"Something labelled Vaccine 3.7," Helios answers. "Maybe he really was researching a cure. Then again, I'm sure he wouldn't leave vials labelled 'Biowarfare Agent 2.0' lying around labelled like so."

Having put the last of the tubes in the case, Helios closes it up carefully.

"Let's see if any of us have a contact who can tell us what these are," Helios says, with the case in his left hand and his Manhunter in the other.

"Well, don't drop those or throw them at someone. They might turn out to be the virus."

Over the comms, Bishop chimes in... "Master Bedroom and Garage are usless. I'm gunna dig through the trash and see what turns up."

He moves into the main room and starts digging.

Edana:
Weaves of mana stream through the implement and soar outward scouring for a sign of Ballefour. You are unable to latch onto him, which oddly makes you more comfortable. That bastard isn't lurking just outside the house to prey on one of the nearby families.

"No drek," Helios says, slightly annoyed.

Suddenly a thought occurs to Helios.

If this is his lab, where's his research notes?

Helios immediately goes looking for any documents that look like research notes.

Charlie swallowed hard, taking in the sight of the master bedroom. He quickly turns and walks back into the hallway. He finds the closest bathroom and begins searching.

Might be a good idea to let the boys know where this is, just in case. That was some sick drek.

"I'm checking over the bathroom right now. If you need it, come and let me know."

Helios:
You turn and scan the room looking around for a desk or work area. It wasn't in the fridges, and Grave didn't mention finding any computer stuff in the plastic boxes. Possibly next to the sink?

Crossing the room, you start pulling open cabinets but only find antibacterial soap, gloves and sterile smocks. If this was the laboratory of your mad scientist, he collected up his notes when he left.

"What are you looking for, man?" asks Graves.

"His notes."

"OK, where haven't we searched?" ponders Graves, he looks around the room. The operating tables?

Street Doc:
The two of you move to pore over the surgical tables.

Helios notes some of the interfaces on the table for suction and transfusions look...off...unable to put a finger on what is wrong with them, he starts to trace the path down under the table. He rips off a panel and finds a micronized blood filtration system. It looks like it splices one of the suction lines through the filter where a small vial similar to that in the fridge is added to the mix and sent through a transfusion bag back into the patient.

The vial looks to be empty.

"Damn," Helios says.

"I'm no doctor, but given this construction...I'd say this machine sucks the blood out of the subject..." he traces his finger along the suction tube to the vial "...and uses it as a carrier to deliver whatever is in these vials into the subject through this..." he traces his finger along the tube to the transfusion bag.

"If nothing else, I think we just found out how this guy's delivering his 'cure.'"

"Take out, put in. Simple." Grave grimaces.

"Bishop, the computer room is clear, not a thing in here. I dont see how this room could be so clean, while the next is so...," his voice trails off and the communication ends. It picks up after a few seconds, "I'm going to walk Kane around the perimeter, see if we can find anything else."

The two move through the living room toward the front door. There JT pauses, he unholsters his pistol and holds it in his againsts his outer thigh, his finger on the outside of the trigger housing. Kane sits patiently watching his masters movements, waiting for his command. With a quick flash the dog faced mask appears once again upon the shaman as he casts a spell.

After sensing the area outside is clear, JT sends another transmition, "Can someone hit the hall light, Kane and I are going to walk the perimeter."

Before JT's aura gives off its visual effects this time, he and Kane disappear.

" Thanks Old Amos for your time and infomation. If the street talk to you on here my number." Hand Old Amos a card With Tinys contact details.
" If your ever heard of Tamanous Corporation. You have my number."

Thanking Amos again Tiny head on his way. Once out of sight he looks that address and number over. Heading of the nearest Lav train for that area, thats of course if its the quickest route.

Ballefour's:
The hallway light goes out momentarily as the front door opens and closes for your teammates who have vanished from sight but come up on the battletac system.

JT:
Magic draws your mind out to the surrounding area, nothing has changed since you entered the house--families are still at home in their beds. You exit the house and pass around the perimeter of the building, Kane's nose to the ground sniffing for foreign scents.

Bishop:
The glories of trash reveal their secrets almost immediately to you as you scour the waste bin and dig through drawers. A crumpled note handwritten lays beside the trash receptacle with times and destinations for several trains and suborbitals, most are crossed out but two options remain. Suborbital--Seattle to Zurich or a late night express train to New York. Both options would have left by now.

Tiny:
Catching the train right as it starts to leave the station, you ride down to Puyallup and get off just moments later. Looking around, you begin moving with the same cautious patterns that your father taught you to use when hunting. Staying to the shadows and dark parts of the street, you come upon a decrepit building, boarded over windows appearing rather uninviting.

Keeping well in to the Shadows and observing cautiously. Confirming that this is the correct address.

Just checking doing a precheck of equipment, Tiny make sure every thing is ready. A just incase idea if things get nasty.

Gonzales looks through the two rooms for any sign of computer equipment, chips or hard copy notes... having watched the other two in action and confirmed that setting them to work together seemed like a good long term plan...

Grave gestures to the back door,"Come on, let's see what behind door number 2."

"Yeah; guess we've done all we can here," Helios says as he moves towards the door and slowly opens it.

Following the dog's lead, JT continues to search for clues around the building.

After the lights go out Edana is finished. She can't seem to keep her mind on the work of sleuthing. Astral images flicker through her head, an insane, twisted slide show she can't stop. She's not sleeping tonight. "Can we get outta here?" She hugs her arms across her chest and shivers.

"I mean, if we've... uh... if we've got what we need," she adds feeling shamed and foolish and very, very out of her league.

Street Doc:
As Helios pushes the door, it gets slightly ajar before a chain get pulled taut. Looks like the backdoor is still chained from the outside with a padlock.

Tiny:
A flicker of light and the rattle of a chain comes from the back of the building as you move forward trying to confirm the address.

The hell?, Helios thinks. Why is the door chained from the OUTSIDE?

Gently placing the case down, Helios draws his katana and tries to cut through the metal chain.

Helios:
Holding the door open with your knee, you draw your katana up over your head and come down with a powerful overhand blow. The chain gives way under the length of folded steel in your hands and the door pushes open revealing the back of the building and the night sky.

Tiny:
A sharp sound of metal cutting metal is heard from the back is followed quickly by a chain falling to the ground. The light pooling out from the back of the building is brighter now as if a partially opened door is now open fully.

Re-sheathing his sword and picking the case up again, Helios checks both ways for anything dangerous/threatening before walking out the door.

"I got something. Transportation sceduals, but it looks like they would have left already. We'll have to check out the passenger lists to see if our boy showed or not. I think thats everything though, so lets bug out."

Bishop makes his way to the front door and waits for the team to join him. He checks the windows to make sure the coast is clear, then gives a nod for the team to quickly move out.

Gonzales looks at Helios and Graves as the three leave the doc's place. "I know someone who would have the gear to test that stuff, you want I should get hold of her?"

"Good idea," Helios replies, stepping out into the alley.

Street Doc:
Not seeing anyone outside, the hunter signals for his companions to follow him. Moving quietly, your voices hushed as you decide what to do with the vials you move to the edge of the building. Helios pokes his head around the corner and finds himself staring straight into the chest of a large troll. Tiny looks down at his three teammates not at all expecting them to be here.

Ballefour's:
Realizing that you have everything you're going to find in the house, you scoop up the computer and bug out. Cutting across the street, the invisible lone star detective and his dog running point to check that the coast is clear. The team climbs back into the modified SUV and moments later you are out of the neighborhood.

"Gh-!" Helios exclaims in a hushed tone as he unexpectedly meets his troll colleague.

"Tiny!...Never mind. Let's go get these to someone who can figure out what they are."

"Bishop, I got a guy looking for information on this prick. I'll give him another call and add this to the list of things he should look for."

Charlie runs his thumb along the length of his crowbar, double-checking it for that safe feeling it gives him. Normally, he isn't creeped out, but this... This is bad.

"At least it wasn't like that Wendigo... I hate those things."

Ballefour's:
Arriving back at McShizzle's, the team separates to their own methods of transportation home. With only a few hours until dawn, you find yourselves torn between going to bed and just staying up through the next day.

After copying down the two times and modes of transportation on an errant piece of paper (or pseudo-paper, as the case may be), Charlie heads home.

Upon arrival, he calls up Debian.

"'Ey kid. Think you can swing some more information before breakfast? I've just got a hold of a couple of departating times and modes of transportation for both of them. Care to see if you can get a passenger list and find out if he was actually on either of them?"

With that, he gives Debian the times and arrival points, as well as their modes of transportation.

::: In the car on the way to McShizzles :::

Edana is quiet on the trip back to Bling Bling's. She purses her lips, wanting to say something and stops. "Just how legal is what we just did? Should we call the cops? There's a murdered girl back there - aren't we in trouble if someone reports it?"

She looks out the window at the white-gray mushy swirl of snow and then back at Bishop riding shotgun.

Grave replies,"Even if that's a viral vaccine, it is going to take a hell lot more sophisticated facility than a regular street doc's to confirm it. Trust me, I think I was briefed on this once upon a time. At least a ... Level 4."

"C'mon guys, let's get to Gonzales' friend's place, see if they can help."

And with that, the four - Graves, Tiny, Gonzales, and Helios - head for their destination, cargo in tow.

Gonzales leads the way to Puyallup, tward Christina D's place, during the trip he plugs his subvocal mike and earpiece into his PocSec.

"Hey Chrissie, I got some god news, some better news and some mildly irritating news."

"Give me the irritating news first."

"Need a serum decoded."

"usual fee."

"No Prob, the others, Luke Baiour is no longer in business..."

"That is good news."

"Also he ain't coming back for his stuff, or his lab, make of that what you will...."

"Understood."

"A couple of friends of mine will be coming with me to bring what I need tested... see you soon."

"No probs."

Chrissie D's:
The trip to Gonzales' contact doesn't take long, you don't even leave the burroughs. As you walk up to the door, three massive trolls walk out and pile into a pickup truck large enough to be called roomy for them.

"Head on in man, she's expecting you. Don't none of you other fraggers cause any problems 'cuz we'll be right back."

With a squeal of tires they race off in the direction you just came from.

Heading inside, you see the barber shop has been turned into a state of the art cyberdoc's shop. Chrissie D is a taller Asian woman with a serious expression and green eyes that sparkle with a hint of mischief. She puts a datapad she was examining down and moves over to you.

"Well I see you aren't the pimply faced kid that came to me looking for a smartlink, though you should eat more--"

"--That metal takes a toll on your body." Gonzales interrupts her to complete the sentence. "I don't know how many times you've told me that line. Here's the stuff."

The squat dwarf hands one of the blue vials up to the woman who immediately gets to work. Chrissie pipettes some of the liquid into several different machines. Once the centrifuge is spinning and the molecular analyzer is chewing on part of the sample, she motions Gonzales on to one of the tables.

"Might as well get a check up in..." her voice trails off as she pulls the mask over her face and pulls on a set of gloves.

Charlie:
"Sure thing chummer, I'm just about finished with this first part, should be ready with all of it a little after sunrise. Meet you at eight o'clock."

Debian's voice comes through the phone with that odd echo that seems to happen when he's decking and only lightly listening to the actual words from the phone call.

Grave warns the doc,"You might want to be careful with that. If that is what we think it is, you might want to treat that as a Bio-warfare agent."

Arriving home late from the nights adventure, Kane heads right to bed. JT on the other hand, has a few things to do before he can call it a night. He sends a message to a contact of his named Thomas Gunther. The PI of course goes by Tommy Gun, and dresses the part.

Hey Tommy, give me a call when you wake. Dont care what time it is--JT

His next message goes out to Detective Tak Morgan.

Tak, give me a call-ASAP--JT

After the two messages are sent, JT activates the telecom to call Gonzales.

"Hey chummer, did you find anything from your contact?..."

"Yeah, the substance still needs to complete testing, and my cyberware is in good shape." ha suprisingly good humored dwarf respods

"What substance?" Tagart enquires

"Just a little thing we found at the good doctor's former secret lab." Gonzales smugly responds.

"Well holy drek. All we found was a computer." JT complains.

"Check it for research notes. use search terms Vaccine 3.7 and Biowarfare Agent 2.0" Georgio, suggests.

"Actually I was going to see if you still knew that decker. You dont want me messing with a computer." JT counters.

"You want Johnny to look at it?" Gonzales asks, utterly horrified. "You realize he might get the data, but it will not be recognizable as a computer... or as evidence, afterward? Try Charlie, he said he knows a good decker. Everyone on your team safe?"

"Yeah...a little shook up though. It was a...messy scene. Edana seems to have taken it the hardest." JT explains in a bleak tone of voice.

"What happened?" Gonzales growls.

"We uncovered one of Bellafour's unfortunate aquaintences to say the least. He carved the skin right off her, in some sick ritualistic sex act. I caught a glimpse of the past...but I think Edana really saw something. There are some dark spirits there now, and not the kind that usually come and frag with me." JT flatly answers.

"how bad? 1-10, 1 is a pickpocket and 10 is Kano." asks Gonzales, in a deliberately calm and level tone.

"11 plus." JT almost whispers, memories flooding back.

"Meet you at Bling Bling's, ps I want 5 minutes with this guy when we find him... he'll be alive afterward... and very sorry."

"Im already home man. Im going to try to meet with Tommy tomorrow...want to meet there?"

"Okay then, make sure Edana is okay. Gotta go, the doc needs to check the bone lacing."

"One more thing Gonz."

"Yeah?"

"Im going to call Tak tomorrow. I cant leave that poor girl like that." JT says as he hangs up.


Gonzales uses the phone while the nanites check his bones.

"Edana, just spoke to JT, you ok? want to talk about it? Drink about it?"

Chrissie D's:
After hearing the warning from Grave, Chrissie nods and asks two of you to help her move the equipment under a fumehood and turns the fan on high.

"That's the best I can do here, let's hope it's not airborne at low temperatures."

There is the sound of a truck pulling up outside and two of the trolls from earlier come thumping inside arms laden.

"Looks like it'll be good boss, Bear is over there making sure the squatters don't try and move in. We found this crap though which doesn't look like anything youve got here. Do you need it or should we scrap it?"

Both trolls drop what they're carrying on the table next to Gonzales without much care or grace.

"Looks like we got some SCUBA gear and a box of doom."

Chrissie looks from the biohazard box and compressors to your team.

"I don't want it, any takers before we trash it?"

"Not me," Helios says.

"You've got a pair of gloves? I want to open this box up," asks Grave.

"Thanks," accepting the pair of gloves and opening the box up.

Grave:

You hear a clear hiss as the pressure release is activated and pressure is stabilized between the air you are breathing and the biohazardous contents of the box. Lifting the top clear, several small tubes are immediately obvious. They are clearly labeled with a bio-hazard symbol and the words "Level One Viral Agent: VITAS."

Laying beside the viral solutions is a thin cylinder designed for holding compressed gas. It is roughly five centimeters in diameter and twenty five centimeters long.

"How did we miss this?" asks Grave giving a hard look at Helios. "Well, well, motherfragging son-of-a-slitch."

"Hey, doc. You might want to take a look at this," pointing to the vials of VITAS.

He looks at the other team member and says,"Bio-agent and delivery system, chummers. This is one bad-hooped drek-eater."

Chrissie D's:
A low whistle comes from Chrissie as she looks into the box.

"Well, that would explain the SCUBA equipment. If this fragger was setting up a delivery system, the compressor and other crap could have filled that bottle without any problems.

"Gonzales" she continues, "I don't normally ask you about specifics, but none of this mess is going to come back and bite me is it? You said that Baiour was out of the game, but this drek looks to me like he started a new one."

"Ok," Helios sheepishly says, "so if that's VITAS, then what's in that vial you're scanning?" he asks, looking at the street doc.

"Don't worry, Doc. If we don't get him before end game time, you got the vaccine right? You'll be the richest street doc in Seattle," jokes Grave, trying to lighten the mood.

Chrissie D's:
The petite Asian woman shrugs.

"I'm not sure yet, I should have a complete workup done on the liquid by nine thirty, Short Stuff, you want me to call you with the results?"