"Mother bear would like you big guy." Anna says without context when Taurus raises. "I think that the papers would do the talking, the wiggle room is to pressure them a little bit if they decide to follow some slow procedure. The shorter we are there the better our chances. Let's just wig it. Never willingly entered a police station before, you know... they do not exactly provided me with any service. I'll keep my mouth shut unless I fear that you need some help.

bnc is happy to let the faces decide who's gonna talk. She did her part.

<<How about you discuss this during the ride. As I said, this car is on a timer.>>
Eliza interjected, maybe a tiny bit impatient.

"утвердительный"

Nova nodded and took a seat in the car.

Anna is already seating in the car, so she nods impatiently.

Sharkboy stayed in his suit, and started loading his gear into the car. There wasn't a reason for him to pack light so he loaded up his weapons and FBA into the car. He'd make a call on whether to wear armor into the site when it came to that.

"Anything yous guys want me to bring in with me for you? If I need to go in there and all, you'll probably need more than what you've snuck past security. "

"No, I'm good, if they take my Predator I am sure I will be able to find something suitable." Taurus tells him, getting in the limo.

"Likewise. The goal is to get out, not shoot the place up."

While the others get in and talk, bnc sends forth her Munin drone to get a clear view of the place. She lets the dove-shaped intel drone perch somewhere where doves would usually sit around and where she's got a good view of the entrance.

May 16th, 2077, 13:30 Worms, Sternschutz Hospital

The drone recorded a relatively peaceful scene: Traffic was light around the city and the weather quite enjoyable: Smog was almost no issue today and whoever didn't have to stay inside to work, didn't feel the need to drive around. Consequently, there wasn't much activity around the hospital. A single VTOL sat stationary on the hospital roof.
In the time the limo took to arrive across the street, the Munin recorded two orderlies enjoying a smoke break outside the main entrance. The back entrance was reserved for emergency transport - but there was apparently none to be had at the moment. Three of four ambulances were parked outside, ready to head out. In contrast to that, there was only one police cruiser to be seen, indicating, that likely only a pair of officers was on location at the moment - in addition to the normal staff of the place.

Visitor parking was practically deserted - probably also due to the fact that at this time most of the potential visitors had to be working.

When the team eventually reached the entrance, they were greeted by a sensor gateway and a guard next to it.



Beyond the entrance, a small reception area with lounge furniture that had to have at least seen 20 years of use as well as a reception bar with a bored looking elf girl in Sternschutz uniform. Beside those two, no-one else is around.
Further on three heavy duty elevators and the stairwell wait, next to the large doors that lead further on to the actual treatment facilities.

Someone at some time has made an effort to lighten up the environment with AR enhancements of pastoral greenery, but over time the alignment has gone bad, making all that look out of focus and skewed, making it more convenient to filter those effects out.

Matrix reception is excellent, while the background is somewhat tinged with pain and suffering

"Pretty nice place you got here," Nova said, in a friendly, casual tone. "But you really should get that AR fixed."

The guard nodded bored: "The repair has been requested, Maam." The unsaid part was clearly audible "repeatedly"

Taurus enters the building, notes the security person, but not much, and goes straight to the elf at the desk. "Excuse me, there was a dwarf brought in here last night, probably a John Doe. We need to see him."

Sharkboy relaxes in their ride, and does his best to not get bored waiting for an update. He lays out his gear while watching and listening to the team feeds. He spends his time picking ammo, and picking the best cars to blow up with some grenades as a distraction. He fumbles around on his commlink before creating a channel between him and the only other person on overwatch.

<@bnc>This place got cameras that overlook the parking? If I need to go in, I'd like to set up some car bombs to get the badges to look away from the heavily armed man entering their hospital.

>Also, when you broke into that host, did you happen to get a list of doctors or practices? It'll help me lie about seeing some doctor because my arm is fucked up if I can actually name someone who works here.>>

Anna follows, and the team in all excited that she is in an actual police station, but the excitement vanishes when she realizes that the place is not a pleasant place to be. Anna feels the background count as a numb pain. Considerably weaker than the suffering that inflicted it, but unpleasant nonetheless. She imagines that it would get worse when they reach the rooms where they actually torture people. Trying to behave, and be professional, Anna spreads her counter spelling field to cover her friends and otherwise remains silent. She admires the scenery for a brief moment, dims it as boring, and then a assenses the guard and receptionist. She can tell a lot about a person just by sizing them, and if she needs to work her charm she'll have some information to work with.

If she can, bnc shifts the Munin's position so that she can see what's happening through a window.

<@Sharkboy<yup. u want me 2 neutralize em right now?>>
Biting down a remark, she instead keeps neutral. <@Sharkboy<nope din't stumble upon a staff list. i wz specificly searchn 4 their task mngmnt. gimme a tic>>

bnc sends the agent off to craft a list of all SINs posted by commlinks within the building, sorted by profession, then by age. When the list is finished, she sends it to Skarkboy.

<@Sharkboy<can u work with that? its got only docs who're present. if u need off duties as well i need 2 dig>>



bnc starts a Fly on the Wall program, then places a MARK on the Sternschutz host but doesn't enter it.

<@bnc> That'll do. I just need to find the ones who do orthopedic stuff for my dislocated shoulder.>>

Sharkboy looked scrolled through the list. Not that I really have any idea how to do that.

Anna noticed two more watchers floating through the hall, vanishing through the wall and reappearing a few seconds later, likely having made a circle through the ground floor.
The guard had obviously seen a thing or two in his life: He was a recovering alcoholic, had a slight case of PTSD, but was also pretty quick on the draw and an expert shooter.
The girl was lightly augmented - mainly with nanoware to enhance her looks, but she also had some bioware in her brain. Likely unbeknownst to her, she had an affinity for water elementals, despite not being magically active. Beside that she had an amazing memory and impecable timing, which probably made her a good muscician too. Her aura also looked incredibly bored.

Making a listing of all non-silent commlinks in 100m radius, bnc counted a total of 104. They didn't scream out their SIN, but she was able to identify 15 of the kind that police officers used on duty. 28 had a medical authorization, making them staff or doctors' gear.
Than she had the idea to just check the appointment software on the facility's open matrix site. The only publicly available MD on this day was Frank Meyer, who would see walk in patients.

Taurus received a bored stare: "I'm sorry, you'll have to be more specific than that. Here, fill this out and I'll see what I can do for you."
An ARO appeared before Taurus with a lot of questions, some of them quite intrusive.

Taurus waved off the form as the nuisance it was and spoke again. "Did you have a rash of unconscious or dead dwarves last night? Maybe there was a mine collapse I hadn't heard of? The person in question is a corporate citizen, we are here to retrieve him. Authorization should already be readily available in your system."

Anna decides to ask nicely and tries to be polite, and friendlier. "He means, please. A lot of pressure from management, but we should not forget our manners. I mean, what are we? pausing to breath she adds "Surely you remember if you received our dwarf person. If he is not here then we must find him rather than fill forms. Time is of the essence and people are very worried about him.

The elf is taken aback for a moment, but dutifully looks into her AR terminal.
"Oh, indeed. Sorry, I hadn't noticed that there was an extradition order here. Please step over here for SIN verification."

The SIN-Reader is one of the more elaborate variants which draws blood and scans biometrics. A few tense seconds go by where you are left to wonder if bnc did actually do her job as well as she claimed, but then the light turns green and the elf nodds.
"Alright. I'm sorry to say, but your citizen is still in intensive care. If you want to take him with you, you'll have to sign a release form."
She pushed another ARO towards you, this time a very long document with legaleze and only a field for a signature to fill in.

"Officer Hagen will be down shortly to take you up to him."

Anna is a bit worried during the biometrics but figures that it can be explained as fear of needles as well. Test passed, she grins and thank the elf again.
That was some impressive work from bnc, the woman is clearly gifted. She notes to herself.

"So, he is alive," Nova concluded. Intensive care definitely sounded better than the morgue.

"We had no idea about his condition, when the report of the accident came in, so that's a relief to hear. We did bring a Valkyrie Module, but is he transportable? I mean, apart from what that legal stuff says? Can we have a copy of your medical records about him, so we can give him the best possible care? He deserves it. We really appreciate that you kept him alive. Thank you!"

Taurus will sign the form, then cross his arms across his chest and look stern as he waits for the officer.

The girl shrugged at Nova: "See for yourself - it's your citizen after all. I don't have that information available on my terminal. Just where he is."

It took another two ackward minutes for the officer to arrive. Hagen was - for lack of a better word - barrelesque. An ork with no neck, thick arms thick legs and just a massive torso in between. It didn't look like he was fat - far from it, but his muscle tone was that of an ox, not of a cheetah. His greying full beard hid the tusks protruding from both his upper and lower lip well. On his belt he wore a Ruger Super Warhawk and a baton that looked more like a broken off oar.

Despite all that he appeared quite cheerful as he greeted the group:
"Collecting the fried short? Come with me."
He leads you to the nearest elevator and uses a keyfob to get it open and moving.
While he leads you to your destination he asks: "Say, I was there when we collected him - what the hell was going on at this place? Looked like the whole bunker collapsed."

"Hell if I know. I wasn't there," Nova answered. "You know how these things go, I guess. We only got to know what we need to know. And all I know is, that this whole thing was quite a surprise. So, sorry, but you guys probably know more about what happened than we do at this point. There will be an investigation, of course. But right now, our concern is to get him back home safe. Can you tell us anything about his condition? How bad is it?"

"Got hit with 100.000 Volts or something. Doc guesses an air elemental or a powerline. And since there were no powerlines there, I think he got hit by a spirit. There we are."

Officer Hagen opens a door and lets you into a small ICU room. It's quite obvious why he called the dwarf "fried short". His whole body is covered in teribble burns and blackened skin. Rabe is unconscious - mercifully.
"Doc says the guy has some sort of magic resistance. Didn't react well to magical healing. Likely the reason too why he survived the electrical strike. You want a wheelchair or something?"

Anna sighs Poor soul", she then assenses the dwarf trying to learn about his medical condition and to see if he is dependent on anything that they could get him. She nods at the offer of a wheelchair, finding that the words escape her.

The man is Rabe - at least according to his implants: Cyberhands, now molten to slag, as well as augmentation in his head. His condition is critical but stable. Nanites are coursing through his body, busyly repairing damage. Moving him will be dangerous as he'll be disconnected from the autodoc taking care of him now. Once he is in the VM this will be no problem, but until then he is at risk of dying quite suddenly.

Anna texts on the team channel >> bnc, moving Rabe is dangerous. Can we unhook the Valkery module and bring it here? I also learned the pertify spell that Wraith did for your sister. if you think it would be safe given is health condition, then it would solve our dilemma.

She says "Give us a moment to consult on how to best move him. A wheelchair is too little as I don't like to disconnect him from the autodoc even if it is just until the car. "

"We are going to need his personal effects as well, whatever there is of them." Taurus says to the cop.

He also sends a text on the team channel "bnc, can you crack his headware? Is there anything we can do to make that easier?"

"Do not Petrify, or Stabilize him, by magic. If he didn't "react well" to the Heal spell and showed resistance to a spiritual attack, these means won't do much got. Nova, please prepare the Lazarus package, especially the savior medkit and the pack of hemosynth. I'll analyze what medical data I can get on him. Under normal circumstances, the savior medkit should buy us around five minutes to get him into the VM. If his conditions becomes critical, please take care to have a trauma patch and the hemosynth at hand."

bnc tries to get her hands on his biometric data.

"Personal effects are readied as we speak. You can collect them at the reception." Hagen replied.

bnc was able to varify the bio data: critical but stable, transport not recommended, but possible with enough care.

Though no wifi signals came from the dwarf.

>> Fine by me. I don't want to do any magic around Rabe. Or even be around him, his agony invades my emotions. I can see why magic is ineffective on him, I think I'll be able to stabilize him but Petrify is very dangerous for me. " She looks at Nova, looking for her guidance.

"We are going to need to move him. Let's get a stretcher in here and whatever else we need."

Nova: [[You received an ARO from bnc. It's a streaming file. Do you trust this source?]] [I do!][Not so much][Call GOD]

"All right, I got my hands on his vital data and I'm streaming them directly towards you, Nova. He should be good if you handle him with care but I do still recommend the Savior medkit. Be aware, though, that it is nanite-based and the possibility of CFD cannot be ruled out entirely. I'm with you to support you, but I trust that you can do that.

By the way, his headware is either down or right away molten."

<< Thank you! Let's do one step after the other. Get him out of here alive and stable. Then we can worry about his 'ware. Anna, you can keep an eye on his aura, while we move him? >>

>> Never stopped looking at his aura. I'll let you know if something changes. Anna comments.

Hagen shrugged and went to fetch a gurney instead. Strapping the autoinjector on and applying the saviour medkit wasn't particularly hard. As soon as they had spread and created their own biomonitor, Nova was able to disconnect Rabe with little trouble from the autodoc.

The officer nodded and opened the door, so the team could roll out the patient.

Meanwhile, Sharkboy was beginning to get bored in the car - when he saw a limousine, not unlike the one he was sitting in rolling to the parking lot. He did a double take when he saw, that this car too had two obviously cybered men in ill fitting executive suites as well as a smaller elven woman with a disturbingly large collection of occult looking jewelry on her person. Just before the back door closed, he could see the shape of another valkyrie unit inside...

<@Team<Suited up tin-men and some tattooed elf with a valkyrie thingy just showed up. Probably coming for our boy. How much time you need?>>

>>On our way out. Can you delay them a bit without looking suspicious?

bnc enters the host and places a mark on the sensor gateway before the entrance.

If there is time left, she tries to find out where the criminal records database is.

<< Would be interesting to know, whether they have some way to legitimize themselves, or whether they want to force their way in. >>

"I'm in no mood to find out. I'll stall them at the entrance. If you can get out somehow else, do it."

"Hagen, is it okay, if we get our car to the back entrance and transport him there? I know, it is for emergencies, but it was pretty much empty when we came in and we can get the car a lot closer to the hospital that way. Surely you agree, that this would be a good idea, considering his condition. It won't take long."

<@bnc< What kind of camera coverage is there in this parking lot? >>

The parking lot has video surveillance and is pretty overseeable from the front entrance.

Meanwhile Hagen replied to Nova:
"Sure, it will be easier to move the gurney out back."

"Great, thank you! I will inform the driver."


<< We will take the exit in the back of the building, where the ambulances arrive. The car can get close to the building there. We will probably need a few minutes to get there. >>


Then it's time to get Angström detached from the autodoc and carefully put on the gurney. Nova will keep the savior medkit handy to watch his status and keep him stable while they get him downstairs.

<@Nova<I'll do what I can.>
@bnc<Find me a local dive bar or other run down establishment that would let you film without a license.>

Sharkboy took a step out of the car, still wearing his suit, but casually carrying his bow and quiver. He stuffed a smoke grenade and a couple HE grenades into his pockets. He quickly waved his arms and shouted over at the three mercenaries, clearly trying to get their attention. He made sure to make his commlink visible as he put on his best Horizon road agent impression.

HEY HEY HEY! Do you guys speak English? ¿Español? Nihonjin?" Bringing the commlink up to his mask he spoke to an imagined caller.

"Tim! Yeah, get the shoulder checked out, I know. Look, I think I just found the background character you want for that promo we're shooting tomorrow."

Anna feels alive when Shark raises the possibility of them getting caught. The rush of addictive adrenaline surges through her body, sharpening her senses, and forcing her to suppress an inappropriate smile. Anna is satisfied that Nova keeps her cool, and is happy to watch Rabe. Still, she keeps her counterspell field aimed at her group which now includes Rabe. She walks with the group, hoping that the limo will meet them in the back and that they'll leave undetected.