Under the onslaught of AM's hacking attempt, the mag lock accepted defeat almost immediately. Mato was able to enter the cellar without problems.

As Rachel had reported, the walls were covered with shelves and marked with neat AR tags. Most of the stuff was in clear plastic bins, only larger parts lay openly there.

Apparently it was a collection of things the crew had found in their forays into abandoned buildings - the AR tags showed date and place of everything.
Going back by the date of the last video, Mato found a bin containing a bunch of half molten data chips as well as some solid state repositories. Those had to be the mentioned evidence that the hadn't published yet.

More interesting were the most recent additions. They were from three days ago and consisted of the drone/tool parts that Rachel had seen first thanks to their strong aura.

The place they had been found at was marked as Arcology Commercial and Housing Enclave - ACHE. Better known as the former Renraku Arcology.

<< Can we maybe not completely ignore those bugs and deal with them before proceeding here? >>

<< It would be good to know what they sent since our arrival and whether someone got that data, already. And if not, we probably want to make sure it does not go anywhere? >>

"If you are OK to walk back to the house, I could head down to the dead drop and start watching, maybe set up a balloon drone if I can launch it safely. And the security on it is weak enough that if I can get to it subtly enough to direct connect I'd be able to hack it. Or for that matter, there is that one fancy hacking drone that you all picked up on a job before I joined -- the one with the rich people on an estate. The agent on it should be able to hack the billboard no problem, so if I can fly the drone in that would do it to -- provided of course that somebody isn't also surveying it and ready to intervene."

Once I finish with the maglock, I move on to my next magic trick.

I shift to AR, letting my breath slow as the high of hot sim drains from my system — like sliding out of a dream that moved too fast to keep up with. Everything returns to normal speed as I type:

>> Door’s open. Now let’s find the bugs...

I grab my commlink and launch the piloting program. A moment later, a tiny MCT Fly-Spy buzzes to life from my pocket and zips into the air like a curious insect set loose.

It’s easy to forget how much tech these little things carry — each one comes with a custom suite of eight sensors, eight chances to be clever. Between this Fly-Spy and my new Flying Eye, I’ve got a toolkit built for mischief.

I guide the drone through the room, steady and deliberate. The cyberware scanner hums beneath its casing, sweeping for signal emissions and hidden tech.

Every time I find a bug, I bring the drone to a hover above it and blink its LED — a soft, rhythmic flash, like a private Morse code:
Here. Another. And another.

No commentary. Just clean, efficient work.

My eyes flick to Tamarind — searching for a flicker of approval. Or teasing. I don't think I’ve ever shown her my drones before.

I don’t have her emotional bond with them — not like she does, like they’re family — but I’m starting to get it. I’m still loyal to my little Erika, but... flying one of these? It’s surprisingly satisfying.

I text Tamarind
>> I should probably be the one hacking that device. Safest this way. If you are confident about direct connect and want to try it, invisibility would be a big help.

<<Don't like being watched?>> Mato asks Rachel. <<I thought you liked attention.>>

Teasing, perhaps, but it can be hard to tell in a text medium.

<<As far as I'm concerned, someone trying intervene or elves appearing in trench coats would be a good thing. It gives us a lead to follow, and we need all the leads we can get.>>

<<AM, can you hack it effectively from here or is it better to do it in person? I know in-person is an easier hack, but I'm conscious of the time lost getting down there. If we're pulling the tags now, that might give them warning to go to ground or eliminate the dead drop.>>

I smirk at Mato’s comeback — not wanting to escalate, but definitely enjoying the banter.

From where I sit, Rachel can just do things I can’t. Like make this whole “hooking up” thing seem effortless, natural, and somehow an integral part of life. Something people just do, like eating lunch or going to the gym. Not even worth brooding about.

As for me?

It’s more like Antarctica.

Technically, you can get there. But it’s far, freezing, and you might die before I feel comfortable enough to let you in.

Note to self: never write that in a dating app.

I refocus and send:

>> Hack yes, totally. I’ll just try until I get it right. It's a powerful host though — doing it cleanly from here without being identified? Let's say 70%. Likely, but not guaranteed. If we get direct contact, our chances jump closer to 100%.

<< Depends on who's watching. >>

Unaware of the online discussion, Felicitas followed Mato into the cellar. When she saw the latest addition to the collection, she frowned:
"Really? He went to the Arcology? I wonder where they found the drones? The whole place is supposed to be completely free from all remnants of the shut down."

Rachel also heads into the room, once the lock has been removed. She makes sure the door does not stay wide open, in case they missed a camera looking inside.

"That must be what he was talking about. I really hope they did not go in there. Judging from what I can sense here, that is not a good place at all."

She moves a bit closer to Felicitas and speaks in a whisper, once she realizes, that they have not talked to her much since the bugs were found.

"Sorry about the silence. We were talking on our internal comm channel. We should probably get you on there as well. This whole place is bugged. Someone was here for sure and might be watching. But, apparently, they could not make it inside this room. We expect to be followed, once we get back outside, assuming they saw the data from since when we got inside. That part is not entirely certain."

Felicitas stiffened for a moment, but than her acting abilities as well as her stunt abilities took over and she nodded. In a whisper she answered back:
"Do you think they got ambushed by them? If not we need to go to the Arcology. If they found an area from Pre-Crash 20 years ago, there's no telling in what danger they are right now."

Mato loops Felicitas into a group chat with the team.

He was only about four years old when the Shutdown hit, although he knows a bit about what's happened since.

<<They have the public mall on the bottom five floors. Then there are 200 floors of public housing where, if reports are to be believed, inmates are running the asylum. The upper floors are still off-limits, and the UCAS military controls the fusion reactors in the basement.>>

<<So, top floors or subterranean. I bet there are some tunnels in the Ork Underground that can get you into the basement. The challenge then becomes avoiding the trigger-happy soldiers who, presumably, have been told to shoot first and question the corpses.>>

Perhaps not the most diplomatic thing to say in front of Felicitas, but if she wants to go in then she needs to understand the risks.

<<Do we know if Skull had any connections with the Skraacha?>> he asks Felicitas, referring to the largest gang of the Ork Underground.

<<I don't know if we should expect someone the moment we step outside. That implies that there's continual monitoring of the dead drop. Maybe there's an agent or a sprite parsing the stream, but if they're pulling data down in batches then we might have a window of opportunity.>>

Felicitas replied: <<Skull is a total boy scout - He always stayed away from gangs - but I know someone from them. Charlie runs a bike modding shop - pretty good prices if you don't ask where the parts are from.
I introduced Diego to him.>>

<<I've been looking for signs of surveillance, and I haven't spotted anything yet. Of course there could be micro-drones hidden outside taking pictures of the van or what ever, and we should do a matrix sweep, maybe visual too, before we leave to make sure we don't have a passenger like that. But at the least I don't think there is vehicle waiting to follow us.>>

<<I'm going to send that fancy drone you all inherited over towards the billboard now. It will take time to get there anyway, so we'll still have time to decide if we want its agent to try hacking, and in the meantime it can watch to see if anyone is accessing the drop.>>

Putting actions to words, she has Stitch get the drone out of its carrier, open a window and hold it outside until it is ready to fly on its own. The she meets it at the front door, and attaches one of the Kanmushi to go along for the ride -- it can always dismount to continue watching the drop if that ends up being convenient. Then she sends the pair off.

That drone really does need a name, but it is team property. I wonder what they'd think if I asked them all to sit down for a naming session?

After dismantling the bugs AM begins probing the solid state drives. "Tell me your secrets, and I'll tell you mine." she says half to herself as she connects the drive.

AM had to fish around on Dave's desktop for the right connectors and adapters to get physical access to the the SSR. Looking around carefully in the 20 year old tech, she noticed at once, that a lot of the data had been damaged and corrupted. Still, there remained quite a lot of unspoiled information. The repository seemed to have been a part of the security system during the lockdown of the arcology.

It contained, among other things, detailed plans of all levels of the building, including hidden maintenance shafts, access panels and override codes for security doors.

With this information it was easy to plan a route into the locked upper levels of the building.

<<Alright, ACHE it is>> Mato comms to the others. <<At least as a place to start.>>

What do you wear for this sort of thing? he wonders. Raven probably has a black catsuit for such occasions.

<<I'm going to go raid Skull's closet.>>

Mato goes looking for something that will fit him. He'll settle for an Urban Explorer jumpsuit, preferably in blacks and greys, but he holds out hope that there might be something fancy from the Ares sponsorship. Light security armor? An ork can dream.

He looks over to Felicitas. <<Are you joining, or quarterbacking from the van? We can handle it, but you're obviously invested in the outcome. But perhaps you don't want to do anything that puts your sponsorship at risk. I'm guessing your contract forbids such excursions.>>

Once he's done borrowing clothes, he works to pop open the safe he found in the bedroom.


<<Let's go check out that dead drop, since it's on the way to ACHE.>>

Felicitas replied:
<<I have to go back on set soon. But keep me posted. Be careful - I added the commcodes of the crew to this channel. When they are back in communication range, they should pop up in your messages.>>

Mato's raid of Skull's closet only brings about older models of Ares Victory armored collection - but there is an older model of the Big Game Hunter that fits the cyborg body well.

The safe yielded to Mato's attempts after only a few careful attempts.
Inside a few credsticks with about 70k Nuyen were accompanied by a high-end comm link as well as a bunch of data chips, labelled with dates and likely the raw data recorded from a simsense rig.

<< I will also need to stop by our place to get some items from there. Won't take long. I don't really have any armored outfits other than this one, so I guess this is what I'll wear. Too bad, we do not have a few hours to prepare. I could probably provide us with a glimpse into what to expect there. >>

Tamarind was busy taking stock of what drones she could, and should, take with her into the arcology. Kanmushis and Flying Eyes for certain, and Kaa, her snake drone was a natural between its ability to get through small spaces and climb thanks to the gecko grip points on its body. Of course she'd bring Beauty to help keep an eye on things, and the team's fancy drone they could pick up as they went past the billboard. Then there were the delivery and balloon drones that wouldn't be a good fit inside.

The harder ones were Stitch, her Mechanic's Helper, and Toothless, her medicart. Both tracked drones were equipped with gecko grip features, mostly meant to help them climb stairs or into a truck on a too steep ramp. But for at least short distances they could even climb ductwork, and Stitches arm and Toothless's 'jaws of life' could both possibly help them bypass certain barriers or provide help. But both drones were big, especially Toothless who could function as a self-propelled and self-guided stretcher for a good sized orc. It is unfortunate how biassed some people are against strong drones, when neither Stitch nor Toothless would hurt a fly. Maybe they should stay in the van, even if Stitch will hate me going exploring without him.

She was distracted from these thoughts by some discussion of clothes and armour. "Oh, I guess my long coat isn't the best for climbing in. Then again, I'm not the best at climbing. Do we have time to look for other options, or should I just stay in my good, practical, mechanic's overalls?"

<<We're going Downtown>> Mato comms. <<There are shops Downtown. There's a five-story mall at the bottom of the ACHE, don't you know.>>

Mato muses for a moment on the irony of shopping at ACHE before breaking and entering at ACHE.

<<We probably have time for off-the-rack shopping, but nothing custom.>>

Mato leaves the credsticks in the safe. He tosses the high-end comm to AM. Then he looks through the dates on the data chips to see if any of them are recent enough to be relevant.

He hums to himself when he finds the Big Game Hunter is Skull's closet. It is not a subtle line and would generally make you stick out like a sore thumb in an urban environment, but in this case the goal is not to be noticed. And, if he is noticed, Mato isn't certain that wearing something more subtle would go very far in convincing security that he was supposed to be there.

Mato takes the suit to have the option of using it, but he wants eyes on the scene before deciding whether to wear it or not. It's full daylight now but Trece and his friends usually moved around at night. What worked for them might not work for us, Mato thinks to himself.

<< When we go to the mall, we can change our appearance with illusion spells. It would make it harder to track us there, and depending on what we are going to do there, things won't come back to us easily. Just need to make sure that we do it in a place where the change won't be too obvious. And maybe split up when we go into the mall. That would mostly leave the car as an easy source for tracking. Maybe we can do something about that as well? And then there is the question of commlinks and SINs as well, I suppose. How tight is security there? Do you have to have your commlink open and accessible? Also, we can totally customize clothes, improve their fit, and all that. >>

Mato found that the date on the most recent chip corresponds with the dates on the drone parts that were in the cellar. That alone makes it more than likely that this is the material shot in their retrieval.

Now that Raven thought about it (Area Knowledge Seattle Downtown) she remembered some facts about the ACHE

<<Got some data chips here with dates that match the dates of the artifacts. Let's watch them on the drive to Downtown. If they don't have a route then we'll connect with Felicitas' friend, Charlie. Odds are good the route will take us to him anyway.>>

<<The saw blades, syringes, clamps, and electrodes are not encouraging, especially if they're radiating as much pain as you say. There have been rumors in the shadows for years about what happened during the Shutdown. There were wild stories about horrible experiments, like Frankenstein's monster, or a slasher film. Always hard to separate the fact from the fiction. Chummers be using the Shutdown as backdrop for their ghost stories. And yet... and yet... here we have things like look like they're out of a nightmare.>>

<<Let's be ready for a hostile environment, especially one that's not conducive to magic. This won't be a tickling contest. Tam, we'll lean on your family. I can't promise that they'll come back unscathed, but they'll help keep us from harm.>>

Mato is definitely going to take the Big Game Hunter now.

<<I don't want to disappoint, but as a reminder I don't have any of them armed with anything heavier than a taser, and at that it is only five of them that have even that -- Uncle and the three Aunties, and Beauty -- but she doesn't get around on her own. I didn't want anything too illegal, and we are investigators, not shadowrunners or something like that.>>

<<Oh, there is also the heavily modified drone with the agent, the one that is on its way to the dead drop. It has an actual pistol. Still, if really scary things pop out, one pistol and some tasers may help, but we'd best have plans on how stop Scary Monsters ourselves. My drones absolutely will scout in front and watch behind, and try to give us warning, and they know the risks involved in that, but they just are not set up to be a full security screen. I guess I will bring my long coat, and my Ingram hidden underneath it, as well as the hacking dongle for my phone as back-up for AM in that department.>>

Phone, what's a phone? Mato wonders before his mnemonic enhancers kick in. Oh, right, Tamarind is old. She means a commlink.

<<Just looking for more eyes, not fire support. This is a rescue op, not a strike force. Drones or no drones, we're not going to have the firepower to stand and bang. If we're shooting, it should probably be covering fire to suppress and maneuver.>>

Mato packs up his gear and readies to leave.

Leaving the house, Felicitas locked the door again and got on her own bike
"Don't hesitate to call me. I'll be on set for the rest of the day and the set moves around. Today we are in Puyallup."

When Mato slotted the chips, he found them protected by encryption, but with some effort, AM and Tamarind were able to crack the protection.

Opening the latest file reveals 14 hours of simsense/trideo with four different streams - one for each member of the crew.

Tamarind tells the others "I'll drive us to the dead drop, and wake up anyone deep diving once we are there. But I'm not letting my consciousness get hijacked without several locked doors between me and the rest of the world. It is just ...." she shudders, but never finishes that thought.

Rachel shares what she remembers from conversations in Downtown about ACHE.

<< I still need to grab some stuff from our place. Should we go there first? It won't take long. >>

She puts the stream on her commlink to watch it and comments on what she considers noteworthy (7 hits).

"Yes, our house first, but we are taking the long way while I check visually and matrix-ly for anything following us."

Rachel sends Tamarind a thumbs up.

The team reached their home within a few minutes - as far as any of them could make out, no-one had followed them - not even a spy drone.

Rachel also checks astral space to see that they are in the clear (5 hits).

As promised, she does not take long, even though she does change her clothes.

And since a quick check revealed that they will likely find what she needs at the mall, she leaves the Executive Suite in Bellevue to get something more appropriate for their upcoming endeavor.

While Raven gets her stuff, Mato starts watching the footage from the data chips. He puts his new attention coprocessor to work trying to pick out the important points.


Belatedly, he remembers that he might actually want a gun this time. This is an unusual job and might actually require laying down some lead. He packs most of his collection: his little-used AK-97, his even-less-used Ingram Smartgun, and the Walther P118 from Pike Manor. He does leave behind the Mannlicher Marpingen Pro D, perhaps thinking of it more as a sporting rifle than as a shotgun, or perhaps concerned about the limited ammo capacity for the shotgun.

He even packs some grenades. "Nothing to see here," he whistles innocently.

As the team heads toward Downtown, Mato says, "I'm going to reach out to Xavier Tien III."

<<Mr. Tien, this is Seattle Investigative Services. Three months ago we assisted you with the recovery of your son and the Xenobite-Tesseract.>>

Mato is confident that Mr. Tien remembers, but sometimes a gentle reminder of the services previously rendered will put the contact in a more receptive mood.

<<Our current investigation involves a similar recovery from the ACHE, specifically someone who may have been attempting to recover CrashTech.>> He refers to the the last scraps of arcology systems that had been touched by the Crash virus.

<<We know that you are both well-connected and a collector and wanted to ask if you have any insights into CrashTech or the ACHE itself. Any assistance you can provide might allow us to return a missing person to their family.>>

Mato doesn't want to reveal too much about the current assignment, but he figures that drawing parallels between the current operation and Tien's job might help Tien overcome any concerns about supporting a grey-market endeavor. Plus, they might get lucky and discover that Tien wouldn't mind collecting some CrashTech himself.

The reply from Tien came surprisingly quickly:

<<Good to hear from you. A very interesting case. I'm not overly familiar with CrashTech, but I have an acquaintance that would be very much interested in what you find there.
As far as I know, the ACHE still has some parts no-one is allowed to enter. Not that that has deterred people much. There were some rumors that a group of crazy technomancers has been selling artifacts from in there. But Renraku organized a raid and caught most of them.

I'll forward you the contact info to Kima Okambe - he is a collector of that particular era. He likely can tell you more - and might be interested in any find you produce. They have become only more valuable over time.>>


Attached to the message is another one that Tien has written to his contact, putting you into CC.

<<Greetings Kima,

I have been contacted by a firm I've been dealing with - very professional private investigation outfit called SIS - they are currently on a case involving the ACHE as well as artifacts from there. As I know, you are always quite interested in this kind of materials. Give them a call, if you are interested.

Best Xavier>>


A few more minutes passed, before Mato received a call directly to the team line:

<<Am I speaking to a representative of SIS?
My name is Kima Okambe. I was informed that you are trading in SCIRE artifacts? I'd be very interested in seeing your collection.>>

<<Mr. Okambe, a pleasure. This is Mato from Seattle Investigative Services.>>

<<We, as the agency, do not have a collection of SCIRE artifacts, but our principal does. Unfortunately, the principal has gone missing - we suspect in the SCIRE itself - and we need to recover him.>>

<<I would be happy to make an introduction once he is safe and sound. To that end, we were hoping that you might have some intel on the SCIRE that could improve our chances of success. Once he's been delivered safely, I'm certain he will be very grateful to anyone who lent us their assistance.>>

Mato is loading credsticks that Diego/Trece will have to cash, but he considers it a reasonable gamble. Given the ACHE's reputation, Diego is likely to be traumatized, and will likely not want to retain any reminders of that trauma. Or so Mato's thinking goes.

The answer came directly:

<<I see. Under the understanding that you'll introduce me to your principal once you found him or her, I can give you the following information:

There are three primary dangers still active in the Arcology:

- The security forces that keep the people in public housing from revolting. They are particularly brutal and with all encompassing authority in their sections. Anyone they catch are entirely at their mercy. They are more brutal than many gangs. Don't get caught and if you are, it's better to fight your way out than cooperating. They can and will vanish you into a hole - or a meat processor.

- The citizens in public housing. There is a reason the housing part is seen in practice as a low security prison. Lots of drugs, prostitution and weapon smuggling going on. Same advice as above.

- Remnants - by now it's not machines you have to worry - those were deactivated, destroyed or sold off for the most part. But the intense violence has left echoes on the astral and the so called resonance. Spirits and sprites or an amalgamation of both roam through the closed of top levels. Most of them are harmless - but now and again a crazy technomancer or former otaki goes there and stirrs up the population. Be prepared to have an exit plan - on paper.

Good luck.>>

"Sounds like we have some friends for Trouble to play with," Mato tells AM.

"And Rachel's spirits too, although I don't know their names."

<<Thank you, Mr. Okambe, we appreciate the intel. We hope to be in touch shortly with news of our success.>>

"For the security and the citizens, we should bring some less-than-lethal options. I have a few flash-bangs and a handful of Pepper Punch grenades too, which might work well since it won't easily disperse indoors."

When the team had packed everything they conceivably could use on this mission, they headed downtown.

First stop: The deaddrop.

As previously scouted with the drone, the matrix address belonged to a large AR billboard, advertising the latest GMC muscle car collection. According to the matrix perception of the unflappable agent on the drone, no-one had as of yet attempted to download the content. Access to the UDP of the board is not impossible, but requires a bit of climbing.

Rachel spends some more time with the stream on their way towards Downtown (9 hits).

Rachel's diligent work allows her in combination with the map data to recreate the path, the crew has taken.

They started in the mall, hijacking a freight elevator in a delivery bay that took them into a subbasement. From there the team walked about a kilometer through mostly disused storage areas until they reached a thin dividing wall where they just cut through with a monofilament saw - an action they likely would have edited out of their stream. All that movement had been accompanied by avoiding a few security drones patrolling down there.

Finally, they reached an old, clearly long disused elevator. Dave had worked on the panel until the whole thing started to move. They switched elevators twice - every time in a seemingly abandoned part of the mega structure. The old fashioned display showed that they had reached the 316th level when they finally left. The whole trip had been accompanied by ominous sounds from the old equipment.

The environment they found there was reminiscent of a battlefield: meta human bones lay scattered on the ground. Whole wall sections were perforated from large caliber bullets. Every now and then, the crew picked up pieces from the ground - likely the stuff that the team had found in the cellar. All that had been accompanied by a stream of comments from Diego - now and again interrupted from the others when each one had something to say about a piece that fell into their respective field of expertise.

According to Skull, they retraced the path of a group of elite troups that fought their way through this level. According to Dave this had to be one of the larger computer development labs in the Arcology. They speculated a bit on what the troups were after. But whatever it was, the troupers met heavy resistance, as the obliterated remains of the drones showed along the way.

Finally, they reached a breached piece of wall with a ladder leading upwards to 317. That's where the stream began to degrade. Ghostly images and artifacts began appearing throughout the different streams, sound and video quality began to nose dive.

The last thing the recording showed was Diego commenting they had to turn back and get more resilient video equipment - especially stuff with offline only capabilities.

"Those security forces. It sounds like they are more part of the problem than part of the solution."

"I'm always on board with any non-lethal approach. Lethal methods should be seen as a last resort only and not be used out of convenience."



After sharing her findings with the others, Rachel ponders: "Sounds like what that Mr. Okambe mentioned. We probably should have all wireless connections offline in there."

"Or do you think it applies to electronics in general? Can they do anything with those, even if they are offline?"

Once they saw the footage of what was happening to the wireless gear, Tamarind got very quiet for a bit, and drove with one hand in AR and the other stroking Beauty. Finally she said in a somewhat small voice "I probably can't really take my drones up into that part. Even if it is just noise, it will overwhelm them. If it is something more actively hostile it could be even worse. We'll see how it goes, I'm quite good at reducing noise and punching through noise, but is the problem really noise?"

"We can purchase some long fibre optic cables and I could run one or two drones that way, wireless off and directly connected, but it won't give me much to work with and really I rely on swarms for effectiveness much of the time. One thing I'd like to do, if we can get it past the initial stages, is bring along Toothless, both for the ability to rip open barriers and for the medical aspects -- if we find any of the subjects hurt and needing first aid, or even for medical evacuation."

"And one more thought, once we get up into that sort of area, where wireless communication is not reliable, we may need to rely on sign language to avoid being heard."

AM in redmond packs anything she thinks she might need.

Once they arrive she asks "Anything stopping us from telling the truth, flash a credstick and promise we are just after some stupid rich idiots and enter informally at our own risk? "

AM says "I'll bring my Erika and commlink but would probably keep them offline unless we need to hack anything."

Mato grumbles internally at the prospect of sprites messing with his wireless connection. His Walther doesn't even have a trigger, which is a shame because it would fit in the Wild Hunt's holster. He could pack a heavy pistol, but that would limit his rate of fire. At that point, Mato's better off throwing something.

"We're going in fully loaded," he says to AM. "Let's avoid eyes wherever possible. Plus we should retrace Diego's steps; his team would have exfil'ed the same way they infil'ed. We don't want to miss any clues by taking a different route.

"Let's prioritize stealth and speed. Tam, can Toothless keep up without making a lot of noise? We'll take your kids as far as we they can go. Even if they have to stay behind at some point, they can still maintain our lane of retreat."

He looks up at the billboard.

"I can climb that," he says, "but I'm way more conspicuous than a drone. Tam, you want to fly up there?" Presumably he means one of her drones, although the line between Tamarind and her drones gets blurry at times.

"We can also make you look like a maintenance worker..." Rachel comments.

I use a few spells to prep my mind for the hack and another one to connect the cable to the sign.

Then my plan is straight forward, hack the billboard, look for traps encryptions and files, handle encryption/databombs/ copy the file, erase the part about SIS being in the apartment, and then make a tracer program something that would take me about an hour to make.

While the team sat in the car and waited while AM created the tracer, traffic continued to rush past. Tamarind's drones kept overwatch and Mato's cybernetic senses stayed on alert while Rachel and her spirit kept an eye on the astral.

Just when AM put finishing touches on her program, something changed. The drones alerted the team to a change in the traffic flow. It took a moment to identify the source, but they picked up a change in the pattern of traffic lights as the source. A subtle effect, but noticeable - and precedented as emergency vehicles created the same effect on a larger scale when they involved priority and had traffic lights change for them.

Someone was coming who wasn't content to wait in traffic.
Next was Mato to pick up a group of three bikes heading straight for their position. Magnification revealed three bikers in heavy leathers driving toward the billboard.

Rachel is sitting in the car, the side window is rolled down slightly, just creating a slit that allows her to peek outside with her astral senses, but her field of vision is quite limited.

When they get alarmed about the incoming bikers, she quickly looks for two of her preparations, in case things get heated. Wearing no armor at the moment, she needs something else to protect herself. Luckily, she had prepared just that.



<< So, is this whole thing here just a trap? Well then, Mato, looks like you got your wish. >>

Trouble was the first to get a closer look at the approaching bikers.

The first thing the cat shaped spirit realized - and feedbacked directly to AM - was:
The three people had very little cyberware and what they had actually suffused through their whole body. Curious about that, Trouble went for an even closer look. That's when Trouble realized that the cyberware was in fact moving through the bloodstream, bones and brain, creating a swirling pattern throughout the aura, even more curious, the pattern resembled a second, inverted aura, a bit like how a spirit possession would look like - except it was more like someone cut the a hole into an aura, that looked like a different aura.