Taking up position in the garage once again, Bobby sat down and, with a conscious effort, let out the tension he had held all day.
Slowing down his heartbeat was easy now - spending time in bear form had finally allowed him to master that trick.
Then he began to unclutter his mind. He started with the most recent - the small feeling of triumph after infiltrating the car - followed by the frustration about Grinder, the outrage about Huge, the almost parental feeling of pride for the hacker club and finally the anger and fear of finding Mato's maimed body in the street.
He took each of those feelings, examined them for what they were, what had caused them and then let them go to become a memory.
About an hour in he felt at rest. The only emotion now was the hunger of his totem, the craving for violence. Without his own clutter he was able to recognize it as not being of his own making.
Tomorrow he'd have to fight again for control, keeping a clear head, but for now, he was free.
His heartbeat slowed even more and his third eye opened on its own accord.
Seeing the energies around him, his own pulse began to pick up and synchronize with the ebb and flow until he felt as if he was an integral part of the universe. Time lost its meaning in this state and Bobby enjoyed the feeling of not feeling anything.

<<Monday Morning - February 6, 2079 - Touristville, Redmond>>

The evening goes, the morning comes. All is quiet.

Cutty doesn't stay the night; he goes back to the gym to sleep on his cot. Waylon does stay the night, barely moving on the couch. Assensing him confirms that he's still alive (and actually quite content).

In the morning, the skies are blue, with wispy white clouds thinly stretched out like cotton. Seattle often has a "false spring" in February or March, where there's a week of sun and dry weather that suckers you into a false sense of security before the grey and the rain resume. Today looks like it will be one of those fake spring days, which are nice while they last.

You get a report from the commlink. Or, perhaps more accurately, the lack of a report: Carn-evil's van hasn't moved since last night. It didn't send any signals, so apparently it hasn't been turned on since AM inserted her programming. Does that mean Carn-evil spent the night there? Did he pass out and never go home? Or is the bar "home"? It's possible he slept in the van, but it seems too clean to suggest that he does that with any regularity.

"Morning," Waylon says, having roused himself from the couch. "Is there soykaf?" He scratches his belly.

Jawsey makes soycaff, and hands a mug to Waylon without comment. The man had done work that would normally have likely been worth at least 100nY; supper, a couch, and some soycaff didn't seem extravagent.

<<AM, you might need to point out to Waylon that if he spends much more time here, he may become a target the next time we annoy someone.>>

<<Do we know that he regularly uses that van? Could it be so clean because it is a special occasion vehicle, and the rest of the time he uses a bike or gets a ride or has an old Americar or something? Of course he could just have stayed at the 'Lantern. I guess tonight we can see if we can place him there again, and then stay up and do surveillance?>>

AM has spent the night studying sorcery in the lodge, and then listening to audiobooks about Romeo and Juliet, and then drinking some coffee, and then playing matrix games until she could finally stay up no longer. When she is up, she feels relieved that it is finally morning and is very tired. Her thoughts and emotions were all over the place with Mato, and then DIY, Huge and Urubia, and sneaking into Nightmare's car.

She makes a cup of Coffee and joins Jawsey and Waylon on the table, also handing out dry biscuits that they normally reserve to clients. While they are not particularly good, it is nice to have some calories with the morning's coffee. After a few sips when her mind clears, she tells Waylon "Good morning Waylon, I kind of missed you yesterday with all the mess. It is a fine job you did here.
How was your night? Did you sleep well? Perhaps you can take a hot shower before you leave us? I'll get you some fresh clothes, and I can make them your size too. Perhaps I'll also wash your old clothes? She figured that thanking the man, offering a shower but also asking him to leave would be the right approach she mentions no bombs and would prefer to forget the one bomb they did have already.

She sees her matrix messages, but would not talk business in the Trix - part of why she wants Waylon gone is to talk business she respects the man too much to get him more involved in their nonsense than he already is.

Waylon's eyes go wide at the possibility of a shower. It's clear that AM has either read his mind or anticipated his fondest wish. He nods at the offer, a little dumbstruck. The prospect of fresh and/or clean clothes is just icing on the cake.

Waylon isn't exactly clean but nor is he really that filthy. He takes a long shower - 15 minutes, at least, certainly emptying the hot water tank - but it's not like he was putrid. And, to his credit, he didn't shower on his own while you were out and about yesterday. He waited for an invitation, which he accepts gratefully.

He emerges from the bathroom in a cloud of steam, looking happy. His cheeks are bright and rosy and he's smiling warmly. He accepts the fresh clothes and looks ready to head back out into the Sprawl. He takes another cup of soykaf and a simple breakfast - some AlmostEgg on a day-old bagel - and seems very content with his lot in life. It's not much but it's his, and he makes it work.

You then have SIS to yourselves.

Bobby emerged from the garage about the time, Waylon had his breakfast. The meditation left him refreshed in spirit, but he still smelled from the previous day's labors. So he took the opportunity to shower - braving the cold water with clenched teeth - before entering the kitchen in trainers and a shirt.

Once they were on their own he began to speak: "Alright, I think we are in agreement that we keep collecting information on all people involved in the attack until we find a weakness to exact our vengeance.
Currently, I'm toying with the idea to steal explosives from Huge - if he has indeed riddled his own garage with such devices - and place them beneath the Lantern to destroy their cellar and Nightmare's cauldron. Ideally with Carn-Evil in attendance down there.

If not that, we can just crash Carn-Evil and his posse at an opportune moment into a concrete column.

While that's going on, we have to take care of business and keep an eye open for further attacks.

Also, I'd like to talk with Big Stank - the others were careful to avoid our questions, maybe he has less compunctions about that if it's also an opportunity to insult us."

AM is a bit at ease when Waylon leaves, it is not that she is not thankful is that she really does not want him exposed to the darkness of what's to come. if there is any indication of how uncomfortable it is, it is that AM is usually not very nice in the mornings, she'd actually prefer not to be seen until late morning. Or to the very least curse the morning sun and the need to be at work again. Yet, she is now looking presentable and is polite because they have a house guest.

While Waylon showers, AM uses the Fashion spell to make him some clothes out of some other old clothes they have. Once done, she makes a simple breakfast and would eat with the man.



She responds to Bobby "What I was hoping for is some leverage to use against Carn-evil, perhaps their mere identity can be very embarrassing to expose. Something that is a deterrent enough to stop harassing us and our friends. There are only four of us Bobby, no point in starting wars that we won't win. If someone wants to murder us, they'll get us eventually. We live here, walk these streets we do not hide in our palace under countless guards. We are always vulnerable if someone really has a motivation to get rid of us, so I suggest not giving anyone such motivation.

If you really wanted to stir chaos, I'd say that the information of the whereabouts of Nightmare's cauldron may prove to be very valuable to the right buyer. I am sure that the Haloweeners have plenty of enemies and that they are sinister enough to come up with terrible violent chaos. Let the Ancients or the Spyders, or even Mayor Sonya get rid of Nightmare.

Think about the day ahead, I'd say we should drop by Big Stank, or perhaps Tiny to feel the water. I'm sure he'll be excited to learn that Carn-evil was collecting in his turf. "

"I'm not saying, we advertise what we do. On the contrary. I want to make it look as if that action was the result of internal strife. If we do that we make damn sure we have a solid alibi.
"Divide et impera" as the anglos are saying. Selling that information is a knife without handle - if word gets out nothing stops Nightmare from relocating his true name. Worse, if it gets known that we know, we will be in even worse trouble.

But yeah, let's first collect data and then make decisions.
Anyone of you have Big Stank's number? Otherwise, I'd drop by their headquarters this afternoon."

Bobby replied.

AM sighs You are a bold person Mr. Walker. she comments Big Stank gave me his number when he asked us to find his precious Bonita. I'll text him.


She texts him, keeping it vouge on purpose.
>>Big Stank Hi, we'd like to meet with you today if possible. We might have some information you'd want to know. Amy the detective from SIS.

The response is very fast, within a few minutes.

<<I'm on my way. Half an hour.>>

"Well, he is going to visit us very soon."

"If you say it like that it sounds ominous. Let's meet him outside then. Last time he and his goons ate all our client cookies."
Bobby replied.

"I am just surprised he comes so quickly that is all. I did not know he was a morning person. We'll talk inside it is a show of strength."

"He couldn't have been slow enough for the hot water to re-charge?" Jawsey sighed, then admitted "I'll survive with a quick wipe down with a washcloth, I suppose. But will Big Stank survive if the other gangs know he came to see us? And how is he going to react when he finds out that this is NOT about Bonita? Bobby I'd be prepared to turn him into a giant tortoise or something."

He calls up one of the HUnter Brothers to channel, just to be on the safe side.

AM comments bitterly about the hot water Hot water is one of the mysteries of this world, you'd expect that a society that can send people to the moon, make old people young again, and create true artificial intelligence would figure out how to produce enough hot water for us to shower as long as we like.

Then reflecting on the possibility of violence she says "Big Stank would get the promised information about Carn-evil poking in his territory trying to collect dues without his knowledge. I am not big on their politics but if he voted against his own interest it is another blow to his reputation. If he gets violent, I am sure that we have enough magic to make it an embarrassing experience. "

"We could install a continuous flow heater, but that increases our electricity bill and with the rolling brownouts we'd likely have a very variable experience. Another reason to move to somewhere with a more stable grid.

I don't expect any violence, but lots of insults.
But we make it clear, that he either can tell us why they did it, or our business relationship is at an end.
They can either have a cordial relationship with mutual help, or bomb our front door, but not both.
Bobby relied

On the question of inside or outside, Jawsey's take is "Depends on the message we want to send. Meeting him outside, there will be eyes on us all, and he'll know it. Everyone will know he met us and we talked, his reactions public. So we are sort of taking credit for whatever comes out of it. Inside, sure people will still know he came to us, but it implies that we viewed it as more private than public, it gives him more room to spin what happened, presuming we stay quiet about it. Given how we've been stonewalled I'm not sure which way gives more chance of getting info out of him, but just because this fragging committee does it all behind closed doors, I'll go with meeting him outside just to open by contrast." Meeting outside would also make it clear enough to anyone paying remotely close attention that he was channelling a spirit. He'd not been sure he wanted to give that information away, but at this point showing one more ability in the team was maybe worth it.

"But also I think we might want to make it clear our work as detectives, including any more searching for Bonita, will have to wait until we aren't in a fragging war zone, having team members being blown up."

AM says "We are not obligated to find Bonita - so I would not mention her in this talk. If we find her we find her, and we'll collect Big Stank's bounty regardless of the powerplays of Redmond. Not to sound depressive, but the worse things get for us, the more we'll need an ace job like finding Bonita to make ends meet." She looks at Jawsey a bit uncomfortable or uncertain how to treat him with a channeled spirit merged with him. Why would two different sapient beings want to be welded like that? She wonders, but her understanding of conjuring is rudimentary and theoretic.

My two cents is that outside may force his hands to be hostile toward Carn-evil because we'll be telling the man in public that Carn-evil was double collecting in his territory. Ignoring it would be more difficult that way because people would see and people would talk. It would also prevent him from disclosing information with us in a more generous manner than Grinder's again because people are looking.
This is why, I'd do it indoors - but I trust your intuitions.

"How about a compromise - we meet him in our garage. Private enough, but no concessions or obligation of hospitality.
We can always say, that we are still renovating - which is true."
Bobby replied, amicably.

AM says "Alright, it is not like they appreciated our hospitality before."

"Works for me"

Twenty minutes later, there's a rumble of engines outside. It's a smaller roar than the last time Big Stank visited; this time he only has about dozen gangers with him this time compared to the four or five dozen he brought last time. Perhaps he could only assemble a dozen on short notice.

They’re mostly on Harley-Davidson Scorpions, BMW Blitzens, Gaz-Niki Titans, and other massive choppers. Big Stank and his two trolls (Tiny and Cousin Swol) get off their bikes. All of them are massive for their respective metatypes.

On the astral, Big Stank appears excited, expectant. He practically leaps off his bike as he races forward for information.

"Well?" he asks impatiently. "Did you find her?? Where is she?!"

"Let's talk inside." Bobby gestured towards the open garage door.
Once there he looked at AM and said:
"Before we talk about that, we want to ask you a question first: Why did Nightmare ask for our residence to be bombed?"

Big Stank stops cold and glares. He's gritting his teeth and tusks. His annoyance is as obvious on the astral as it is in his voice.

"What." He says it flatly, clearly displeased, bordering on angry.

"No. You said, and I quote, 'We might have some information you'd want to know.'

"I came here to hear your information, not to answer your questions. You tell me what I want to know. Now. First. Tell me what I want to hear and I'll make all your other problems go away."

He makes a wiping motion with his hands, as if he were a windshield wiper.

"I don't think you'll like the information we have for you.
But I'll take you by your word.
First of all, we tracked Bonita to the North East over the boarder for a while, but without catching her. Mato recently headed again in that direction. Unfortunately your committee decided to blow him up just as he came home and before he could tell us anything on what he had done or learned.
You really fragged yourself in the knee with that.

The information we have for you is that Carn-Evil and his gang have been poaching in your territory. Couple of days ago, Cutty called us to his gym, where Carn-Evil was in the process of collecting your dues - despite Cutty already having paid your guys. We made him back off. So that's from our perspective the most likely reason why he asked Nightmare to exact vengeance against us.
But we want to know the official reason he gave for that action.

We are now down one investigator because of that - so no spare manpower for your pet project."

Bobby replied coldly.

"Mato?" Big Stank asks, bewildered. "Who the frag is Mato??"

He has this look on his face that's halfway between angry and perplexed.

"The Halloweeners are collecting twice and you think I care? After my crew has already been through?" His tone conveys the absurdity of your complaint in his mind.

"How much are we talking about? A hundred yen? You wanna piss off the Halloweeners over a hundred yen??" He clearly thinks you're a dope. "How much did that fragging cost you??"

He gestures toward the building, but seems a little put-off that the destruction is largely repaired. The lack of visible damage somewhat undermines his rhetorical point.

"It was probably a frag-up! These Halloweeners -" He points a finger at his temple and makes a spinning motion in the universal sign for 'crazy'. "- they don't read too good. Probably some mix-up in schedules or territories.

"You're investigators, aren't you?" His voice is dripping with sarcasm. "Investigate! Maybe find out what's actually going on before you threaten folks with a brawl!

"You don't like what happened? THEN DON'T DREK WHERE YOU SLEEP!

"^{Fragging gonks.}"

Jawsey isn't the one with a relationship with Big Stank, and more and more he thinks he will be leaving Redmond one way or another, so he decides that it is up to him to play bad cop. <<I'm going to try one more time to make our case, I'll let you two try to talk him down after>>

"Maybe the Halloweeners don't read so well, but maybe you don't add so well? No business around here makes much money. Having protection money each month is tough! If the Halloweeners start collecting on top of your collections, when you come back around some of them aren't going to have the money for you. Or maybe they manage it for a month, but then they are tapped out. Doesn't matter if you beat them up or break their legs or burn down their business, if they don't have the money they don't have the money, and you get nothing. And if you punish them for it, then you kill off their business and you never get anything from them. Also you get paid for protection and give nothing, it makes you look no better than Knight Errant."

"Maybe it doesn't matter to you. Maybe you are feeding so well off Urubia's teat that the protection money is just a bonus. But we've talked to Urubia, she's explained her vision for Redmond, she wants to rule over a thriving community, not a wasteland with everyone but the gangs driven out. You start killing off Touristville then dragon-mama is going to be righteously pissed."

"Well if a hundred Nuyen don't matter you certainly won't mind if we pay less of those. Thanks for the discount. I'll be sure to tell the neighborhood. Very gracious of you. Also you don't mind people stealing from you - very noble, turning the other cheek and let others walk all over your ass.
But that's only fair - after all: paying your lot doesn't buy you drek in this neighborhood, it seems. Because paying protection still gets you blown up." Bobby had talked in a somewhat friendly fashion, but now his tone became cold, adding to Jawsey's:
"I did answer your question, now answer mine. Or is a deal worth nothing to you personally as well?
If you are chickening out we are done. No more help from us. The Bonita project is done. When she comes back you won't know about it until it's too late. Because I won't waste energy on a coward whose word is worth nothing."

AM struggles to even be noticed with two exceptionally large trolls, Big Stank, and Bobby and Jawsey from their side. She feels a bit small and a bit too female for the levels of aggression in this room. However, she thinks that Bobby's aggressive approach is unproductive. She understands the bad feelings, but she feels that they should first focus on the facts and let the Big Stank decide what to do on his own.

She looks at the situation and tries to de-escalate the tension. It was not exactly the Haloweeners, it was Carn-evil. It was a lot more than a 100 nuyen. Carn-evil is a very educated person despite their reputation -- reading is not the problem. Also, do notice that it was your name "Big Stank" that got Carn-evil to back off. Bobby agreed to back off if you said it was okay with you, Cutty would have paid.
So let's agree on these facts. Carn-evil tried to collect at Cutty. It was a lot of money, not pocket money. He and his clowns knew very well it is not their territory, and if they somehow did not we explicitly told them just that. They believed us because the name Big Stank got them to back off. You see Big Stank, you have a mighty reputation after wiping out the Brain-eaters, nobody wants an open conflict with you.

Initially, we decided not to share it because we did not want to start a war and because Carn-evil backed off. As of yesterday, we figured that Carn-evil did not back off - he decided to game the system to shut us up. Perhaps so that he can keep collecting in your turf without smartass detectives standing in the way. You see Big Stank, we are in his way - not you. I believe this is another insult to your leadership, think about it for a moment. Your first response to our information was to look the other way, perhaps Carn-evil understood this weakness.

Call us gonks or stupid for standing in the way but it is not about us it is about you and the Crimson Crush. Do you want Carn-evil and other bullies collecting on your turf or not? If you do then, well like Bobby says we may need to find a place with a stronger leadership - and our relationship is likely over. Not in a confrontational manner, our business needs certain protection to survive - and if you cannot provide us this safety we need, we'll find another location. Now, if you do want to keep dealing with us, we would require your protection in the future. We usually do not need much in the way of physical protection because we are mages and can handle random violence. Political protection we do need. We do not want Urubia's syndicate sending bombs and other chaos to our doorstep, the Crimson Crush has a voice in that table and that voice should protect us because we pay in time, look for Bonita and we try to keep the peace. Because having SIS in Touristville is an asset to the Crimson Crush.

Now, we showed you a potentially big problem when it is still small. If you don't stop it now, it would get worse, today it is just Carn-evil, and tomorrow more would follow. Eventually, people would have nothing to give you when you come to collect. I understand that if you confront Carn-evil and you may have problems with the Haloweeners - but again it is not all Haloweeners just one rouge lieutenant. "

Big Stank throws up his hands in exasperation.

"Do you have any notion of how worthless you are?" he asks, clearly mystified by the whole exchange.

"You know what I was doing when you called? I had an elven bird balancing on my balls! And now I have you three squawking in my ear instead!

"I'm not coming to you for business advice. I don't need your help balancing my books. I got plenty of street rats that tell me what's going on; I don't need you to snitch for me." His voice is dripping with condescension.

"All I'm hearing from you is" - his voice goes high-pitched, as he mimics a sock puppet - ^{"meh meh meh} Carn-evil did this, ^{meh meh meh} Carn-evil's a bully and a cheat, ^{meh meh meh} Carn-evil's a scholar and a gentleman."

He drops the act, done mocking you for the moment.

"So what's your game here? Fomenting dissent? Trying to break things up? You on the mayor's payroll, hmm?" His tone is dangerous, as if confirmation of this would result in gratuitous violence.

"What I" he points to himself theatrically "need you" he points to you in an exaggerated motion "to do is your JOB. Your job is to INVESTIGATE. It's been TWO MONTHS!" He holds up two ork-fat fingers. "And you've given me is DIDDLY DREK!" His hand makes a zero.

"IF YOU DID YOUR JOB WHEN I ASKED YOU TO DO IT, YOU COULD BE SITTING IN MY GOOD GRACES WITH NINETY THOUSAND NUYEN!!" He's bellowing now, clearly not concerned with anyone overhearing the exchange.

But then he calms a bit, or at least his voice softens to the point where you almost have to strain to hear him.

"You want the bombings to go away? Not be the target of violence? I can make it all go away!

"You want to live in the lap of luxury? You want chips at the table so that you can influence things and protect your friends and right the world's wrongs? I can make it all happen!

"But first, I need you to do something for me. Because until then, you're worthless, and I don't care if you live or die, or if you stay or go. So ka?"

"All too clear." Bobby replied equally cold.
"Go frag your whores, we'll get back to you."
There was an undertone, that a more nuanced listener might have interpreted as a threat.

"I will. I'll tell your momma you said hi."

If only she was big and strong enough to punch Big Stank she would have, but being small and fragile she just looks in disbelief, at the pending shitstorm. when he mentions the word snitch she twitches offended. She sighs and looks at Tiny and Cousin Swol in disbelief. Does none of them care? What kind of gang are they if they do not care about other gangs in their turf?


She manages a bitter smile. "Alright, so to sum things up. You are completely okay with Carn-evil collecting here, and you are angry that we bothered to even mention this information to you." she seems a bit confused at that assertion but if that what the guy wants that's what he wants. You have been very helpful Big Stank, many thanks.

"YES, I AM ANGRY!" Big Stank bellows at AM like she's deaf or stupid or both.

"I want YOU to focus your time and energy on the things that I ask you to, not rinky-dink bulldrek like this!"

She covers her ears and feels like she is almost crying We are trying Big Stank, there is no need to yell at us. 90K is motivation enough, but Mato was important for finding Bonita. If you do not know his name it is because he was away looking for her, as orcs would open up to him more than to us.

Her eyes tear up when she speaks and she is all blushed I watched my Mato bleeding on the sidewalk, I could barely stabilize him with all the magic and medicine in the world. Then we had broken windows, doors, and medical bills, and Mato would also need new cyber limbs. We need to survive the day-to-day problems to dedicate our attention to bigger things.

She tries to get less emotional, but this entire situation with intimidating people being so aggressive and the bomb is just too much and her voice struggles to be straight and neutral and logical as she usually is. Safety first, if you do not want to keep me safe, we'll find another solution. If we relocate to another place - it is going to take time and money and effort. Less time for your desires Big Stank.
If we cut a deal with other gang leaders, they'll want something in return and we'll again have more commitments and less time for what is important to you.

Big Stank lowers his voice to almost comically quiet levels. He's probably mocking AM.

"^{LA LA LA LA LA!}" he says in a sing-song voice. "All I'm hearing is your problems!

"Solve my problem" - he points at himself in an exaggerated fashion again - "and I'll solve your problems." He points at you for emphasis. "Seems simple? Is simple."

She sighs takes a deep breath and says "Ah, I give up. I wish you good luck with Bonita big guy but we are too busy for your problems right now. "

She leans on the wall feeling terrible, drained, and spent - and then she decides that her next meeting is with Cutty - or more accurately with his punching bag. She is just too sick of always being the smallest in any room, and she is sick and tired of trying to explain to Big Stank that nobody is going to look for his Bonita until more urgent issues are resolved. You can bully people to do things they do not like, but you can't bully them to do an open-ended job that can take many months. His position of not doing anything before Bonita is here implies that he just insists on doing nothing for the foreseeable future regardless of their actions. This entire meeting feels more and more useless, no point in working with someone who thinks they are rookies looking to join his gang. They are talented people, perhaps the best Big Stank has access to but she is not going to work for someone that mocks her. Heck, she does not even trust that particular someone to pay them if they do bring Bonita. Perhaps it is time to leave this hellhole behind - and try something new? Anyday fitness instead of Cutty?

More debt for buying expensive fake SIN and licenses freedom keeps getting away from her, Iktomi is playing a difficult game, but AM begins to warm to the possibility of transition.

"Worthless!" Big Stank whispers to you, lest he fray AM's delicate nerves.

"~WOrThLeSS~!" he adds in his sing-song voice. He extends his middle fingers and as backs out of the garage. It's clear he's moving to leave.

Bobby patted AM on the back, keeping his eye on the troll. It took him every last bit of self control to not turn him into a flopping gold fish on the ground.

Once the bikers had gone, he turned to his colleagues: "Well, I can't say I had high hopes, but I'd have expected that his greed and pride would get through his stupidity at least. Can't even rely on vices anymore.
Let's go inside and try to scare up some business, while we collect some more movement data from Carn-Evil."

She shrugs "Either he voted to bomb us or he did not lift a finger to stop that. I don't care if he offers a million - I don't want his money."

According to the lack of reports, Carn-evil's van still hasn't moved. In theory it should still be at The Jackal's Lantern where you last saw it.

"Good, because I'm going to call Lysander and sell this new information. Won't be worth much, but maybe it's a puzzle piece that Lysander can use with some other information."

Bobby established the connection and sent:

<<Hey, just a little nugget for you about the current state of sprawl politics: The Helloweeners - specifically Carn-Evil and his clown posse - are collecting in Big Stank's territory and the Crimson Crush is ok with that. Nightmare is gaining power within the new syndicate it seems - as far as we could piece together he initiated and won a vote to bomb our premises. Despite us paying protection to the CC. The reason was likely SIS confronting Carn-Evil when he tried to collect twice.
Urubia doesn't seem to have too firm a grip on the Helloweeners yet - or is giving them a lot of free reign for her own reasons.
Fact is, that the Red Hot Nukes are subcontracting now as hitmen for the syndicate. Grinder gave the job to his boy Huge. Originally they only intended to damage our front and scare us - hitting Mato was not planned but not an obstacle.
None of the gangers were allowed to talk about the vote, so either there is a geas or a simple gag order in place.

Grinder gave away that he is in this whole operation, because he expects Urubia to help him once the apocalypse with all those bad spirits arrives. Apparently he is involved in routing out toxic mages in Glowtown - but no hunts for blood mages or dark spirits.

Make of that what you will - I appreciate a kick-back, but don't expect one. Maybe it fills in some corner pieces for you.>>

She tells Bobby "The car did not report, either they drive it manually and offline, or it stopped at a place with very poor trix coverage. I can send Trouble to check up on it if you like."

Bobby nodded: "Good idea. Do it."

AM strokes her black cat and then asks it "Trouble, go to the parking lot to see if the van is still there. Materialize far enough for the spirits to take notice of you, but close enough so you can see if the van is there." she says with great fondness and is still awed as her hands suddenly stroke thin air.

Trouble zips off and isn't gone long. Through the spirit-summoner link AM can tell that the van is still there. Trouble is back quickly and confirms as much with a mrrrowr.

Lysander responds to Bobby after a little bit.

<<Alright, noted. A little gossipy but I'll plug it in to my understanding.>>

<<You want a kickback? Alright, here's my take on the situation.>>

<<I think Big Stank has his eyes on bigger prizes. I don't know what those are, but he has some sort of ambition. Making collections... it's fun when you're a gutterpunk who wants to feel like a big man, but it gets old and it's not exactly glamorous. And he doesn't really need the cash flow anymore, neh? If he's on Urubia's payroll, living like a duke or a princeling, then he's not trying make ends meet. If you already have everything you could want, those collections are just pocket change.>>

<<As for Grinder, I can't speak to the apocalypse but I do know that those toxic mages out in Glow City are connected to Kalanyr. If Urubia is sending her minions against them then that sounds like a spat between dragons.>>

<<Rumor has it that Urubia and Kalanyr used to be mates back in the 2040s and 2050s but had a falling out. Now they end up opposing each other more often than not. Dragon games, neh? Me, I think they might still be together and the rivalry is part of the attraction, but maybe that's the romantic in me. If you find anything out about that it would be worth some scratch.>>

<<There you go, kickback complete. Stay frosty.>>

AM tells Bobby "Car is still there, perhaps Carn-evil is also a bit careful from us. Or it could be overdrinking, I wouldn't get all worked out about it."

"You still have access to his link? Maybe track that also for confirmation."
Bobby replied after sharing his latest Intel/gossip

"Nope, I only traced his link once and then rebooted. It takes some sophistication to achieve long-term effects with hacking because GOD is always watching. I did not want to reboot his link at the time - I'd say leave it be for now we do not need to trace the man all the time, we're looking for routines and patterns which means it may take a few days - but I doubt that car is going to remain at the parking lot all the time."

"Might be a good idea to do that longterm bugging anyway. There's something to be said about knowing what orders he receives and gives."

Bobby replied with a shrug.
"I'm going to visit Mato now. Keeping an eye on that street doc seems to be a good idea. Give me a call if there is anything interesting happening with the car."