<<AM, you noticed an agent running silently in the library>> Mato points out. He has no doubt that AM remembers, but it helps to talk through things 'out loud'.

<<The Duchess was there with Katya, who was under her ruthenium polymer cloak. There was a program carrier module soldered into the terminal. You said it contained the smoke and mirrors program and an inert agent program, all of it running silently. That's obviously unusual.>>

<<In light of this new connection to the library system, we should probably talk to Thorbjörn.>>

<<We have a lot of Russian connections here, between Igor and Katya and now Winter Storm from Yakut. It seems that Igor is more likely to be an alcoholic than a criminal mastermind, but I wouldn't put it past someone to be manipulating Igor and his relationship with Invictus. Let's tailor our approach with Igor accordingly.>>

Mato thinks about Katya responding to the shots at the greenhouse. She clearly had no love for the disrupted spirit. He wonders if her ruthenium polymer cloak could have allowed her to solder the program carrier module onto the library terminal without being noticed.

He'd leave Winter Storm for Jawsey. Jawsey had a way with spirits.

Jawsey started speaking "Invictus, he" then stopped, looked around, stepped closer and in a lower voice he carried on in passable Russian "Igor, focus! Invictus was supposed to come to my room last night to explain things more, but he never made it. They say he was disrupted. Now and all sorts of problems are coming to light. Questions are going to be asked. Who was where, who did what. Invictus trusted you more than anyone else, you must know what needs to be done."

Igor frowned and replied in the same language, sounding a lot more sophisticated: "I don't know what he would have told you. The spirit certainly did not trust anyone. It was a snake charmer and entertaining, true. But you couldn't trust it. Invictus would have sold his own mother for the slightest advantage - if it had a mother. It certainly didn't feel bound by anything short of a spirit pact. Cheating bastard. If it did get disrupted it probably earned it by betraying someone's trust. I told Thomas years ago to sever ties with it.
Now if you excuse me, I think I need an aspirin and a Bloody Marry."

Jawsey noted that the man was truthful enough, but in a hurry to end the conversation.

Mato doesn't know what's being said but he runs Igor's response through his social software to see if it can help gauge his reaction.

Maybe it's the language, maybe it's the booze, maybe it's the speedo or the body hair, but neither Mato nor the software produce any meaningful results.

Jawsey switches to English, just a little bit louder, so that Mato will know things are not working on the con "Maybe he was misleading me, maybe I mis-understood ... He was supposed to come tell me more, but then he got disrupted." Then more quietly again in Russian "I think he was up to something very devious though. He is a spirit, so maybe not for wealth? But I think there was something he wanted, something he needed humans to help with? I thought you would know where he might have hidden something. I suppose he just fooled me."

Then he steps back, and in English again, asks "Would you like a Detox spell, to help your morning along?" To the team he sends <<Blast, either he doesn't know, or he is too careful. But I've tried to leave the idea in his head that Invictus might have hidden something, so if we can keep at eye on Mr. Kaminsky, one way or another, maybe if he does know anything he'll reveal it that way.>>

"A spell? From you? I'd... rather not." Suddenly his voice became fearful as if he remembered something: "You should drop this. There is nothing good that can come off it."

Jawsey flexes his hands, and teases in English "No spells? Are you sure? I have quite a few that I could cast on you, some of them are rather interesting ..." He adds an only slightly mad looking grin, then suddenly shifts tracks and languages, asking urgently in Russian "Which bitch has you worried?"

Mato steps forward to block Igor from leaving easily. "Who's 'the bitch'?" he presses sternly.

Mato doesn't have the most intimidating silhouette but perhaps between his uniform and Igor's vodka haze he can put on the airs of authority.

"Who can't be trusted?"

Igor froze like a deer in the headlights.
"I... I shouldn't have said that. I mean, I wouldn't want to slander anyone." He paused, looking at Mato and appeared to notice the chrome for the first time.
"It's just... Komarova. I overheard her cursing Thomas and his Manservant. About a month ago. I know Invictus tried to butter her up - as he does with the maids. And well... she let him live and actually had a conversation with him.
Don't tell her that I said that. That babuska is crazy"

AM notifies her findings to the team -->>> So the ring can contain a spirit? I am over my head here.


>> Thanks for remaining me about the agent.
she texted and then tried to locate it again.

AM found the Agent, but it was inactive again. A closer scan told her, that it indeed was the source of the malfunction and likely the reason for the manipulated file.

"Maybe she held a grudge -- someone shot Invictus with Blight, and she was in the vicinity. Did you have conversations with her too, or were you scared that she wouldn't let you live?"

<<I'm tired of bouncing from person to person to person, but I don't see any way of jumping ahead. Do we move on to her next?>>

Mato steps aside to let Igor pass.

<<I agree>> he replies to Jawsey's comm. <<It seems like we're going to daisy-chain our way through the entire household. But that's the job.>>

<<I thought Katya's presence was suspicious. She said she 'heard' the shot - even though van der Bloom said the computer reported it as a silenced shot. So how could she have heard it from inside?>>

<<But at the same time, she didn't smell like cordite or gunpowder so I don't think she was the gunman. It's possible that she was distracting Invictus, talking with him while the shooter lined up the shot and took it. And she certainly wanted me out of there quickly enough, telling me to go perform an audit of Blight rounds in the armory.>>

<<Motivation? Sounds like she doesn't like Pike, maybe doesn't want the Duchess and Pike to get married. Maybe make Pike look bad with a theft and a killing right under his nose? Or maybe it's a power play to make Cunningham look bad, since they're at odds.>>

Mato sighs.

<<Jawsey, what do you want to do with this lead on the free spirit, 'Winter Storm'?>>

<<AM, van der Bloom said that three of his sensors picked up the shot. Do you think you could triangulate the location of the shot based on input from the three sensors?>>

<<Winter Storm is a piece of work. One of those spirits from Yakut who thinks meta-humanity should stay in its place -- that place being under the heel of the spirit world of course. For all that I like spirits, and think they have a place in society, I can' endorse that view! It is greedy to grow in strength though, so open to spirit pacts. If we need to, that could be a route.>>

AM sends Trouble to watch over Kurt's reaction, while she examines the agent for marks, and the file to see if there is any record of the hacking attempt. and asks Kurt >> Kurt, the agent in the library just hacked a file, removed some of this content and it has something to do with the mess yesterday. I know because there is some glitch causing it to cook the AR-tag you sent me to fix yesterday. Yes, I am better than my deck indicates.

I don't want to sound accusing - but it makes you look bad, and by association it makes me look bad. Now I am a poor, and desperate tech-person and cannot afford to fail. I am sending you my findings, and I need your brilliance and expertise on it. We need to find out who hacks our system, it is getting ridiculous.



AM Triangulates the data using Van der Bloom's data and concludes that it is inside the greenhouse as they already knew, and that likely near the roof. "Shot was in the greenhouse, likely above. Let's speak to Katya. I don't think she is the thief because the Duchess trusts her, but she knows more than what she told us, and now there is a ring missing.

Kurt replied grumpy - apparently not a morning person - but honestly: <<I think you are forgetting your place. I'm still your superior!
Alright I'll check.>>
When he called back, he was a lot calmer: << Hm, I found the hack you told me about. That agent is a product made for the Russian military. Last generation, but still very powerful. Someone used a dongle to provide it with attack capability to crack cryptolocks on the files. The fact that, the agent was placed in the library terminal instead of using a dedicated is puzzling. That's something a spy without its own hacking abilities would do. Crude, no style. But effective after a fashion.>>

"Russians," Mato mutters to himself once the team is alone again. Then he switches to Matrix communication for better security.

<<Our Russians are Igor and Katya. Igor seems to think Katya is crazy, and he might be right. His alibi is being stone-cold drunk last night.>>

<<Katya is suspected of being ex-Speznaz, Russian special forces. If so, that would fit with her having a last-generation dongle. We also have Winter Storm in the mix but that doesn't really scan for me.>>

<<I'm a little rusty on my Asian history, but the basic gist is that the Siberians declared independence from Russia in the early 2030s - Russia was still reeling from the Crash of '29 - with the help of spirits and shapeshifters. It was only later that the separatists figured out that the spirits hated metahumanity and civilization, leaving to various forms of oppression and civil war for the better part of the last 50 years or so.>>

<<Long story short, I have a hard time believing that Katya would collude with Winter Storm in any way, and vice versa. Most Russians - and especially the Speznaz - would resent and oppose the Yakut separatists. And it's a stretch to believe that a spirit-supremacist like Winter Storm would work with a cybermonster like Katya. Not impossible, especially if Katya's gone merc - biz makes strange bedfellows - but a stretch.>>

<<Let's go talk with Katya but keep in mind that someone could be framing her. Someone like Thorbjörn has the expertise to put something like this together and make it look like someone else did it. Plus, you know, we haven't talked to him yet and it's pretty clear we'll have to speak to everyone in the house before this is all over.>>

<<Jawsey, my only question is at what point should we reach out to Winter Storm? Does it make sense to do it now and get some intel, or is that a last-resort sort of thing because of the spirit's position on humanity?>>

She texts Kurt >> Okay, we stopped the hack but now who had access to the library terminal. Did you send anyone to maintain it? We better find out who did it before things get really bad for us. Someone here is likely a double agent.


>> So still no suspects or a smoking gun. but let's go talk to Katya to the very least this makes her look bad, and it is clearly framing her because she would have been smart enough to collect the dongle once she finished using it. Who else could it be?

AM tried to locate Katya in preparation for confrontation.

van der Bloom replied: <<No, that terminal hasn't been serviced by me or the wire boys and maids in quite a while.>>

<<We can't be 100% positive that Igor's 'alibi' is solid. The alcohol poisoning looked mild by this morning. Someone could have detoxed him last night, he could have gone and done things, the downed a few more shots. That said, let us move on to Katja. As for Winter Storm, I admit I'm not eager to talk to him. I will, but let's wait until after talk with Katja.>>

All the same, Jawsey looked at the info that Anna had forwarded, curious about how they were supposed to contact this free spirit. Did it indicate where the spirit was, for that matter?

Finding Katya wasn't easy with her tendency to move around cloaked. But the team could be sure she would be close by the Dutchess once the hunt started today.
Of course, they could also just call her - or try to hack her commlink to get her position.

"Let's go find Katya," Mato agrees.

"She can be tricky to see. My radar sensors should be able to pick her up to about 50 meters or so. Failing that, my cyberware scanner should work, but that's more like 15 meters.

"I presume your astral sight will work as well. Is there a spirit to track her down or do we just want to call her?"

He looks to Jawsey.

"Do you want to take the lead or should I? I'm wondering if your Russian will help... soften her up."

Mato smiles wryly. He knows very little could probably soften the cyberbeast, but sometimes the sounds of your native tongue can work wonders.

The problem with radar was of course, the multi layered walls as well as the many other occupants of the house not allowing to identify any one individual from afar.

AM searches for Katya's comlink to text her.

Through access to the internal network, AM found the commlink number in no time.

"I could send a spirit to try to talk to Winter Storm, even at astral speeds it would take a while to get there, and would mean I don't have access to a spirit in the meantime. But maybe we talk to Katya first, it shouldn't take too long and we'll know that much more information. After all, I'll need to send as smart a spirit as I can manage, with as carefully constructed message as I can, as this would be a remote service, the spirit will deliver the message and then be done, and we'll have to wait to see what response we get -- or I guess then I could send a second spirit to get any response and bring it back here?"

Jawsey was pretty sure that there had to be a better way to communicate at that distance, but he didn't know the magic for such a solution.

"Do we want to call her, or show up at her room? I always prefer face-to-face where I can read auras, but on the other hand we don't have to worry about physical threats from her on a commlink."

"We can hold off on Winter Storm for a bit," Mato agrees.

"Let's let Katya know we're coming," Mato suggests. "If we request a meeting, it will seem like we're asking her instead of telling her. If we just show up, she might feel that it's a confrontation.

"We can phrase it like we need her assistance, or would like her expertise on a matter. Maybe even dangle a nugget about the possible involvement of Yakut sympathizers. That should promote her willingness to talk and be helpful. And not, you know, immediately reach for her pistol like she did last night when we went to check on the greenhouse."

"Sounds good" Jawsey agrees. Then he takes the number that Anna had found, and placed the call. As it went through, he rehearsed his opening phrasing in Russian "Hello, we'd like to talk to you about trickery and spirits."

Katya replied: "Yes. What did you find out?" She spoke English and sounded a bit annoyed - as usual. "Make it quick. I'm preparing for the hunt."

"We will meet you outside your room, whenever you are ready." Jawsey ends the call and tells the others "She is not going to be happy with me, she wanted the info right then. I still want to see her aura., let's get to her rooms quickly. And the hunt is starting soon, which sounds like another opportunity for mischief. I don't know if our various bosses wanted us monitoring it or not, but if we can we should keep an eye on it as best as we can."

He headed off at a fair pace, and messaged McElroy <<Any special instructions for the hunt?>>

AM examines the protection level of Katya's link and observes it carefully, to determine if it is possible to find it unattended or if it is implemented link. She texts >> We can probably use a link to call Winterstorm I mean he is a spirit alright also a major spirit, with financial assets and likely servants, and now you claim it to be involved in thievery. About sending a spirit, we can send Trouble but I am not sending my cat to a spirit supremacist that hates metahumans and might think that Trouble is an insult to spirits, and sending a natural spirit may trigger an even worse response from this person. You know how Shamans are opposed to binding spirits, I when I take my mentor and make him alien to metahumans and a lot more extreme, I get a person that disapproves of conjuring altogether calling it coercing spirits to do your bidding. Not sure that it is the best way to approach such a spirit - but people with financial assets should be approachable by technological means... I mean not all the people that work with them have access to spirits doing their bidding -- or perhaps none of them do.

>> Hacking her link will likely get me inside but she'll know I did it. So let's keep that as a desperate move.

She texts Cunnigham describing the hacked file, and the information that was deleted from it and asks him >> You don't happen to have a backup of that file somewhere? If you read what is left, you'll see that the ring may contain a spirit that is awfully convenient. Alternatively, do you have any way you could contact Winter Storm or any intel on him? They (not sure if he/she) appear in the file and may have something to do with the theft.

McElroy replied to Jawsey: <<It would probably be a good idea to allow you to choose your position - you have shown good instincts where you should be. I'll keep an astral eye on the proceedings from my chambers and have a strong spirit present to intervene if necessary.>>

Cunningham replied to AM: <<I'm sorry, I wasn't aware of the importance of that file. I'll try to find something in the printouts, but with the hunt today I can't leave my post. I never had the misfortune of having to contact such a spirit supremacist. It's the first time I actually hear about it. But be very careful when you confront Katya. I'm not sure she is entirely sane.>>

While they hurry to Katya's room, Jawsey starts thinking about where he should observe the hunt from. If he could maintain astral form for longer he'd go sit somewhere comfortable and do it all astrally, but the thing looks likely to run longer than he could observe. He'll need to watch at least some of it in person. Well, once he gets his coat on he can head outside and watch as it organizes, offering up detox spells as needed. But after that will be the challenge.

When they get to Katya's room, he calls her to say "We are here, ready to talk when you are."

Katja opened her door, her face looked pissed off - even more than usual.
"You are insolent. Now get on with it. There is work to do."
Her eyes promised quick and heavy handed retribution as she said that.
As far as the team could see, she wore now heavy, steeltoed boots, which would make it quite a bit harder for her to sneak around unheard. But then, the large rifle - Mato identified it as a customized version of the ONOTARI ARMS JP-K50 Sniper Rifle. Someone had gone to the trouble of adding a second magazine slot and extended magazines.

On the way there he asked Anna if she could have Trouble come and asense Katya. Jawsey didn't want the distraction of dual sensing while trying to deal with an apparently less-than-stable figter.

+++++++++++++++++

When Katya had finished snapping at them, Jawsey didn't smile. The only members of the Vory he could recall smiling were Simon, who the rest of the Vory treated as an idiot and a fool, and Konstantine, who smiled when he was talking about murder. He wasn't sure if that was just a Vory thing or an overall Russian thing, but to play it safe he didn't smile.

Instead he glowered, and growled out in Russian "Yes, we have much work to do." with a hitch of his head to indicated that 'we' didn't include her. "Last night Invictus was apparently disrupted, but later it seems that the Blue Admiral was stolen from the safe in your mistress's suite, as was the sword that was Invictus's heart-item." He knew that 'heart-item' wasn't the right word, but he wasn't sure of the right one in Russian so he improvised. "It was a theft that we think only a spirit could have pulled off. It happens that there is a spirit who wanted the Blue Admiral, a spirit from Yakutsk, known as Winter Storm."

He pauses for a moment to let her react, about the spirits or about how something had been in her mistress's chamber -- but also to read her aura.

He finishes with "What do you know about Invictus's activities last night, and what have your dealings been with Winter Storm?"

Jawsey saw a quick succession of fear and anger that crossed across what remained of her aura.

"The Yakut scum are traitors. There are no deals, no cooperation and no negotiations. All they deserve is a swift death. LIkewise anyone who tries to deal with them or betrays the Russian people."
That statement was so full of passion and commitment, that even without asensing Jawsey was able to ascertain it being truthful.
"I'm certain that Invictus intended to meet someone in the green house. Other than that, I cannot say.
But have you considered that it might be Cunningham? His position is far from secure now that Maria... I mean the Duchess will be part of the household. She has me - and I am a far more reliable and vigilant agent. He has to know that. He might have tried to steal the Blue Admiral and sell it to the traitors.
I would put nothing beyond this snivelling weasle."


The last words had been spoken with such vitriol, that Mato had subconsciously readied for a violent outburst.

Emma responds calmly, masking the fear the massive and perhaps unstable mercenary instilled in her. It was only desperation that got her to open her mouth that seemed to annoy anyone she speaks to. "Why does it have to be him or you? Can't they keep both of you? I mean, I get that there is some bad blood between you and Cunnigham but he is all social and politics, and I don't think you will like his job very much. She made a small step toward the woman, and looks in the general direction of her face.

Keep it cool AM, she is not a street ganger insane murderer she bodyguards a duchess. She has a job and responsibility, but somehow that logic did not seem very reassuring for such a small-framed fragile elf.

Katya's gaze was piercing as she said: "You know nothing. I kept her save for years, but now... It doesn't matter. If you want to catch a thief, you need to find the stolen goods. You could use the hunt - search the house while everyone is out."

Mato scowls. Part of him doubts that the stolen goods are still on the property. Why would the thief linger? The Blue Admiral is a hot potato.

He can't piece it together. He doesn't think Katya would cooperate with Winter Storm, but nor is she (by most accounts) strictly sane. Maybe the left brain doesn't know what the right brain is doing.

"I'm expected on the hunt," Mato says curtly. For all her chatter about insolence, Mato doesn't take Katya to be one who respects deference any better. He's guessing she's a steel-sharpens-steel type and resolves to meet her in kind.

"Help us," he says. "Help us stop Winter Storm from acquiring the Blue Admiral. A patriot of the motherland could do no less."

While he judges her response, he DNIs AM and Jawsey:

<<This smells funny. It's another instance of Katya wanting us gone. Last night she wanted us off the roof right away, ordering me to conduct an audit of the Blight rounds in the armory.>>

<<Maybe, in her desperation to discredit Cunningham, she's willing to orchestrate the theft of the jewel to make him look bad. The Russian agent in the dongle in the library would suggest as much. Planting such an obvious link as the contact information for Winter Storm could be a way to throw suspicion off herself. I think it's possible that she's conditioned the Duchess over the years, Speznaz mind games to indoctrinate a fragile condition.>>

<<AM and Trouble might be the only ones who don't have responsibilities during the hunt. If the jewel isn't already off the property then the hunt might be a good opportunity to move it. The thief could move it while the house is empty, or they could take it on the hunt itself and move it once it's off the property.

<<Can either of you detect a biofiber pocket on her person? Let's keep an eye open for biofiber pockets in general.>>

AM looks back, and for a moment senses humanity in Katya's eye. Or so she thinks. >> Seems so, but indeed hunting animals for leisure is not something that I can approve of and even keeping my mouth shut would be difficult. So me and my big tonge are better left behind and search the place, I can also view the files given to us about the maid to find out who poisoned van der Bloom.

AM texts the Duchess >> Her Grace, is there any chance I can have a private word with you before the hunt?

Katya looked at Mato with undisguised disgust: "Do not speak to me of the motherland or patriotism, Orc. I am doing my job - and you get out of my way." Although she didn't move her rifle, the implied "or else" was obvious.

The Dutchess replied to AM: <<I am in the library. Feel free to drop by.>>

AM text her friends saying that she goes to the library to meet the Duchess, and hopefully now that Katya is preparing for the hunt she'll manage to have a semi-private word with her. She enters quietly looking for the Duchess and other listeners.

Considering the tumultous morning, it's surprising to find the Dutchess in a quite serene mood, sitting at the sunlit desk and reading in the same book as before.
As AM entered she looked up and smiled: "Have you made progress in your search for the intruder?" Her smile faded "I shudder to think what could have happened to us."
Her aura betrayed nervousness and fear, although she did her best to put on a brave face.

Jawsey weighs the danger of provoking Katya farther, and decides that with Mato still there he'll risk it. "You have kept her safe for years, but no longer? Last night when her room was penetrated you were on the roof with Invictus. Today, with the mystery unsolved and so the danger unknown, you go off on the hunt. What is your position now?"

What he's really hoping is that she'll say more about what she was doing on the roof, but anything she reveals about changes in the security could also be interesting.

To AM he adds <<I'll hopefully have breaks from the hunt, and I may be able to get through wards that Trouble can't, as I'm keyed to many of them now. Let me know if you come up with a list of places that need extra astral snooping>>

"We are doing our best her Grace, it is very important for my own survival I assure you. There are many pieces but we try to put them together
She sighs ...but I wanted to talk to you about Katya, and about Cunnigham. I noticed this rivalry between them, can you explain where the powerful emotions come from?

The Dutchess looked surprised: "Katya? Well, I mean, she used to be completely responsible for me and my security. She is naturally suspicious and protective." She sighed: "I admit, she wasn't happy about me marrying Thomas, although of course she never said that directly.
The rivalry... I assume she feels threatened by Cunningham in her position. As long as we are here in Thomas' estates, he will be the one responsible for both our well being. That's quite a big change for Katya - as it is for me. But there is no reason to fear for her. I'm certainly not going to fire her if that is what you mean. It's just that we won't be as close anymore - only the two of us, I mean.
All in all, I think she just wants things to go back to the way they were before I met Thomas.

Mato is impressed with Jawsey's boldness in the face of a cybermonster like Katya. His silent admiration of the elf improves.

Mato steps out of the way very slightly, angling himself so that Katya can pass. The look on his face says, Oh, was I blocking you? He does his best to mix together feigned innocence and mocking derision.

He is perhaps a little too confident. His successfully-non-fatal duel with Chan Wu has raised his estimation of his own abilities. Now, this is of course unwise, but Mato is reasonably confident that nobody is as redlined as he is. And certainly there's no way that a human is going to be as strong. Faster? Perhaps. Better trained? Yes, that is a danger, especially if Katya is ex-Speznaz. Mato, after all, is more like a weekend warrior, a dilettante who is skilled but by no means a veteran or expert.

So he'll diffuse things, sort of, by creating some space. If Katya wants to arm wrestle later then they can do that after the job is complete.

"My position is unchanged - I take care of the Duchess and her safety. And now I'm going so secure the perimeter of the hunt for her."
Shoving her way past Jawsey, she moved towards the stairs.