The roof contains big tubes for the ventilation system, as well as multiple launch pads for drones which are now covered. The heavy rain flows from the roof into the cooling system, and then to the rain barrels so the atmosphere on the roof is a maze of tubes, drones, and an occasional solar panel which serves as a secondary source of electricity for drone security forces. Luckily for the team, the rotor drones (about five of them) are all shut down due to the weather.

There is no obvious thing to block the shaft, perhaps taking off support from one of the drone structures but everything is bolted to its place aside from the heavy rain it is well kept without junk or unused space. Nova and bnc have to follow narrow walkways in a maze of corridors leading to utilities, such as drone launch pads or ventilation shaft/ water collectors. They can of course easily just parkour their ways across the pipes if they like.
The roof is not very high, and there is no problem for any of them to jump down.

bnc snorts. "Feel free!"
Her mood changes almost abruptly, once she is Jumped into James and has pushed away the heavy lid without notice. With an elegant motion she pulls hersulf one-handedly up and jumps on the floor with almost too majestic ease. For Nova, who is being used to cyberlimbs for quite a while now, this show is almost amusing. It's not even a show - a show is for someone else. Nova can tell, James is--- bnc is genuinely enjoying herself in James' body. The drone can't carry mimics all to well, but if the body language doesn't scream "freedom at last!", no body language does.

"I'm going."
She even shows off.
Then runs. The maze she manages with computer-game like ease, never even slowing down. She pushes herself off walls, then finally makes the 10 m drop without hesitation, without slowing down. Even Nova has to admit that, in using James, bnc has acquired a level of control of her physical body difficult for even Nova to achieve. All within a year.
She jumps facing the direction to the left or right of the vans, so they would not be seen by them, and have the possibility to ambush them. Their she quickly vanishes out of sight with her camouflage armor, waiting for Nova to follow.

Nova makes her way to the edge of the roof and simply jumps down. She aims for the area, where the drones are inactive, not wanting to draw any further attention.

Then she quickly heads towards the car, sneaking as much as possible.

Within a few seconds, the two are on the ground, when the guard arrives there is nothing on the roof, a mirage. Did he really hear steps on the floors? He opens the hatch and looks a bit to the roof, takes a few looks, sees nothing but darkness, and then closes it again.


Sneaking up in this weather is a piece of cake. The heavy rain prevents the most sophisticated sensors and obscures the sound of her feet. It is also dark, and cold, and wet so nobody actually wants to look on the outside. Nova can see two people standing near the opening in the fence shaking their heads. "It is like a drone walked just past the fence. It makes no sense" The other one It happens tonight. Let's find out if there is a drone that took damage from the fence, or if there was a break in" Then the third man exists "It was nothing, I thought I heard something I went to the roof, but it must be this strange night. Not a living soul."
"There is only this fence riddle, something broke it and none of the drones raised an alarm." the man suggests "Perhaps one of the autopilots did not see the fence they weren't trained for it." They'll stand there at the entrance to the facility to dodge the rain and try to decide if they can conclude it on a drone malfunction or need to investigate for a short while.

<< We should just wait for them to drive away, and then leave a short while after. >> Nova suggests.

"What? Just ... just wait? You are aware that they are mere steps away from my body, right?"

<< As long as they are not approaching the car and starting to knock, you should be fine in there. >>

"Oh boy, I frigging hate having a body."
She says, her exhilaration puffing out like a blown-out candle.
"Geez, girl. Uhm. I, uhm, just might be panicking. Right about, uh, now. So how about you make decisions until we know some strangers are not killing or abducting me in the next few minutes and I focus on not fucking up? Say yes, please.
Fu-"
bnc mutes her virtual mike.

<< Just relax. These guys are completely clueless. Havn't you heard them talk? They are no danger to us, at all. >>

James and Nova's position would soon bring them in range of one of the patrolling drones. The heavy rain impeeds their perception, but it is likely to identify them if it gets close enough.

<< Let's get back on the roof. >> Nova suggests.

She looks for some way to climb back up.

"What? Abandon my body? Are you-"
She exhales.
"All right. I'm following. I'm..."
She mutes herself again.

When she stands before the wall, however, her body language changes again. More upright. More ... springy? She seems to be nodding to herself, then goes up to the roof. Even Nova might be astonished by the grace and easy she goes up. Most people don't walk as easily as she climbs the vertical wall. With every jump, every hook, every grab she grows more confident. When she's up, she back to where she was.

"Can't we just fight them off? They're easy prey. Or shall I just move their van? Open our escape route?"

With incredible dexterity James is up on the roof again, ignoring all the environmental limitations. Nova is astonished by how quickly he is gone. On the roof, he can lay low and be invisible to the drones and guards. The rain is heavy, and the temperatures are close to the freezing point which means that it is not going to be pleasant. bnc can feel the cold even though she is warm-ish in the car, the rain while having no effect on James is uncomfortable.

Nova has to play her cards right and either attempt to climb as fast or buy some time until the drone passes.

Nova keeps herself away from the drones until an opportune moment arrives to climb up.

Nova joins quickly on the roof without a hitch, she quickly moves past the unalert drone avoiding it getting close enough to identify her in these terrible visual conditions. The rest is a waiting game, the heavy rain and purple lightings take their toll and make the roof an unpleasant area. The guards take a while to leave, perhaps ten or fifteen minutes - testing the patience of the team. Eventually, the cause of the delay is cleared, they all exit with warm toasts, and some coffee. She is on the phone the entire time, and barely acknowledges that the four guards return with a steamy coffee and a toast for her. Never-the-less their cars disappear quickly and the street is open again.

One minor complication is the human-sized drone that now blocks the hole in the fence with its body. Perhaps it is their make-shift solution for the glaring hole in the fence. The team can either try and get past that drone, or try and jump over the 2m fence from another direction. A small silver lining is that they have had enough time to observe the patrol patterns of the drones to figure out how to better time their movements.

<< Looks clear. Guess we can go now. >>

Nova is pretty confident, that she knows where to best move towards the fence now that she had some time to watch the drones patrol the area, not that there was much else to do while waiting for the guards to finally leave. Warm toast and coffee does sound great, but going back inside to fetch some of that certainly seems like the wrong idea at this point.

Neither getting off the roof, nor getting over the fence prove to be any obstacle, she simply jumps down the 10 meters and when she arrives at the fence, her legs elongate far enough, so that she can step over it with no trouble.

Once back in the car, she disassembles her rifle and stores it in the briefcase once more, along with her mask.

bnc is impressed. Nova, too, jumps and climbs with a grace and ease that would shame most monkeys. "Cheesus, Nova! Without the others, we can go bastante everywhere! D'you know we could do a whole different league of jobs together, the two of us? No topography can hold us. We combine firepower and tech skills without the burden of meat that can be kept at bay by obstacles. I bet you're as good a swimmer as you're a climber, right? Maybe with Anna and some o' her spirits in the astral, we are a force to be reckoned with because we have no one to slow us down!"

bnc is thrilled, not only by using James in a run for the first time, but by seeing that Nova can do the same. Together, they form a pair of highly agile, highly stealthy professionals who can hit fast, sneaky and wherever they want.
She can hardly contain her thrill. More than once, she suggests they rather attack then wait, but - as promised - she obeys Nova's command to wait it out. She even holds her tongue for a while lest she distract the two of them.

Once they're over the fence and back in the car (he lounges in the backseat, ignoring the slumped and even drooling piece of meat that lies belted to the driver's seat), he goes on it this pleasant, deep, resonant voice of his.

"I don't know how it's going to work in ultra V, or virtual realism, which is mostly the same, but back in the flesh, please think about it, Nova. If we were to team up with anyone else again, we must a) keep away from everyone who'd slow us down and b) leave my mucho malo meatbag behind!"
S/he revvs the engine and makes for the cave.

Muttering, he adds "Swear to GOD, if this Virtual Realism copies my body rather than James, I'm gonna gut myself."

<< James certainly has some tricks up his sleeve as well. But don't get ahead of yourself. You sound almost as if you were on drugs or something. >>

Now they are on their way to the next stop. That would be the part, Nova is not very sure about what to expect.

"If anyone knows anything about that virtual stuff, it's you. Also, that liability of a body there does contain a pretty important part of you, I believe, without which everything else will not work quite so well. You might want to take care of it a little better. You know, mens sana in corpore sano. That's not just a saying."

"Sheesh, you got some issues girl if you believe you need to take drugs to be in a good mood. Let me tell you, I know what I'm talking about. C'mon, admit it, this thing - for us it was easy. But with Sharkboy or Wraith around - we'd have a helluva lot of trouble. And if I'd have kept my body somewhere else, we'd have been out long time."

---

"Oh yeah? Is that why you literally tore off all of your limbs to rot and exchanged them for cyber stuff? If you are some Sokartes now, drink the water you preach or stop preaching. Anyway, you have no idea what you're talking about. I'm the literal counter-proof to that bullshit saying."

"I get your point, but you are wrong. I never did that. And it was never done to me. There was no choice in the matter of getting these. The only choice I had is what to do with them."

"So? You didn't drink your wine on purpose but you're still drunk comme enfer and it works. Don't tell me you don't dig your cyber. You kept your tits and strong back which accidently work just fine. Don't be a hypocrite, Nova. It's easy to tell others that beauty don't matter when you're pretty. That was an analogy in case that wasn't obvious."

"Didn't say I do not like them. I just do not know it any other way, so I cannot compare."

James lets out a high-pitched "urrgh", that, despite his low voice, sounds decidedly like a frustrated bnc.
"Can't you ever react like a human being? You're always cool and laid-back and so fucking in control. What the fuck happened to you that you lost all your human feelings, dude? Or lass, whatever. Don't tell me you're just so fucking balanced. You're a shadowrunner, not some Buddha."

Nova shrugs. "I do not meditate. Let's find that cave and see where this leads to."

"Fuck you, then"
bnc drives the rest of the way in silence.

The simulation site is actually not very far from the datacenter, but it is out there in the middle of nowhere. bnc and Nova drive the dark forest, listening to the wind howling and while it is heated inside the car, it feels cold in an existential manner. Something is not right with this place but it is difficult to pinpoint what. It just feels a bit inauthentic, more of a horror film than reality. The area is heavily wooded, and aside from the lights of the car, there are no external lights. The trees have a slight taint of purple to them and it feels as if there are a thousand eyes watching the two. As if it is not enough, the engine appears to struggle it sounds differently -perhaps the battery is at its end. Yet, there are no warning lights and the car insists to be perfectly alright.

They finally arrive at the site, it is a cave dark and wide and too deep to see where it ends. There is a small stream that flows from the inside out, into an ominous pool. Aside from the rain, and occasional thunder, there is a loud chewing sound, as if many rodents are munching on something in the cave - but none is visible.

bnc looks for a good hiding place for the van, somewhere a little off road. It doesn't need to be totally hidden, just someplace you wouldn't accidently stumble upon.
"I don't like being here without a mage. This place screams magic. Have you biggest guns at the ready, cuz if there's spirits attacking us, you won't get them to leave peacefully by quoting Sokrates."

James casts a worried look at bnc. He furrows his brow, then his facial expression gets neutral, and bnc stirs. "Aaahgh", she moans, stretching her stiff limbs as best she can without leaving the car, then adds: "bothersome" without explaining what she's talking about.
After a few stretches, she gets into a lying position in the backseat, then ammasses every piece of cloth around her: Jackets, blankets, whatever they have in the car, she piles ontop of herself with only her nose and mouth peeking out. Once set, she changes back to VR and programs the car to keep the heating active at a minimum for as long as it can. Before it would run out of electricity and fuel, however, it would try to reach out to the deck in James' commlink, sending an alert. If there's no response without 10 minutes, the car is to automatically drive back to the monastery to deliver bnc's body into their care. Her commlink, she leaves with her body.

Only then does she Jump back into James. "You ready?" he asks in a too-casual tone while he doule-checks his ammunition and gear.

"Keep an eye on the car this time."

Nova puts her rifle back together, and gets out of the car. She puts on a backpack this time, with her case inside.

After adding a few additional armor accessories and putting on her mask, she is ready to proceed.

"You bet I will"
James's voice sounds confident, but at the last syllable it trails off thoughtfully. He looks back at the car, and there again is this thoughtful expression. The glance lasts an instant too long, betraying his cool and cocky air. Then he moves on, towards the cave.

bnc parks the car a bit off the road, and covers herself, she watches James and Nova leave and then forgets herself in the creepy woods all alone. She feels cold, perhaps not physically cold because of all the blankets but once she turns of the vehicle's lights and lowers the heating it feels like the only thing that shields her from the great outdoors and its mysteries in a dark stormy night is a primitive spider glass. She is happy that her mind so occupied in Jame's feed that she does not have time to understand just how miserable she really is.


James and Nova enter the cave and walk toward what the instructed is a wall, but there is no wall the illusion must have collapsed due to the storm, and instead about 50 meters inside, there is an elevator.


The chewing sounds get louder, and they can almost see some critters following them inside. Perhaps rats, or something else? They are not even certain that they have seen them because they are gone by the way they instinctively turn their heads to inspect the movement.

Nova has seen this tech before in the facility, the car was completely invisible but the rain behaved differently next to it. Now there is no rain, but there is water vapor appearing out of thin air of two places near the elevator. Thermal scans also see this vapor as a cloud of heat that appears once per several seconds and then dissipates. So she suspects there is something there unless her mind is playing tricks on her, she can guess approximately where they stand but she cannot see anything aside from the vapor appearing from time to time.

Nova informs bnc/James and keeps her distance for now, switching to ultrasound to see if that helps revealing what is there, now that the weather cannot interfere with it.

An ultrasound scan reveals a rough outline, of two human-sized guards by the elevator. Surprisingly, no animals or anything that should make the chewing sounds, and foreboding atmosphere.

<< According to our "friend", there shouldn't be any guards here. Do you think they could be drones? Can't see much, other than their outlines. It also looks very similar to what I have seen outside that facility earlier, maybe that "cat person" is involved here as well? This whole thing seems like a huge mess. >>

The guards could not have missed James and Nova entering as they are not invisible, and there are no obstacles between them and the cave entrance. Moreso, they are often distracted by the eyes and chewing sounds to notice anything unusual. That said, the guards have not responded in any way to their approach. They are breathing air, so they are likely not drones - though there are drones. They make no sound and stand close to the wall in a manner that obscures them.

James has to get to 15 meters to scan for cyberware and then even closer to 5 meters to scan for metal. He detects datajacks on both guards, but nothing more. When he gets close enough to the MAG scanner, the scanner detects metal, but since they are very close to the elevator, it is difficult to determine if the cause is guns or the elevator (or walls) they stand very close to. Even when James is that close, the guards have no response.

James concludes that they do move occasionally, but very little, knowing what to look for. However, as James gets closer to the elevator to use the mag scanner, its door opens, and a generic female voice greets him: "Welcome!" The chewing sounds stop, and the place appears a bit more lit with dim lights embedded in the rock formation to allow for safer traversal of the cave. Not that James or Nova need visual assistance with their array of sensors.

Nova nods to the guards, heads over to the elevator and says: "Ground Floor!"

James shudders. "Agree. This freakshow's creeping me out."
bnc instructs James' autopilot, should he lose connection to bnc, to listen to Nova's commands, or, in their absence, return back to bnc. Should Nova be unconscious, he is to take her with him, if he can. Then she returns to the here and now.

"Who the fuck are you?", he yells at the sentinels.

"We should stick together, right?", bnc asks a little insecurely.

In response to James, one of the sentinels uncloaks, exposing a healthy-looking, very masculine man armed with a barely visible pistol that matches its appearance to the background. He is wearing some sort of a skinsuit that covers all his body including the face, but he opens the face mask to speak. The now impossibly black skinsuit appears more bulky and secure than the second-skin used by Anna. He extends his hand and says with a deep voice "Travis." he then adds "I was not certain if you could see us. The storm disables magic, so we use technology for security. Feel free to enter it is completely safe, and welcome to the Realism simulation site, it has been a while since we had new recruits.". His voice is deep and confident, perfect to the point where he could have been in a narrator for some advertisement.

"You weren't certain if we could see you? So? Where you going to creep up at us, nudge as at the shoulder and yell 'Boyaah!'? Who are you guys? Some guards to protect Virtual Realism?"

If they say or nod yes: "And how do you know we haven't come to do whatever this site needs protection from, huh? Or the other way round, how do we know, you don't geek us as we set a step inside?"

His voide is deep, too, but confident? Less so. bnc is still on the edge, ready to topple to the other side any moment. She itches for a slap of Whoom!. It would be easy...

Travis responds with patience Most people do not see us. We are not some guards - we are Realism. We were going to ignore you because you had all the credentials and because you were invited.

He freezes for a brief moment at her next question, not long but perhaps half a second. His voice is a bit different - but nothing she can place her voice on. You are correct, you are very dangerous threat assessments are off the roof. I do not have the complete information, but if we invited you here - then we need your help in some matter - it would make little sense to kill you.

He feels strange, completely unaffected by the tone of James' voice. His voice was neutral and sort of flat. He does not feel exactly like a person. Shortly after, Travis places his face mask and cloaks again. I need to get back to post. he explains.

Nova has to laugh at the conversation. "Kill us! Yeah, that's funny, Travis. Luckily you won't have to try. We are not here to cause any trouble. As you said, we are here to help."

Hopefully, we will learn what this is all about soon ...

During the conversation, bnc tries to analyze them from a matrix view, but with little hope of finding anything extraordinary so simple. She steps closer, however, to activate the cyberware scanner.

While they step into the elevator, she says: "Just to let you know: Once we know this environment is safe, I plan to bring my meat body. We might be trapped in this VR for an extended time. Most likely, we can't get in without our physical bodies anyway, but still."

Then the elevator descends.

Nova gives the command for the elevator to move, once James is inside as well.

"Let's find out, what exactly they need."

The elevator goes down to the underground facility. The narrator says "Welcome to humanities vault, our mission is the survival of technology through the ages. Together we can stop the evil cycle." It is quite a way down, more than a minute if you time it, and then the doors open. The interior walls are covered in screens showing various statistics about the simulations, and the outside surrounding. There are many good-looking people walking around and doing their chores to keep the place running, what bnc is surprised to see in such a tech-intensive environment is no drones. People manually clean the place, and cook, the walls are transparent and they can see people working out in a gym, or relaxing in some yoga lesson. They all wear blue uniforms and many of the women are visibly pregnant. Everyone feels unnaturally healthy, and peaceful as if out of some brochure.

Dark Fox stands out in this environment, while physically attractive and muscular like the rest of them. The man is the only nervous person in the facility. When the two arrive he tells them "Quickly - come I made us a private room" he then walks to that room very quickly - almost running. Yet, nobody seems to take notice of the intruders or of Fox. Once he enters the room he makes the wall none transparent for privacy, and he places a small device on the table a white noise generator.

bnc finds it very difficult to control James from inside the solid walls means that there is almost no signal reaching the surface.

Meanwhile, James follows. Nova, who knows James and bnc quite well by the time, might realize that the body language is no longer bnc's but the more mechanical, more strait, more perfect one of the drone's autopilot. "Good evening to you, too, sir" he says, not without a hint of sarkasm.

"Guess, we won't need that in here." Nova says and takes off her ballistic mask and the other armor upgrades and stores them in her suitcase along with the disassembled rifle.

"So, you are the one who sent us on this scavenger hunt."