Karma notices the changes in Blue's demeanor.

"""What's wrong?"""
"""Billy's burner. I can't connect to it."""
"""Drek. Is there another way to connect with him? Online message, physical address, maybe a friend...?"""

Blue's delay in response is not promising.

Blue shakes his head to clear it. """It looks like Billy is cut off somehow. I don't like the looks of it. Maybe Mitsuhama is getting desperate to reel me in and has started to neutralize my contacts. It is likely a trap, but if you are up for it, can we go by his doss and see if we can help him?

""" I am conflicted here because the longer we wait, the less likely we are to help Daisy. But this is Billy. He's done a lot for me. I don't want him to suffer on my account. """

A trip down there would be maybe an hour, given traffic at this time of day. That includes hopping on and off the local streets and the highway. How much difference that would make to Daisy's situation would be anybody's guess.

"""Let's go check on your friend. We will have to be careful on the approach."""

Blue concurs. Time might be of the essence, so he bites the bullet and goes along with a daylight excursion into possible danger. Billy has helped Blue a lot, and deserves Blue's best effort.

Which effort should include a tougher spirit to go along with them. The ride to Billy's place will take a while, so Blue should have some time to recover from the drain of summoning a tougher spirit in the daytime.

He let's go the current city spirit. ::: Thank you for your service. Go with my gratitude. :::



Blue winces from the pain of the energy flowing through him. He tells Karmakaze, """ Well, I have a stronger spirit now, but it will take me over half an hour to clear my head from the drain of the magic. Damn, I like the night life better. I'll have it keep us safe on the way, but then I will only have one more service from it if drek hits the fan. """

::: Thank you for answering my summons. As we travel, please Guard the two of us and our vehicle :::

On their arrival, things look normal and tranquil (or as tranquil as the region ever gets) as one might expect for about fifteen seconds, and then there's a slamming noise.

Blue is a little short to get a good perspective from his seat, but Karmakaze can clearly see that a window off the side of Billy's residence has flown open, with some sort of backpack or messenger bag thrown hastily out. Moments later, hands appear around the window frame, as someone struggles to climb out of the window.

There may be a perfectly reasonable explanation for all this, but it isn't apparent.

Blue rises in his seat to try to see. """ I can't see who that is, Karmakaze, but I suspect it is Billy bolting for high ground. Can you get us closer so I can see and contact him? If it is someone else, we need to corral him. """

Karma parks the Elektro quickly with a good view of the whole building, while leaving the car with a an easy path of travel in both directions. She gets out quickly as to not be pinned down when the drek starts flying. She has both guns unholstered upon exiting the vehicle, as she takes a second scan of the area looking for trouble.

Anyone sitting in running vehicles, anyone watching the property, anyone out of place, Karma checks them as POI.

"""Blue, let me know when you have identified Billy."""

Karmakaze parks on the hairy edge of legality (OK, technically blocking a driveway, but under the circumstances, who cares?) and gets a good view of proceedings. Her height helps. Blue gets a much better view once he pops out of the car.

Karmakaze doesn't see anybody sitting in a running vehicle or watching the property as such. However, there is an alleyway between rows of houses (paved once so long ago that it's effectively gravel) that provides access to old garages. Half of them are effectively sheds or storage at this point, but several of them still have cars, in the way of middle-class affluence. There is a car moving there; as far as Karmakaze can tell it's currently unpiloted. It's a Nissan-Chrysler Pronghorn; a two-seater competitor to the Westwind, but lower powered and less cool (but also cheaper). It's backing up from an open garage to where the hands appeared in the window.

Speaking of the hands in the window, a fat head appears, followed by a fat set of shoulders, and by a generously-padded blob. The blob sits in the windowframe, heaving visibly in the cool breeze.

The blob's head turns, and Blue can clearly identify it as Billy. Billy, whose face blanches like soymilk pouring into soykaf. Billy, whose efforts to wriggle and bounce through the windowframe redouble. Blue and Karmakaze can both see sweat glistening on his double chin.

"""Eyes on that vehicle, Blue,""" Karma points her firearms at the vehicle in the alley.

"""Is that big boy, Billy?"""

Upon Blue's confirmation of identity, Karmakaze moves toward Billy to help him through the window.

""" Yup, that's Billy. """ Blue answers. He raises his voice, """ Hoy, Billy! You in danger in there? """

"""Not so loud, Blue."""

Karma keeps moving toward Billy, still scanning for someone exiting the car in the alley, coming around the building, or following Billy out the window. She sure hopes Blue is aware they are not in a good position being out in the open between the car and Billy.

"""Get ready to lay down some nasty spells."""

Billy flops out through the window like a fish sliding out of a bucket, hits the ground with a thump like a sack of tofu, and with mud caked all over his side rolls back to his feet, grabbing the bag and high-tailing it as hard as he can for the car rolling down the alleyway.

At this point, this entails a slight limp. He's not running very quickly; but neither is he answering Blue. In fact, not to put too fine a point on it, he looks as if he's desperately trying to get away.

The thought that rookie mistakes kill runs through Blue's mind as he understands Karmakaze's concerns. And clearly Billy is running for his life. A good ally in the past, Blue doesn't want Billy to fail in that quest, but whatever spooked Billy could still be dangerous to Blue and Karmakaze. Especially since Billy clearly fears Blue himself now.

They need to know what is going on. :::Spirit friend, bring to me the one who runs from us without harming him. ::: Meanwhile, Blue takes some cover by the car, just in case.

The spirit manifests in front of Billy, taking the form of an animated, ambulatory pile of maybe twenty sacks of trash. Billy, limp-running as he is, piles bodily into it with a muffled squawk of surprise, and the spirit starts to drag him back towards Blue and Karmakaze.

The spirit does take a broad view of the notion of not harming Billy, but it's also evidently constrained by the fact that it is not as strong as might have been ideal for wrestling Billy's flailing bulk. For this reason, it takes a good while for the spirit to do the dragging. During this process, Karmakaze has a chance to take another good look around Billy's residence and come to the tentative conclusion that nobody seems to have driven up and invaded the place. There's no sign of doors or windows having been kicked in, not any sign of a gunfight, nor any angry gangbangers calling Billy out for unpaid gambling debts.

In total, there's no obvious reason for Billy having run from anything unless he delivered a truly heinous Stuffer Shack drek which exploded his plumbing.

Blue waits fro Billy to get close enough to talk. Seeing that nothing immediate seems to be threatening in the vicinity, he moves closer to the struggling pair.

"""Billy, it's me, Blue. Why are you running? Fill us in and maybe we can help. I don't want you hurt. Just answer our questions and we'll get out of your way. """

Karmakaze moves to the corner of the building while Blue interrogates his friend. Peaking into the window Billy recently flopped out of, she sees a messy room full of empty neon green soda cans, empty SS fountain cups, pizza boxes and food wrappers. +++Gross+++ Disgusting, but it doesn't look ransacked, and she doesn't hear anything from inside.

She then looks around the corner at the vehicle in the ally. Maybe she can get a glimpse of the occupants or the plate number. These may be the people looking for Blue, and they may have convinced Billy that Blue is dangerous. Or maybe the work they had him doing shook the wrong tree.

Karmakaze does get a solid look at the car and its plate. The car came to a stop, apparently when its way was impeded by Billy and the spirit, and sits there for easy inspection at Karmakaze's leisure.

Billy on the other hand, looks upon the dwarf's face with hardly-concealed terror and babbles a series of incoherences including: """I didn't do it!""" and """They made me do it!""" and """Didn't mean to do it!""" and """They're all dead, it's cool!"""

Blue tries to calm Billy. """OK. OK. Just give me the story, slowly and clearly. If drek is coming down on us, just let us know what it is. I don't want to blame you for anything. Bad things have been happening for days and I'm sure you had to deal with some of it. Just tell it to us slowly and clearly. """

Billy is causing a scene, but I guess the garbage spirit started it. Karma keeps her position while continuing to scan the area for threats.

Billy pants for a moment, then gulps like a frog.

"""I ... uh ... Huang was just ... uh ... he wanted to grab the bounty, dig? But his boys got gacked, yeah? So, uh, all good now. I ... I'll just be off.""" He grimaces in a way that vaguely resembles a smile and starts to shuffle off in the direction of the car.

:::Keep bringing him to me.:::

Blue looks long and hard into Billy's eyes. """ I get it, now, Billy. You sold me out to Huang because you ... just had to. We all make mistakes, Billy. It's OK. Huang is out of the picture. But now, you owe me big time. I won't come after you for your mistake, your bad judgment, your betrayal. But you will continue to help me, and gladly. Do we have a deal, Billy? """

Blue makes a good scan of Billy's aura. You know, for a Search by a hunting spirit.

The spirit continues to herd Billy back to Blue, with a rustle of plastic and a stench like a neglected dumpster.

Blue gets a great view of Billy's aura, shot through as it is with terror in this moment.

"""They made me! I didn't have a choice, I had a fraggin' gun to my head! I mean, I'm glad we're still cool, but don't pretend like it was my idea because it wasn't. They straight up told me it was your coordinates or my brains all over my display. What was I supposed to do?"""

Blue considers Billy's plight. """Yeah, a gun to your head is a powerful persuader. I understand you had little choice. But after they left with the info you provided, how come when I tried to get a hold of you you didn't warn me? That's the hurtful part.

"""So let's do a system reboot. Huang is out of the picture and his goons have no reason to come after you anymore. I gave you some info and leads to track down. Get back on that case and we can chalk this up to experience. In future, if someone holds a gun to your head, and doesn't fire, fucking tell me! """

Billy nods rapidly, his double chins quivering with the motion. """Yeah, yeah, of course. You got it. So ka? I ... just let me get back and get into it, yeah?""" He avidly eyes his door with an obvious lust to end this uncomfortable interview.

Not that Billy was ever big on the face-to-face. Or regular personal hygeine.

"""Just as a matter of interest, what did you tell them? I'd like to know how they were tracking me."""

Billy freezes with the new question that clearly postpones his release back to his haven. His lips quiver for a second before he blurts out a response.

"""I ... how do I know? Maybe they tagged you? I mean, they're dead now, right? I told them where to find you once, maybe they dropped ... some ... thing on you?"""

"""Do you have a way to search or scan for such a thing?"""

"""Yeah, yeah, of course. I got scanners.""" He glances at the house, and at the spirit still blocking his progress. """I got all kinds of scanners inside."""

"""Then let's do that now. I'll let the spirit release you. """ ::: Your service has ended. Go with my thanks. :::

Karma approaches cautiously. Billy is obviously full of drek, and there are probably booby traps inside his residence.

"""Billy. We rushed over here to protect you because we were worried. Now we found out you're a little bitch rat. You better start telling the truth and quickly.

"""Blue, we may need one of your spirits back. We may have to toss this bitch in the trunk."""

Billy is not a fan of this new development. His eyes open wide as he takes in Karmakaze - and not in the hello-sexy-how-you-doin' kind of way, either.

Billy licks his fat lips and starts to gently raise his hands, saying: """So ka, let's all just take this real easy, 'kay? No trouble here, I'm doing what you want, 'kay? Just, just let's talk, 'kay?"""

Karmakaze sees a sort of vacant look in Billy's eyes even while he talks to her, as if he's looking past her - or through her - or at something else entirely. A crawling sensation over her skin tells her that he's up to something and whatever it is, isn't a bunch of cut flowers and a box of croissants.

Blue is learning to trust Karmakaze's greater experience in matters of the street. If she sees something wrong, then maybe there is. He takes another look at Billy as Karmakaze keeps him talking.

--- mispost---

All that Blue sees in Billy's aura at the moment is the fear - there is a lot of it. However, it's not stark bowel-clearing terror, just very well-directed fear.

Blue looks around to see if Billy is looking at something behind Karmakaze.

Behind Karmakaze, Blue sees nothing apparently alarming. There's the road. It's a bit cracked from where they did a bit of a sloppy job installing city grid work a couple of decades ago, and the climate expanded and contracted the water that inevitably seeps into the cracks and freezes. There is the occasional vehicle driving around, but nobody showing any particular interest in the discussion, let alone weaponry or violent inclinations. There are buildings, but there's not anybody obviously staring at the interaction either.

Seems to be clear.

Karma grabs Billy by the front of his shirt, twisting it to get a good grip. She uses this to reposition herself on the other side of Billy so she can see what got his attention.

"""Talk, before I pistol whip you into shape."""

+++Maybe he's calling someone from a cyberphone - Better make this quick.+++

She raises her pistol to emphasize the directive.

OK, Blue is getting really freaked out, now. """What? Where? """

He has no idea what or whether something is going on, but he figures a spirit on his side can't hurt.

"""Hey, hey! No need for rough stuff! I'll do what you want, no problem. Let's just ... y'know, inside, where I got my gear.""" Billy's expression is a bit more spluttering than usual, as the shirt twists around his ample neck. He wriggles a bit, this way and that, and Karmakaze is uncomfortably aware that, while he is certainly no fighter he surely weighs three times what she does.

Then again, aside from wriggles and tiny droplets of saliva, he's offered her no substantial resistance.

"""Stop what ever chiphead drek you're doing, give me your link, and we will be out of here. Or I will have Blue put you under, and I will take you to the chop shop."""

Billy freezes up for a moment, before saying: """Look, my stuff's in my place. You want my bag? It's right here, take it all."""

It's quite possible that the big bag contains a cyberdeck - but he's not punching deck right now. If he's doing anything cute, it's probably through a headware radio or similar device.

Blue has worked with Billy before, at least tangentially. He tries to figure out if Billy is lying, or just scared shitless.

Billy is sneaky, but he's no poker shark. Blue sizes him up for a moment, and feels sure that Billy is playing for time. He's stalling. He's up to something - exactly what that is, is open to question right now. Does he have a nasty surprise in his house? Maybe. Nasty surprises incoming? Maybe. Nothing up his sleeve? Probably not.

"""I'm disappointed, Billy. You're stalling. Whatever you are waiting for, it's not likely it will be something we like. We used to have a good working relationship, but this puts a spike in that. Good night, Billy. ""

Blue turns out Billy's lights.



Blue reels a bit from the drain of the spell. To Karmakaze he says, """That hurt in more ways than one. I hope I don't lose any more of my contacts this way. Let's get out of here before whoever Billy called gets here."""

Karmakaze gets a front row seating view of Blue shimmering with an image of a vast pair of wings spreading and talons reaching ... but she feels nothing, except that Billy turns into a slack dead weight. There's no way that she could hold him up, so he slumps to the ground while she staggers back to keep her feet. Billy lies back on the ground, eyes half-open, but rolled entirely back so that only the whites show. Blood trickles from his mouth and his nose, and the whites of his eyes look brutally bloodshot.

Perhaps she'd want to roll him into the recovery position, if she doesn't want him to choke to death.

"""Well, that's that. Do we take him with us or leave him here for whatever he called? My spirit can help us lift him if we want to."""

Karmakaze rolls him on his side so he can breathe. She searches his pockets and takes any electronics, including his cyberdeck.

"""He can probably trace this, but if we yank the battery we should be good. Maybe Jaxx can find someone to search it.

"""If you can move the car to a safe spot and protect me astrally, I can go do a quick search of the property. Or you can do it from here."""

"""That all sounds good, """ Blue says, """but I took a real hit from the drain of the magic. On top of what daytime does to me, I won't be all that good a protector. I worry that the only people left for Billy to sic on me is Mitsuhama. If a team of theirs is on the way, we're in deep. I can drive off and be safe, but if a swat team comes I won't be able to hold out against them.

"""Twenty restful minutes or so from now, I'll be in better shape. Hmmm. I have a spell on a stick that would make you invisible to men and machines. I could cast that on you, and the only way anybody could see you is if they had astral eyes. You want me to do that, keep the spell going, and get the car off somewhere safe?"""

Billy didn't have much in his pockets - just a single holder for a stack of chips. His messenger bag on the other hand, almost certainly contains a deck, as well as other stuff.

He's in no position to object, with blood and saliva trickling from his face into the mud.