Tamarind feels much more confident hiding from drones than from ghouls. Drones she understands so isn't second guessing herself!

The team reached the small store room without incident. Here, behind a strategically placed piece of cardboard, they found the hole in the wall, expertly cut with a mono-chainsaw.
Behind this hole they entered a completely abandoned section - dust was everywhere and the team could clearly make out the prints of four different pairs of shoes.



The track led through the abandoned and completely dark section to a pair of freight elevators. A panel was open and in the gleam of any light source it was pretty obvious where some crocodile clamps had been attached to get the elevator to work.

Rachel looks at the prints in the dust-covered section with her enhanced senses.

As soon as they enter the dusty area Tamarind suggests "Let's not trample over those tracks, it makes it more obvious we came later. Go to the sides more, we might pass as a bigger group, in case anyone comes checking and knows anything about reading tracks."

"And speaking of reading tracks, are any you much good at that? I learned a bit here and there, the military, keeping an eye at who might have been visiting a smuggling site we hadn't used in a while. But I'm far from an expert, I'd say we pool our efforts and observations. And Rachel, maybe you could boost our best tracker?"

Raven noticed immediately: The tracks were more distorted than expected. A closer look revealed why: The same four prints went both towards the elevator and back across themselves. Diego's crew had entered here, but they also had apparently left again the same way.

"Okay, this is weird. The tracks lead towards the elevator, as expected. But, there is another set right on top, that also leads away from it. Have they left this place, already? Or, at least, some of them?"

Rachel takes a closer look to see, if all tracks are similarly distorted, or just some of them.

"Do all four go both ways? Could they have left and holed up somewhere else?"

As far as Raven can make out all four went in and went out again. It did make sense, considering they had stashed artifacts from the arcology in their cellar.

"If they only went in once, and then came out again, then are we barking up the wrong tree?" Tamarind adds (likely unnecessary) arm gestures pointing in the two directions.

"They have obviously gone somewhere, given that they are missing, but it doesn't look like they went back in along this route. They could have identified another route in during the first trip, but also they could have gone somewhere else? Or been intercepted on the way in, perhaps by the same group that threatened us by the billboard?"

"Of course, we are short on other leads, and possibly carrying on will help us figure out more, but let's think for a minute before we charge into danger, possibly without any need to do so."

AM invites Iktomi in and studies the tracks, she has done it before and at this elevated state she usually get it right.



When they reach the elevator, she'll look at it carefully and with Iktomi's help give it a honest shot.
"lets see if I can get this old junk to work again. I know its possible...

Under AM's tender ministrations, the elevator doors opened. Inside it smelled a bit like a fridge that hasn't run in a long while. A fresh wrapper from a meal bar revealed that Diego's crew had been inside.
The ride was smooth until they reached the 210th floor. Here Diego and Co. had switched elevators which necessitated another little treck through another abandoned corridor. Here the matrix connection was good, but the mana in the air was tainted heavily. Violence, fear and despair still hung heavily around them, and if you looked too closely, you could make out a few ancient blood smears along the walls.

The eerie silence in this place enhanced the feeling of wrongness even more. Finally, the team reached the second freight elevator. The same trick worked again for AM, and the trek continued upwards.

When the doors opened, the team saw the same scene, they had already made out on the simsense recording: An abandoned battlefield with scattered remains, destroyed furniture and bullet holes. Here, more remains of the drones could be found - provided one wanted to step into the world of antique collectors and sellers.

Unsurprisingly, here the mana was truly horrific. All the violence had left a mark that time hadn't been able to erode. Worse, now the electronic devices began to show signs of malfunctions. Sudden screeching of earbuds, flashing displays and an unexpected reboot were among the first signs, that his place was cursed in more than one way.

Shadows seemed to elongate in the shine of the flashlights and movement seemed to happen at all times just in the corners of ones eyes.

For once, Tamarind was glad that she wasn't awakened. The atmosphere of this area was horrible enough without being able to sense the quality of the mana -- and from all that she'd read, with nothing living to disturb, diffuse, or change the quality of the mana it was likely still horrific despite the passage of years.

Besides, she had enough to worry about with the state of the matrix. Given the warnings they'd seen in the recording, she'd prepared before getting into the second elevator. Drones she had simply powered down, as they were not apt to be usable so me might as well save the charge. Her weapons and other gear she turned wireless off. She did however strap her taser and her Ingram on opposite hips, keeping both ready for quick use. She really hoped that her limited shooting ability would not be important, especially as she was without the benefit of a smart link, but better ready than not.

Finally she made sure that she'd be able to see. She set her contacts to transparent mode then turned them off -- she'd have to take them out later to reset them but that was a small price to pay for not having her vision messed with. She pulled her goggles out of her tote, and plugged the cable from her Datajack+ directly into them so that she could change vision modes with a thought. Possibly it would have been better to wire into a gun, but she hoped that observation would be more key than perforation. And at that thought, she turned on thermographic vision before the elevator opened.

Her RCC she kept with wireless on but running silently. Possibly they'd hit a less fractured part of the matrix soon, or maybe it would pick up on something despite the noise level. She pulled out all the stops on reducing noise, running Signal Scrub in her Datajack+ and using the RCC's noise reduction abilities -- but in an environment like this that still only went so far. She also booted up Stealth and made sure that her sleaze dongle was firmly plugged in, so that if anything else could penetrate this noise it hopefully would not notice her persona.

Mato studies the prints in the dust using the microscopic lenses on his cybereyes.

He intentionally makes a print in the dust next to those of Diego's crew. He then compares his fresh track to the others, looking to see if the prints from Diego's crew look like they've filled in with any dust, which would indicate that they're all from Diego's initial visit.

-----------------------

When they get to the battlefield, Mato disables takes his AK-97 and Ingram Smartgun out of the duffel bag he's been hauling around this entire time. He puts the Ingram on a sling over his shoulder while he carries the AK.

Once the electronic interferences starts kicking in, Mato makes sure to disable the wireless functionality of the weapons. It would negate most of the benefit of their smartgun links, but so be it. He'll turn off his commlink for good measure. "EMCON," he says for 'emission control', announcing his radio silence.

He then pays attention to whether his cybereyes and cyberears are affected. If the cyberears start to screech then he'll disable their wireless connection too. Same goes for his cybereyes and any flashes of light. Hopefully disabling wireless will eliminate the interference. If not? Well, it could be a long night.

Once she has configured her gear to deal with the noise, she tells the team "So far I'm able to cut through the noise -- I'm not sure if they were not as well equipped or if it gets worse --but I don't trust my drones to this environment, nor most any of my gear as wireless on. Except for my RCC, which I'm really just using as a commlink but with better noise reduction. Anyway, I'll keep scanning for anything that qualifies as an actual matrix object."

And then she starts using matrix perception.

Without checking on the astral side of things, Rachel can feel the pressure weighing down on her. Working any kind of magic in here might be difficult, to say the least.

Saying that Rachel isn't very tech-savvy is clearly an understatement. She knows the basics, but that's about it.

So, when it comes to protecting oneself against possible matrix-based intrusion, being offline seems to be the best way to do that.

She has her micro-transceiver on to communicate, but wireless is disabled on every piece of electronic she has with her.

Her flashlight has to be enough to help scatter the shadows, but if needed, she has some other sources of light as well.

The first few steps aren't too bad. Strange noises are emitted from all audio devices, moving between crackling to something that sounds like faint cries. Though Mato soon notices that he can also see faint outlines moving across the corridors. It's like static forms images for a split second. Manta like forms floating through the corridors, things like large insects with attached circular saws and more bizarre forms - none keep long enough to get a clear impression though.

The farther the team moves, the stronger the images become - as do the screams.

Tamarinds RCC also begins to act up - random ciphers begin to form on the screen - only to turn into fragments of messages... distress messages.
"...can't get out(§§////"///!!surrounded"//"&&//"&&//"())=="
"'*"==="))))in the walls%§&//(behind us!==="(/§)$=(/§()=??"
"%&§/(ammunition low, §/&§//&"/())==="
""%"&"&"//they are taking my eyes!!!"))((§(§§§§)(/&%$"

Mato winces involuntarily at the spectral visions. He presumes that they are just illusions, but... but... magic, neh? One can never be sure of reality in the Sixth World.

Are you seeing this? he signs to the others. Then, thinking that their visions might be different from his, he adds, Big bugs? Shadowy outlines? Sea flap-flaps?

(Sioux sign language, given its geographical origin, lacks a dedicated sign for manta rays.)

Crying? Screams?

On the way AM sends Trouble away, the background count begins to be hidious and too much for a spirit to endure needlessly. When they arrive she says "lost matrix connection." Even with Tamarind's mysterious noise mitigation the noise is enough to block AM's very high end commlink. (DR7).

She realizes that the contacts and glasses are set to offline, they won't have matrix connection anyhow. Spells are impossible, and she realizes that she might also lose the growth spell to the background count which might be embarrassing, she has forgotten it was... a spell. To her horror the Walter P118 is also useless, lacking a physical trigger implies it need a command to fire. Walter is dead." she declares, and then takes over her knucks putting them on her hand, more for comfort than for protection. Whatever happens here, there is little she can do about it with brute force.

Mato nods to AM. His own Walther P118 is in the holster of his Wild Hunt, although now he wonders what he was thinking by bringing it. Right now it would probably do more damage if he threw it.

Here, he signs, offering AM either his Ingram Smartgun or his AK-97. I can't use both.

The team reached the ladder, that Diego had climbed up. If anything, the phenomena became worse. Even without cybernetic eyes and ears, they now could see the strange forms move through the corridors. Worse, now everyone could glimpse scenes of fighting, people getting dismembered and - in some cases - dissolved.

Touching the ladder felt wrong - the cold metal seemed to warp and melt, only to be hard the next second when you concentrated on it - just to begin anew the second you no longer concentrate on it.

<<Archology - Level 211 - BGC 9 - Noise 12 (Spam)>>

Just stepping on this level felt like entering a particularly nasty carnival ride. Now the phantoms looked indistinguishable from reality - and the slaughter around the team was in trid quality.



At the same time, the team could see that they had reached one of laboratories. A large area of tiled floor with stainless steel appliances that looked a lot like a combination of a morgue and a particularly sadistic dentist. Flexible mechanic arms hung from the ceiling, everywhere lay damaged and destroyed drones as well as bones. Partially there were also remains of cyberware lying around - single cybernetic eyes, digits and other, harder to identify parts.

The most interesting thing was a large workstation with a giant monitor, that still displayed a login screen.

Tamarind did NOT like the environment above the ladder one bit. The previous floor had been bad enough, but this ... "I'm not awakened or emerged, the least I could hope for from not being one of the world's special ones is not having historic hallucinations. At least not without consuming mushrooms or something." The attempt at humour sounds flat in her ears, the horror of this place makes only three responses seem sane: run away, burn it all down, or let loose sanity's bonds and run around screaming. Trying to make light of the situation feels futile.

So she focuses on what is in front of them. "I was still working motorpool in the army and trying not scratch in front of my betters when this place went mad. Most of the computer systems I used were a bit later than this. But the basics should be about the same, and I remember a little bit. Should I log in? Or Amy Maka, would you rather?"

When Mato offers the gun, I take the Ingram Smartgun — or is it a Stupid Gun?, given how useless the matrix is right now. Let’s just call it the Ingram S.

I nod at Mato, offering the faintest hint of a smile. I can’t really smile in my current state, but there’s something reassuring in the way he handed it over without me even asking. Some quiet modesty too — his habit of always carrying more weapons than strictly necessary just saved my day.

The polymer feels solid in my hands as I keep walking, alert — and, if I’m honest, afraid. Iktomi is gone, nothing he can do for me here. But still, the pull is there. That stubborn desire to see this through. To not walk away. To ride the adrenaline, wherever it takes us.

Level 211 is insane. Or maybe I’m the one getting insane. I don’t even dare to astrally perceive.

“This place makes me sad.”

When Tamarind mutters about not being Awakened or Emerged, I let out a long sigh.

“Neither am I... not here.”

I reach for the terminal without hesitation, fingers brushing across it as I start my checks. No waiting for permission.

“Let’s see what’s in here... First time touching pre-Crash matrix. Any advice is welcome.” I glance at Tamarind.

Rachel was wondering, if it could get any worse... the answer was just around the corner. Yes, it could.

Not even exactly sure what they are looking for here, she moves on with the others.

She can feel the violence and chaos that has happened in this place, almost as if she was there herself.

The spells, that she was still sustaining, fail one by one, as the background count grows higher and higher.

Her mind, reinforced by the spirit's mind, remains a fortress in this darkness, keeping both of them from spinning out of control.

With Tamarind's help, AM can get the terminal to reveal some information: Apparently it was used by an Otaku called "Cleansing Light" to configure and direct the conversion of unwilling participants to "Deus' Embrace".

Cracking the password with modern hardware shouldn't be too much of a problem - but diving into AR or VR in this environment might prove particularly dangerous. Otherwise, a bit of hardware manipulation might overcome the login screen, without the need for exposing one's mind to the surrounding madness.

"Hold my beer!" I say as I directly connect into the terminal. Entering hot simulation, and trusting my team to protect me I dive in to hack into the terminal. I can't cheese it with hardware and my entire body is excited to find out what waits in the terminal.

Cracking the login in hotsim proved to be quite easy. Dodging the host of virtual phantoms besieging the interloper, was not. Blood gushed from AM's nose when she pulled back out of her virtual venture.
But the terminal lay open - as did several files that had been accessed just a day before - clearly, Dave had accomplished the same feat.

Cleansing Light had been a busy beaver beside recording just how many people he had forcefully converted (169), he had also been digging through the various data repositories of the old arcology matrix nodes, collecting interesting files and annotating them. A total of ten of those files lay open and had been copied recently. Three revolved around theories how expert programs could get over the hurdle to turn into true AI. Two documents listed offsite assets of Renraku that according to the files, were not known outside a very select group within the arcology.
Two more documents had detailed building plans for drones employed during the arcology shut down. Another two contained access codes and account information for lock boxes at four different banks across Seattle.
The last document contained a long list of passwords and user names.

AM didn't have time for more than a cursory glance at the contents though - the old matrix swarmed with lethal IC all of a sudden. For now it battled against the far more modern firewalls of her device, but there was still a lot of processing power going around in these old systems - enough to make brute force attacks a concern.

In the real world, the phantoms suddenly stopped playing out their old battles. The team got the acute feeling that they just had gained the undivided attention of whatever caused these psychic events to happen.

Mato is privately pleased when AM selects the Ingram. In truth, he had been feeling a bit dumb for carrying multiple weapons this far into the Arcology. How many weapons could he realistically use? But now having a backup looks like a prescient piece of foresight.

He hands her three magazines, each wrapped with a different color of tape. "Orange is explosive, green is gel, purple is APDS. The current mag is stick-n-shock." The magazine loaded into the weapon has yellow tape around it.

"32 rounds in each mag, so feel free to be liberal. I have more."

The magazine in Mato's AK-97 is also wrapped in yellow tape.

----------

The visions make Mato take a deep breath, but overall he's holding up. Perhaps the fact that his metahumanity hangs by a thread makes him resistant to traditional fight-or-flight responses. But part of him is surprised that Diego's team would voluntarily return to a place like this.

When the spirits start to materialize, he hesitates for a second. "Shoot or smash?" he asks the others.

When Mato hands me the gun, I select APDS ammo, if I actually needs a gun in this place it is to kill.

I am limp and unaware of my surrounding when the spirits materialize, I probably just seat there with a silly smile on my face, as the pleasure of hot simulation surges through my veins. The physical biofeedback only feeds my pleasure and anticipation. I've been dreaming on hacking something like this, and despite being the second woman on the moon in this data theft I am so getting out of this mess with the data.

I can see the matrix defenses begin to form, and study my hardware. My simple Erika would normally be a minor threat to cooperate security of that level, but my tech despite being basics is considerably more advanced than these relics giving me some chance to get out without brain damage. I can't fight them, not really so I copy the data as fast as I can planning to GTFO before the IC make quick work of myself. I am touching a piece of history! wow.

"We can do it Erika, stay sharp" I say as I expertly flip between firewall for protection and DP to copy the files in record time. If I am lucky, I'll have the firewall maximized exactly when they strike me, and only then.

Tamarind moves towards the best cover she can find while yelling to the team "I'm on suppression", then putting actions to words she opens up with suppression fire on the spirits as soon as they are materialized enough to shoot.

Bullets slammed into the materializing phantoms, discharging their payload and slowing the apparitions, which allowed Mato to act as well.

When the astral forms arrive, ready to materialize, it becomes clear, that someone here wants to stop AM from getting more information.

Rachel is not exactly equipped with the means to battle the attackers, but the spirit that she shares her body with at the moment is powerful enough to do so, even in this heavy background count.

"It is time to call upon your services, my friend. Sorry, that the environment is so unfriendly here, I sure hope we won't have to stay around for much longer. Please, protect us from those who wish us harm."

She points out the astral forms and also AM, who is most in need of protection.

Mato was about to charge in and smash one of these things in the face (if, indeed, they have faces) but then Tamarind starts suppressing the area. Mato decides not to race into the hail of gunfire but - seeing that Tamarind is having an effect on the targets - instead adds to it with some of his own.

He picks out the first target, takes a moment to aim - perhaps to compensate for the loss of aiming help from his smartlink - and then squeezes off a burst. It's much shorter than Tamarinds assault (evidence of Mato's frugal nature?) but also MUCH LOUDER than the Ingram's suppressed tictictictictictictictictic.

As adrenaline surges I copy the first two files, a list of password and the list of lockboxes, both seems useful. Quick quick quick just a bit more before the IC comes. "Two out of five!" I say softly, my words lost on the hail of gunfire which I am barely aware of.

Mato's assault was enough to disrupt the phantom to his right, scattering the image of a manta drone

The circular saw drone and the blind man now were fully materialized - evident by the way the bullets from Tamarind's suppressive fire impacted them.
The same suppression prevented Raven's spirit from carrying her into melee. Instead, the spirit readied itself to intercept any phantom that got too close.

AM could see the file transfer moving along - slowed down by the assault from the IC programs, that had begun to attack both her persona and hardware connection.

Mato winces a bit at how loud the AK-97 is. He was accustomed to it at the firing range, of course, but in the field he has a different level of volume tolerance. The noise makes him feel naked and exposed, like he's pulled down his pants for all to see. But his concern is probably misplaced; what sort of security would be able to function in an environment like this? No metahuman guards would tolerate it, and any drones or spirits would be quickly corrupted. No, security isn't a major concern.

Seeing the effectiveness of the first burst, Mato swings his aim to the next target and squeezes off another three rounds.

In the enclosed space Mato's assault rifle is incredibly loud, each burst reverberating off the concrete until the next burst tore the air. It is also very reassuring to Tamarind -- not quite up there with the roar of vehicle mounted heavy weapons, but still Tamarind laughs in relief. There is something so reassuring about a skilled squad mate using the weapon for the job.

For that matter, it is very affirming to see the team function well in a combat situation -- in Texas things had worked out so smoothly that it hadn't been too stressful in once the ambush happened. Here, having to improvise, they had all swung smoothly into action. The situation wasn't controlled yet, far from it, but she was so much more confident in the team now.