go with him to Innsbruck.

Or did you mean you'll take care of it all by yourself, Elizia?"

Eliza replied: <<Considering that you can turn him to stone, I can take care of him by myself no problem.>>

Anna exclaims "You can do THAT? We really need to learn how to play to our strengths. I was trying to weaponize levitation because I really do not know the right spells to handle people like them. This combat could have been a lot easier when you had an instant win spell. We really need to up our game to survive this gig."

>> Eliza does that implies that you have a physical body somewhere, or will you be using drones. (wink!)

Eliza relied: <<There is an anthro drone at the safe house, yes.>>

"No need to turn him into stone. He's physically incapacitated. What we need is a way to shield him from ritual spellcasting. Can you do that? Or anyone else?

Thanks, Eliza, for taking care of that worthless piece of shit. Let's go back to Linz, drink a soycaf, and regain some strength. Eliza, please let me know once you have organized a new vehicle for us."

Anna said,
>> >> I can cast a mana barrier around him, it should make him more difficult to detect with mojo for the short term until he reaches the safehouse. I'll need to sleep eventually, so I can't sustain it long term, we'll need some other solution in the safehouse. Any standard ward would do.

PS: Eliza, I am glad you will not be in physical danger. It seems like a good plan.

"How long would it take to Ward the van itself? I guess, you cant move a mana barrier with him while you remain with us."

Eliza replied: <<Don't worry about warding: The safehouse does have magical counter measures in place - otherwise it wouldn't be much of a safehouse. While en route there is no great danger to being tracked. As far as I understand it, magic does not allow for a continuous tracking but only pinpoints positions at fixed moments. Staying on the move should be enough for now.
I took the liberty of hacking a customer account to order you a Der oTTo for you. It doesn't have manual controls, but a dedicated rigger interface and is large enough to even accomodate trolls.
It should arrive at the entrance to the federal road in about half an hour.>>

<< Eliza, that sounds great. Thank you! Then we can stay together to pursue our goals here, which is probably better overall, >> Nova replied to Elizas offer.

<< That still leaves us with the question where we are headed... what do we know about the Abdecker? We only have that night club boat "Dandelion", where we could ask around, is that right? >>

Wraith's answer came a few seconds later than the rest's. He wasn't entirely comfortable with entrusting a person he had never even seen with such a valuable and dangerous prisoner.

"Thanks, Elizia."

"Well, we know of this ship. Dandelion, was it? The night club where he can apparently be found. As an infamous hacker, I'd guess he'll have some fancy toys with with him, perhaps bnc can identify them once we're there."

Anna replies >> Spells are either placed on a geographical location or on an aura. I should be able to mana barrier the prisoner. Though, I never tried to place it on an unwilling person.

Anna casts the Mana barrier spell at a low force to avoid the sphere of influence intersecting with astral forms during their trip.
She texts >> Eliza, the prisoner has a spell on him, let me know when he reaches Linz so I drop the spell.

<<Will do.>>Eliza said before driving away with her cargo.
True to her word, only a short while later the teams new, leased ride made an appearance. A sturdy, well armored limousine with a passenger compartment where the seats faced each other.

"Not a moment too soon," thought Anna as the limo arrived. It was not long, but waiting outside in the winter every second sting. Worse yet, was the fact that they are now in the middle of a camping trip but with no tents or fire, and in the middle of winter with snow on the ground and everything.
Anna enters unceremoniously and enjoys the heat.

"Let's talk about ABdecker. It strikes me strange that he can be a decker and a ghoul, aren't ghouls blind and dual-natured?
I mean, technically how would he access the matrix? I doubt he can use augmented reality or even a simple touchscreen. Brail? Would blind people be able to 'see' in VR?"

bnc, too, is glad when they step into the van. She slots herself in and starts driving back to Linz.
"Neither is a problem for a decker. A direct neural interface doesn't actually need eyes to "see". Of course, AR can't work if you're blind, but a DNI would. And even if the visual sensoric motor is so degenerated that it can't be used properly anymore, theoretically with a well-designed interpiece, you could translate most pseudo-visual signals into other stimuli a ghoul brain could process.

The more important question is: What can we offer him?
And do we have a strategy how to approach him? Anna, this is your field of experience."

"Alright, so we believe the ghoul or harvester rumors. Interesting that he can be in the Dandelion with this condition, I mean I would imagine most people not tolerable toward the infected. Anyhow, I think he trades information for living so either we pay him, or he'll ask us for a favor, or we'll trade with some information of our own if we have anything to sell. Also, it would help if we share a common connection that can drop in a good word, bnc said that the man was paranoid, it will be difficult to just approach him and ask him to trust us. Does any of you have a relevant connection?

She texts Eliza to see if perhaps she knows about ABdecker, she seems like a very experienced colleague and perhaps was well connected in this community. >> Eliza, do you or the boss know someone that can drop a good word for us with ABdecker.

Eliza's reply follows shortly: <<I am sorry, I do not have anyone in Linz that could work as a relevent connection. But since you are dealing with a decker, maybe you could try to meet him in cyberspace - much more secure for all concerned. The boss suggests asking the barkeeper at the Dandelion - that's how most deals are approached. You could offer the ABdecker some of that loot from the appartment complex for information.>>

"All right. I'll send James to the ship to arrange an online meeting. That good with everyone?"

"Sounds good to me. We should also work on a strategy to show that we're on Bean Si's side and not trying to kill her. I guess Abdecker would be less famous if he sold out his clients to random strangers."

Anna replies "This should be simple if bnc comes in the flesh, she wouldn't play against her sister and the two look similar. Of course, if he is blind then... I don't know how convincing it might be. Only thing is that the harvesters might crush our party. We may need the rest as bodyguards. "

"In flesh... to a ghoul? Not if I don't have to. As you say, he's blind, and I doubt that he can figure from our scent that we're relatives... Especially not in her ... state.
Maybe he can send a message from us to her. Something like that. Let's meet. Everyone cool with my sending James to talk to the barkeep?"

"What's the point of having a fully-armed and operational robot butler if he isn't able to talk to unsavory people for you."

"I would totally expect him to be able to see, considering he is a decker. Via cameras, but he will know images for sure," Nova said.

"No problem with sending James."

"Entirely my point. Also, he might regard it as a sign of professionalism that we don't easily show off our identities."

bnc sends James to the docks.

Anna asks "So no going to the Dandelion by the flesh? Where do we have dinner then?"

"Don't mention the words flesh and dinner ever again in the same sentence as the residence of a ghoul."

Wraith grinned.
"Why don't we get dinner somewhere nearby, should we have to intervene? James works as a messenger and a scout in one, but I'd rather have us stay close by.

If we do have to board the ship, we should enter as pairs or in the cover of a bigger party, not as one group. With some time passing between each one."