02:13:45 Thursday, 11 January 2063 Aidan's Apartment

The black duffle bag was wedged in between where Lana sat and the arm of the couch. One of her hands rested on the bag while the other was wrapped around her glass. Her gaze was unfocused on some object across the small room and her eyes never drifted to her friends faces.

"I don't know. Just that Niki called this her "insurance" in case something ever happened. I guess something finally happened. Between this and Kat's creep.. when it rains it pours, Da?"

She rocked back and forth slightly in her seat. She wasn't outright lying to her friends, just choosing to omit parts of the story.

02:15:07 Thursday, 11 January 2063 Aidan's Apartment

Her friends exchanged glances again, obviously concerned about this entirely different and unexpected problem, but opted not to say anything.

"OK...so what are we going to do now?" Kat finally said.

19:45:18 Thursday, 11 January 2063 – Tooth and Nail, West Galer St, Downtown Seattle, UCAS


Leon led on, and as he opened a rusty steel fire door, normal conversation left both of them at the landing below. Freya, a veteran of many concerts, wasn’t prepared for the acoustic onslaught of Horns Rising, a band he remembered hearing from down in the lounge area a few times. Armago’s feeling it tonight he thought; the lead synthsinger was dripping with sweat and in full spotlight from the stage, and roaring out from the stage. Or tried to: the bass from the suspended speakers over the pit, matched by the treble and reverb, really didn’t allow for much more than the occasional lyric to get by the backbeat.

Leon lead both of the around the pit, thronging with people more than willing to beat each other to a pulp to have a good time. He nodded at Mossif, a huge human brandishing a neon vest and a shockstick that was one of the people willing to wade into the crowd when passion became more than just about music. Huge fans moved over the audience; the heat generated from this floor way overwhelmed the cooling system, and even in the brief jaunt around the pit, Leon and Freya welcomed the cooling jets of air, swooshing around the room.

Leon had worked up here a few times, so he was prepared for the pit. Freya, however, wasn’t. Freaks of every type brushed up against her, most out of her realm of describance. Furry men like Leon, moshing in the heat with what looked to be elves with feathers. More that she had no cultural or literary reference to filled the landscape. Several at the edges of the crowd popped their heads around at her passing. “Don’t worry, I’m a big girl,” Freya shouted in his year as Leon led them to a seated area, next to bar and the stairs to the lower and upper levels.

10:35:49 Sunday 14 January 2063 - The Green Papaya, 600 East Pine St, Seattle, UCAS

“Trasmittin’,” Roscoe said, taking a sip of his tomato juice. After a second, a view showed in Vedic’s commlink of eight different Seattle ‘singles’ sites, showing at least roughly if not the same picture. Highlighting them individually, he saw that, while some of the sites had slightly different images or text, they seemed largely the same; the LTG address’s were different, though.

“Wat you’re seen’ here is the same guy. Your guy. On eight differnt sites. At the same time. Ready to carry on conversation, even.” Roscoe leaned in, keeping his speech low. “Now, I knew a comint guy, real good like. Keep ten differen drones buzzn ‘round yer head like he was just breathin.”

“Now, some guys good like dat ‘round here. I’ve seen me a few of dem. Most of ‘em don’t spend time ‘round ‘dese type of places. Dey got better, or dey meet people other ways, I dunno,” Roscoe said, as the meal was delivered.

10:37:08 Sunday 14 January 2063 - The Green Papaya, 600 East Pine St, Seattle, UCAS

Vedic stirred his xao gung thoughtfully, chopsticks held relaxed in one slim, scarred hand. Faces hung in space before him, the information fed to his commlink by Roscoe scrolling across the view for him to access.

"The question now becomes is our Mr. Anderson the same individual who is running this little singles mixer or is he just a client? Is he the man behind the curtain or just one of the beneficiaries? Ultimately I think the answer is beyond the scope of our investigation. All we must ensure is that Mr. Anderson no longer bothers our employer. The easiest way to accomplish this is to explain the situation to him in direct terms. I recommend a period of surveillance followed by a physical contact. Unless, of course, you can accomplish these terms remotely through your own abilities?"

Vedic glanced up at Roscoe his voice level and without appreciable inflection save for the last rising emphasis of the question.

01:00:03 Wednesday, 10 January, 2063 – A Warehouse in the Barrens

Scrapheap lifted his head from where he had taken cover with Lady Dove and Nora. All he could tell from his quick glance around was that these newcomers were on their own side; they were firing at anything that moved. He realized his only chance to get his niece out safely may be to take advantage of the confusion.

Looking to his left, towards the stairway leading down to the corner where ETG and the others were holed-up Scrapheap could see only one hostile. While the man wasn't currently targeting them, there was no way the old runner and his two charges could make it past without a fight. The trick was going to be making the fight too quick for others to join.

Rocking back onto his heels, the old runner grabbed for the canvas bag slung over his shoulder and jammed his hand inside. He quickly located what he was looking for, withdrawing another smoke grenade. Shifting the bag back to its original location, he quickly located his Manhunters, laying where he had dropped them, noting their locations. Scrapheap then shifted his weight, preparing to lunge for the weapons as soon as his grenade went off.

"Get ready to fraggin' run, ladies."

02:16:21 Thursday, 11 January 2063 Aidan's Apartment

The shoe was on the other foot and it was now Lana's turn to be uncertain and slightly defensive the way Kat had been earlier outside the club in the car. She sighed heavily and leaned back against the couch, her head resting on the back of the couch and looked towards Aidan.

"I don't know ok? Today has been one clusterfuck after another and there aren't any simple answers. I have no place to stay, all that I now own is in this stupid bag, my best friend is being stalked by a fucking creep-o and my sister is MIA. Right now getting drunk or high till I pass out and forget for a few hours is sounding very appealing."

She drained what was left of her drink and set the glass on the beat up table to her left. Right now she just wanted to forget, passing out seemed the most viable solution as she doubted she'd be able to just sleep and she was honestly afraid of what dreams might visit her if she did.

10:37:41 Sunday 14 January 2063 - The Green Papaya, 600 East Pine St, Seattle, UCAS

"I kin track him preddy well, if you kin git me somedin'. Piece o hair, skin, tooth, somedin' like dat," Roscoe said, trying to snag a portion of the sliced beef in his stew that didn't have much lemongrass on it.

"If I git eyes on de guy, I can probly find him well 'nuff. May take a bit to locate 'em after we git away, but I got help fo dat," he said, finding a piece that fit and spearing it with his fork.

20:55:30 Wednesday, 10 January 2063- The Sundowner Tavern, 14640 58th Ave S. Seattle, UCAS

“Heh. That’s largely true, I suppose. There are a lot of people that would like to hurt me. I am quite the lady’s man,” Roderick said, chuckling to himself. Leo mentally blinked at the statement. He wasn’t sure what exactly constituted a ‘ladies man’ in Seattle, but he was sure that whatever image he conjured up wouldn’t match with the portly, balding, and generally non-handsome man in front of him.

The man sitting beside him muttered an Arabic phrase in a low melodic baritone. Roderick snapped his head and started, “Shut up, you don…”

“You shut up. I’m tired of trying to save your sorry hoop from yourself. Tory and Gar gave up a long time ago, and Sheri would have shot you herself if you didn’t give her some horsedrek voodoo about your ghost coming back to kill her…”

“That’s not voodoo…”

“she’s too superstitious to get past. I know it isn’t voodoo, you sorry excuse for a spell slinger. The point,” he said, loudly enough to make the homeless man perk up from his coffee and make Roderick shut up for a moment, “the point is that we’re not the one that Abramovich is going to put a round through your kneecaps, if not put a head on a stick outside his poker room for not paying. You are.”

“Roman wouldn’t, I’m worth more…” Roderick said, face turning redder by the second. Leo, sitting back from the exchange, couldn’t tell whether he was angry or embarrassed, but he did perk up at that name. Abramovich he mentally filed away for later.

“You don’t deal, you don’t even know them. If you did, you’d know that 50,000 nuyen would be enough for them to cut your balls off. After they’ve hung you from them,” Turning to Leo the man reached inside his pocket, holding up a hand so that Leo wouldn’t think he was pulling out a weapon.

Pulling out a small, disposable cell phone, he asked Leo “I’m Isir, and I’m the one that asked Nastasya to hire you. Care to come outside and chat? This guy’s putting me in a bad mood,”

09:19:01 Thursday, 11 January 2063 Aidan’s Apartment

As her eyes cracked open, the dingy light filtering through the dirty window stung something fierce. Raising her hand to cover her face only brought a sharp splitting headache between her eyes. As she slowly started to wake up she became more aware of her surroundings and the large sleeping form beside her. A moment of panic before familiar features came into focus. She didn’t remember coming to bed last night but assumed Aidan must have taken her with him.

Fact was she didn’t remember much of last night after getting to Aidan’s place. Unfortunately the day’s previous events still were crystal clear.

She sat up in bed, drawing the sheets up with her as she tried to focus on the clock. She took another moment to remember what day it was.

Shit, Thursday. Professor Donnelly’s class!

She tried to get out of bed but her head was swimming and as soon as she got a few inches off the bed she fell right back down. Aidan woke up beside her and looked concerned for a moment reaching for her before she laid back down beside him.

“I think I’ve earned the right to miss class today.”

Her words came out in a long breath that continued into the silence of the apartment.

“Besides, I should probably go back to the apartment today… see what’s left of the place, if I can even get in to salvage anything important.” She laughed bitterly, softly. “But first I need to take care of this raging headache, and I need a shower. You have hot water today?”

Perhaps it was best if she just stayed numb.

10:38:19 Sunday 14 January 2063 - The Green Papaya, 600 East Pine St, Seattle, UCAS

"It will have to be eyes on, then," replied Vedic. "I have nothing physical linked to him. Our employer provided only an image and the description. I do, however, have his place of work. I have other feelers out for information, hopefully a home address, but they haven't returned anything of value yet. If I haven't heard anything by noon today, I recommend that we meet here again at 1500 tomorrow then head over to his work address and pick up our surveillance there."

20:56:30 Wednesday, 10 January 2063- The Sundowner Tavern, 14640 58th Ave S. Seattle, UCAS

The rapid shift in the conversation, the verbal jockeying and frustration between the two men, threw a gear somewhere in the back of Leo's mind. He could feel himself growing distant from the situation; removed, like he was watching the whole scene over a closed circuit camera, or perhaps the window of an operating theater, voyeuristically involved but clinically detached. Every word registered, all the details filed away to be used for later - he had taught his mind to always gather that much at least - but the emotion and spirit of the exchange were only registered as a dull echo, like the vibrations felt through permacrete walkways standing by the shoreline breakwalls - minute and inconsequential.

Leo's eyes darted to Isir's hand, anticipating trouble, as the man moved towards his pocket, but Isir's direct address pulled Leo back out of himself just a bit.

"Come outside and chat," Leo said, nodding his head mechanically and allowing Isir to lead the way to a place to speak in private.

19:47:42 Thursday, 11 January 2063 � Tooth and Nail, West Galer St, Downtown Seattle, UCAS
Leon Mordred

"I know!", Freya's elder brother shouted back over the raging beat that deluged over the floor. "Considering the why they are looking at you,", he continued by pointing back at the crowd, "they know it too." 'Though, that might not be the only reason.', he thought to himself as they both reached the bar and seating area.
Crossing the threshold, the cacophony of chords dropped in power just enough to let the bartender hear the orders of the patrons. Leon grinned as he thought about all the time's he had taken refuge near the bar, behind the solid clear glass that separated the giant mosh from the people trying to get buzzed. He knew the glass was solid too, having rammed a few overzealous moshers' heads into it without any apparent damage to the sound dampening wall.

Still having to speak loudly and closely to the smaller elf, the changeling continued to speak as they made their way through the people milling around, taking a break from the heated and active floor. "You know, the reason why I always took you to the other clubs is because I didn't know if you would be ready for this.", he said with a grin before jerking his thumb over his shoulder to indicate the massive throng of intertwined mutants of nature. "This is an entirely different can of worms than you're used too, right?"
His grin died away a bit though, for as they split for a second to pass around another person, he saw Freya slightly frowning back at him as they moved back together. "I already told you, I'm a big girl! You can stop worrying about me!", she chastised Leon before closing her eyes for a second and letting out a sigh. Opening her eyes back up with a slight roll to them, she continued, "Yeah, I didn't expect this, but I can handle it. Now, are you going to get me that drink or not?", she finished with a wry grin working it's way at one side of her lips.
"Ok, ok. You're right. Just a second.", Leon quickly replied by raising his hands in a low 'don't shoot me' posture before taking the last few steps up to the bar. The bar was packed as it usually was on any given night, people yelling out orders over the beat of the music and the sound of other patrons yelling for drinks. People rushed back and forth behind the bar in almost practiced synchronization, getting the job done of serving the customers without getting in the way of the other bartenders.

Squeezing his way up to the bar itself, the green eyed changeling saw the human, one of the few people working at the club who wasn't a changeling, patrolling this area of it. The bartender�s short black hair and face were covered in sweat from the heat of the room and from his exertions of quickly moving his dexterous hands in serving peoples drinks. Even the fans on top of the bar, which Luna had installed at the request of the poor people working this floor, only kept him cool enough to not fall over from heat exhaustion.
He saw the man stop for a second to wipe his soaked brow and take a swig from a water bottle. Quickly making up his mind for which drinks to order, the brown haired feline pulled out his credstick in preparation. Leon waited a few seconds, just as a slight courtesy to the overworked bartender, but after that, it was the rule of the club; The loudest person got served quickest.
"Yo, Joel! Can I get a Wild Turkey 'Neat' and a 'Mile High Club'!?", he yelled out to get over the hustle and bustle along with the raging music which was reaching it's zenith for the set.

09:57:41 Thursday, 11 January 2063 Aidan’s Apartment

After a quick lukewarm shower and a change of clothes from the duffle bag Lana ran her fingers through her damp hair in an attempt to work out all the snarls as she sat on the bed as Aidan finished getting dressed. Her head was only mildly clearer after the shower and downing a few aspirin with a water chaser.

As she talked to Aidan about going back to the apartment he made it increasingly clear he wasn’t about to let her go back on her own and he’d be shadowing her the entire time. Soon he was rallying the pair that were sleeping out in the livingroom and once Kat had gotten cleaned up the group headed out to make the short walk towards Lana’s building.

Everyone tried to make generic small talk on the walk over, but Lana kept rather quiet concentrating more on the sidewalk in front of her than the actual conversation. By the time they arrived at the actual building everyone had fallen silent and kind of waited for Lana to make the first move to go inside.

She couldn’t help but hesitate and look up the exterior façade of the building to see the damage in the daylight. Tendrils of black soot licked out from along the windows like fingers from the grim reaper himself. That thought sent a chill through Lana’s very core. Screwing up her courage to try to get inside and see just what was left of her life she swallowed hard and looked back towards her friends.

“I guess it’s now or never hmmm?�

She hoped for some words of encouragement from the trio, but there really weren’t any since they had no idea of how to deal with the situation themselves. She shook her head and started towards the front security doors of her building.

10:15:09 Thursday, 11 January 2063 Metropolitan Park Apartments, 601 S. Washington St., Seattle

As she enters the lobby, the first thing that strikes her is the place is swarming with cops. Lone Star is everywhere, and while the building is no longer cordoned off, they are obviously controlling access to the building.

The four of them walk in the doors and barely make it a few feet before being stopped by a cop.

"Are you a residents of this building? What floor and apartment number please?" he asks, carrying a datapad in his hand he obviously intends to reference.

10:15:27 Thursday, 11 January 2063, Metropolitan Park Apartments, 601 S. Washington St., Seattle

Even though she was a (mostly) law-abiding citizen, seeing this many cops swarming around in one spot made her skin crawl and amped up her nerves. She even flinches slightly when the one cop gets up in their faces and starts asking questions. Lana takes a slight step forward as she nods, dreading what comes next when she mentions what floor she lives… lived on, let alone delivers the apartment number. However she didn’t have a chance in hell of getting upstairs without going through the proverbial blue wall that was in the lobby.

“I’m a resident Sir, these three are my guests. Floor thirteen, apartment 1319 is my apartment number.�

10:15:46 Thursday, 11 January 2063, Metropolitan Park Apartments, 601 S. Washington St., Seattle

"OK let's see here...Floor Thirteen, Apartment 1319..." He scans the datapad, and his eyes narrow almost imperceptibly. Almost.

Looking back at her, he asks politely, but with a very slight tension in his tone, "What is your name young lady?"

10:15:53 Thursday, 11 January 2063, Metropolitan Park Apartments, 601 S. Washington St., Seattle

She saw it, the subtle shift in the cop’s demeanor. She heard it, the tension creeping into his voice while he tried to keep professional. It didn’t do anything to put her at ease, it actually started to elevate the fight or flight response inside her. The sixth sense in her that something wasn’t quite right and had the potential to go horribly wrong. However, knowing she’d done nothing wrong led her to give her answer.

“Svetlana Prevlov. Is there a problem officer?�

10:16:09 Thursday, 11 January 2063, Metropolitan Park Apartments, 601 S. Washington St., Seattle

He actually looks apologetic as he answers, "No there isn't Ms. Prevlov. However, we do have some people who need to speak with you, and I'm afraid you cannot have your friends present for this conversation. Excuse me one moment."

He turns and waves over a guy wearing a brown trench coat that's about as cliche as it gets. When the guy arrives, the cop says, "Detective, this is Svetlana Prevlov."

The guy's eyes light up and he says, "Thanks officer, I'll take it from here. Good job keeping me up to date." He pats the cop on the shoulder and turns to Lana, offering her his hand. "Detective Rick Morris, Ms. Prevlov. Do you have time right now to discuss some things?"

10:16:15 Thursday, 11 January 2063, Metropolitan Park Apartments, 601 S. Washington St., Seattle

She shook the detective’s offered hand with a nod and then glanced back over her shoulder at her friends, particularly Aidan for a moment with a uncertain look on her face before she turned back to face the detective. Separating her from her friends made her a little uneasy, but at the same time could understand that they were in the middle of an investigation and had to keep things contained.

“That would depend Detective Morris, how much time are we talking about here? I have classes at the university I need to get to.�

Really she wasn’t lying, she had already missed Professor Donnelly’s class this morning, but getting out of Kalik’s class without anything short of a death certificate would be more difficult.

10:16:31 Thursday, 11 January 2063, Metropolitan Park Apartments, 601 S. Washington St., Seattle

He pauses for a moment, then asks, "Are you free later today? We'd really like to talk with you as soon as possible. If you have somewhere you absolutely have to be we understand, but I think it's very important we talk sooner rather than later. At the least, we want to speak with you today even if it's after normal work hours."

10:16:46 Thursday, 11 January 2063, Metropolitan Park Apartments, 601 S. Washington St., Seattle

“You didn’t answer my question Detective.� She smiled rather wryly as he evaded the question of just how long her potential “interrogation� might take.

“If you can give me a ballpark idea of just how long this might take, I can send my friends off for a bit and you can talk to me sooner as opposed to later. Somehow I think my professor might understand missing class because of being questioned by the police.�

She wasn’t attempting to be flippant to the detective but she was nervous. She didn’t like the insistence that she speak with the detective as soon as possible either. Urgency seemed to elude to a possible danger and honestly if this wasn’t related to O’Halloran, the ThinMan or whomever Niki managed to frag off she didn’t think she could handle one more “danger� in her life right now.

10:17:13 Thursday, 11 January 2063, Metropolitan Park Apartments, 601 S. Washington St., Seattle

Detective Morris smiles at Lana's catch. "I estimate it will probably take about two hours due to the paperwork. If we have to, we can skip the paperwork for now and cut to the discussion and deal with it later. Like I said, I'd much rather talk to you sooner rather than later."

He seems very serious, and while it doesn't appear to be the kind of 'you're in big trouble' seriousness adults tend to get in bad situations, it's definitely of the 'this is a very big deal' brand of seriousness.

10:16:46 Thursday, 11 January 2063, Metropolitan Park Apartments, 601 S. Washington St., Seattle

She nodded as if that was acceptable to her as she studied the Detective’s face for a moment.

“Very well detective, give me a few moments to send my concerned friends on their way and you can have me for the next two hours.�

She didn’t wait for his permission before she turned on her heel and walked back over the anxious trio near the door who were under the watchful eye of various officers in the lobby.

“You guys might want to take off for a bit. The suit wants to talk to me for a while won’t say what it’s about only you guys can’t be there.�

She watched Aidan and Razor’s concern as it darkened their faces and she smiled slightly and chided them even though she knew the guys’ mistrust of the police.

“I’ll be ok, really you guys can have a few hours off from babysitting. He seems more concerned about whatever it is that he wants to talk about than he seems interested in locking me away for the rest of my life. Really, I’ll call you guys when I’m done OK?�

She gave Adian a quick hug and a kiss before shooing the trio out the front lobby doors. Taking a deep breath she walked back to where the Detective was waiting and looked up at him.

“I’m all yours.�

08:35:05 Sunday 14, January 2063 – Outside “The Bakery�, Renton, Seattle, UCAS

Ludi's rough hand went from her side to the desk, taking the credstick between her fingers and tumbling it around. On the outside, she was all smiles and confident... but on the inside, she was burning with an urge to grab Sascha's arm and to pop it out of its socket before emptying her predator in his head. She knew very well that her newly jacked up system would allow her plenty of room to maneuver. If she wanted to kill the mobster, it was well within her reach to do so. But then, she would be dead to a brief second after.

She took the cigarette out of her mouth, paying very little attention as to where he ashes might fall. The only reason why she was helping out Sascha was because she had no other choices. All night, she had tossed and turned on the couch, trying to come to grip with what her next move would be. Options weren't short on her list, but all had their own amount of risks. She could try to find out where Yuri was. She could take Sascha out. She could go to Miki for help. She could tip off Alec...

Finding Yuri would prove difficult. It would require skills that were beyond her own abilities to simply crack heads and build bugs. She would need more cash, and she would need to hire outside help. Taking Sascha out was risky also. Not that she wasn't able to carry out such grim tasks... she had done it many times before. But the mobster had his own little army, and gunning for a Vory mademan could but a big price on his head. Then there was Miki...If he knew of the blackmailed positioned he was in, he might take her side.... but it could also backfire on her. She could become a liability. And then there was Alec. Nothing would thrill him more than a big bust. But that would make Ludi a rat to her own people. The people that had helped her when she had set foot in Seattle.

And now Sascha was bitching and moaning about her asking for money.

“How the frag� she pocketed the credstick “do you expect me to do this job if I don't have the cash for the gear.�

She took one long drag from her cigarette, calmly and coolly.

“If you want, for a few bucks, I'll get you a couple of glasses. You can put your ear to them and listen through the walls.�

Ludmilla sighed heavily. Every single fiber of her being wanted to pull out her gun and squeeze the cold trigger a few times.

“I need you to do your part and get me on the job site tomorrow.�

01:00:04 Wednesday, 10 January, 2063 - A Warehouse in the Barrens

Scrapheap pulled the smoke grenade's pin and lightly tossed it behind him, almost in the same motion. He then lunged forward, grabbing a battered Manhunter in each hand. As the smartlink's display flared to life, he grimly turned his attention to the single gunman standing between his little group and the stairway down.

10:19:07 Thursday, 11 January 2063, Metropolitan Park Apartments, 601 S. Washington St., Seattle

Detective Morris leads Lana to a small conference room in the management area of the building, where a human black woman is sitting. She rises as Detective Morris introduces her. "Svetlana Prevlov, this is Detective Tabitha Fox. Please, have a seat."

Lana shakes the other detective's hand before taking a seat as Detective Morris closes the door behind them. Placing a tape recorder on the table, he says, "I want you to know we're only trying to take a statement from you right now. You are free to choose whether to cooperate in our investigation. Do you understand?"

She nods her understanding, and he continues, "We'll be recording your official statements in addition to our written notes unless you specifically request to have something off the record. Before we get to formal statements though, let's just talk about a couple things, ok?" Again she simply nods.

"All right, first where were you and what were you doing last night, say from about 20:00:00 to about 00:00:00?"

10:21:02 Thursday, 11 January 2063, Metropolitan Park Apartments, 601 S. Washington St., Seattle

Lana couldn’t help but let her eyes move about the sparse furnishings of the conference room after the other detective was introduced and Detective Morris reminded her she was here and answering questions of her own free will, for the time being at least.

She found herself nervously drumming her fingernails against the fake wood conference table and understood why cops pulled this routine of interrogation. The isolation made even innocent people nervous and on edge. When she was directly asked a question where there was an expected response she cleared her throat slightly before speaking. She wanted a glass of water desperately all the sudden.

“Last night I was here at the apartment till around 21:00, working on some school assignments. Then I headed down to meet my boyfriend and his friends down at the Klassy Kat.� She paused for a second, but before either Detective could go down that avenue of questioning she decided almost full disclosure of what was going on would likely be a better way to go.

“My friend from school works there, she asked us to come down and just hang around while she worked last night because of some creep who had been hanging around there as of late. After that we went back to my friend’s place to grab some of her things because she was going to spend the night at my place. We got back to the apartment right in the middle of all the chaos.�

10:21:49 Thursday, 11 January 2063, Metropolitan Park Apartments, 601 S. Washington St., Seattle

The cops look at one another, then Detective Fox asks, "Can you be more specific about what time you arrived back here?"

Before Lana can answer, Detective Morris adds, "And what did you do after you arrived back here and saw all the chaos?"

10:21:57 Thursday, 11 January 2063, Metropolitan Park Apartments, 601 S. Washington St., Seattle

“Honestly Detectives, I don’t know exactly what time it was when I came home I guess it was before midnight, they pretty much had the fire out and they were tending to the injured and all the residents were milling around outside. I spoke to Mrs. Chernov and after I realized it was my floor, my apartment and it looked really bad… I tried to call my sister, but I couldn’t reach her.. she would have been home most likely and no one had seen her. I could only imagine the worst. After that, I left with my friends, all I wanted to do was get drunk and not think.�

10:22:34 Thursday, 11 January 2063, Metropolitan Park Apartments, 601 S. Washington St., Seattle

The two detectives look at each other, then Detective Fox leans forward and looks into Lana's eyes. "Have you spoken with your sister yet since last night?"

She seems oddly intense.

01:00:04 Wednesday, 10 January, 2063 - A Warehouse in the Barrens

Even as Scrapheap whirled, trying to bring the Manhunters to bear on his opponent, the guy was right on top of him, having closed the distance at superhuman speeds and deftly slicing and dicing with a katana he'd pulled out of nowhere.

Trying to stay calm, knowing Nora was right behind him, Scrapheap bobbed and weaved, punching out with the Manhunters to keep the guy back and almost sneaking a kick in through the guy's defenses. But his opponent was fast, and even more than fast, he was good.

Turning his defense of Scrapheap's kick into an opening, he stepped outside Scrapheap's centerline and whirled, bringing his sword across and slashing John's chest when he raised his arms to keep them from getting chopped off. Feeling the blade cut through his armor, his initial thought was Oh drek, please tell me the armor's going to hold!

Behind him, seeing her uncle cut by the blade, Nora raised her hands to her mouth and screamed.

10:22:52 Thursday, 11 January 2063, Metropolitan Park Apartments, 601 S. Washington St., Seattle

Lana leans forward slightly on her own as she holds the woman's gaze the best she can.

"Since last night? No Detective, I have not."

06:41:16 Monday, January 8, 2063 - Cruising along Seattle's highways (under the speed limit, of course)

Virgil was silent for a long moment, then he answered, "I think you hit them all Dragon. I also think you've nicely illustrated the root of our problem." The two of them looked at each other and nodded.

"Yeah, there's way too much for us to do together right now. I hate to say this, but I think we need to split up. We'll never be able to tackle all this within the time frames we need to if we don't," Dragon answered.

"OK then. So how do we do it?"

"Let's do it logically. Daedalus is already doing his stuff, so let him cover that. We're all going to need to keep an ear to the ground regarding the Mafia and Yakuza, and keep everyone informed if we find out anything new. I'll work on helping Sybersnake, Roberto, and Tiffany in their respective messes.

You work on finding Julia, and handle the Jedi and Jonah angles. Plus, you can work with your Draco Foundation buddy to try and score us some cash out of all this.

Between the two of us, we should come up with a better idea of where Aztechnology fits into all this, so we'll have to keep each other posted on that as we find out more. How does that sound to you?"

"Makes sense to me. Let's do it. I should probably take Juliette's car back to her before it gets wrecked any worse. Where do you want me to drop you off at?"

"Actually, do you think I could borrow it for a bit longer? I'm going to need to find a new set of wheels, and I still have my shotgun in the trunk. I don't want to have to haul that thing around on a bus."

"Understood. But," Virgil grins at him, "try not to total the car. I'm going to have a hard enough time as is explaining the dents from when the rocket exploded near it."

Dragon grins back. "Right. In the meantime, where do you want me to drop you off?"

"Downtown. I'll spend some time losing any tails we may still have on us before heading back to the safehouse. You can drop the car at my safehouse when you're done, and I'll take it back to the clinic."

"Got it."

07:13:47 Monday, January 8, 2063 - Downtown Seattle

The two of them drove in silence for a while, each man lost in his own thoughts. As they closed in on the downtown shopping area of Seattle, Dragon was the first to speak. "We're getting close. Get ready to hop out."

Virgil smiled inwardly. Despite his businesslike demeanor, he knew his friend was worried for all of them. Although they'd all been in plenty of scrapes before, by any standard this was a pretty big mess they were in this time, and getting out wasn't going to be easy for any of them.

"Right." Preparing to hop out, the shaman added, "Stay safe Dragon, and stay in touch. I'll see you soon."

As the mercenary slowed the car to a stop he looked at his friend and nodded. "You too. Take care of yourself Virgil."

Virgil climbed out of the car and grinned back at Dragon through the open window, "Of course. Just like every other time. May Tyr watch over us both."

Nodding, Dragon tossed his friend a quick salute. "See you on the other side."

Returning the farewell gesture solemnly, Virgil turned and vanished into the gathering morning work commuter crowd.

Dragon watched his friend go for a moment, then carefully pulled back out into traffic. Dialing up a pre-arranged message drop he and Sybersnake had set up, he left her a message.

"Things have gotten significantly out of hand. One thing you should know, I'm currently flying solo. Given what we're up against, I think we could use some backup. I know a guy I think would be valuable to us, but since this is your show I wanted to ask you before bringing him in. Call me back on a secured line and I'll update you on the situation."

07:26:19 Monday, January 8, 2063 - Downtown Seattle

Traffic crawled through the metroplex, metallic segments of an endless millipede undulating through the ribbons of asphalt and concrete woven between the spires of glass and steel. Ordinarily it was camouflage, a thousand anonymous vehicles within which to hide. Or, at worst, an obstacle to be avoided, a labyrinth shifting at a hundred kph. Now, it was an millstone that ground Dragon's thoughts into an formless fine powder. Sybersnake and S-K. Virgil and Julia. The Mafia. The Yakuza. How many variables could he put into this equation? And now, on top of everything, he was flying solo. Not to mention his evaluation for the Company was coming due. Their advance team was due into the metroplex in less than three weeks. And he'd heard troubling rumors that it was going to be half of what was originally planned. Apparently a dozen new contracts had sprung up on the grid between when the OpOrder was signed and when he'd last checked the TO&E. Something was going on, he could feel it like static in the air just before a lightning strike. He changed lanes. His phone hummed. Highlighting the incoming call icon, he clicked the line open.

"Go."

"Got your message. Sorry to hear about the troubles." Sybersnake's voice did nothing to calm the cold, bad feeling at the back of Dragon's neck. Her normal breathy tone was absent, replaced by an undercurrent of ragged exhaustion. For a moment, Dragon felt a little guilty.

Here I am, moaning about all the things going wrong in my life. At least I've still got a base of operations and a plan, options to use. She's been kicked out of anything resembling normal, set loose on the streets with an unusuable deck and the forces of S-K after her.

"Not your responsibility. Anyway, I've got reinforcements I can call in. Have you recovered anything on your end?"

"A little. I've been doing some offline diagnostics and it looks like most of my deck is clean. I haven't had a chance to fully vet the backup copies of my utilities, but I'm confident they'll check out. I'm not running to jump online just yet, though. Figured I'd wait until I had some muscle at my back in case things went sideways again. As for personnel, that's your baliwick. I trust your judgment. Where and when do you want to meet?"

10:23:13 Thursday, 11 January 2063, Metropolitan Park Apartments, 601 S. Washington St., Seattle

The two detectives look at each other for a moment, and then Fox asks again, "Are you sure?"

Lana nods, not wanting to go back on her story, and the two detectives take a deep breath seemingly in tandem.

Finally Detective Morris takes a deep breath and reluctantly says, "We...found a body in your apartment. We haven't been able to identify it yet, and we were hoping you could confirm it wasn't your sister. Without your confirmation she is currently alive, we'll have to wait for the results of the DNA test to verify the body's identity."

Detective Fox looks gently at Lana. "We know this is a shock sweetie, is there anything we can do to help?"

01:00:04 Wednesday, 10 January, 2063 - A Warehouse in the Barrens

Fortunately, Scrapheap's veteran reflexes had enabled him to throw his body just far enough back the blade wasn't able to penetrate his armor, raking along his armored jacket but sliding harmlessly away from him.

Beneath him, however, Max was not so lucky. As he half-ducked, half-ran towards the northeast exit, a stray burst caught him in the shoulder. Several rounds punched through his armor and into his flesh, spinning him around and knocking him to the floor. Grimacing, he gingerly touched his shoulder to feel how bad the damage was. His hand came away covered in blood and it was all he could do not to scream with the pain.

07:30:46 Monday, January 8, 2063 - Driving through Downtown Seattle

"Let's meet at Aurora Village Downtown. It should provide us an easy way to lose tails and there will be enough civilian cover to make even S-K think twice before hitting us publicly. At least that's the plan. I need to drop off some stuff at one of my safehouses and return this car to its owner before it gets wrecked worse than it already has been. So let's say...12:00:00 at the Food Court. That should give me enough time to get things set and touch base with the guy I want to bring in. Will that be enough time for you to complete your prep work?"

07:31:03 Monday, January 8, 2063 - Driving through Downtown Seattle

"Aurora Village at noon? I can do that. Watch your back out there."

With that, she was gone. Dragon closed the comm interface, scanning through his blind spots again before changing lanes. So many variables, so few equations, and so little time. Ever since his conversation with Virgil and Daedalus a couple days ago, he'd had this feeling that a vast, hidden machine was slowly coming to life. Gears meshing, servos groaning in symphony, a great shadowed lock who's key was being turned millimeter by millimeter. And when the last of the tumblers finally clicked home, all Hell was going to break loose.

Since when did you become so poetic?

He grunted in annoyance at the thought, jamming down on the accelerator.

Focus. Keep your eyes on the target.

08:35:42 Sunday 14, January 2063 – Outside “The Bakery�, Renton, Seattle, UCAS

Sascha nodded angrily, waving his hand as if to brush away her concerns, obviously impatient for the meeting to be over.

"Ya, ya, don't sweat it. I've got it fixed with the foreman on the job site. Just tell him I sent you and he'll get you through the back gate. Be discrete, though! I don't want a bunch of trog construction workers asking too many questions."

07:33:19 Monday, January 8, 2063 - En route to one of Dragon's Safehouses

Time to call in some backup. Dragon had mixed feelings about bringing Erebus into this mess.

On the one hand, the elf had proved himself to be capable, intelligent, resourceful, and appeared both loyal and professional. As far as initial assessments went, he definitely seemed to be the kind of guy you wanted to have on your team.

On the other hand, Dragon knew very little concrete information about him, and he didn't like the idea of bringing a stranger into what was essentially a personal matter. For one thing, he didn't want to expose Sybersnake to any more danger than she was already in. Plus, he didn't like the idea of possibly getting Erebus in a world of trouble over something that wasn't strictly a business thing, no matter how he sold it.

Still, the elf had mentioned he was looking to get established in Seattle, and seemed willing enough to stick his neck out to do so. Certainly if they could pull this off it would a nice feather in their caps, and build the foundation for a solid working relationship going forward.

More to the point though, Dragon simply was out of options. There wasn't anyone else he could think of to watch his back on this, and from all appearances so far, he was going to need the backup to get Sybersnake out of this mess. Put that way, there was no other real choice. He had to at least make the call and see if the elf was game.

Dialing the elf, he cut straight to business as soon as the line connected. "Erebus, Dragon here. You mentioned earlier you were looking to get established in Seattle with some solid professional relationships and building up a good working rep. If you're up for it, I have a guaranteed high risk, potentially high reward situation I'm working on. There's some payoff involved, maybe more if we can leverage it. But the real benefit would be building up a good working relationship between you and me for future endeavors, as well as some other people who are going to be in on this action. I could use some backup, and your name is at the top of my list. Interested?"

10:24:11 Thursday, 11 January 2063, Metropolitan Park Apartments, 601 S. Washington St., Seattle

In the chair across from the detectives the young woman paled visibly. Internally her shock wasn’t that her sister was “dead� it was more that there was a body found in her apartment.

If that body isn’t Niki who the hell could it be?

Lana sat there in apparent stunned silence while Detective Fox seemed to start to play the roll of Mother Hen and was offering her help and all she could do was shake her head and stare straight ahead.

“I don’t know what I’m supposed to do. I mean… is everything gone upstairs? What about… I mean…how long till you know if that’s…if the body was Niki?�

Her voice cracked and she closed her eyes as if to hold back her tears. She was buying herself a little bit of time and letting the detectives lay their cards on the table as far as it came to what they would offer in terms of help and what they expected of her. She still didn’t trust the cops 100%, besides, as soon as they did a little digging they could quickly determine that she was still a minor and who knows what they’d try to do with her until their DNA testing was complete, and who knew what would happen after that.

07:33:19 Monday - Erebus' Seattle Doss- Seattle UCAS

Beep. . . Beep

Erebus looked up from where he was scouring the last of the powder residue from the H&K 227's barrel at the sound of his P-Sec's ring tone. Not many people had that number and everyone who did he wanted to talk to right now. Pulling a datacord from his pocket he seated one end in his datajack and the other in his P-Sec so he could talk hand's free.

He didn't even get a chance to say hello before Dragon's voice came on line with his offer.

Holy drek! More trouble already?

The idea of sticking his head above ground right now sounded bad, he'd been trying to figure out how to hide out for awhile but the reality was he was out of reserves and he needed to make some moves. He'd been impressed with the way Dragon handled himself, and the idea of getting dialed in to the smaller sammie's network made him practically salivate. He was still a little wigged out by the other man's interrogation techniques, Erebus could still see the cold disinterested look on Dragon's face as he calmly chopped off the Yak's fingers. That expressionless mask would probably feature prominently in some of Erebus' less pleasant dreams for awhile.

The reality was he couldn't afford to pass up the offer, no matter how high the risk.

"Ya, I'm interested. I'll be straight with you chummer, I need the connections and even the chance of a payday is worth it now. This time I'll bring my car instead of my bike, give me a meeting time and place and we'll hook up."

10:27:33 Thursday, 11 January 2063, Metropolitan Park Apartments, 601 S. Washington St., Seattle

Detective Morris sounds genuinely sympathetic as he says, "I'm sorry Ms. Prevlov, but the lab guys are still going through your apartment for any clues as to what happened. Not everything is gone, but we can't let you up there until we're finished with it, otherwise you might accidentally destroy some evidence."

Detective Fox adds gently, "Do you have any family you can stay with while you wait for the DNA results? We can contact you as soon as we know, probably in the next day or so."

07:33:29 Monday, January 8, 2063 - En route to one of Dragon's Safehouses

"Aurora Village Downtown. You know where that is? 12:00:00 at the Food Court. I'm handling the personnel, the person with the situation briefing will meet us there. Do you have any other questions for me?"

07:33:31 Monday January 8, 2063- Erebus' Doss

"Nope. I'll see you there." Erebus disconnected the call.

He checked the barrel of the subgun again, looking for particles or damage, and seeing none gave it a very light coating of Hoppe's Cleaning Oil and set about reassembling the weapon. He only had the one clip for the subgun, but that would be easy to remedy and since he only had a little more than half a clip full of ammo it didn't make much difference at this point.

The young Elf moved through his doss, getting together a bag of clothes and supplies to put in the car. He would put together extra ammo for his pistols and take both guns with him, and probably stash his AK in the car too, just in case.

He figured he'd still be able to get in a few hours of sleep and be ready for the meeting come noon.

20:59:01 Wednesday, 10 January 2063- The Sundowner Tavern, 14640 58th Ave S. Seattle, UCAS

The night air blasted at Isir and Leo, the warmth of the Sundowner quickly forgotten behind the jangle of an old-fashioned bell and a plexiglass door. For their part, the waitstaff barely blinked at them leaving. Only the homeless man noted their passing in detail; Roderick sulked in the booth. Isir pulled his cap down lower to cover his ears as the first blast of wind and lifted snow hit the doorway.

“Sorry for having to pull this on you, but I don’t have time to mind him and…do what I need to do.� Isir said in lightly accented English, holding out a slim, dark hand with a cheap portable phone.

“This has got my number programmed in it, and if you don’t get me, you will get someone. While what I’ve said in there is true, Rod’s valuable enough to get us up and running quick. And we know where he likes to sulk off to; that slitch can slip out of your fingers very quickly if you don’t pay attention.�

Isir laughed at the last, smiling a broad smile that showed chrome-tinged with black teeth. “So, 4000 nuyen worth it? If you’ve got questions, ask them now. That phone is for emergencies only, omae.�

10:28:19 Thursday, 11 January 2063, Metropolitan Park Apartments, 601 S. Washington St., Seattle

Lana nodded blankly as she stared off at a point past either of the detectives.

“I can stay with friends. I’ll be safe.� Her voice was flat, lifeless. “Is there a way I can reach either of you if it’s necessary, or I need something?�

She ran her fingers through her hair and tried to remember to breathe. The room kept feeling smaller and smaller and she couldn’t wait to get away from the detectives and back out with her friends.

20:59:58 Wednesday, 10 January 2063- The Sundowner Tavern, 14640 58th Ave S. Seattle, UCAS

"If he is worth 4000 to you, I will keep him from trouble," Leo said, taking the portable phone from Isir's hand. The hard plastic clicked lightly when his fingers clamped down on the casing, and he had to resist the dull urge to watch his arm swing back and deposit the device into his jacket pocket. Sometimes the chrome seemed to move on its own.

"How controlled do you want the situation? Do you want him to go to ground, should I be his shadow, or keep it like I'm not there? Is any of that money up front and do you have any gear I can get as pay? Other than that he won't be too much hassle and I appreciate the opportunity."

Leo glanced back at the homeless man to see if he was still watching the impromptu meeting. He thumbed towards the bum with an arm that rebelled in line with his wishes. "He with you?" the Russian asked.