As the team took a closer look around for any treasures, they found out that it was mostly scraps without much value. Some tiny parts were still intact and might be interesting for a collector, but it would likely be just pocket change.

Back one level above it might look different - but with the riled up phantoms this might prove pretty dangerous to do.

"I'm not desperate enough for money to head back up there, I guess we stay focused on the job." She sounds a bit disapointed, she'd have liked to have seen some of the drone tech, she'd always wondered if the AI had modified drones much or mostly just gotten creative with its use of the existing ones. But she'd never been curious enough to delve into matrix sites dedicated to stories and rumours about the lockdown, and she certainly wasn't curious enough to head back up to that.

"We only saw the one set of footprints going in and out, so we know that they didn't use that same route in a second time. They could have approached through the mall, but the time stamps say they didn't access that system again. Would they have gone back to scavenge pieces of drones? Maybe that could explain how riled up things were. But somehow that doesn't feel right, given the gear they were taking, I think they'd have taken their proven stealth route, rather than try and move all of that through the mall. So my feeling is that they went somewhere else -- or got intercepted before they got back here."

"We must be missing something. I want to get out of here, but we should probably figure out our next step before we move too much farther. Let's not try and get through the warehouse room before we know what we are doing, too high a chance of randomly being noticed to want to traipse in and out unnecessarily."

"Oh, I mean - there is a list of assets in banks. If I got it first, I'd probably try to steal it or at least see if the safe deposit boxes are still there and the codes work. but... I don't think I could go here alone and be successful. The combination of matrix and physical defense is too much for a single person -isn't it? "

After consolidating for a few moments, the team went to retreat to the elevator. After a bit of fiddling with the controls, the old cabin opened and the team left the oppressive nature of the higher levels behind.

Taking a closer look at the deposit boxes, showed that five of them were not far from the arcology in Downtown at Ares First National, the most likely destination for Diego's group to visit.
A quick search in the bank's public matrix pages showed, that anyone with the right passwords and login could access their deposit box in perfect anonymity through a completely automated process.

"Looks like a trip to Ares First National is the first order of business. Perhaps we just walk out through the mall and I call the van to us? Small chance that the synchronized gentlemen scan us, but it avoids worrying about dodging ghouls and finding our way back out of the Underground. And once in the van we can shed the more violent parts of our gear, and maybe the mages could use fashion on whoever is going into the bank, just to make sure we are not drawing too much attention."

"For that matter, we likely don't all need to go in. Mato, you are always good in these business types of environments, and maybe Rachel can go for magical support, while in the van AM and I can either be monitoring the situtation or going through the files."

The elevator opened at the sublevel, where the team had moved through the hole cut into a wall. Now it was indeed the question: Take the freight elevator to get back to the first sublevel and back to the parking garage with its entrance to the Ork underground - or just having the car come to the garage and pick the team up.

Mato sighs. There's a part of him relieved to be going, but also a part of him that feels like things are unfinished. The job, of course, is not complete, but it seems like there's more to do here, in the Arcology.

"Would those spirits just keep coming forever?" he asks the more magically-literate members of the group. "Or is there an unlimited supply pouring in through the metaplanes?" Regardless of the answer, he's pretty sure he didn't bring enough ammunition for either scenario.

Tamarind makes some good suggestions.

"I think the scenic route would be prudent. The synchronous goons probably have all sorts of ways of complicating things. I'd rather not chance the possibility of them tipping off local security. I don't want to run-and-gun with civilians, and even less with HTR teams. I'd take my chances with the ghouls, personally. We can at least shoot those."

He looks down at his outfit. The Wild Hunt would not fly at Ares First National.

"I didn't bring a suit," he says. "I really should get a Scout's Tux and wear it underneath everything, just in case. Or at least have one balled up in the van. Those things never wrinkle, you know."

"We do not know enough about them, or what they really are, for that matter, to be able to say. I highly doubt there is an unlimited supply of them, though. But we should expect them to have quite a few more than we have seen so far. It just seems likely," Rachel assumes.

"As for the suit, I am sure we can make that happen. Just need something from the mall to work with."

"Ghouls, definitely ghouls. " AM says her body excited from the anticipation of the ordeal, something in her tone says she anticipates that path. "Having a suit underneeth is kind of cool, you'll be like a reversed superman. If you need, I can also make you more presentable without changing." she tells Mato.

Having decided to go back through the Ork Underground, the team soon found themselves at a cross roads. Directly ahead lay the way they had come and remembered - i.e. the ghoul pit with the damaged walkway. To the right they could hear the faint buzzing of the maglev monorail - which probably meant walking in a tunnel where an up to 200 kmh fast train could sneak up on you any moment.
To the left had to be the way Gruff, their guide, had gone back to the bazaar.

"I'm mostly metal, so I don't really need armor," Mato says. "Better to have it than not have it, but I'm certainly not defenseless without it. A suit is more about social acceptance than ballistic protection.

"Although I do appreciate when the suit is flame-retardant," he allows after thinking about it for a moment.

"We do have an AR Business Fashion Subscription that I don't use as often as I should. So even if you mock up something simple in the meat world, we can put a layer of shine on it in AR."

At the junctions, Mato considers the options.

"That damaged walkway isn't going to work well. And I'm fast, but even I can't outrun a maglev train. I think left is the logical direction to go. We might get friction from the locals, but maybe we can hire a guide or find the right folks to pay off. You think Sakura has the security contract down here? Ha!"

"I agree, I'd rather petrify a few hungry and over eager ghouls than try to outrun a train. It is a sort of risk we have something to do about. "

Rachel is a bit hesitant. "That maglev tunnel sounds very dangerous. I doubt there is a whole lot of room to take cover, and if that train zips past at high speeds. No, I don't think so. The ghouls. We got past them once, but why take our chances there. The other tunnel seems the safest, but we do not really know the route, so there is a bit of an uncertainty there. On the other hand, if it isn't like a maze, how hard can it be to figure it out? So, yeah, I would prefer that one. I think."

Mato daydreams for a moment about what it would be like to be petrified. Would you notice? Would you even feel it? He soon shakes the thought out of his head.

"Our three options appear to be gangs, ghouls, and trains," he says, pointing to each option in turn.

"Let's see if Gruff can come get us, or can make a referral."

Now that there's little imminent threat of being hacked, Mato turns his devices and cyberaccessories back on, connecting them to the local grid. Then he places a call on his commlink.

<<Gruff>> he says. Mato remembers how laconic the man was, so decides to be similarly brief. <<We're done and coming back. We're at the junction leading to the ghouls. Are you able to navigate us through the bazaar? Or can you recommend a local guide? If so, we'll make it worth your while.>>

Gruff replied promptly <<Sorry, no-one around right now to guide you reliably. I'll attach a map with directions for you to get back to the bazaar, but be aware that there is currently a little gang war going on. A bunch of bozos has hit a bank downtown and fled to the underground. Now the bank has put out a reward over 50k to get the goods back.
As you can imagine, every two-bit razor claw sees a payday and swarms the underground. And since the description is pretty vague, they have started killing each other. Most of the locals are staying inside - me included - until this blows over.>>

When Mato shares that news Tamarind groans "Great, if they are killing each other already, any bets on how heavily they are targeting any outsiders that they see?"

She double checks that her Ingram is ready for action, then has another thought "Of course, if the 'Bozos' are Diego and his group, there is a non-zero chance that we stumble into them, or vice versa. It isn't just random chance not living up to the 'random' part of its name; what if they are headed back to the Arcology? Either because there was something in the bank that they think will help to neuter the situation up there," she gestures back towards the Arcology, "or because they know that there are some quieter areas in there, in which they could hide out?"

"Too many 'ifs' to build a plan on, but we should at least prepare for the possibility. They might be inclined to shoot first, but do we shoot back, or try and talk to them?"

"Assuming we are talking about the First National here, there are pretty much two options. I guess, we can rule out coincidence. So, either it's Diego's crew, or someone involved in their disappearance. The latter seems a lot more likely to me. Either way, we need them alive. Diego and his guys for obvious reasons, and the others to learn more about what is going on from them. This might actually be our best lead, yet. So, yeah, please don't shoot to kill."

"I definitely want to stock up on more stick-n-shock ammo when we get a chance. Most likely if we encounter them it is before we have such a chance, but in case shooting becomes unavoidable I'd rather have deeper non-lethal reserves."

But speaking of non-lethal take down options, and finding people of interest, Tamarind takes a bit of time to turn on the few drones that she brought with her. While doing that she has a thought "If the 'bozos' are not Diego's crew, but some other opposition, they might know Diego's path through the underground -- including crossing over the ghoul nest, right? But with the damaged walkway the odds of being successful at that go down. I'd hate to have to fight ghouls just to rescue people who wish us harm."

"Matrix isn't good underground, but I can set up a relay of drones over short distances. I could send something to watch on the other side of the ghoul pit if we are staying here. For that matter I could give us one or two hundred meters of visibility on each of the possible approach vectors. But that would only be useful if were going to wait here and hope that they come to us. I think we need more intel."

If she can get a matrix connection to the surface from here, she'll go look in the screamsheets to see if there is any more information about the bank that was assaulted or who did it.

Tamarind found the noise bearable - especially so close to the monorail tracks. There was indeed a report already online about the bank break in, that had happened only about 45 minutes ago.

It was indeed Ares First National.
And it was indeed a group of three individuals who had tried to hack a security host to bypass the automated access to the safe deposit boxes. Apparently that part of the plan also worked, as they were only caught when they left the vault and an entirely analogue security guard happened upon them while the cameras showed a blank corridor.

The guard had been shot at, but survived and was - so far - the only witness to describe the perpetrators: "Three weirdos in trenchcoats and biker helmets."

An Knight Errant patrol car had seen three individuals that fit that description descent into a storm drain. The bank director had answered the media call directly with setting up the reward.

"Waiting does not seem like a great idea to me. We should figure out where they went into hiding and follow them. But that will require us to get where they were last seen."

"'Three weirdos in trenchcoats and biker helmets' - that does sound a bit like those three bikers we met earlier, right? They did not have trenchcoats, though. Maybe another group of them? Either way, we need to find them. If they were on their way out, they already have what was inside those lockboxes."

<<Roger that>> Mato tells Gruff. <<Thanks for the intel.>>

"It's not Diego's crew," Mato says. "There are four on Diego's team, not three." He hopefully holds up four fingers.

"Plus, we did that search and found the bank's public matrix pages which showed that anyone with the right passwords and login could access their deposit box in perfect anonymity through a completely automated process. Diego's team had the right logins and passwords and would not have needed to hack a security host to bypass the automated process to access the safe deposit boxes.

"No, we have a party that knows there's something there but doesn't have the codes to get it. Maybe they leaned on Diego's team hard enough to make them crack. Dave is the crew's hacker; maybe he was able to flush the codes before the team was compromised. So Diego's crew knew there was something at Ares First National, and might have given up that intel under duress, but didn't memorize the logins or the passwords so the goons couldn't get them.

"I think the three weirdos in motorcycle helmets have to be our friends from before. We can go looking for them but, given our previous interaction with them, I don't think they will break, even if their personal safety is in jeopardy. If we go after them, it's to recover what they took. But that involves a fight with them and a fight with every bounty hunter after them."

A thought occurs to him.

"Since the weirdos are on the run, what if we use the distraction to go after the three other banks that have lockboxes? Whoever is after this stuff has Diego, Dave, Roberto, and Skull. If we have they're after, they'll have to come to us. Depending on what this drek is, we can either barter it for Diego's crew, or - if it's something that can't fall into the wrong hands - then we can break whoever comes after us and follow the trail of bodies upstream until we find Diego." He looks around for reactions.

"Given the gang war, what if we try the catwalk? Can it be magically reinforced, like a flying carpet? Or, AM, can you just float us over to the other side? Gravity seems to be optional for you nose-twitchers and finger-wigglers. We could bypass the walkway completely."

Tamarind tells Mato "I like your logic." It makes the most sense of the situation. Not saying that I'm 100% convinced, it is always good to be ready for other contingencies, but it feels right."

"As for passing by the ghouls again, ugh, it was nerve-wracking enough the first time. But if we have to. But for floating over, are we sure a spell won't attract more attention? Are they more apt to notice magic than small sounds?"

Rachel ponders Mato's words. Finally, she says: "You know, you watch too many trids. We do not wiggle our fingers like that."

"Anyways, to our problem at hand. Maybe it would be a good idea to go to the other banks. I had written that approach off, already, due to the alarm situation, but that is just the First National. No reason, why the other banks would be alarmed. Whatever is secured in those lockboxes, it is crucial for us to find out what it is."

"Also, I am wondering... the timing is interesting. What if we triggered their more hasty approach? Could they have gotten the information about the lockboxes from here, because we stumbled upon it? Maybe they are on the outside what those weird spirits are in here? Controlled by the same entity? But then... why only the location of the lockboxes and not the password information?"

AM takes some time to process while her comrads talk it out, when she finally snaps out of her deep thought. Mato seems to be already on top of it, perhaps his emotional detachment and the fact he is unaffected by the background count make it easier for him to think clearly. He does have some ideas which is good, because her head is blank.

"Exactly Raven, not sure how they knew where to go. I am not sure we even had that info 45 minutes ago. So the question is where did they get it." AM shrugs "We expected Diego's team to be at the bank, how did they know what to steal without compromising Diego's team, and why don't they have the password. We are missing something."

She sighs her mind blank from solving that riddle. Mato's idea makes a lot of sense as well, lets go on the list - worst case we'll beat the wirdoes and have something to trade with.