18:50:22 Saturday 06 January 2063 - Seattle, UCAS

Akiko Omura is waiting for Tenmou in the lobby of her apartment building, pushing through the doors and striding to the car as he pulls up outside. Her outfit is in direct contrast to the casual style displayed yesterday, although this doesn't surprise Tenmou at all. Once again her hair is pulled back from her face, held in a bun by a pair of chopsticks. Beneath her black synth-leather duster, she wears a crimson bodysuit and knee-high leather boots. Not waiting for Tenmou to exit the vehicle, she climbs into the backseat, settling herself before glancing at him in the rear view mirror.

"You've done well so far. Head for North Downtown, 7124 Broderick Drive."

15:01:38 Saturday, January 6th, 2063 - Puyallup Street Clinic // Cyberspace

"Exchange of information?" echoes Kiki. "Oh, yes ..."

Almost gently the decker reaches down inside the dress; the hand pulled out shimmers against the odd carnival light. "Don't worry about finding me, dear," says Kiki softly. "I'll find you."

And blows the sparkle into Sybersnake's face.

It never reaches her. In what might as well have been the same moment, a sharp movement -- and Bob's screwdriver shears off the heads of the remaining rivets -- and the roller coaster disintegrates under them and they're all falling through its floor, through the track, hundreds of feet above a hard hard ground more imagined than actually seen; Sybersnake's manacles rusted completely through; and one by one the others blink out like street lights --

// And in the still dead air of the small office Dragon suddenly gasps, flailing, too uncoordinated even rip the cords away as a part of him longed to do. Beside him Virgil is sobbing air into his lungs like he's forgotten what it means to breathe. Tiffany's only just choked off her scream; the echoes of it are still reverberating around the walls. Father Bremen is being raggedly and viciously sick into a bucket, the spasms tearing through his whole body.

In the decker's chair in front of Galina's massive bulk, Sybersnake lies sprawled, awkward, far too still.

Dragon is the first to struggle to his feet, the floor far too still under his feet. Attempts to compensate for the crazily tilting stillness pull him off-balance first into the desk, then into the far wall, then into the troll herself where she's standing, monitoring her, before he is finally able to reach Sybersnake's side. No one else tries to move, not yet.

Galina's eyes meet Bob's as he unjacks. Very slightly, he nods.

Against Dragon's hand, Sybersnake stirs, and moans.

18:52:29 Sunday 07 January 2063 – Oodles of Noodles Restaurant

It was John's turn to lean back in his chair and rub his own eyes. Well, not his eyes exactly, but the area around the mirrored shields protecting them. He hadn't realized how tired he was, but now, sitting in the warm restaurant with a full stomach, it was catching up to him with a vengence. I guess this old man needs more than 3 hours of sleep in a 36 hour period, huh? I've got to stay focused; stay in the "now."

"Kid, I've said it before and I'll say it again now: all I want to do is find Nora. Since the quickest way to do that seems to be by talking to Twiggy, I'll go with your first option. You've got a good head on your shoulders and bringing some of your friends is smart. You can bring 3, but make sure that they all stay where I can see them."

Frowning, Megan shakes her head and starts to speak before John cuts her off. "Listen, you obviously believe me about Nora and trust me enough to make this offer, but you're still taking precautions. That's smart, but I have to take precautions too. What if you bring 10 chummers and lead me into a trap? Who would look out for Nora then?"

He paused to take a drink of his tea and let that sink in before continuing. For her part, Megan managed to look thoughtful even while continuing to eat like it was her last meal. Finishing her own dinner, she didn't even bother to ask before reaching across the table to take his bowl and begin eating the remainder of his pad thai. Her eyes remained locked on his, however.

"You say you can't do drek to make your friends safe, but you can. You can take me to Twiggy. The way it sounds, if I take care of the trouble that Nora's in it will help everyone involved, right? What do you say? You say the word, and I'll pay this bill and we can get moving."

John stiffled a yawn and waited for her answer.

18:54:09 Sunday 07 January 2063 – Oodles of Noodles Restaurant

Megan shakes her head. "Five. I saw how fast you took down those two guys back at the arcade. What's one more going to do? And yeah, I buy that you're Nora's uncle, but trust only goes so far sometimes, especially when corpers get involved. And you got the skills to be one of them."

18:54:59 Sunday 07 January 2063 – Oodles of Noodles Restaurant

John smiled slightly and shook his head. If she thinks that was fast, she should have seen me in my prime.

"Five then, but you still need to keep them in front of me. And you might want to go ahead and tell them about the arcade so no one gets cute." He waved for the waitress to bring the bill. "It's too bad you're not closer to Nora. If you were, you'd know I'm no fraggin' suit."

18:50:22 Saturday 06 January 2063 - Seattle, UCAS

Tenmou simply nods to let her know he heard the instructions and merges into traffic. He taps the autonav computer set into the dashboard to find the quickest way to get to the requested address. With a course plotted, he concentrates on making good time to the destination.

15:01:50 Saturday, January 6th, 2063 - Puyallup Street Clinic

System scan. Initiate diagnostic. As soon as Dragon could think coherently, that was the very first thing he did. He knew people could die in the Matrix, sure, everybody did. But what else could happen in there? How else could you get fragged up? He didn't know the answer, but what with new enemies popping up seemingly around any and every fragging corner, he was taking no chances.

While he waited for the biomonitor to complete its scan, he turned his attention back to matters at hand. His immediate thought was to ask, 'what the frag just happened?' with as much venom as he could muster from all his years as a Sergeant, demanding answers, even guesses, from those who might have them. Then Dragon took a closer look around.

Virgil, he trusted completely. Sybersnake, not as thoroughly, but given everything that was happening, he didn't buy for a second that she was in on deliberately setting them up. Given the way Tiffany screamed, if she really was in on this then she was either a hell of an actress or willing to pay a hell of a price to be on the inside. He didn't buy either of those theories either. Bob was a wildcard, but he'd just saved their hoops, right? Or at least Dragon thought so.

Still, it was a fair bet that if the decker hadn't done whatever he did when he did it, something would've happened to Sybersnake courtesy of Kiki, and Dragon was willing to bet that said 'something' would've been anything but good.

Bringing his gaze to Father Bremen, the one he was most thoroughly pissed at, he softened a little watching the miserable priest puking in the bucket. He wasn't double crossing you. He didn't even withhold vital information from you. He didn't know what the hell was going on either. Sure, there's an outside chance, but...no, he's not even an ally! He's a freaking civilian! He's not out there running ops and doing crazy drek, he's just a good guy trying to do a bit of good in this damned world. And you're gonna do what? Haul him out back and hold the shotgun to his head and demand answers he doesn't have? Yeesh. Chill out. Hey! This is not a debate, I want answers and he might...he might what!? Throw up on you? Look at him!

Glancing over at the big troll, almost comically huge over the small bucket, Dragon shook his head to clear it from the internal debate raging in his mind. He had a tendency to drift like that sometimes, the part of him that was still human raging against the machine within.

OK both of you stop, he cut off his selves, before they could pick it back up again. We're not in the field, so we gotta work this whole social thing. He felt his human side smirking at the machine. BUT, we got biz to do, and sometimes that means we gotta take care of things because it has to be done, even if it's not convenient or nice to others. Now the machine side grinned and flipped the finger back.

Gathering his voice, Dragon leaned against the desk for support and asked, "Everyone ok? No one's going to keel over, are they?" His vision blurred slightly as the rush of blood to his head as he sat up straight hit. "Ugh. Correction, no one's going to keel over permanently, right?"

The collective response seemed to be a chorus of gasps, moans, and Father Bremen's emphatic retching. "OK, everyone take a couple, get things together. Bob, what happened, dumpshock? Is there anything we can do for everyone here? Water? Coffee?"

Not waiting for a response, Dragon continued, while gently stroking Sybersnake's hair with his free hand reassuringly, "We can't stay here long. We'll take a few to get it together, then debrief quickly if there's time, and then jet. We've got a lot to do and not too much time to do it."

Looking back at Galina and Bob, he gives them a wan smile. "So how about it? Anything that'll help us get through this any faster?"

18:55:08 Sunday 07 January 2063 – Oodles of Noodles Restaurant

Megan nods. "All right, deal," she responds as she finishes scarfing down the last of John's food. "So what now?"

15:02:05 Saturday, January 6th, 2063 - Puyallup Street Clinic


Precious air . . .real air. As his desperate urge to suck in deep breaths of oxygen subsided Virgil felt a new wave of unpleasant sensation wash over him. His legs suddenly seemed unable to hold his weight, as if the short foray into the matrix had treated his body like a three month coma.

Taking one final deep breath Virgil lowered himself to the floor and assumed a cross-legged seat, holding onto his knees for a bit of support.

"I'll think I'll be fine in a moment Dragon, but I'd kill for a cup of Joe right now."

"Bob, what happened back there? It seemed like negotiations were starting to take an upswing. I didn't expose us to any undo harm did I?"

15:03 Saturday, January 6th, 2063 - Puyallup Street Clinic

The system is scanning, sure enough. It's just Dragon's vision that hasn't quite refocused yet. No matter: the data will keep until his inner ear stops trying to tilt the floor out from under him. No matter how he tells it otherwise, the proportions of the room still feel wrong -- and they're moving, which is worse. But Sybersnake is also slowly stirring against him, and that gives him an anchor point against the rest. Her colour is starting to return.

"A cup of soyJoe, we can handle," says a light, exhausted, friendly voice from the doorway that's very familiar to Virgil and unexpected and just plain good to hear: "Juliette! When -- what --?"

"I heard Bob was taking you into the Matrix. I thought you could all use a hot one, after dealing with Kiki. I'll tell you a secret --" she smiles softly to herself "-- it's not just soykaf in there, but I promise you it is shaman-friendly." She's got a tray of steaming styrofoam cups in her hands that at this particular instant in time raises her to near-sainthood, and is passing them out to each person. It's on the low side of average, and hot, and odd-tasting, and heavenly. As she reaches Virgil, her hand brushes slightly against his, her eyes suggesting that maybe she'd like to hug him, hard; and the rest of her telling anyone who's looking that she's not at all certain how Virgil would take that. Then she moves on, and the brief contact is broken. "I've heard a lot about him, but I've never met him," she says, looking uncertainly at the priest, but it looks like Galina has that situation well in hand; holding together the soft strands of the spell and tying into the effects of whatever was in that patch, and finally releasing them as Father Bremen sags back, the spasms temporarily abated. Even that relatively small effort visibly drains the healer; but instead of sinking into the single troll-sized chair she finds herself a solid corner of the wall and braces, her entire demeanour daring anyone to suggest anything different. Juliette quietly removes the bucket.

There's only just enough room in the back office to hold all of them. It helps that of all of them, only Juliette is actually moving, or really wants to.

"I'll second that," says Tiffany sharply, but she doesn't say no to the cup offered her. Although it would have helped if you guys had shared what you already knew, she doesn't say, but her posture in the chair is absolutely rigid. "We went in there looking for info. What did we get, besides dumpshocked?"

"We were about to be traced," says Bob quietly, evoking a twitch in the mercenary (who'd almost reached for his Savalette): he'd overlooked the decker almost to the point of forgetting, just in the few moments that his attention had been captured by Juliette and Tiffany and the others. It's something about the small man Dragon's actively making a point of remembering, now: he doesn't like being taken by surprise, even within something that could be something completely innocuous. "Kiki generally decides what he is and is not prepared to give," continues Bob, "and is rarely swayed afterwards unless he finds some entertainment in it. His sources are solid, but he has a penchant for playing games with those meeting with him. One might say he was part cat," he added with a glance at Galina, in what was as near to humour as they'd yet heard from him.

"We noticed," says Virgil, a bit stiffly. "So what you're saying is that even though it looked like it, we wouldn't have gotten any more out of him?"

"We have the files," says Bob. "I am keeping them quarantined off-Matrix for now, at least until I can examine the code more closely. He was trying very hard, at the end, to plant code into my machine, and I do not think all of it is tracker."

"How long?" asks Tiffany, and Bob gives a little, helpless shrug which turned into a mid-bow: "I do not have the data yet to give an estimate." Virgil has the impression the decker had almost said the short phrase in Japanese -- and maybe Tiffany had picked up on it too in replying, "So ka. What does that leave us with? And you three" -- indicating the mercenary, the Wise Warrior shaman, and the Latina decker who had now managed to sit up a little straighter, and was gulping the soykaf like it was a lifeline -- "I don't care if it's point form, tell me everything you know. It's my job to spot the patterns connecting the dots, but I can't do that if you don't give me the dots first."

19:26:39 Saturday 06 January 2063 - 7124 Broderick Drive, Seattle, UCAS

"Park in the driveway." Akiko gestures to the narrow concrete slab next to the small house on Broderick Drive. Tenmou nods, pulling in and shutting down the sleek vehicle. Akiko is out of the car almost immediately, and without instructions to the contrary, Tenmou follows.

Inside, the house is almost devoid of furniture, the front room empty except for a stack of unmarked plastic cargo containers. Akiko moves past without a glance, pausing at the entrance to the kitchen. Four other figures wait there, all of them children less than twelve years old. Three boys and and one girl, all are dressed in baggy canvas jumpsuits.

"Status report," directs Akiko.

"Phase one complete," reports the middle boy, who appears to be the oldest. "Phase two in progress: alpha; complete, bravo; complete, charlie; in progress. Phase three will commence once positive confirmation received that phase two charlie is complete."

"Observable?"

"No indications that any of our primary operations cells have been detected."

Akiko nodded, glancing around. She seemed to realize that Tenmou was standing there for the first time.

"Wait here." She follows two of the children into the next room.

04:18:46 Tuesday 02 January 2063 - Hollywood Hills, Los Angeles, CFS

There were few things in this world that Cosmo enjoyed as much as these quiet contented moments, this deep breath after the storm. She smiled softly, letting her active mind wander as she stared into the depths of the fire, her subconscious mollified by the strong presence behind her and the beautiful body that housed it. For the first time in a long time, she was not alone.

This was not to say, however, that her guard had been lowered. That mistake had already taken place tonight and she'd vowed not to do so again. She was aware of everything around her; she knew where the closest weapons were and which of them Caska would be most likely to choose if there was an intruder. She knew where her handbag had landed, where each of her shoes, her stockings, undergarments, and both pieces of her dress were and more importantly, that her slender knife was within vaulting distance from where she lay and that the thick king sized mattress, flipped over onto its side, would provide the quickest, easiest, soft cover in the room if there was trouble. No, her guard had not been lowered.

Cosmo's smoothly sleek muscles stretched and bunched beneath his gentle touch, a faint purr rumbling in her throat as she glanced over her shoulder. Her breath caught; that look, that languid predatory smile, was what had drawn her in the first place .. what had kept her here wallowing in pure, hedonistic bliss much longer than she would have anticipated. She smiled more broadly, offering up plush, beestung lips for the taking, her warm gaze informing him that she was satisfied .. for now .. but that as soon as he was ready ....

Again? He raised an eyebrow inquiringly.

Again. She nodded, her arms already slipping about his neck, already drawing him close....

05:03:27 Tuesday 02 January 2063 - Hollywood Hills, Los Angeles, CFS

Caska splashed water on his face from the tap in the bathroom before cupping his hands to drink from the refreshingly cool flow. Shaking his head, he stared at his reflection in the mirror. Straightening, he examined the ten parallel red scratches down his chest. This time had been more...playful. The sound of metal against china drew his attention back to the bedroom.

Cosmo leaned against the doorway, naked save for a wicked little smile. She held a bowl of gelato in one hand, a spoon in the other. As he watched, she lifted a spoonful of the treat to her mouth, small pink tongue darting out to catch a taste before letting the rest spill deliberately across her skin.

"You're insatiable," said Caska matter of factly as he crossed the floor to her.

"You say that as if it were a bad thing," she replied in a husky whisper.

06:11:52 Tuesday 02 January 2063 - Hollywood Hills, Los Angeles, CFS

Steam. Wonderful, heavenly, marvelous steam.

Cosmo sighed blissfully and adjusted a few of the shower heads to her height. Whoever's house this was (and she was reasonably certain it wasn't Caska's) they were taller than she .. and had remarkable taste. The shower was spa quality and the light from an enclosed fireplace in one wall painted the billowing steam in shades of red and gold. She ran warm soapy fingers across a tender shoulder, gently massaging a knot that had only just started to bother her, feeling instantly revitalized by the hot water and sandalwood scented bubbles.

Sensing his presence before she actually heard him, she glanced idly over that slick shoulder and fixed Caska with a smouldering, self-satisfied smirk. The look he shot back at her though was enough to elicit another one of her low, throaty chuckles and a devastatingly dimpled smile.

"I'm insatiable?" She arched an eyebrow, laughing as he answered with a growl and an animal grin of his own.

15:06 Saturday, January 6th, 2063 - Puyallup Street Clinic


Dragon takes a deep breath and nods. "First of all, we owe you an apology. I owe you an apology. The Julia thing is frankly what I contacted you for in the first place. Somehow we just got swept up in the mess with Sybersnake and we never had a chance to talk it out."

He gives her a tired smile. "Of course, I suppose having a hit team sent after us might just distract us from our original purpose."

"Just a little." She's willing to give him that, and her tone shows she understands that, even if she's still not too happy about being in the dark this long.

"OK but anyway, here's the deal. A couple days ago, rumors about Julia started showing up on Shadowland. Personally, it's not the kind of stuff I pay much attention to, I had stuff on my own plate at the time. But Virgil, being the do-gooder he is, couldn't sit back and let whoever had any interests in her come along and abuse her for their own purposes. And of course, he had to contact me and drag me into all this as well."

Virgil and Dragon shared a tired smile for a moment. Damn, how many times is this now? Ha I swear. If I don't watch it, one of these days I might accidentally qualify as a 'do-gooder' myself.

Turning back to Tiffany, Dragon continued, "So we decided to investigate things. I'll give you what I can remember in point form from here, now that you know how we got involved."

Resting Sybersnake's head on his shoulder so she could sit up and drink her kaf but still be supported by him, he began ticking points off on his fingers.

"1. Julia shows up on the doorstep of Sister Perkins and Father Bremen.
2. Attempted kidnapping is thwarted by Father Bremen slightly before Virgil and I get there to meet with them.
3. Sometime between the kidnapping and us meeting him, Father moves Julia into the care of someone named The Jedi, also known as Quixote.
4. This is done at least partly based on the recommendations of Kiki."

Who's a dead man, altruistic or not, Dragon adds silently to himself.

"Stop me if I'm going to fast for you by the way." The withering look Tiffany shoots him in reply says 'chummer, I've heard way less coherent stories way faster and made some damn good sense out of them, so don't insult me like that'.

"Ahem. Right. Anyway," Dragon shoots her a sheepish look by way of apology,

"5. We go down to meet Quixote, but a fire in Auburn where we found Cindy was apparently our destination. We weren't able to follow up with Quixote because we had to get Cindy here to the clinic.
6. According to Virgil, a 'dark man' was responsible for the fire in Auburn. And if he is who he could be, well let's just say that I'm not surprised the Big A is involved here."

"Wait a minute, stop. Clarify that sentence. Why aren't you surprised Aztechnology is involved, and who is this 'dark man'?"

Dragon shoots Virgil a 'should we tell everyone look', and is met with a 'hey you're the military need-to-know type, I'm just the do-gooder. this one's all you' look in reply.

Sighing, Dragon answers Tiffany's question, "Well, we think the 'dark man' might be a blood mage, from what we've gathered so far."

The room goes silent for a moment, and Father Bremen crosses himself reflexively. Everyone knew things had gone from bad, to worse, to even worse, but hearing that blood magic might be involved...that was the kind of thing that happened far off in Aztlan, not here in Seattle, right?

"Go on." Tiffany's voice is tight, and indicates that she doesn't need to know the answer to the 'why' question anymore.

"Yeah, so if they've got one of those guys around here, it's serious. Incidentally Virgil, is the Draco Foundation still offering that one million bounty for those guys? Since we're here, and he's sort of in our way, that could make all this significantly worthwhile, at least monetarily."

The looks he gets from nearly everyone in the room for that comment suddenly make him feel like a real heel for even bringing up money, but he refuses to back down from this one.

"Hey all right, I know the comment about money sounds bad. But think about it. You think the Big A doesn't know that if people find out they've got a blood mage in town, at least a couple people aren't going to start seeing a million nuyen credstick floating over their boy's head? OK fine, maybe he'll scare away most guys just cause of the whole blood mage thing, but Virgil and I have dealt with them before, and you can't tell me there aren't other top tier bounty hunters, assassins, agents of various organizations, etc etc et al out there who won't be ready, willing, and able to take a crack at that bounty."

He shrugs. "Hell, some of them might do it for free, for any number of reasons. The fact that he's here shows that it's serious, and even if we don't go for him ourselves, it gives us a potential card to play against Aztechnology. Just tell the right people a blood mage might be around, and maybe the hunter becomes the hunted, at least for a little while. Even if no one takes him out, let's see him hunt for Julia when he's looking over his shoulder for any number of equally tough characters who aren't innocent little girls and are ready, willing, and able to take a bite out of his sorry hoop."

The mood in the room relaxes a bit, and Dragon feels like at the least, they recognize he's not a totally self-serving mercenary, and maybe, just maybe, money's not the only thing in mind for him here.

"Right, so yeah, that was just a thought, because a blood mage brings a lot of complications into it sure, but there's a number of ways to play against that card, and that million nuyen figures prominently into the calculations. It isn't just about the money, it's about the strategy, ok?"

Having bought himself grace, at least for that particular comment, he turns back to his summary.

"7. Well, you pretty much know the rest. After we brought Cindy here, we didn't make any further progress until we all met at Tommy Wong's this morning."

Damn, has it really only been what, four, five hours? Time flies when you're getting hunted down and jumped from all over the place, doesn't it?

"So where we stand right now, from where I sit at least, we might want to think about Quixote, who may or may not be the same guy Cindy talked about, and we've got the possible blood mage out there, plus the hit team after Sybersnake. We need to worry about the Big A for sure, and whichever corp owns that 'Corp Devo' Kiki was talking about. We have to get to Julia before anyone else does for a bunch of reasons, help stop the plague in the Barrens, and oh yeah, avoid getting blown away in the process."

He looks around the room and then smiles sardonically at Tiffany, "Does that answer your question?"

19:27:46 Saturday 06 January 2063 - 7124 Broderick Drive, Seattle, UCAS

"As you wish, miss," Tenmou says, taking up a position at the archway into the kitchen.

He was surprised by the presence of children, speaking like veterans of tactical situations. He vaguely recalled one of the recruits, when he was training at Chiba, talking about children who could use the Matrix without the aid of a deck and that were highly intelligent. He had called them Otaku.

Not one to get himself any further involved in this series of events than he already was, Tenmou remained silent, withholding any questions he might have had.

18:58:17 Sunday 07 January 2063 – Oodles of Noodles Restaurant

Ignoring the girl's question for the moment, John returned the wan smile offered by the tired looking waitress, and glanced at the plastic printout of the bill. Ooof. It's a good thing that I just finished a job, the way I'm going through the cred. If it wasn't so depressing, it'd be funny that a guy with 3/4 of a million nuyen worth of cyber has to worry about a 35 nuyen check. Yeah, it'd be a regular riot.

He stood, tossed a few crumpled bills on the table for the tip, and motioned for the girl to follow him as he walked over to the counter to pay the check. He handed the scowling old lady his bill, which she promptly scanned and then pointed at the credstick reader. She watched carefully as he slotted the John Standard stick, her scowl deepening as she saw "FRAG" tattooed across the knuckles of his meat hand. She glanced up at him, still scowling, then blanched and pulled back from the feral smile he wore. Pulling the stick free, he turned and walked out.

Megan watched him go, then shrugged her shoulders in apology as she and the old lady behind the counter shared a glance. In way of explaination she said, "I barely know him," before zipping up her oversized coat and turning to follow John outside.

19:03:26 Sunday 07 January 2063 – The sidewalk in front of the Oodles of Noodles Restaurant

John stood in the deepening snow trying to light one of the cigarettes he had acquired back in the arcade. Icy blasts of wind made the task difficult, but he managed to light it after a few tries. Scaring old ladies now, eh chummer? Nice. You really are a piece of work. He shook his head and took a deep drag off of the cigarette. Hearing the door open and close behind him, he reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out some folded nuyen bills. Not bothering to look back, he held the money up between index and middle finger, his hand at chest-level. As he felt Megan's small hands eagerly snatch the bills he said, "To answer your question, I need to make a call, and maybe run a quick errand. Then we gather your friends and you take me to Twiggy."

As he pulled his phone out of his other jacket pocket, Megan said, "Nul persp, but...uh, there's 80 here, plus the 20 I already got. Not that I'm complaining, but what gives?"

"The deal was 50 and a meal in exchange for your story. Since you're now escorting me to Twiggy's location and providing introductions, I thought you deserved more. Consider it a tip if you want." Ignoring the thoughtful look she gave him, John flipped open his phone and dialed.

"You have reached the offices of Dr. Dirk Carson. We are now closed. Our regular business hours are as follows: Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday, 9:00 AM to 3:00 PM. Tuesdays, from 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM. Fridays by appointment only.

"To leave a message, hit one. If this is an emergency, hit 2 for Dr. Carson's answering service. To reach an operator, hit 0."

John waited for the automated message to end before typing in a series of numbers. He then put the phone back to his ear and waited. In the background, Megan stomped her feet and blew in her hands to stay warm. However, he knew that she was listening intently.

Hearing a tone on the other end, he knew that he'd reached the voicemail for the body shop that Doc Carson ran in addition to his legit practice. "Doc, it's John S. I know my eyes are past due for service, but that's going to have to wait. I'm in immediate need of a few small items that I'm sure you have on hand at your 'clinic.' Call me as soon as you get this message." With that, he hung up and turned to the young girl.

"Do you need to use my phone to contact your friends? If they're close, we can go pick them up now. However, if this call pans out I may need to run that errand first. I won't know until they call back, which should be almost immediately if the place is open tonight."

20:05:12 Saturday 06 January 2063 - 7124 Broderick Drive, Seattle, UCAS

Akiko steps out from the backroom after half an hour. In that time, the remaining child doesn't move, staring at Tenmou with intense blue eyes. She gestures towards her bodyguard.

"Let's go."

Once in the car, she slumps in the front seat, eyes closed. She appears to be exhausted, in much the same fashion as two days ago.

"Home."

Tenmou nods, putting the vehicle into motion. Glancing over, he is not surprised to see that Akiko appears to be asleep.

08:35:14 Tuesday 02 January 2063 - Riverwalk Apartment Complex, Los Angeles, CFS

Caska holds the door for Cosmo, handing her out of the vehicle before the lobby doors to her apartment complex. The sun, in a cruel irony, shines brightly in a surprisingly smog-free day. After the second shower, they'd eaten breakfast at Rich's Deli, an out of the way spot in West Hollywood. It had done much to heal the exhaustion of the night's activities. Caska was still worn, though, operating at three quarters efficiency. Still deadly enough for the streets, but without the edge he was accustomed to having.

"I had a really good time last night. This morning. I'd like to see you again. I'll call you on Wednesday."

08:35:21 Tuesday 02 January 2063 - Riverwalk Apartment Complex, Los Angeles, CFS

Cosmo smiled meaningfully and quirked an eyebrow as she glanced from Caska to the lobby doors and then back again, a devilish dimple peeking out of one cheek. Come with me, she said wordlessly, knowing full well that he wouldn't .. not that she had all that much time before her meeting with Tino anyway.

"I'd like that as well," she nodded, "Wednesday."

Tomorrow. Cosmo grinned, blowing a soft kiss in his direction before she turned and gracefully made her way inside the building. They'd made a point of saying their farewells hours ago so there was no point drawing anything out (as much as she would have liked to graze her lips across his cheek one last time...). As pleased as she was with the night's success, there was a certain delicacy she would have to use from now on; questions she'd expected to ask the night before would have to be re-evaluated .. a couple key portions of her plan for tonight would have to be reworked. She could not ask him to work with her, not while they were still new to one another; it was a strain neither of them needed.

She sighed and stepped into the elevator, weary but completely alert, carefully assessing the interior before selecting the button that would take her to Megan Richard's cozy apartment for a short nap, tall cup of java, and a couple of pastries before she made her way to Il Grano.

15:09 Saturday, January 6th, 2063 - Puyallup Street Clinic

"Got it," says Tiffany, matching the mercenary's sardonic smile with one of her own. By now he knows her well enough to know it's not aimed at him, or really at anyone in particular. "Okay, you all know I've got more questions. Want I should fire away here ..." trailing off at the end like that much at least isn't quite a question.

"May I correct something?" asks Father Bremen. Dragon didn't think the priest was aware of just how tightly he was clutching the worn arms of his chair. "Er -- Kiki didn't recommend anyone to me. She -- er, he -- er," he gets past the brief flustered moment with a resolute "they just said I would do well to get Julia away from the shelter. The Jedi showed up on his own, I'm sure of it."

"If you say so," the reporter acknowledges coolly without giving away a single inch of ground, and Dragon is startled almost into speech: She doesn't like him very much. But she doesn't even know him? Something must have translated through his body, for Sybersnake hunches a little closer to him and then curls against him completely, her head against his chest.

"I'm sure of it," repeats the priest firmly.

"Wait a second," says Dragon. "You said it differently earlier. Did you call in Quixote, or did he turn up on his own?"

Father Bremen considers, then shook his head. "You've got to know the guy."

"Well, I don't know him." That dangerous, near-interrogation note in Dragon's voice is back; and Virgil, picking up on it, quickly adds: "Maybe if you could just give us a sequence of events here, Father."

Part of a nod, which ends up keeping the priest's head bowed long enough for Dragon to start becoming impatient, before the troll finally raises it again with the attitude of one who now has something firmly in his grasp: "The article went out about Julia, you've all seen it." Nods go around the small circle. Now that he's actively paying attention, the mercenary notices that Bob doesn't -- but it's not the blankness of ignorance either. At least, Dragon doesn't think so. The small, balding decker is proving very hard to read.

"After that article went out, well, you remember us talking about the tent city ..."

"I don't," says Tiffany, gently and pleasantly, pulling Dragon's senses instantly into alert. He's never before seen her in hunt mode. "Explain it to me?"

"I -- well -- that is --"

This part of the story Virgil remembers, about the gathering homeless and the full beds and the tent city starting to spring up outside the shelter "-- and then he called me --"

"Was that the Jedi?" asks the reporter, and Father Bremen nods. She gets him to continue, and after he's gone through the story of the attempted abduction again, she skillfully confirms that the initial call had happened first, then the attempted abduction, then Father Bremen asking the Jedi for help, then the Jedi taking Julia away from the shelter and under his protection, leaving only an address and a person through whom he could be reached. Under Tiffany's careful questioning, it comes out that, although the priest hadn't ever experienced it for himself before, apparently this Quixote is known to have quite a few metahuman "drop boxes" of this nature. The man plans for the worst, Dragon thought to himself, and then, people seem to trust him. Word on the street reaches him quickly. People are willing to pass on dangerous messages for him. Strange -- since if there is one thing this story confirms, it's that somehow the Jedi had suspected what was going to happen at the shelter ahead of time.

They can all see now which way the story is going, but Tiffany lays it out for them piece by piece until the priest confirms that Cindy's "Jonah" is in fact the priest's contact with the Jedi; and that the Open Arms shelter seems thus far to have been completely spared this strange plague. Her eyes and Dragon's meet, just for a moment. On the minus side, we now have to find him. On the plus side, at least he apparently wasn't killed in the fire.

"... fire," Tiffany was saying. "Dragon, you've brought up this 'dark man', and you think he's a blood mage, is that right? But you've never seen him, right? Only you have, Virgil?"

Bob speaks up unexpectedly (but from him, it's always unexpected): "This 'dark man' -- would he have anything to do with why Sybersnake was working for Aztechnology?"

Dragon gives him a look, in parts mixed irritation and belabouring the obvious, but in her corner Galina is nodding slowly: "Why ye think 'tis a blood mage?"

11:58:43 Tuesday 02 January 2063 - Il Grano Restaurant, Los Angeles, CFS

The facade of Il Grano was no less impressive by daylight than it was among the harsh shadows of the Los Angeles night, the lovely pale bricks and terracotta accents almost seemed lit with a soft inner glow in the bright January sunshine. Cosmo was in an infinitely better mood than she was at the beginning of her last meeting with Tino; a full day's worth of rest and .. recreation had seen to that. A satisfied little smile played across her lips as she remembered that exercise had always helped her find focus. Now, focused as she was, she was quite ready to get to work.

And get to the bottom of this....

She'd spent another full forty minutes this morning going over the FTL Matrixware blueprints, poring over the surveillance photos, and picking her own brain over what she'd seen the other day. There would have to be a few alterations to her initial plan. Ultimately, she'd decided not to ask Caska to join her tonight; there were too many variables with the man who had proven just as adaptable as she'd worked so hard to become, too many questions she'd have to put to him later that would already be difficult considering their as yet undefined relationship. There was no point complicating things with a business relationship as well.

You're flying solo tonight, girl, she mused, glancing down at her watch. It was almost like old times, actually. Those first confusing weeks in the shadows when she was grasping for something, anything, that could tell her who she was and where she'd been all this time had taught her to rely on her own skills and intelligence above everything else. Gear, cred, and contacts were a luxury, not a necessity. Working alone eliminated a lot of the guesswork inherent in team-play but also required that she be at the top of her game. There was no room for a mistake, even a small one.

11:59:53

Cosmo began glancing around casually for signs of Tino, one hand idly brushing a few strands of sleek auburn hair out of her eyes.

This would be very much like old times.

20:05:54 Saturday 06 January 2063 Seattle, UCAS

Tenmou drives in silence to Akiko's residence. He silently wished for this particular job to end, but wanted to honor his side of the agreement and be loyal until paid.

As he pulled up in front of Akiko's residence, he lightly touched her arm and said, "Miss? We're here."

12:01:05 Tuesday 02 January 2063 - Il Grano Restaurant, Los Angeles, CFS

The heavy-set Italian fixer steps from the dim recesses of the bar, a tumbler of clear liquid in one hand and data display unit in the other. He smiles and winks at Cosmo as she waits by the maitre d' stand.

"Ah, signora, just on time. Come with me."

With a deft move, he slides back into the kitchen, past the long stainless steel tables full of food and utensils, to the large walk in freezer in back. The outer door opens silently on oiled hinges, revealing floor to ceiling racks stocked with boxes and crates. Making his way through the narrow aisle, Drago keys in a ten digit code to a second door in the rear of the freezer. The room revealed is narrow, but large enough to hold five times the gear currently waiting on the tile floor. The jumpsuit came in its own disposable plastic bag, while the patches were sealed in a hard sided case about the size of a cigarette pack. The grenades shipped in an OD green plastic carton that still carried the NSN and manufacturer's part number stenciled on in yellow paint.

"Double check to make sure you have everything," advised Drago, sipping from his mojito.

20:06:03 Saturday 06 January 2063 Seattle, UCAS

Akiko sighs, rubbing a hand across her forehead. Tenmou realizes with a start that her nose has bled during the drive home, a thin black-crusted trickle makes its way down across her right cheek. If she notices, she doesn't seem to care. Reaching into her inner jacket pocket, she withdraws a certified credstick.

"Two thousand nuyen. The rest that Mr. Omura owes you, plus a little extra for this trip. I may have need of your services in the future. Expect my communication."

She exits the vehicle without looking back, making her way into her apartment complex.

12:03:46 Tuesday 02 January 2063 - Il Grano Restaurant, Los Angeles, CFS

Cosmo was careful to clear each of the rooms they stepped through on their way to the shoebox on the other side of the walk-in freezer. There were places she would have rather gone, of course, places that had an alternative exit, at least. Still, the fact that even the kitchen staff made a point of ignoring the two of them was comforting. She was dressed to stand out .. not to be remembered.

Even the briefest glance was enough to tell Cosmo that all of her gear was present. She made a show of glaring over her shoulder at Tino's kindly advice before winking broadly and chuckling as she went over to the small pile of gear.

"Four stun, two smoke, two IR smoke, two patches, and the jumpsuit, size five. Tino, you are a wizard!" Deep dimples peeked out of each cheek as she grinned up at the Italian. "How was breakfast?"

12:05:03 Tuesday 02 January 2063 - Il Grano Restaurant, Los Angeles, CFS

Drago finished his mojito in one long gulp, pretending to ignore Cosmo's looks.

"She was delicious, thank you. Oh, you mean the food? That was palatable as well."

The self-satisfied curl to his lips would not have been out of place on a fox in a henhouse. Cosmo didn't doubt that that was a situation Drago had been in a dozen times before. The older italian shifted gears with the smoothness of a Ferrari's transmission, a charming smile the promised all the attention she could want appearing on his face.

"I don't suppose I could interest you in some lunch, bella signora?"

12:05:48 Tuesday 02 January 2063 - Il Grano Restaurant, Los Angeles, CFS

Unable to help the laugh that slipped out at Tino's smile, she wiggled her eyebrows and carefully packed the new equipment into her soft-sided duffel bag. Rising gracefully, she offered a slim credstick and another wink.

"Business first, Drago. Thirty two hundred for the gear and two hundred for your breakfast, should do it, hmm?"

At Tino's slight nod of assent, Cosmo nodded as well and passed the credstick into his waiting hand.

"Lunch would be lovely, Tino. Grazie."

12:37:21 Tuesday 02 January 2063 - Il Grano Restaurant, Los Angeles, CFS

Drago leaned back in his chair, dabbing at the corner of his mouth with his napkin and sipping from his wineglass. Lunch was light; ensalata, prima pasta, and then a sauteed chicken breast dusted with a white wine sauce that Drago would not reveal the ingredients to despite Cosmo's best efforts at persuasion. Well, maybe not her best, but certainly the most persuasive she could be in public. A soft chime rang from his wrist chronograph, and Drago stood, bowing slightly and brushing his lips across the back of Cosmo's hand.

"Grazie, signora, your presence made the meal divine. But I regret that I have a prior engagement, prego, stay as long as you like, the fare is on me."

Straightening, he retrieved his data display unit from beside his chair and headed back into the bar.

19:59:01 January 6, 2063 - Neon Dreams- Ravenna

"Ya, Angel is working the floor tonight. She's in the V.I.P. lounge right now, but I'll get her a message. Who should I say is asking?"

Erebus shot her a tough look, like he was really going to give her his name.

"Just tell her its a friend, and then she decide what to do."

The chick looked pissed but Erebus didn't much care, she should know better than to go asking for names. After the waitress stomped off he looked around the room, watching the people more than the dancers. The dancers were wiz and all but the people watching were far more interesting to him.

The crowd was a blend of college kids, younger corpers, and street toughs, all drinking and tossing money. Part of Erebus wanted to join in, to be like these other people who all about his own age, he wanted to feel free to revel in being young and tough and ready to grab life by the throat. He used to feel like that, back when he'd been running the streets of Berlin, but it seemed almost a lifetime ago. Now his unconscious self simply scanned the room, seeing but not seeing the nearly naked girls grinding and thrashing to the music, paying more attention to crowd and the possibility of a threat than the naked and nearly naked girls.

He watched the waitress slide up out of the corner of his eye, and only turned to her when she came within arm's reach. She set two tumblers of synthahol on the small table along with a small pile of bills and left with out a word. Erebus snorted and the thought of a tip vanished, he pocketed all the bills.

He sat and watched and thought for only another couple of songs, clinically observing that the young norm on the satellite stage had to be double jointed at the hips, until he saw Angel come stalking across the floor, wearing tonight's uniform of 4 inch spike heels, an abrupt halter of looked like liquid chrome and black Plycra short-shorts.

At only 5'6" she didn't tower over anyone and normally a crowd would swallow someone that sized whole, but all the people in the world couldn't keep eyes from following Angel. Her beauty was girl-next-door rather than the classical swan like lines, she was all curves and soft flesh and sex appeal. Erebus watched her stalk across the room, smiling and blushing, looking edible. She caught his eye as she got closer and grinned at him, sliding her hands slowly down her bare waist, and undressed herself with his eyes.

They were both smiling and chuckling by the time she got to his table. She slid into the other chair and appropriated one of his drinks, which was fine he hated gin anyway. He'd ordered them for her.

"So what's up Tiger? You slumming or looking to show a girl a good time?" Angel's voice had none of the sexy sultriness that one expected with a girl that looked like her. It was real and normal and slightly off key with the tiniest hint of a Southern accent. Erebus found it one of her more attractive features, it was real.

"Nah, I'm just wandering through and thought I'd stop in to see you." Erebus looked around a little and leaned closer.

"I was also wondering if you might be up to providing a vice for a possible extraction I might be working? Nothing firm, just speculating and setting the stage. I want to make sure that I have my options worked out before I take the job. It's all low risk, just want you to flirt and maybe allow yourself to be convinced to take a certain individual home with you if I need you to. Nothing else."

Erebus showed her a grin, he knew that Angel had a jones for shadowrunners, she knew most of the shadow gossip and rumors going around town. She knew that he worked the shadows to some extent, Max and he had met here before and she knew something of the fixer. He figured offering her a chance to actually get involved on the edges of a real run, albeit a minor one, would really light her fire. Even if the run never panned out, just making the suggestion wouldn't hurt.

He hadn't bothered to do more than begin the prep work for an extraction he didn't even know was real or not, but things in the shadows moved fast and it was always best to know what angles you could play before getting mixed up in the furball.

13:11:06 Tuesday 02 January 2063 - Pasadena, CFS

Cosmo hadn't lingered over her lunch despite the excellent quality of the fare and the charming ambiance of Il Grano's less formal dining lounge. Even though she hadn't budgeted time for her lunch today the opportunity to cozy up to a contact wasn't lost on her; the value of that prospect alone was well worth postponing her schedule by half an hour.

She smiled, balancing an awkward paper tray on one arm while she buzzed apartment 3G. The four tall cups of coffee threatened to splash at any moment with the very real potential to ruin the soft white cashmere sweater she'd paired with jeans for this trip. A paper bag filled with delectable pastries dangled from her fingers, anxious to find out if Mr. Andersen was in this afternoon.

"Sean? Hello? It's Lisa from yesterday and .. and .. I need your help!"

Lisa Taylor put just the right amount of desperation into her voice to keep her true motive a secret.

13:13:28 Tuesday 02 January 2063 - Pasadena, CFS

After a long pause, during which any number of myriad contingencies spin through Cosmo's mind, the speaker clicks on.

"Who?" asks the tinny, obviously confused voice.

"Lisa, Lisa Taylor? You let me in yesterday when I forgot my keys." Cosmo enunciates very clearly, keeping her tone light and sweet.

"Oh, right." Sean's voice was less confused, but he was obviously still having trouble placing the name. The front lock buzzed anyway, and she snatched at the handle, carefully balancing the weight of her packages against the torque required to pull open the security door. Once inside, she headed for the elevator.

13:14:03 Tuesday 02 January 2063 - Pasadena, CFS

Cosmo was on a low simmer all the way up the elevator, no weapon she'd ever held in recent memory seemed as inviting as a cup of steaming hot coffee.

It's barely been a day! She fumed, her pale cheeks flushed with irritation. How could he have forgotten so soon? Stalking out of the elevator with an indignant huff, she strode down the hallway, undeserved gifts in hand, and rapped on the door.

3G, I'll ram it up his..

Lisa took a deep, calming breath and stepped into character, hoping that she wouldn't sound too sweet in her effort to remain pleasant. A shy, dimpled smile was locked and loaded, ready for the eventual appearance of Sean Andersen and her flushed cheeks would appear to be nothing more than an embarassed blush. She held out the tray of coffee and the bag of pastries as an offering once the door was opened.

"Hey, Sean," she started breathlessly, "sorry to bug you. Do you like coffee?"

13:14:27 Tuesday 02 January 2063 - Pasadena, CFS

Sean blinks in surprise and recognition, his face flushing as he recalled not only their brief encounter but the subsequent dreams. He's dressed in his work uniform, although his shirt is unbuttoned and untucked. He runs a hand through his hair, glancing back ruefully at his unkempt apartment before returning Cosmo's smile.

"Ah, yeah, hi. Come in, please. Sorry for the mess."

He closes the door after Cosmo then hurries to clear off the dirty plates and dishes and dump them in the sink. The drink cartons are swept into the trash bin, and he quickly closes the door.

"So, uhm, it's nice to see you again."

13:14:27 Tuesday 02 January 2063 - Pasadena, CFS

"It's nice to see you too, and don't worry about the mess. It happens, right?"

She winks slightly and sets her packages down on the newly cleared counter, figuring that her place would likely look like this as well if she could ever stand to stay still. His flush was adorable and clearly he did remember who she was. The soft, sweet smile came more easily as she began pulling pastries out of the bag and arranging them onto paper napkins from her purse. Her constant stream of chatter would hopefully help him calm down a bit.

"Again, I hope I'm not intruding, Sean, but I was supposed to meet a few of my girlfriends for coffee this afternoon but we had to cancel so I figured I'd get them something to go. Well apparently, the lawyers at their firm all decided to go out for lunch so the girls went too and now I have all this," she gestures towards the food and designer coffee, "to share. If you're interested, of course."

Cosmo trailed off with a bit of a question, her gaze flickering to his unbuttoned work shirt.

"Did I show up at a bad time?"

13:14:52 Tuesday 02 January 2063 - Pasadena, CFS

"Uh, no, it's fine. I'm, ah, just getting ready for work but I don't have to leave for another couple of hours."

Sean seems at a loss of what to do, standing in the middle of the room with his hands in his pockets. After Cosmo lays out the spread, he scoops up a steaming cup of coffee and pastry.

"Thanks," he smiles.

13:14:52 Tuesday 02 January 2063 - Pasadena, CFS

Cosmo returns the smile with a shy duck of her head and a bashful grin.

"Any time. I mean, well, I'm glad you were around to help me out again and .. it's good to see you again."

Blushing, she raised her paper cup. "To my rescuer...."

They'd spend the next ten minutes or so standing in the middle of the room and chatting about fairly regular things. Lisa displayed a fair amount of interest in his job, even showed a bit of concern over how dangerous security jobs could be if things ever went wrong, hoping that he was well protected at in his line of work. She'd hate to hear about someone as nice as he was getting hurt in the line of duty.

After a little while longer it came to the point where they were both holding their first empty coffee cup. Cosmo affected a bit of a pout and set her cup aside, dusting her fingers off on a clean napkin.

"So I guess you work a lot of late nights, huh?"

13:20:11 Tuesday 02 January 2063 - Pasadena, CFS

"Oh, it's not so bad, we're well equipped and the building is secure against the usual rabble. Plus, if things get really bad, we've got back-up waiting at the Hard Corps depot just down the road. But yeah, the night shift is where we expect to see trouble, so we keep the guard rotation up."

Sean talks easily about his job, pleased at the attention from Cosmo. He is not a braggart, though, and does not disclose useful casual details. He's been exposed to basic Operations Security Training, and Cosmo finds herself having to be circumspect about digging for the information she wants. Their protocols seem to focus around containment of valuable merchandise, as well as area denial against an intruding force. He doesn't explicitly state as much, but Cosmo is willing to be that the security system is matrix based and heavily automated, with advanced pattern recognition software running on the security cameras in order to detect unauthorized personnel and to initiate lockdown.

13:21:48 Tuesday 02 January 2063 - Pasadena, CFS

Ahh, crap.

Cosmo made a point of smiling in spite of the slow sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach, her expressive eyes taking on a faraway look as she tried to remember what she'd read about matrix-based systems and some of the software they ran. But then what did you expect with a name like FTL Matrixware?

"So tell me, Sean," Lisa dimples as she takes a sip from a fresh cup of coffee. The high colour in her cheeks suggests a bit of embarassment over her current train of thought as does her more .. pronounced breathing.

"Are there a lot of pretty girls where you work?"

Crap crap crap crap crap.

13:22:11 Tuesday 02 January 2063 - Pasadena, CFS

Sean coughs in surprise, almost choking on the bite of pastry in his mouth. Clearing his throat, he takes a drink.

"Uh, I guess so, sure, but they're just the people I work with. Certainly, ah, not as pretty as you."

What seemed like a good thing to say in his head is altogether different when said out loud, and he flushes with embarrassment.

13:22:37 Tuesday 02 January 2063 - Pasadena, CFS

There was only a split-second to make the decision and out of all the things she'd done in recent memory, few things had hurt as much as this would. Offering a silent prayer to the Powers that Be, Cosmo feigned a look of wide-eyed surprise as Sean coughs ..

.. and promptly spills her cup of coffee all over the front of her exquisite white cashmere sweater. The tears that fill her eyes are real but calculated to seem as though they're more from the pain of the steaming hot java than the loss of the designer top.

"Oh no," she sobs, pulling the soggy garment away from her chest, looking up at Sean with imploring chocolate-brown eyes.

13:22:43 Tuesday 02 January 2063 - Pasadena, CFS

"Oh! Uh, here!" Sean scoops up a rumpled dish towel from the counter, moving to help Cosmo dab at the spill but stopping just short of actually touching her.

"Uhm, why don't you...? And I'll...." He motions towards the roll of paper towel on the sink, smiling gratefully when Cosmo takes the towel from his hand.

"The, uh, bathroom is just through here," he opens the door to the bedroom and motions to his left. "There's towels in the drawer under the sink. Are you, uh, burned at all?"

13:22:56 Tuesday 02 January 2063 - Pasadena, CFS

Cosmo shakes her head gratefully in spite of the two great tears falling down either cheek. My poor, beautiful sweater....

"I don't think so but I'd better check, just in case." She rests her hand delicately against the curve of his bicep but pulls it away just as quickly with an embarassed laugh and a bright blush. "Thanks, Sean, I'll hurry so I can help you clean up."

Hurrying into his bedroom with her small satchel tucked under one arm, she begins pulling the garment up over her head without a thought as to whether or not he might be watching. There's no sound of either door closing, though.

"I'm all right but these are going to have to soak right away if I'm ever going to get the stain out." She peeks around the doorjamb with a worried smile, holding her sweater out for his perusal. "Do you have a t-shirt or something that I could borrow? Just for a little while?"

13:23:08 Tuesday 02 January 2063 - Pasadena, CFS

"Uh..." Sean glanced over the wreck of his bedroom with some anxiety, glancing Cosmo's way once but quickly returning his gaze to the far wall after a single glimpse of naked shoulders. Keeping his back to the bathroom, he rummages through his dresser, finally coming out with a gray Screamers! urban brawl t-shirt. He holds it out to Cosmo his gaze somewhere on the ceiling.

"Here you go, this should work."

1304 Saturday, January 6, 2063 - Puyallup, near the civic centre

There it is.

This pattern Alleycat knows in her bones. Places, crowds just large enough for quiet fades, public washrooms, porn cinemas. Become one with those around you, and who notices that the ebon-black elf of Zerikolopoli's had dismounted from Blaze's chopper once again that faded wageslave from the previous night? For the first place, jagged Noh pattern across a faux-albino face for the first place with matching sharpness of colour across her coat. For the second, a variant on last-night's Alianna, but in a pantsuit this time. For the third, long, tightly braided hair, fur collar. One Matrix café, give the counter people a name (who cares which? it's not like she's planning on returning); find, access, dip in, skim, change locations; a dozen small details from shades to hair to shoes --

And she's finally fixed those fragging shoes -- of course, by now they haven't been shoes for three incarnations.

In an hour, every trace of her passage will have vanished. In far less than that, so will she.

13:23:39 Tuesday 02 January 2063 - Pasadena, CFS

Cosmo smiled, a thin towel clutched to her chest as she took the extended t-shirt with a soft sigh.

"Thanks, Sean. I owe you, big time, for this."

Spotting a rumbled work shirt not too far away from where she stood, she waits for Sean's harried exit and kicks a pile of clothes over where it used to be, scooping the garment up and bundling it with the grey t-shirt as she makes her way into the washroom to change. Less than two minutes pass before she steps back into the kitchen, looking positively adorable in the oversized urban brawl t-shirt. Her satchel (with the tightly packed work shirt at the very bottom) is slung over one shoulder. Her ruined clothes are in a plastic bag.

"I hope you don't mind, but I grabbed this on my way out." Cosmo smiles bashfully and sighs again. "These need to be cleaned right away, too, but I wish I could stick around. When's a good time to bring your shirt back? I can bring something less likely to stain next time...."

13:23:56 Tuesday 02 January 2063 - Pasadena, CFS

"Huh? Oh, yeah, that's fine. Um, how about lunch tomorrow?"

Sean smiles, his eyes travelling over her form in an appreciation of how good she makes the simple shirt look.

20:06:33 Saturday 06 January 2063 Seattle, UCAS

Tenmou pulled away from the curb and headed home with the remainder of his payment. The events of the past few days just seemed like an unreal roller coaster. Between this crazy job with Akiko and his lovely evening with Mioko, he had barely had time to think back on it all.

He definitely deserved some down time after this...

19:59:15 January 6, 2063 - Neon Dreams - Ravenna

Angel blinked. Then she blinked again. Erebus could practically see the wheels spinning inside her skull, before she spoke.

"Wait a minute Tiger, I don't do shadow work, I'm just a dancer. I don't sell sex." Her voice had a hard edge to it, Erebus could tell she'd been offended by what she thought he was suggesting.

"No, no, no, no sweetie. I'm not saying that you'd have to do anything. I'm just checking to see if you'd be interested. It'd be like me setting you up on a blind date, only you'd already know who the guy was and you would both know that you'd end up back at your hotel room. Which I'd set up and pay for. It'd just be an easy way to separate him from any security that might be interested in him."

Erebus gave her what he hoped was a winning smile and tilted her chin up with one finger so he could met her gaze squarely to show he was sincere.

"It'd be just a couple of drinks some harmless flirting and then a trip back to a hotel room. Absolutely zero exposure to you beautiful. I wouldn't do anything to put you at risk, you should know that. I'd set it all up before hand."

He leaned back, let her have some space.

"Besides, this is all just speculation at this point, it may never happen. I just wanted to see if you were interested."

A thoughtful look filled her eyes, the idea of playing in the shadows like this thrilled her, but it also scared her. Erebus saw the emotions play across her face, saw the caution and fear there too.

Smart girl. he thought quietly to himself, wondering if she'd say yes or not.

13:24:17 Tuesday 02 January 2063 - Pasadena, CFS

Cosmo nods, her cheeks turning a pretty shade of pink as he looks her over.

"Lunch." She grins. "I'll stop by around one. Take care of yourself, Sean, and have a good night." Thanks for the shirt.

After taking a halting step towards him, she pauses, laughs softly and turns around, leaving the apartment without another word, a shy smile playing across her lips all the way to the elevator. It was pretty funny, she thought, that she'd be seeing him much sooner if things didn't go according to her plan.

What is the plan, anyway?

She chuckled, stuffing the plastic bag into her satchel with a wry shake of her head. No plan ever survives first contact anyway, right? Be prepared. Stay flexible. The thought was somewhat comforting though it didn't help her feel much safer. Pattern recognition systems and a Hard Corps office right down the street from the target would do that to a body, though, no matter how detailed their plan might be. The first stirrings of adrenaline tingled in her fingertips as she picked up her pace, checking to make sure that the back door in the lobby was inconspicuously wedged open before she strode through the front entrance and towards her car.

"Time for more shopping," Cosmo sighed as she slipped into the sleek sports coupe, resisting the urge to gun the engine and drive until the knot in the pit of her stomach unwound itself. She had a uniform to pick up and a few alterations to make to its components before she started packing her bag for the trip and she still hadn't decided on where she'd leave her car tonight.

...

14:42:06 Tuesday 02 January 2063 - Pasadena, CFS

Well .. I'm as ready as I'll ever be.

Admittedly, she felt somewhat less than secure, strapped as she was to the underside of Sean Andersen's Americar .. with a small arsenal secured against her stomach, no less. Cosmo was already sweating from the layers upon layers of clothing she was wearing; the black nylon stocking covering her face did not promote proper air circulation nor did the clinging kevlar-reinforced suit that covered her from top to toe allow for optimal ventilation. All in all, she was not terribly comfortable. The armored leather longcoat she wore (with the long tails wrapped about her ankles) saw to it that the trip to FTL Matrixware did not become even more uncomfortable.

It had been a busy hour but overall extremely productive. She'd been able to make a fair copy of the FTL security uniform, complete with transplanted patches for that degree of authenticity and while she lacked a working key card, something that might pass for one at first glance was clipped to the front pocket of her work shirt. Now that she had a bit of time to think (heck, she wasn't going anywhere for a while), Cosmo took the time to study the building's blueprints again using the heads-up display function of her eyeglasses. There wasn't much else to do besides wait for Sean to drive them to work and go over the loose details of her plan, taking all that she knew, and a few things she assumed, into consideration.

And hey, if things don't go well at least the car is only six blocks away....