"""I'm not so quick to think Mitsuhama is done with me. The contract to protect me, according to your predecessor, was for one week. We're not quite there yet.

"""And I'm not quite sure to be worried or proud to be the target of two, count 'em, two bounties. Sure. let's swing by Petsonal for a look and then head over to the love nest."""

Blue smiles. """Tell me, what am I worth to Chin Ho 'Jeremy' Huang?"""

"""I agree. I don't think they are completely done with you. As for the second bounty, it sounds like it is Jeremy's personal reputation not cash, so I don't think there is a bounty outside of his personal circle, and it probably includes me.

"""Can you ask a spirit to watch for a tail, so we aren't followed to the Pet store?"""

"""You're right. If he's paying, it'll be for both our heads.

"""I have a feeling there might be trouble at the love nest. I'll let the little guy go and try for a stronger spirit. It's a balancing act: more power means less willingness to serve and a bigger headache at the summoning. I'm glad the drive to Pet will take a while. It'll give me a chance to rest and clear my head. Here goes."""


:::Thank you, creature of the city. We left without need of your help. Go home, now. ::: Once the spirit has left of its own accord, Blue seeks a stronger spirit to help them tonight. He's feeling a little more confident in his summoning ability tonight.



Blue rubs the back of his neck, trying to work out some of the strain. """That went better than I expected. This one is quite friendly and willing to help. Smart enough, I think, to be able to interpret commands. I'll give it a couple, and then let me rest for ten minutes to get rid of the strain of calling it."""

::: Thank you for coming. Guard this vehicle, and the two of us inside it. Then, watch if we are being followed. Let me know if you notice that happening. :::

"""Null sweat. I will take the long way."""

Traffic has thinned out a lot, except for commercial traffic.

The spirit follows, giving Blue a semi-regular update about trucks that are rumbling along the same route - are they following? Possibly, until they are not. Turning off the main highway should solve that problem, at the price of going through some less salubrious regions, such as the fringes of the barrens.

More headlines trickle through while Karmakaze drives.

<<<VIRTUAFRIEND NOW OFFERING PARTHENOGENESIS>>>

<<<CRYSTAL HEALING INSTALLATION - RIGHT FOR YOU?>>>

<<<URBAN RENEWAL TENDER PROCESS UNDER SCRUTINY>>>

<<<CYBEREYE INSTALLATIONS LINKED TO DEMENTIA>>>

Blue flags the urban renewal piece for checking out once his head clears.

Karma sees the headlines on her link at a stop light.

+++Virtuafriend? Parthenogenesis?+++

"""SledgeHammer, scan Virtuafriend article for mentions of Petsonal and/or Petsonalities."""

Once the headache clears, Blue follows his own hunch. """Sledgehammer, huh? I've considered buying that personal helper. Tell me later how you like it.

I'll dig into the real estate article."" With that, he checks out the urban renewal project.

"""There are no mentions of Petsonal Petsonalities in the Virtuafriend article. It is about creating humanoid clones with pre-set personalities."""

In the mean time, Blue unearths a bit of a rat's nest about urban renewal stuff; the exact nature of the urban renewal material isn't entirely clear at a quick glance, but someone is apparently trying to reclaim and rebuild segments of the Seattle enclave - but now accusations are floating around about improprieties with respect to tenders for the work involved. The lead article doesn't get particularly specific, but refers to other articles and releases from the enclave's government.

Blue shakes his head. """Looks like I need to do some reading to figure out whether Jeremy is involved in any of the shady real estate dealing in the urban renewal thing. This could give us some leverage. I'll see if I can get a hold of some further articles."""

+++ If I can read Durkheim without falling asleep, I should be able to handle government documents. +++

Blue manages to dig up some reports about the tenders, but it looks as if the actual records are being closely held by the government offices under various pretexts of commercial confidentiality. How the reporters (automated or human) gor their information is an open question. Bribery? Outright speculation? Inside sources? Who knows?

It is certainly alleged that HuangBilt is a contractor entering tenders to some of the contracts at least, but it's not clear whether any contracts have actually been assigned to the company as of yet, or might be in line to be soon.

More information that Blue does identify is regions that are supposedly intended for urban renewal, and what their outlines and plans are. It will take a bit more research to really pin down, but it does rather look as if the government intends to intensely manage segments of the 'plex, or even (possibly more likely) subcontract the management of these segments to corporate entities.

Blue reads the reports he can get to easily. """Yeah, Huangbilt is definitely in the hunt for some of these so-called urban renewal contracts. Deep details are being held as proprietary. But it looks like there is some serious money at play, and Jeremy likely wants his chunk of it. Useful if I could know more. I could ask Billy to look into it, but I think he is being watched by Mitsuhama, either directly or through Jimmy. If I contact Billy, Mitsuhama might find a way to track me to Jeremy's hangouts. No point in having Jeremy's crew and a Mitsuhama team to deal with at once.

"""And, anyway, I don't think I've finished sussing out what's going on with Billy's niece. I should finish that payment before I ask for more services from him. Let me go through my notes to see what I can tell Billy. Heh, and then chuck another burner."""

"""Good thing these burners are cheap now-a-days. My grandpa used to tell me they were a grand a piece."""

"""Damn. Wheels within wheels in the politics of this place. I can't make heads or tails of the discussions I've found about this urban renewal concept. But it looks like somebody somewhere is going to make a lot of money, no matter what the rationale is for renewing territory that doesn't really look like it needs renewal. I'd bet my left ... well, no..a lot of money, that Jeremy is trying hard to be in on this, whatever it is. I think this whole project is something that could lead to a few contracts in the future, though. Worth trying to learn more."""

Blue looks out at the night-time traffic, and feels small. It's not a feeling he likes.

+++ I wasn't born to be small. +++

The lights of Seattle drift by as the car keeps pace with traffic. The city's glow reflects off the clouds drifting above, lending the whole zone a constant, vaguely orange twilit ambience.

Overhead, advertising drones push various products, but also political messages. One active message demands legalisation of BTLs, with the slogan: "Give us better lives, or BTLs!" Officially, it's a fringe group with no real following.

Blue notices the BTL message. """Some activist group is lobbying for BTLs to be made legal. You know anyone who tried them?"""

"""I have dealt with a lot of BTL-junkies in my time. Like any mind altering form of entertainment, it is usually abused by those seeking to alter their mind due to a drek life. I would imagine that there is some safe, healthy, productive way to use it, so I can't blame it all on the BTL. Most of the junkies I had run-ins with already had a slew of problems, well before inserting a chip."""

"""Speaking of junkies, this whole urban renewal program sounds like organized gentrification. While the goal may be to clean up crime, make the area safer, thus raising property value, it often pushes out low-income residents not just the criminals. While that area improves, the street criminals just move to another area, along with the low-income residents. I'm sure the plans start with roads paved in gold, but then the megacorps and politicians get involved, along with the organized criminal enterprises, if any of the three weren't already involved in the planning."""

Karmakaze's car finally pulls to a stop near Petsonal Petsonalities. They're close enough to see the big window, but not close enough to see the snake behind it, more so because the weather has taken an ugly turn with a blustery wind scything in from Puget Sound, carrying a stinging drizzle that whips against everything and drips in rivulets from overhead lines illuminated by the light in the street. Vehicles splash by, but almost nobody is on foot, and then only hurrying from car to door.

Karmakaze's car reports that the exterior temperature is 5 degrees Celsius.

"""So? What is the plan, Blue?""

""" I figure I'll project into the astral plane and cruise around the facility, with my little buddy, and see what I can see. There's some weird, water-related things going on in the astral around back I'd like to check in on. Meanwhile, you could keep an eye out here in the physical plane. Unfortunately, we won't be able to communicate with each other while I'm out of body. My body will be a comatose lump here for the duration of my excursion. If you have to get out in a hurry for any reason, we need to have a place to meet up, so I don't have to search for my bones to get back.

""" I don't expect to be out that long, but staying out of body for more than about six hours is a death sentence. So, if you have to get out of Dodge quickly, why don't we make my place the place to reconnect? That work for you?"""

While Karmakaze digests that thought, she watches a couple of heavily-dressed guys wheeling a dolly down the street, and turning into the alley behind Petsonal.

What seemed unusual was that they weren't hurrying like delivery workers, or just shuffling from a parking lot to a door, but trudging along as if they were headed somewhere.

"""Well I just saw a bunch of suspicious hoops heading to the alley behind Pets. You might want to check them out as well. Your place is the primary rendezvous, the Casino is secondary."""

"""All right. I'll see what I can find out in the astral. Good idea for a secondary rendezvous. """

Blue's body slumps as he projects into the astral. He teams up with his summoned spirit and heads out to see what those people are up to.

The astral view of proceedings is not terribly surprising, given that Blue has already been by there. The aquatic lifeforms are thriving, if largely ignoring his presence.

As far as the newcomers are concerned, they stop in the alleyway right behind Petsonal, and unpack their boxes from the dolly. Evidently, they brought various tools. Blue can't identify all of them, and at first it's a bit puzzling when they spray some kind of fluid, as if from a sort of grease gun or wax dispenser, onto a window. It suddenly becomes much clearer when they add a big suction cup onto the window, and yank it outwards. The window doesn't shatter, but crumples outwards. They release the suction, and the window flops onto the ground. That took mere seconds, but now they are attaching something that looks rather like a bearing puller onto the bars.

They're making it look as if something inside Petsonal broke out.

Karmakaze, inside a car, around a corner, couldn't even hear the window hit the ground. The proceedings are a lot more discreet than one might think, despite the lack of subtlety in their approach.

Blue commands his spirit accomplice. ::: Don't let those people get away. Do whatever you have to do. Keep them alive if you can, but dead is better than escaped. :::

Hey, this spirit is as smart as Blue. It can figure out for itself what is the best way to use its abilities.

Blue returns to his body at high speed. Once unified again, he tells Karmakaze, """ Hit it, girl. """ A smile crosses his lips at that. """ Let's get into the back alley as soon as possible.""" While saying so, he pulls out his latest burner and calls the Petsonal number he called before. Whoever answers, he says, <<< Blue here. Get security to the back alley! Two people are vandalizing a window, making it look like something broke out. My spirit is holding them there. >>>

""" Looks like we have a break in the case, Karmakaze. Hopefully security won't antagonize my spirit. """

Karma puts the car in gear.

"""What is going on?"""

She assumes trouble, since that is where she just saw a few suspicious guys go, so her Guardian is in her left hand, as she steers with her right.

The car rolls around the corner, and the headlights illuminate the scene...

Karmakaze's car pretty much blocks the alley going one way, across the narrow gap between a pair of dumpsters and the opposite wall, and gives her and Blue alike a well-illuminated view of a couple of vandals gazing, gape-mouthed, at her and her car. Well, they weren't chosen for their great minds.

At any rate, one of them is holding up some kind of tool to the bars over one of Petsonal Petsonalities's windows, while the other was apparently cranking on some kind of lever on said tool. To Karmakaze's practiced eye, it looks like Breaking and Entering, Caught in Flagrante Delicto. To further complicate matters, the debris of their handiwork is all around them, including broken window scraps, a box of tools open in front of them, another box still sitting on the dolly that they brought with them ... yup, good luck explaining all this to the judge. Any judge.

After about a second and a half of goggle-eyed dumbfoundedness, one of them apparently tries to say something, while the other thinks with his feet and starts to sprint in the other direction, only to be brought up very sharp by the appearance of flickering red-and-blue lights from down the other side of the alley, and a spotlight shining through the misty murk. Um, oops. Maybe not that way. A glance at the nearest fence. Wait, it's all razor wire and other nasty things. Then back at Karmakaze. He starts to make weird passes with his hands while mumbling something.

"""I got this""", Blue says. Yeah, sure, Blue could melt the brain of the mook doing some oogly-boogly, but there is the small problem of the presence of police. No casting high power spells around those who might challenge the legality thereof.

Blue decides to cover the car and the two of them in it with as much spell defense as he can muster. The spirit is probably not on anybody's radar. Let the cops deal with the 'rogue magician' vandalizing an upstanding business member of the community.

"""Don't worry, chum. I am legal."""

Karma unholsters her submachine gun, and hands it to Blue.

"""Except that little thing. Tuck that under the seat if the officers head this way, and under no circumstances are they allowed to search the vehicle."""

She exits the car, pistol in her left hand, wallet open, exposing her bounty hunting license in the right.

"""Okay drektards, you are under arrest. Lets make this easy, and not end up with you all in the hospital."""

+++ Wow. That's handy, being able to do that. +++

Blue feels the pressure of spell defense ... utterly fail to materialise on his essence. The mook waving his hands is bluffing. Maybe it works on some.

Well, he's not the only one with a plan. His buddy stammers his voice to useful life.

"""Uh, hey, ma'am, um, come on. We didn't even get anywhere. Give us a break, huh? We can tidy up, and get gone, and you won't even have paperwork. C'mon, we'll pay for the damage, 'kay?"""

Mistery wavy-hands seems to want to wait and see how Karmakaze takes this plea for street leniency as well. He lowers his hands, and straightens his jacket as if trying to look as if he totally weren't about to blow people away with fireballs.

Something glints in the light from the box still on the dolly. It moves; a snake's head peeking out?

+++Drek-onettes!+++

"""Blue - Going to need your support!

"""Lone Star - You have magic targets and paras! Take them down now!

"""You better not move another inch, or we will drop you!"""

"Got your back," Blue calls from the car. He steps out but keeps a door between him and the two thugs. +++ Where the hell is Petsonal's security? The snake should be theirs to deal with. +++

As the runners glance around, they pick up a thing here or there.

In Karmakaze's case she sees the red and blue lights - and nothing else. Not a car, not a motorcycle, not a bicycle, not even a chiphead wearing fairylights. Just lights.

Weird. And perhaps not comforting.

The one who had previously been waving his hands grumbles loudly about fraggin' elves infiltrating the fraggin' cops, and how it's all fraggin' typical dragonmagic crushing humanity with their dwarf flunkymuscle just the right height to lick their hoops.

The other, who has now turned away from the window completely and has raised his hands, is trying to tell his grumbling companion to shut the frag up.

Blue's glance at the Petsonal Petsonalities building shows him that it's ... surprisingly quiet. Nothing is snuffling, no glowing eyes show at that window. Well, wasn't that the break room window or something? But still... so quiet.

+++ What the hell is the matter with these people? Why aren't the staff jumping all over this? Hmmm... maybe those lights are theirs, not cops. If so, I can let loose full force. +++

+++ Oh, nice. Looks like the fine upstanding policlub that hired me just pretty much hates everybody. Including my kind. +++

Blue opens to the astral momentarily to see what floats by, and then fully back to the material.

In the astral, Blue can see that the lights from the other end of the alley are a ruse by the spirit. Well, it's sticking to its instructions - keep them there, with killing as a last resort.

Inside Petsonal Petsonalities, Blue can see what looks like some kind of tendril testing where that window used to be, and where the window's shadow is slowly fading.

+++ Those lights are made by the spirit. How did it do that? +++

Fully back in the material plane, Blue calls to Karmakaze. """ The lights over there are from my friends. The goons in the middle need to worry about them, but we don't. """

""" Oh, and keep an eye on the window. Some weird shit comin' outta there. """ Blue is proud of his newfound vernacular.

It takes Karma a moment to understand Blue's meaning of friend.

"""Got eyes on the window."""

Karma moved in a position to be against the same wall as the window, where she would still have a clear shot at the thieves and see if weird shit does come out of the window. In her movement, she also unconsciously retreats a few steps towards the vehicle. +++What is weird shit to a shaman who has been talking to psychic para-animals?+++

"""Will your friends restrain these two? I would rather not have to shoot them. Or maybe you can contact Pets security directly."""

Blue addresses the thugs. """ The two of you. Up against the fence, facing it, hands behind your heads. We have questions for you. """

::: Excellent work with the lights. I hope you will tell me how you did that. Please materialize to continue your control of the two. Something I don't recognize is at the hole in the wall. I need to observe it. :::



Once the spirit materializes, to Karmakaze Blue says, """ I contacted Pets through the only number I know. Some kind of astral thing is nosing around the broken window. I've seen it before but I don't know what it is. Almost certainly part of their security, though. As long as we stay in the physical, it shouldn't be able to do anything to us unless it materializes."""

He shrugs. """Shouldn't. I'll check out that snake, now.""" Blue does so, keeping an eye on thugs and window as well.

The two thugs, at Blue and Karmakaze's exchange, look in some alarm at the window and start to back off slightly, before reluctantly obeying the instructions to go to the fence.

While this happens, the spirit manifests about ten metres away from them, further down the alleyway so that the thugs are bracketed in the alley between the metahumans and the spirit. It takes the form of a cloud of black smoke like diesel exhaust shrouding a form with glowing blue eyes, and somewhere in the cloud appears to be a thick black leather jacket, but the claws that protrude look like chrome and painted steel, and the snort sounds like a hotrod revving.

This manifestation appears to be motivational, as far as the thugs are concerned.

Karmakaze doesn't see anything crawling out of the window, but that snake crawling out of the box definitely looks real. Blue approaches it and can quickly confirm that it looks rather like a baby python with vestigial limbs, and there must be at least a dozen more writhing in the box itself, around some sort of thing that looks like an egg the size of a basketball.

Karmakaze works her way back to the car to grab her SMG, while still keeping the handgun raised to cover the scene. She tucks her wallet away, not needing the identification at the moment.

Blue curses, hopefully in a street-appropriate way, """Drek! There's a whole brood of these things in the box.""" He calls up the Petsonal number again. To whatever/whoever answers, he says, """ You need to get out back NOW! There's a dozen of your special little pets and a massive egg out here in the alley by the fence. Back by the break room, I think. You are going to have a PR nightmare if these get out into the streets and sewers."""

The thugs are looking quite antsy. The mouthier of the two says: """What egg? We don't know nothin' 'bout any egg, man! That's just what was given!"""

The other one says: """Shut it, chiphead!"""

However, Blue finds himself talking to a message recorder. It will probably get heard at some point. By somebody. Eventually.

Blue looks at the window-hole in disgust. To Karmakaze he says, """ It looks like the Petsonal staff is out to lunch. What happens here now is up to us.

""" Interrogation is more up your alley. You wanna find out if these guys are from whom we think they are, and what the plan was here?""" Loud enough for the two by the fence to hear, he promises, """I'll make sure this friend of mine doesn't eat them unless it has to.

""" If you like, I can link us up mentally again so we can converse privately during the interrogation."""

Karmakaze retrieves her Model 20t from the vehicle, holsters it, and returns to the gathering.

"""Yes, let's link. As long as you can hold those snakes, I can talk to these two."""

She turns to the talkative one, """Come with me Chiphead.""" She leads him back toward the vehicle at gun point, albeit lightly less threatening than previously.

At the side of the vehicle, she tells him to face it, with his hands on the hood.

"""Let's talk..."""

Chiphead, for that is the epithet by which he is now known, glares for a quarter of a second at the weapon. To Karmakaze's boosted reactions it looks as if he's considering his chances for an instant, but then decides that he can't run faster than bullets. He turns to the car, and with evident reluctance follows her directions. On his face is painted the frustrated sneer of many a miscreant - an expression that Karmakaze knows all too well.

"""Got nothin' to say. We did nothin'."""

That he can say this with a straight face, while Blue gently nudges a curious serpentine head back into the box with the toe of his boot and freshly-broken glass twinkles in the blue lights of the eyes of a watching spirit, is impressive. Or mere formula.

Blue is careful to keep exposed skin from the little snakes. Never can be too careful.

+++ I trust you have dealt with this before, Karmakaze, and suspect he will fold under your gentle persuasion. If the thug holds out, I can use an Influence-on-a-stick to help. +++

"""Alright Chiphead, if you want to stay out of jail tonight, out of the hands of PetPersonal security, and your face off the pavement, you better say "somethin'" or quickly remember that you did "somethin'", """ she says, sarcastically mimicking his weak defense.

She places her free hand on his upper back, moderately forcing him down towards the hood, while kicking his feet apart, to make any sudden moves from the perp slow, awkward and off-balanced.

"""Please realize how lucky you are that we stopped you from entering that building. There is drek in there that makes my 6th world specialist partner back there nervous. Now tell me everything you know. Leave nothing out. Arresting petty criminals is well below my pay grade, but if you don't spill it before backup arrives, I will have no excuse to release you."""