Taurus nods at Nova's explanation. "That is what I was thinking of. You guys going in to con your way to the target. Me and Sharkboy come in with the stretcher,. If we have someone in the system authorizing us, it should be a piece of cake. And if it goes sideways, everyone is on site to help out."

bnc casts a glare into Anna's direction. It is not so much (only) anger, but mostly disappointment, hurt.
"So you would 'follow anyone that knows what he is doing' which is Nova, even that freak brute over there and a total stranger but explicitly not me."

bnc walks over to the cot, while James stands.
"Fine. I tried to be part of the team. I made efforts to straighten things with Sharkboy who only repaid me in bringing up what an egoistic asshole I am. I asked you for something immaterial which I could take anytime, and could - and has - save lives, and you deny it to me out of sheer mistrust. What's the fragging point of me being here? If you refuse to work with me, then why am I here?
Doesn't matter. I am paid for doing the job but if you all agree that anyone is supposed to do as they want and everyone else just has to roll with it, let the shit go down in chaos.
I'll go and do some intel. If the Sharkman touches my body again without my permission, I will shoot him or die in the attempt."

While James dutifully and methodically sets down the backpack, bnc lays down on her cot.

Anna frowns and says "bnc I trust you as a matrix specialist, and within that realm, I accept your authority." she feels a need to go comfort bnc or make her feel better. Though, after being roughly ignored since she followed her to Europe, she does not want to go there. She accepted that bnc is not her salvation, and that Anna needs to invent her own social web to survive in this strange country. She is doing alright, and after binding a powerful spirit with her power focus after a few hours of study. A feat that would have taken months to pull off without the focus she does not feel weak anymore. She does not need bnc, she found other lovers, other professional runners, and she is in the game on her own right. She is a Shadowrunner, and the way money is flowing, she is valued very high compared to the opposition despite this being only her third job.

Instead, she goes to the Coffee machine and makes herself a cup of coffee and sighs as she drinks her coffee. "bnc, when you relax - please see how much of our wishful thinking can be laid out as a workable plan. Does anyone know a good forger in this country? I know one back home in America but I am uncertain how good he'll be with the local documents."

bnc looks her in the eye. "You don't, though, do you?"

@gilga

Anna looks at bnc and says "I do, most of the time.", not wanting to mention drug problems in front of Taurus/Alex to not embarrass bnc.

@Volker

"bnc, you can have a mark on my commlink."

He still wasn't ready to really apologize for grabbing her when she had that panic attack, but he wasn't going to dig that back up again, either.

"This is one of the situations, where a little leadership might come in handy. Of course, bnc will have superiority over all our commlinks. I don't see how this is even a question. She is the hacker and she has the means to protect the network. If someone has an unprotected commlink, that someone becomes a liability for the whole team. I do not have the skills to do this, so I am glad, that someone else, bnc in this case, is taking up that task. Everyone plays their role, that is what 'team' is all about."

bnc nods, closes her eyes for a moment.
"All right.
I would like to discuss matrix security a little further before we leave this safe haven as there is still some room for improvement. That's not priority atm, though. But granting me a mark does not directly improve matrix security. Other measures do, however. We'll talk about it.

I think I could be able to pull some pretty decent forgery off myself. Of course, this wouldn't be fully bullet-proof but it might do to trick some officers, depending on how cases like this are treated. In combination with a short hack of their system, I'm pretty sure that I can forge and support the story you are talking about. If we feel ourselves in need of some more profound forgery, I do think that the Abdecker should be able to support us. At a cost, for sure.

Anna, can you mask your aura?"

Anna replies "Nope" She actually tried to do it, but never figured it out. Her mind was elsewhere, obsessed with the new power focus, and all the new options it opened up for her. Yet, she cannot be one with her focus until she learns to mask until then the ring of power stays hidden in the special pocket.

Anna is frustrated that she cannot, but with all the excitement of the focus, and learning new spells she never got to it. Not that she had access to good teachers in that realm. A familiar feeling of incompetence sweeps the young mage when she realized that every mage they encounter is likely more powerful, and more experienced than herself. Sure, she was pretty good for "magic for practitioners" - without much trying. However, now when she is doing this illegal drek, she does not hold a candle to any of the mages they encounter. Even with a powerful focus, she still cannot do it. She stares at her coffee and does not make eye contact.

"So, is everyone onboard with the general idea? It might not be completely waterproof, but if it works, it gets us right to him, and it would at least explain, why we have a little more combat augmentations and magic than the average paramedic, if we are corporate asset retrieval agents or whatever you might call someone like that. There would be no need to hide your magic, Anna. Taurus, maybe someone with your background can actually help making this whole story a little more believable. You know how corporations work, right? One potential problem I see here is Sharkboy. He is easily the most recognizable among us, and that does include a minotaur. No offense."

"No offense taken. Taking the focus away from you guys is my job."

"Not if he takes of the mask, we can ask Eliza about getting us an ambulance and kit for our plan. Scrubs or uniforms for me and Sharkboy. She could also cover us in the Matrix, she did say that she had at least seen the system. If nothing else, we can boost one and we stay inside until we are needed."

Taurus had already done what he needed to do for his commlink, in spite of his statement earlier. He noticed, but chose not to comment on any interpersonal drama. He will go ahead and make the call to Eliza, since it was his idea.

--So, in addition to that bike, is there any way we can temporarily lay hands on an ambulance and pararmedic uniforms for Sharkboy and myself? We have the beginnings or a plan.

"The mask doesn't come off."

"Excuse me?"

"It's as I said.

"I don't take this mask off around other people."

"You understand that what we do is illegal, right?"

"I know. I'm always confused as to why no one else wears masks."

"Because when you are not trying to stick up gas stations, masks are a dead giveaway."

"So what you are saying is, you can't ever be sneaky, or disguised, or, in general, useful in a situation where someone DOESN'T have to be body-slammed. You do understand that people can get killed doing what we do?."

Anna asks "can we put something on top of the mask? "

“Yes, we could put something on top of the mask.”

“Really, though. Your two think far too narrowly. Acting like you belong is just as important as looking like it.” Sharkboy’s attitude through all of this was a bit more flippant than would be helpful, but it was hardly he first time he’d had this conversation.

Anna says "You can just distract the coppers so that they do not look into our papers too deeply. You do not have to be a masked paramedics. Beside, the mask is nice an all but since there are very few Shark people out there, anything shorter than a full synthetic skin mask that covers your entire head is pointless."


To bnc she says "I think that I can mask my aura or yours for that matter. I do not know the masking metamagic technique, but there is a spell that creates illusions on the astral plane. So I can cast it on whomever I want, and make their aura look like whatever I want. It would work in most open spaces, but it is a spell so wards are a problem."

Taurus will facepalm for a second, then give a surrendering shrug when he finds out the mask can be covered.

They have the basic bones of a plan, so for him, the situation is settled. He will start going over the intel they have on the site while he is waiting to hear back from Eliza.

Despite her moodiness, bnc grins in amusement. She listens to the dialogue for a while, then chimes in.

"Look, lads. Lasses, whatever. We don't all have to go in. Actually, no one except for one of us really needs to. To be frank, I would suggest only Anna - who is a charmer and has two nice arguments to distract some officers - and Nova go. I accompany you from the cyberspace and the two beastmen can wait somewhere nearby. Maybe, Sharkboy, you wanna do something flashy like a parade or whatever it is you do when you don't slam your fins into somebody's face. But you're right: Your job is taking attention from us.
So Sharkboy distracts.
Anna is the main asset retrieving agent or whatever it's called.
Nova plays her co-worker slash bodyguard.
I do the forgery and the hacking.
Taurus stays close by if some shit hits the fan.

By the way, Taurus, what is it actually that you do contribute? I take it you're muscle?

"Havn't you noticed, how he instinctively watched over Anna, when she went astral earlier? Let me take a wild guess here... bodyguard / security detail," Nova said with a wink.

"Anyways, my thought was to send Anna, Taurus and myself inside, posing as the corporate agents sent to retrieve our asset, while you and possibly Eliza, not sure if she is going to be a part of this, do your virtual magic, and Sharkboy is backup / distraction. Anna is lead. Taurus is her security detail. And I can convincingly check on Angström's medical status."

"Amazing, I'm convinced.
Do you have a medical background, then?"

"I havn't had formal training, if that is what you are asking. I have seen my share of doctors, as you can imagine. And I had some teachers or instructors, but they were not the kind of people that you usually have in mind, when you think of this. Like pretty much everything I can do, I picked it up because it was interesting, useful or even necessary to ensure one's survival. I guess you could call it street smart. I'm a fast learner when it comes to that."

"Will do. If I can, I'll also support you with what I picked up and some matrix wisdom.
Awesome, sounds like a plan!"

Anna gives a thumbs up, and then says For the record, I find Nova quite charming as well..."

She then says to Nova, Don't be the silent bodyguard, more like a security officer. I talk corporate management, you talk more down to earth security, operations. Perhaps even some underlying tension between us, would make it more real to them, and give them other things to focus than our lies. We need teamwork in there, like in street cons. Things are more convincing when you figure them up from multiple angels.

Nova laughs and nods in appreciation. "Yeah, I heard you mention that once or twice..."

"And I suppose the big fellow is probably more of a silent bodyguard kinda guy. I would be medical expertise, not necessarily security. But I expect them to have scanners in a facility owned by the local police force, so they will know that I am not a typical paramedic or doctor. Which is perfectly fine, of course. All we need to make sure of, is that he is transportable. Don't need a medical degree for that."

"I am the first one in, and the last one to leave. Unless there is an asset to protect, then my only job is to protect the asset." Taurus says that like he had to memorize it, which he probably did. "I also, through longevity, learned how to understand most folks and to communicate things. Yes, I was a corporate bodyguard."

"Which corporation? Anna asks

"Fine. So what's our story gonna be? We are employees of π-Rate Data and have lost an expensive asset we wanna have back. That it?
We might want to explain why we shove a magician and two heavily-cybered-up killer machines to retrieve someone with, what, two cyberhands?"

"No. We are employees of a customer of π-Rate Data. And why this man is important to us, is none of their business. Basically."

"Ares, I worked mostly as personal security for Micheal Ironside when he was there. Mr. Ironside was my sponsor for corporate citizenship."

Anna says "We first need to verify the identity of the asset, assessing is the right way to do so. We are looking for a lost asset after all, and the security is because we do not know exactly why the asset is gone and because trained wizards are very expensive."

She then adds I really can tell many things, more than I feel comfortable knowing, just from reading people's auras. I have never been to corporate before, but I feel that it makes sense to send someone like me to verify an asset.

"We also need biometric data from him. Actual data, that we can show them in the facility."

Anna nods at the need for real data "Can we get such data? I mean fake biometrics would not fit..."


Ares citizenship seemed pretty sweet, triple-A no less. Most of her classmates' biggest dream to get to one of the big ones.
Seemed like you had a good thing going, shooting for actual citizenship... What went horribly wrong that you work with us?"

"Eliza, possibly through Ms. Johnson, can hopefully provide that."

bnc inhales. "Anna, we really are on a schedule her. I would also love to indulge into the vibrant biography of the minotaur with his excessively imaginative name, but there is a job to focus on.

As for the biometric data. I can guesstimate a fake set of data that'll do. After all, we will check whether it is the right one, not them. We can argue that we are not authorized to give away our client's biometric data to law inforcement. You know, We from Pi-rate data regard our clients' trust as an essential value - I do, by the way, appreciate the honesty with which this corp names himself." She casts a half-musing half-amused smile to Taurus but refrains from making a remark.
"So let's just roll with the 'We need to make sure this is our asset' thing. Also, as long as Rabe is still alive, an Aura scan is all we need. The biometric data would only be needed if it is really necrometric data."

"Well, they might still want some legitimization, not just our word for it. And we probably have access to the real data, as do they, so why fake it. Plus, it might even be faster that way."

"I believe that a well-faked authorization should suffice, but better safe than sorry. I'll contact Eliza."

bnc sends a message to Eliza, requesting Rabe's biometrical data, if available.

"Well, there will be plenty to forge, anyways. And little time. Let's make best use of what we got. As a first step, we will need something like a "shopping list". We need to find a corporation that is plausible, maybe even one that actually has used their services. We need a proper vehicle. As Taurus mentioned earlier, an ambulance would be perfect. Stuff like that. And we need to figure out, how a transport like this would proceed. Do they need an advance notice? There surely will be some legal documents necessary, to take over the patient care."

"I'll dig into the procedure and a fitting corp at once. If Eliza can't get us an ambu in time, I'm pretty sure it wouldn't be too hard to stea- to borrow one.
I'm off the meat now. Can we continue our talk on the voice chan?"
bnc lays down and closes her eyes.

Anna says "Let's get a van with a valkyrie module, we do not need a formal ambulance as there is nothing formal about extracting an asset. We do not pretend to be CrashCart"

Eliza replied: <<Please find attached what I have off Rabe's biometrics. I can organize you a high class rental on short notice. One with a valkyrie module would probably be off the executive range.>>

Meanwhile, bnc had searched and found exactly what she needed: The BuMoNa has a deparment just a km away and also a relatively weak R4 host with just A4S5D6F7 for their automated ambulances.

"There! That's what we need. Der Bund für Mobilen Notfall-Arzteinsatz, short BuMoNa, is a German partner of Doc Wagon. They have a station here in Worms, just a kilometer from here. Its matrix presence is almost unprotected. I can easily forge an Einsatzauftrag - an operation order."

bnc tries to find out how a manned operation would be filed and executed (including the checks on the other side of the table).

Since bnc is unaware in hot sim, Anna asks Taurus again "So before we were rudely interrupted, you were saying...?" (about his past).

While speaking, Anna takes out her disguise kit, and begin working on a disguise. >> bnc send me a sample of their uniform, and anything else I might need to disguise us.

Anna is very skilled with disguises, and she uses a combination of two spells to make herself legendary. The first spell provides her with intuitive grasp on her disguise kit, making her more adept in applying cosmetics. The second one enhances her mind, and makes it quicker, and more observant. It takes some logistics not to activate too many foci at the same time, but Anna figures it out. She does not want to risk her talent, and the foci she owns are quite powerful she limits herself for one at a time unless it is an emergency. When she is done the magical preparation, Anna suggests "If you are free feel free to help me with disguises. I'll make you feel as if you belong there." She will work with her suddenly supernatural skill, and happily accept the opinions and help of her peers. As if to annoy bnc, Anna would be happy to make smalltalks and casual chats as she is working. Sawing together pieces of clothes, and working her cosmetics to make believable face masks.

Taurus was not at all put off by bnc, he fully intended to continue his conversation with Anna, but that was when Eliza made contact and he wanted to look into that data as well.

He threw a quick reply to Eliza about the oversized uniforms and his bike. then found a nice chair to settle in and chat with Anna while she worked.

"Oh, I already had my citizenship by the time things went haywire. They weren't going to put this much cyberwear into someone they didn't hooks in, but I earned every nuyen of it. No, I ended up in the shadows for another reason entirely. Mr Ironside got poached by MCT, whoever had the op wasn't interested in me, some Japanese hate the regional variants even more that they hate 'normal' orks and trolls, and he tried to cover for me. He made sure I was out of the country and on leave when the extraction took place, but our connection was too strong for Ares to really trust me again. I wasn't interested in being a rent-a-cop in some facility in the middle of nowhere, so I bought out my contract."

Taurus paged through some more of their intel for a bit, then asked "What about you? Corps are always looking to increase their magical talent, why aren't you wearing some Triple A's pin?"

SINless" she sighs Criminal from birth, theif, street hustler, a begger or a musician, but I did far worse when I had to. her voice flattens a bit at the end, painful memories. Couldn't do magic at the time, just suffered the side-effects. You know, voices and seeing things that you cannot explain.