2000 Tuesday, January 9, 2063 - Land's End Magic Shop

Andie continues looking over his two new roommates and says, "Your friend looks a little the worse for wear, Sam. Is he going to be alright?" Andie thinks hard about the implications of this being Sara's brother and wonders if he has ever meet the man before this night. The resemblance is remarkable...

Andie turns to see Solomon's reaction to the situation and his chit chat with their uninvited guests to defuse the ackwardness of the situation. Well, better to make the best of the situation than to offend, I always say. Where is Sara now, I wonder?

He turns back to Sam and says, "You wouldn't happen to know anything about security systems, would you Sam? I've been working on a system for a new building and could use some help on it. Think you could help me out?"

2003 Tuesday, January 9, 2063 - Land's End Magic Shop

No, for sure Andie hasn't met this person before. I'd surely have remembered ...

"Uh -- I guess?" Sam looks a bit taken aback, one hand wandering down, out of Andie's sight. The thumping sound slowly abates. "Sure. What do you need to know?"

00:03:56 Wednesday 10 January 2063 - Everett Dockyard, Seattle, UCAS

So weird I don't even want to start thinking about it. I might as well be dealing with little green men from Mars, Tony thinks to himself as he witnesses the scene before him. "If there is nothing further..." he asks the children, checking the contents of the black case.

1100 Wednesday 10 January 2063 - Cooper's Automotive, Downtown Seattle-UCAS

"Hey Chavez, anything new?," Marq asks, walking into the garage.

"Not really, well not yet. Im suposed to have a slick Westwind coming in for some fine tuning."

12:06:55 Wednesday 10 January 2063 - Miner's Landing, Downtown Seattle, UCAS

Eyes resisted the urge to wince. Now that he thought for a second, of course it would be the daughter; who else would try such an obvious ruse, in particular when she, as a woman in her mid-twenties, had little chance of actually passing for a 50-year-old? The thought came that this could just be a second fake name, a double-blind or whatever it was called to get him caught up in his own cleverness, but he'd already been, rude? enough already, trashing her alias right to her face once like that.

Besides, there was something more important to talk about right now. "I don't doubt that you think you mean that, but I've had to eat my idealistic words a few times once, so I know better than to take a pronouncement like that at face value. I don't want to scare you off or anything, but I suggest you consider carefully just how much you really want to know."

Eyes glanced around casually, trying to pick up on any prying eyes or ears. "Let me be clear here: this is not some detective trid where the bad guys are just waiting around to be discovered. I've barely scratched the surface of anything so far, and already in the past two days I've received more veiled death threats than I've received in the past two years. These are dangerous people, people who apparently felt no remorse at putting a bullet in your father's chest through an armored wall. If they find out that you're looking, they will kill you. Oh, and me too," he added, almost as an afterthought. "So I suggest you take some time and think, really think, about how much you need to know."

Not really expecting an answer right away, Eyes folded his hands and moved on to the next matter. He hated to throw all that out, but really this woman needed to know how deep a game she was involving herself in. Her backing out now would definitely be preferable to her backing out after he and she had stumbled unto something serious. "Now then, if you are serious, then the next step is to find out just what your father was working on before he died. I've looked around, and frankly it's rather like trying to question a black hole. Your father is very good at covering his tracks, and honestly I'd expect no less from a man of his talents and skill.

"The only place I can think of that might have the information would be your father's own apartment. As his daughter, would you have some way of getting me inside? I suppose I could try and sleaze my way in by myself, but it would be much easier, less dangerous, and far far more legal for everyone involved if we had your help." Eyes made a lopsided grin. "Plus I'd have to charge you extra for a B&E job."

There. Let's see how she chews on that. Eyes blinks. Wow, did I really say all of that? About 80% of that was unnecessary, and the rest was far too indiscreet. Drek, am I an idiot or what?

10:45:52 Monday 08 January 2063 – Redmond - Touristville - The Respite Soup Kitchen

“No kid, nothing that I can use immediately.” Trancer looks crestfallen at his reply.

“What are we gonna do now.” He mutters.

Trying to cheer the boy up, Max lets him in on part of his plan. “First I am going to take this dress and Keira’s hairbrush home. They may be able to help me find her.”

Trancer looks up at Max in confusion. “How is that going to help?”

“Well, I may be able to cast a spell that will help me locate Keira, She were she is and hear what she hears, but I am in no shape to try it now. It requires extreme concentration and I need some rest.” Max starts to slip into what his friends call his professor mode, but stops himself before he rattles on.

‘No time to go into Astral Theories and the correspondence points.’

“When I get back, Melina, you call the police. Tell them everything that happened, but I need you to leave me out if this. I can’t help find her if I am doing nothing but answering their inquiries…ok?

Melina nods in understanding.

“Good.” He looks into both of their faces. Fear, exhaustion and anxiety swirl through their auras. “If you need any help, call me.” He hands Melina a business card on which he writes his cell phone number. “Don’t worry I’ll find her.” Max gathers Keira’s things and takes another look around at the damage to the soup kitchen.

‘Don’t these people suffer enough?’ He thinks sadly to himself.

Melina stands and puts a hand on his shoulder. “I’ll open her up tomorrow, Max. We need The Respite around here. I may not be able to do the job Keira does, but I will keep it going until you can find her.”

Max nods. “If you need anything to help get this place going again, let me know. I am going to get in contact with a few people. Maybe they can help The Respite and Keira.” Standing there briefly he stares out the busted doorway into the streets as a light snow begans to fall.

????- Finn's office, Loveland Quinn's Bar, Puyallup

"John. It's Finn, chummer. Wake up."

"Huh? Wazzit? Who's there?"

Struggling to sit up from the deep chair, John brought his eyes online and saw Finn standing in the doorway with 2 cups of coffee. The room was still just as dark, but he had the feeling that time had passed. For one thing, the monitors all showed different images than they had before. For another, though his neck was stiff, John felt rested. Finn crossed the room and handed him the cup. From the smell he could tell that this was coffee, real coffee. He couldn't remember his last cup. "Careful. It's hot."

"This smells great. Thanks, chummer." Taking a sip, John suddenly notices that Finn is wearing a different shirt than he remembered. A sinking feeling started to creep over him. "Uh, Finney, what time is it?"

Finn's gaze seemed to lose focus for a second as he read the time display from his cybereyes. His eyes were a much more expensive model than John's. The only way that you could tell that they weren't real was if you were close enough to see the manufacturer's logo. "09:05. Why, got someplace to be?"

"Holy fraggin' drek! Are you fragging serious? I'm supposed to meet people in Redmond in twenty-five minutes! Redmond!" Rising from the chair, John started to pace.

"Sorry, chum. I didn't know. I was jacked in 'til about an hour ago, when I found you there. I decided to take a shower and let you sleep. Figured you could use it."

Taking a deep breath, John turned to his friend. "No, Finn, you were right. You had no way to know. It's just that these people I'm supposed to meet were going to introduce me to someone who might be able to help me find Nora. Without that intro, I don't know how far I'll get. I didn't even get a number to contact them." Thinking furiously, he looked up as a thought occurred to him. "Speaking of Nora, did you find anything else?"

Shaking his head, Finn took a drink of his coffee and replied, "Sorry, chummer. I didn't look much more after I talked to you. I saw something on Shadowland, something that looked big, something you might want to know if you're heading back out today. I spent all night digging up everything I could find, but that wasn't much." Leaning over, he punched a couple of keys and some text displayed on one screen. "Seems that there's some nasty disease running through
Puyallup. No one seems to know anything, but there's a lot of theories. The one thing that everyone agrees on is that it's bad news. Maybe some sort of new plague."

A shiver ran up John's plastic-laced spine. "Well, that's just fraggin' great. I don't have a choice, Finn. I have to go out there." He began to pace again, and muttered, "Knowing my luck, I'll fraggin' walk right through the heart of the fraggin' outbreak."

"Maybe not. At least not walking." Seeing John's confused look, Finn continued, "Why don't you take the bar's van? Maybe you can even make your meet, or close enough. I mean, if it gets fragged, it's no big deal. The bar's a legit business, so that van is insured. I'd just report it stolen."

"I don't know what to say, Finn. Thanks."

Rummaging around on the desk, Finn tossed him the keys. "Nul persp, Co..., uh, John. Hey! Where's this meet?"

"Place called The Respite Soup Kitchen. Run by a woman named Keira, last name unknown. Which reminds me, I need the address too."

"Don't worry about it. Why don't you clean up and get started. I'll look this place up and call you on the way with the info."

10:45:38 Monday 08 January 2063 - Somewhere in Touristville, Redmond

His luck holding true to form, John had run into awful traffic on his drive across the sprawl. The bar's beat-up van, while serviceable, certainly wasn't built for speed. I'm so fraggin late! What are the chances that those kids waited? Idiot!

Following the directions that Finn had provided during his call, he turned right at the next intersection. The old decker hadn't really been able to tell him any more about the Respite than the kids had, and nothing about Keira. The matrix was endless, and searches like that took time. At least that was his explanation...

According to this, it should be up here on the left. There! I think that's it.

The van skidded to a halt in the slush, and the old runner stared at the sight that greeted him.

What the frag? You've got to be kidding...

10:45:42 Monday 08 January 2063 - Somewhere in Touristville, Redmond

Pulling the van to a quick stop by the curb, he wasn’t sure what shocked him more. The fact that the doors leading into the soup kitchen appeared to have been busted in, or that waiting outside for him were Megan , Tyler , and the others. Waving to him, Megan ran up to him as he exited the van. “Hey old man, you get lost or something? We’ve been waiting here since friggin’ 10:30 or so.”

Part of John wanted to ask, ‘weren’t we supposed to be here at 9:00?’. But considering he was pretty late himself, he decided to keep his mouth shut, and thanked them all for waiting instead. “Why did you guys hang out here so long?”

Tyler shrugged an appropriately tough shrug. “Didn’t have nothing else to do. Figured may as well stick around. Plus the door’s were busted in when we got here. Thought something funny might have gone down, and if you’re as bad as Megan says you are, waiting around for ya couldn’t be a bad idea.”

Before any of them could say anything else, movement inside attracted their attention. Adjust his cybereyes to compensate, John realized that a well dressed man had just stood up, and there appeared to be a kid and a woman inside too. Who the frag are they? Maybe they have some answers about what happened here…

2003 Tuesday, January 9, 2063 - Land's End Magic Shop


Andie shows Sam the floor plans for the new magic shop and asks, "This is the rough layout of the new building and I need to develop an effective security system to prevent thieves from getting in." Andie points out features and rooms on the sketch to Sam. "This is the business front room. This will be for storage and hydroponics. This will be living quarters and this will be a work area." Andie glances at Sam to make sure he is following along. "Do you think you could develop an effective security system for such a building?"

Andie gauges Solomon's reactions out of the corner of his eye to make sure the situation doesn't escalate.

10:48:02 Monday 08 January 2063 - The Respite Soup Kitchen, Touristville, Redmond

Using the van door to block the action from casual observation, John reaches beneath his jacket and pulls one of the battered Colt Manhunters free from its concealed holster. As his hand made contact with the grip, the weapon's status flared across his field of vision via the smartlink display. Slamming the door shut, and holding the heavy pistol along his leg, he then turned to the young gangers. "Someone's moving inside, so I'm going to go check it out. Wait here." Quickly turning to face her, he cut Megan off just as she opened her mouth. "That means you too. I don't want any of you guys getting your hoops shot up if the people who did this are still around. Besides, if something happens to me, you guys are the only ones who can help Twiggy and Nora."

Walking around the front of the van, patting Tyler on the shoulder as he went, John used his body to block the gun from the people inside. Zooming in on the three figures inside, he didn't think they would be much trouble, but you could never tell. He quickly covered the distance to the entrance, paused to check out the battered doors, then ducked inside. Looks like those doors were knocked in with one of those 2-man battering rams. Which means that this wasn't just some random thing.

Inside was a short hallway, a couple of doors to each side, and then another set of double-doors at the far end. These hadn't been knocked in, as they were blocked open with door-stops made from old 2x4s. He walked silently down the hallway, quickly clearing each doorway as he passed. He was careful to step over all of the discarded food, trays, and other litter in the hallway. As he neared the other double-doors, John could see that the three people in the other room were in the middle of a huge mess of broken and overturned furniture and spilled food. Two of them were seated on old folding chairs, while the other stood with his back to the doorway. Each held a cup of what looked to be water. They hadn't noticed him yet.

As he stood in the doorway watching, one of the other people, a woman in an old pink shirt and faded jeans, stood and reached up to put one of her hands on the shoulder of the guy standing. As he turned to face her, John saw what looked to be an albino elf. "I’ll open her up tomorrow, Max. We need The Respite around here. I may not be able to do the job Keira does, but I will keep it going until you can find her."

The elf looked down at her and nodded. "If you need anything to help get this place going again, let me know. I am going to get in contact with a few people. Maybe they can help The Respite and Keira." He then turned and looked directly at John. Aw, frag...

The elf quickly shoved the woman behind him. The other seated figure, a kid, jumped up to stand next to him and said, "Hoi! Who're you now?" The elf shifted what looked to be a wad of green cloth from under one arm to the other, and placed his freed arm protectively around the shoulders of the kid. "Easy, Trancer." Turning his pale gaze onto John, he said in a deep cultured voice, "Sorry sir, but the Respite is closed for the day. Perhaps if you come back tomorrow..." He trailed off as his eyes narrowed and he seemed to stare more intently. His eyes widening, he looked back up and locked his gaze onto John's. "Who are you?"

Stepping out into the open, the old runner held up both hands, plainly showing them the pistol, before just as obviously holstering it. "I ain't no squatter looking for a fraggin' handout, that's for sure." Reaching up, he took the ever-present cigarette out of his mouth and blew a plume of blue-ish smoke skyward. He looked around at the destroyed dining room before replying. "Name's John Standard. I came here looking for a woman named Keira, needed to talk to her, but judging from what I just heard someone else beat me to it. What happened here?"

00:04:14 Wednesday 10 January 2063 - Everett Dockyard, Seattle, UCAS

The dark haired boy glances over at Tony.

"We require nothing further at this time."

He motions, and the group returns the their vehicles. Within minutes, the only things left in the warehouse are the two bodies, left in disarray, and Tony standing with a certified credstick in the amount of 1500 .

2003 Tuesday, January 9, 2063 - Land's End Magic Shop

" 'Effective', meaning what exactly?" asks Sam, but he's already recovering his balance after the unexpected instant goal-oriented interrogation. "The most usual low-level systems involve combinations of locks, cameras, scanners, screens, and sometimes photoelectric beams; but I tell you right now that there is no system in existence that will keep someone skilled, determined, and equipped from breaking in. The most you'll ever do is to deter, detect, and possibly contain." He pauses, his gaze shifting focus. "And wards, of course." Testing it with his hand, keeping the astral duality -- and the "give" of them is very obvious indeed: "Usually stronger than these, though?"

"Since you are discussing these things, you might want to mention to him what your budget is, Andie," adds Solomon. Leaving the flashlight on the chalkboard ledge, the fixer had moved into the entryway to the front room, where he is watching the two of them with a light amusement. "Seems the two of you are getting to know each other," he says dryly when Andie's gaze lights on him. "I will leave you to it."

00:07:33 Wednesday 10 January 2063 - Everett Dockyard, Seattle, UCAS

Still befuddled by the macbre events in the warehouse, it takes Tony a minute to collect his thoughts. Looking out of the door, he sees that the snow has tapered off, but the wind off the Sound is still whipping up small tornados of the snow that the dock traffic has pushed off to the sides of the thrufares.

Snow is everywhere, though, and based upon his trip out here, getting a cab isn't going to be easy, and not knowing the area well enough, it may be hard to find a place to sleep it out.

Tony almost walks out of the building out into the snowy, windy night before he realizes that the Workhorse is still in the garage. Silently cursing his momentary lack of perception and thanking whatever God happened to have pity on him, Tony loads up his duffel bag in the floorboard of the truck, fires up the engine, and pulls out into the snowy, rutty thrufares.

Driving out is not going to be fun. Just take it easy, follow the tracks, and now is not the time to look for new and interesting drinking holes Tony thinks to himself as he pulls out of the warehouse block and back toward Downtown.

12:08:19 Wednesday 10 January 2063 - Miner's Landing, Downtown Seattle, UCAS

Jennifer stares at Eyes for a minute, conflicting emotions chasing themselves across her face. Righteous fury gives way to indecision which is subsumed behind a mask of cold professional detachment.

"I am not as sheltered as one might think. Certainly I do not have the same appreciation for danger that someone in your line of work does, but don't think that I lack an awareness of the hazards inherent in conducting this investigation. I appreciate your warning as one professional to another, consider this my verbal waiver releasing you from any responsibility in the event of my own death or injury."

Jennifer takes a deep breath, almost managing to suppress a shudder in her slight frame. Eyes begins to understand how important the answer to this question is to her. She won't be able to fully mourn her father until she knows. She drinks from the glass in front of her before continuing.

"Now, you mentioned wanting to see my father's apartment? I think I can arrange that. Nothing of his belongings have been disturbed, I've made sure of that."

12:10:21 Wednesday 10 January 2063 - Miner's Landing, Downtown Seattle, UCAS

The irony was not lost on Eyes that he has not in fact been in '[his] line of work' yet a week, and that until six months ago he was just another mindless corporate drone. He wanted to chuckle, but realized that would probably be taken the wrong way. In any event the response was essentially irrelevant; once she really understood the reality of the danger she'd either try to back out or not, and no words at this point would mean anything then. Eyes was rather painfully reminded of his own point of choosing, the choice he did make, and how it turned out wrong in the end.

Fair warning given, he moved on to the next piece of business. "Wonderful. We should probably get this done sometime today, but I'll need to pick up some equipment first. Maybe... 7:00 tonight?" At the same time, he was writing on a nearby napkin:

12:10:56 Wednesday 10 January 2063 - Miner's Landing, Downtown Seattle, UCAS

Jennifer nods, listening to Eyes. She blinks in some confusion when she reads the napkin though, before nodding in understanding. Glancing around, she clears her throat.

"Right, today. I can meet you outside of his apartment complex, say at 6:45?"

She writes on the napkin with a pen from her purse, quickly passing it back across the table to Eyes.

12:11:10 Wednesday 10 January 2063 - Miner's Landing, Downtown Seattle, UCAS

Eyes nods, slipping the napkin into his pocket. "Sounds good to me. Anything else you wanted to discuss?"

Inwardly he sighed. Having not brought his deck, a toolkit, or really anything other than his psec, a little spare cash, a pen and his glasses to the meet he wasn't prepared at all to go scrounging through Dr. Casimir's apartment... but then, what did he really need? Worst case scenario Casimir has a big expensive computer lying around, and he'd have to take it home to analyze it. Wait, is that worst? Maybe best.

10:53:46 Monday 08 January 2063 - The Respite Soup Kitchen, Touristville, Redmond

Max had never seen a person with that much cyberware in him. By the looks of his oversized arm and ratty clothing, some of it may have been second hand. But that didn’t make the man any less dangerous. Max could only guess that this was what the Trid called a Shadowrunner. One that had lived through a lot if his age was an indicator. He didn’t look like a Max Aurora or a Sliver but then again this wasn’t the Trid and Max couldn’t think of anyone else that would pack that much cyber. The man’s aura showed no signs of the flickering red and black that would have indicated impending violence, but he was clearly irritated about something, maybe it had to due with the malaise of grayish sorrow that seemed to be cling to him…that didn’t seem right. Not sorrow, but regret maybe. John’s voice interrupted his train of thought.

“What do you want with Keira?” Max answered John’s question with a question.

‘Keira has been kidnapped and now this cybered up guy is asking questions. What the hell is going on?!?’

Max was beyond his breaking point. Keira was gone, he had fallen a good 10 feet off of the ladder after being shot multiple times, The Respite was in shambles, now this guy comes here asking questions. Frustration, anger, fear and fatigue began to come crashing down on Max, but until he knew this John Standard meant Keira no harm, he wasn’t going to get a damn thing from Max. That and he still had Melina and Trancer’s safety to think about.

12:11:10 Wednesday 10 January 2063 - Miner's Landing, Downtown Seattle, UCAS

Jennifer smiles, a brittle tension in her expression.

"No, nothing more. Thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule to meet me." Taking another sip from her glass, she stands, sliding the heavy Navy peacoat around her shoulders and tucking her purse beneath her arm. She nods once to Zeyda at the bar before making her way downstairs. The fixer slides into the seat she vacated after a moment.

"Need anything, omae?" he asks Eyes.

12:11:31 Wednesday 10 January 2063 - Miner's Landing, Downtown Seattle, UCAS

Eyes smiled. "Nothing I can pay for, I'm afraid. You checked out the, client's credentials, I'm sure? She's not hiding anything important, is she? Other than that, I don't think there's anything."

What do I need? Eyes repeated silently, A plane ticket, yet another new identity, a good bunker and a dozen bodyguards might be a good start. This whole thing is getting creepier and creepier.

Eyes started preparing to leave, as he had a ride to catch. "Oh, and one more thing," he adds, "I'm not sure how much you know, but this whole thing just, well, feels bigger than what a 2,000 nuyen investigation should be. Watch yourself; I might be stirring up something big." Waiting for Zeyda's reply, and making any other necessary discussion, he heads out.

10:55:13 Monday 08 January 2063 - The Respite Soup Kitchen, Touristville, Redmond

"What do you want with Keira?"

Irritation and frustration welled up in John, as he started to realize that this may be another relative dead-end. Briefly, he entertained thoughts of making the elf talk. Making all three of them talk. He'd certainly done worse. And you hated every second of it, didn't you? Hated having to follow those orders, do the things they told you to do. You've been down that path, chummer. You didn't like the view.

He regarded the three with outward calm, and took another drag off of his cigarette. He could tell that his manner and questions had put the tall elf's back up. They all looked worried, scared and hurt, and here he was making demands? That was likely to lead nowhere. No one's going to just spill because you say so anymore, chummer. No one knows who you are, and what's more no one cares. You came here to talk, so talk.

Putting on what he hoped was a comforting expression, John said "It's OK, chummer, I just wanted to talk to her. I needed to ask her something, that's all." Doubt still showed on the pale face silently regarding him, so he motioned towards the chairs where the three had been setting. They looked like they were on the verge of collapse anyway, so he figured that they should sit. "You mind?" After a brief pause and another intense stare, the elf gave a terse nod.

Walking over to the chairs as they backed away, John arranged them and and took a seat, leaning forward with elbows on knees, before motioning for the others to sit as well. The kid, Trancer, quickly did so, staring at him with youthful curiosity. Finally, the others sat too, though the elf shifted his chair to keep both John and the door in view.

After everyone was settled, he continued, "I needed to see if Keira had seen someone who I know sometimes helped out here." At this, John could see the elf stiffen again, so he quickly added, "Frag, chummer, it's not like that. See, my niece is missing. I think she may be in trouble, and I'm trying to find her before it gets any worse. I..."

"Fraggin drek! What happened in here?"

As the elf half-rose from his chair and turned fully towards the doorway, even that small movement causing obvious pain, John sighed and shook his head. "Frag it, kid. Don't you ever listen?"

"You ain't the boss of me, old timer." Megan stood in the doorway, hands on hips, surveying the destruction like some tiny general. The other kids had already started to spread out, looking through the rubble, turning tables back over, and so on. At the sight of the gangers, John could see the elf sit back in his chair and relax slightly. Why? Does he know them, or just figure that he's safer with more witnesses?

The young elf came into the room, and now John could see Tyler out in the hallway, keeping watch near the front doors. Smart kid. Turning to the others, she continued, "Max, right? What happened in here? The Respite is fraggin' trashed! Was it gangs? It was, wasn't it? What about Keira? She in the back? You ok? You look hurt."

As she got closer, her mouth going its usual kilometer-a-minute, Trancer suddenly piped-up: "Hi, Megan." Looking over, John knew that the goofy grin the boy wore could only mean one thing. Making eye contact with the woman, who seemed as surprised as John that the kid had spoken, he could tell that she was thinking the same. Even though she could only be a few short years older, Megan replied with a dismissive, "Yeah. Hi, kid." She then opened her mouth to continue, "Where the frag was I? Oh, yeah..."

Finally fed up, Max said, "OK! Everyone just hold on and be quiet!" Taking a deep breath and rubbing his hand across his face and through his pale hair, he turned to John, "Mr. Standard, you say that you are looking for your niece and that you mean my friends no harm. I'd like to believe you, sir, but after today's events you'll forgive me if I ask you for some proof. That you know Megan and her friends speaks well of you, but if you have anything else to support your claims I would suggest you produce it now. My patience is nearly at an end."

Megan's eyebrows climbed towards her spiky blond hair as she looked back and forth between Max and John. Obviously sensing trouble, she quickly said, "Hoi! Simmer, Max! I think the old fragger's legit. He's Nora's uncle. You ever meet her? Human girl, 'bout my age but a little taller. Black hair with red and purple highlights. Pretty, I guess. Remember?" Fishing around in her oversized coat's pockets she finally produced the crumpled image and handed it to Max. "Here, that's her. Anyway, she's been gone for a while and he's looking for her. We came here to find Twiggy, since this is where his cousin said he'd be, but figured we should talk to Keira first. She around? She OK? You never said. Anyway, Nora's note said that Twiggy would know how to find her. Oh, yeah!" Turning to John, she said, "Give him the note. Maybe he can help."

The old runner had been following the exchange with some amusement. He was starting to get used to her, but he could tell that Megan had Max's head spinning. The pale elf's demand had irritated John at first, so Megan's interruption had come at the perfect time. If not for her, he might have said or done something stupid; something he couldn't afford since he needed these people's help. His patience is nearly at an end? What about mine! I mean, it's not like I wasn't going to show him the letter. I just hadn't got there yet.

Pulling the carefully folded note from his shirt pocket, John opened it and handed it to the elf across from him. "I came home from a job yesterday and found this in her room. It was hidden, but in a fairly obvious place. Before you ask, that's her writing." Pausing, he lit a cigarette from the smoking butt of the one he'd just finished. Dropping the old one to the floor and grinding it out, he continued, "So there's your proof, Max. Now, what happened here? Maybe we can help each other."

1253 Wednesday 10 January 2063 - Cooper's Automotive, Downtown Seattle-UCAS

Just before one o'clock, the crimson Westwind pulls up to the shop. Its engine winds down, and settles at a quiet purr. The driver climbs out slowly, closing the door gently behind him. Chavez meets the man in front of the shop to discuss the transaction.

"Here she is."

"Beautiful. Lets go inside and fill out the paper work."

"Thanks."

Inside the office Chavez and Mr. Morris discuss the details of the job. Shortly later another sportscar pulls up, this one yellow. The driver is hidden by the jet black tinted windows, that even make peering in the windshield hard to see inside. The car sits at idle behind the Westwind, while Chavez and Mr. Morris continue to talk.

After signing the work form, the customer gets into the yellow car, which quickly reverses. It spins around, leaving only smoke and rubber behind, as it heads off back from which it came.

"So whats the deal."

"Basic tuneup, but using some top of the line parts that he specially ordered. Then we are going to also change some of the chips out."

01:14:11 Wednesday 10 January 2063 - Sea-Tac International Airport, Long Term Parking Terminal, Seattle, UCAS
It takes Tony nearly an hour to drive the Workhorse back to Sea-Tac over the icy road conditions brought on by the storm. Much of that time was spent trying to get back onto I-5; Tony had to dodge carefully around abandoned cars stuck in the road at weird angles covered with a thick coat of snow, a few accidents that the owners hadn’t bothered to report, and even had to back down the icy onramp once to get enough momentum to get onto relatively clear interstate.

The relatively high traffic on the highway, combined with lots of attention from snow-removal vehicles (like the IceMelter truck Tony followed the last couple of kilometers into Sea-Tac) made the roadway passable at lower speeds. The news radio had mentioned that the Governor’s office had put out an advisory to “…stay off of roadways except for emergencies. Road crews will continue to clear main roads, and will move to residential areas as soon as the snow stops. Bridges and overpasses remain icy…”

Pulling into the Sea-Tac long term parking area, Tony slotted his credstick in to the meter, getting a parking spot 3 levels from where his Americar was parked. No need to take up Zedya’s ‘fraidy hole, just in case this thing is bugged or tracked. Regretfully getting out of the warm truck into the frigid parking garage, Tony gets his bag and takes the elevator down to his parking spot.

02:00:42 Wednesday 10 January 2063 - Capitol Hill, Seattle, UCAS

“God-Fragging-Dammit!” Tony yells to himself, after trying for the 5th time to rock the car out of the rut it was stuck in. “5 blocks from the apartment, and you do this to me!?” he yells again, moving around to the back of the car. Apparently, after dodging a Westwind that came around a corner too fast, Tony had gotten off of the lane he was driving in into a icy rut in the roadway. The car was off to one side of the street, back end pointed toward the curb. Kicking the tire once to further express his frustration, he picked up his bag, locked the car, and began the short, cold walk back to his apartement

02:22:33 Wednesday 10 January 2063 - Capitol Hill Terrace, Capitol Hill, Seattle, UCAS

Walking into the apartment building, Tony noticed that the power was back on, and the heat was still working. Good, finally Tony thought to himself, as he sat down with a hot cup of coffee to type out an email;

12:12:40 Wednesday 10 January 2063 - Miner's Landing, Downtown Seattle, UCAS

"Yes, she checks. ID went through at the bar and came back legit. As to whether or not she's hiding something, aren't we all?" Zeyda chuckles. "Don't worry, I'll watch six and keep you up to date. Be careful out there."

Eyes nods, tabbing closed his jacket against the brutal winter wind and slipping down the stairs. After moving his bike to a different, more sheltered parking spot, he trots down the aisle of cars until he finds a green Ford Americar with exhaust pluming from its manifold. Sliding in to the welcome warmth of the passenger seat, he nods to Jennifer, who puts the car in gear and heads out of the parking lot.

23:46:08 Wednesday 10 January 2063 - Apartment 875, Parkewood Village Apartments, Tacoma

Todd leans back in his chair and rubs his eyes, yawning. The search was finally completed, having been much more intense and far reaching than the one he did on Dr. Casimir. In the end, though, he'd managed to locate both of the individuals mentioned in the file Tony sent. The first had been easy:

10:05:21 Wednesday 10 January 2063 - Capitol Hill Terrace, Capitol Hill, Seattle, UCAS

Tony finds it a cruel irony that it's not the alarm that rouses him from bed, but the telecom. The incoming message alarm is too far for him to shut off, forcing him out from the warmth of his bed and into the chill air of the apartment.

10:07:21 Wednesday 10 January 2063 - Capitol Hill Terrace, Capitol Hill, Seattle, UCAS

Tony, still in the groggy, half-a-step-behind-life state of the abruptly awakened, looked at the message on his telecom. Does that guy live at the Landing? I'd be a penniless drunk if I lived in a place like that. Good music, though Tony thought to himself as he padded toward the bathroom, after flipping on the coffee machine.

15 minutes later and a cup of hot real coffee later, and feeling more human, Tony begins his morning exercises. Just the light exercise for today. Gotta keep my word to Sung, or else I'm going to have to deal with more of his 'Young Grasshopper' drek he likes to spout off.

The Tsui Pa Hsien style morning exercises were meant for someone a lot more hungover than Tony was today, starting at a slow, taut rhythm and working up to the full weaving, pausing, starting and stopping of the style. Even taking it easy as Tony was, he was sweating after 20 minutes in the chilly air of the apartment. After a warm shower Thank God again for gas heating a shave, and a change into his Vashon suit and longcoat, Tony left his apartment for his car, a small bag under his arm with a change of clothes in them.

11:02:21 Wednesday 10 January 2063 - Capitol Hill neighborhood, Seattle, UCAS

Tony pulls his car away from the curb. A truck had been by sometime previously to spred some ice melter on the road, and the Americar had gotten the full brunt of a broadside of it. Just glad that no one hit the thing in the night he thinks to himself as he pulls up toward Sung's Dojo

11:16:21 Wednesday 10 January 2063 - Sung's Dojo Capitol Hill, Seattle, UCAS
"...and feel yourself moving around. Don't just move your head, move your hips, your knees, your feet. Movement is the key..." Sung said to a group of young students, mostly human, but with some elves and orks in the group as Tony walked in. Sam was in there too, helping a side group of orks and trolls with some sparring practice.

Tony walked over to where Sam was, as he instructed what looked to be a young ork as he hit a heavy bag. "...no, son, put your hips into it. Rotate your body, try to move your weight to your front foot like this.." Sam said, moving to the front of the bag. Standing, Sam moved quickly, doing exactly as he instructed the student to do: rotating his hips, moving his weight, and landing a hard punch to the heavy bag with the heel of his hand. Noticing Tony, Sam smiled, and called to a young but already quite large troll with a bad expression on his face. "Tyzell, come over here and hold the bag for Scott for a second".

Motioning Tony over to a corner of the dojo, Sam said to him "Glad your here kid. You can help me with a little problem. See that young child there, Tyzell? He was the kid I was sparring with yesterday. Mom brought him here for some discpline, and he doesn't think that he needs it. Thinks that he can take any 'breeder' that comes along." Shaking his head, he continued "He got out on some gang rehab thing that the Star was doing, and if he doesn't learn something he'll be back in. I want you to take him down a peg; think you can sonny-boy?" Sam finished with a smile.

"Probably, but I don't want to hurt the kid" Tony said dubiously. "Also, didn't you 'take him down a peg' yesterday?"

"Sure, but your human. That kid thinks he can break you in half probably. You don't look too tough, especially dressed in that banker outfit you've got on" Sam replied, laughing.

Tony just shook his head. "Let me get changed. I'll be out in a few minutes" he replied, heading toward to locker room.

23:46:21 Wednesday 10 January 2063 - Apartment 875, Parkewood Village Apartments, Tacoma

Moments after finishing up the final touches on his search, Todd brought up the heads-up display of his p-sec and sent out a message to Tony.

23:46:29 Wednesday 10 January 2063 - Apartment 875, Parkewood Village Apartments, Tacoma

"Welcome back, kid." LCPL Dawson smiles, drinking from his cup. The other two soldiers glance up, nodding their welcome.

"Glad to see you made it."

12:27:30 Wednesday 10 January 2063 - Downtown Seattle, UCAS

Eyes repressed a yawn as the Americar picks its way down the still icy and treacherous streets, struggling to keep himself from falling asleep. It was a stupid weakness of his, but even as a child he had found it incredibly easy to fall asleep in a moving vehicle; in fact his parents had joked that they could never get him to nap unless he was in a carseat. It was a condition that extended to today, and was why he rode around on a motorcycle: it was harder to fall asleep while driving if there's no windshield blocking the outside air.

He pulled out his psec, absently tapping at it in an attempt to keep from snoozing in the comfy car and really embarrassing himself.

10:57:38 Monday 08 January 2063 - The Respite Soup Kitchen, Touristville, Redmond.

Max’s head was swimming, Keira is gone and this man’s niece was missing as well.

‘Could it be related?’ Max kind of doubted it, but he wasn’t ready to completely dismiss it as coincidence either.

John Standard seemed legit. He was obviously known by a few of the people that worked with Keira and his aura gave off no hint that he was lying. Annoyed, disappointed and frustrated maybe, but he seemed genuine, as did the letter.

Max gave a long slow sign as he let some of the tension go from his body.

“Ok Mr. Standard, this is what happened. I was talking with Melina, Trancer and Keira in the dinning hall here when a group of men, at least four, broke down the door. They were wearing black suits and gasmasks. I disabled two of them, but not before they dropped a couple of canisters of some sort of gas into the room. I didn’t wait around to see what it did. We moved to the kitchen and were trying to get to the roof when I was shot. Keira, Trancer and Melina made it to the roof, but without my help they had no way to escape. They were also shot. When I came to, I found the boy and his mom still on the roof, but Keira was gone. Taken by whoever had attacked The Respite. I looked around in Keira’s office for anything that may help me find the identity of the attackers, but could not find anything useful, except maybe this dress and one of her hairbrushes.”

He knew that statement would generate a few odd looks from Mr. Standard and the others, so he explained.

“I may be able to locate Keira through a ritual or spell, but I needed a link to make it easier for me to find her. That is where these items come in.” Max thought for a moment, he did not have any reason to trust this John Standard, but he did not want to lose a possible link between his niece and Keira and the man obviously needed some help.

‘Your never going to make a living giving things away for free’ he thought, but it still didn’t stop him from doing what he knew was right.

“If you would like I could attempt the same with the letter you have from your niece. I cannot guarantee its success as the letter is not nearly as good a link, but it is possible.”

12:43:11 Wednesday 10 January 2063 - Downtown Seattle, UCAS

Despite the proximity of Miner's Landing to the late Dr. Casimir's residence, it still takes them twenty minutes to make the trip. Traffic on the Crosstown and Intercity is snarled, bleeding over onto the primary arteries of the metroplex. Jennifer drives with care, silent for the most part on the trip, glancing over once to see what Eyes was up to.

5004 Mariner's Island Blvd turns out to be a fourteen story condominum high-rise, impressive in the manner of neo-classical architecture. Eyes has no trouble spotting the numerous surveillance camera installations, as well as other security sensors. Jennifer pulls into the underground parking garage, showing her ID to the guard on duty in the kiosk, before parking in the spot marked '8'.

The elevator whisks the two of them to the fourth floor, where a short hallway features a pair of doors along with the entrance to the fire stairs. A small noticed pasted to the doors of condo #8 proclaims the interior an official Lone Star Crime Scene. Jennifer ignores it, sliding her passkey through the maglock before entering a twelve digit code.

The door opens on a short hallway, a closet on the immediate left, while a narrow table on the right offers a shallow basket for keys or change or other brick a brack. Beyond that the hall opens up into a large sitting room on the right, with a sectional, recliner, and coffeetable as well as an expensive looking trideo set. On the left is the dining room while the hall ends in an open doorway to the kitchen. Jennifer gestures with her hand, standing in the middle of the hall.

"Bedroom, bathroom, and office are there."

She glances around, not so much nervous as simply lost, uncertainty clouding her eyes.

23:46:32 Wednesday 10 January 2063 - Apartment 875, Parkewood Village Apartments, Tacoma

Todd smiles as he replies to the program, "Thanks. It wasn't easy, but I got my hands on the key. Now... just got to find the lock. Got any data for me?"

23:46:41 Wednesday 10 January 2063 - Apartment 875, Parkewood Village Apartments, Tacoma

"Sorry, kid," Dvora shakes her head, "We're just messengers. We're forbidden from helping in any way."

As she speaks, she takes a bite from a bar of compressed survival rations. Using the heavy boot of her battlesuit, she smoothes out the dirt in front of the bench where she sits. With her finger, she draws a series of X's, three to one side and three on the other in uneven intervals. Something kicks at the back of Todd's mind, he's seen marks like these before. Glancing around, she connects the marks, the three lines intersecting near the edge of her drawing. Todd opens his mouth to tell her that he's figured that much out, but she shakes her head. Drawing again, she places all of her original X's on the circumference of a circle. Todd glances at the drawing, then up at her, confusion on his face.

"Efficiency operating in multiple dimensions." She smiles, taking another bite from her granola bar. Todd glances down at the drawing again with dawning realization. The location of the key, the intersection of the original three lines is off-center inside the circle! That means.... Moving quickly, he called up his map with the coordinates of the key gridded out. Placing the circle over the endpoints of each line of position, he drops an X at the center of resulting figure. Running the resulting lattitude/longitude through his map program gives him the address: 10441 Pacific Court Way.

11:01:08 Monday 08 January 2063 - The Respite Soup Kitchen, Touristville, Redmond.

John sat staring at Max, cigarette forgotten in his hand. As the magnitude of the offer sank in, he slowly put the smoke in his mouth and reached up to remove his cap. Tearing his eyes away from the pale figure before him, he stared at the floor, lost in thought. This guy barely knows me and he offers to help? Not just help either, but use his magic to find Nora. I'm no fraggin' expert, but I know that casting any spell can be dangerous, so he's willing to put himself at risk too. Frag. I mean, what can I say...

Reaching up to run his meat hand through his short, greying hair, John took a deep breath and looked back up to meet Max's gaze. "Uh, Max, right?" After the elf's nod, he continued, "Max, that is a really generous offer that I would be a fraggin' idiot not to accept. I know that magic can be dangerous, so I know what it means for you to do this. But you said ritual. Doesn't that mean group spell casting?"

The elf sat in the cheap folding chair, watching as the older man struggled with his offer. He paused in the process of pulling his long, pale hair back into order as John finished, somewhat surprised at what he had said. "Do you know spell-craft, Mr. Standard?"

"C'mon, chummer, name's John. And I know very little. I've just worked with a few over the years." And almost married one, don't forget that. "I just asked because I may know someone who could help, if you need it. I mean, I don't know what you're planning, but just in case, you know?"

Still holding his hat between his hands, John shifted to get more comfortable. "I know that you didn't ask, but I think you should know up front that I can't really pay you for this. I mean, what cred I have is yours, but I can't afford to pay the going rate. However, what I can do is help you when you find your friend. If she was taken by organized, armed men, then there is someone behind this. Someone with money. They want her for something, and they're not going to just give her back. We should find out why they want her. Could be almost as important as actually finding her."

He stood and began to pace, absently scratching his cyberarm with his other hand. "You searched her office, right? But you were looking for something to use with your spell. Did you notice if she had a computer? If so, we should take it to a friend of mine that knows computers. He might be able to find something. We should also search this room, see if those guys left anything behind. Not likely, if they were as professional as you say, but you can't assume." Turning to Megan, who was obviously trying to ignore Trancer as he sat and stared, John continued, "Hey, could you guys look through the room? Go real slow. Look for anything out of place. I'll help in a minute."

Snapping her fingers, she said "Sure thing, pops. Just don't forget about Twiggy." She then turned and started towards where the other gangers were cleaning up. "Hoi, chummers! Listen up..."

Smiling as she walked away, John turned back to the seated elf. "Anything else? Oh, yeah. You said something about the letter not being so good as a 'link.' What would be good? I could go get something out of Nora's room, if it'll help."

So find Nora and Twiggy, get them out of whatever trouble they're in, then find this Keira and rescue her. That it? Nul persp, chummer.

11:10:48 Monday 08 January 2063 - The Respite Soup Kitchen, Touristville, Redmond

After several minutes of searching, the group is just about ready to give up when there's a loud bang and then a crash from the kitchen.

"Hey! Get offa me! Lemme go! Lemme go!"

Yelling, screaming, cursing, and fighting can be overheard coming from the kitchen as Max and John finish their discussion in the main room. Immediately they both run over to the kitchen, John in the lead, gun in hand. Max trails slightly, limping and obviously hurting.

With a mixture of amusement and relief, he sees it's only the gangers, holding down an elf kid with a cooking pot on his head like a helmet, apparently landing on his head during the struggle. He's kicking and screaming, apparently unable to see with the pot over his eyes. Finally Megan yanks the pot off his head and slaps him in the face, screaming, "Twiggy!!! Would ya shaddup already! It's us! We're here and we brought help! You're safe now! It's all good chummer!"

Despite her yelling, she hugs him in relief, clearly glad to be reunited with her friend. Gesturing to the two men standing over them, she points and says, "This is John, he's here to help, and you know Max, right?"

Twiggy just nods a bit apprehensively, relieved that he's safe but clearly intimidated by John's presence.

How the hell did I not know this kid was here? What was I... then it hits Max. He'd only gone to search Keira's room and then headed back to the main room. It never occurred to him to search the rest of the place for any reason. Stupid stupid stupid! he cursed himself. Lucky this John guy came along or I never would have even known Twiggy was here. If we're really lucky, he'll have a lead to this guy's niece, and maybe even Keira...

Well I'll be damned...sometimes even a loser like me has to catch a lucky break once in a while, and it looks like this is it. Found Twiggy, that's one down, two to go. If we're really lucky, he'll know where to point us next... John hides his relief and thinks about what to do next.

Sometimes two minds, great or not, think alike.

13:02:13 Wednesday 10 January 2063 - Condo #8, 5004 Mariner's Island Blvd, Downtown Seattle, UCAS

Eyes surveyed the room wistfully; it reminded him of the place he had less than a year ago, living wrapped in the cocoon of corporate servitude. He could talk all he wanted about the evils and inhumanity of megacorporate politics, but he couldn't deny the life had its perks as well. Deliberately snapping back into focus, Eyes adjusted his glasses thoughtfully. The main thing he needed right now was Jennifer out of his hair; having her staring over his shoulder was distracting for any number of reasons.

"If I were a list of personal projects, where would I be..." Eyes mused, not entirely to himself. "If I were trying to hide something, I'd do it either on an off-Matrix terminal or deck, or I'd encrypt it on a chip and hide it somewhere. So I guess those are the first on the list."

Eyes turned to Jennifer "Could you do me a favor and check around the apartment for anything important your father might have hidden? What we're mainly looking for would be a recordable memory chip, or a CD or something in a place a thief wouldn't look. I'm talking tucked inside a book, taped under a shelf, hidden in a coat pocket, that sort of thing. I'll take a look at the Doctor's computer--or computers, as the case probably will be."

That hopefully taking care of his dear employer for a while, Eyes set out to see what he could really get done. First up, of course, was the inventory. Calmly strolling into another part of the apartment where he would be unseen, Eyes plugged his psec into his brain and began writing down a list of everything in the apartment.

11:05:02 Monday 08 January 2063 - The Respite Soup Kitchen, Touristville, Redmond.

John Standard seemed genuinely grateful at Max’s offer. “Do not worry about the money John, perhaps in this we can help each other. What I intend to do first is cast a number of detection spells. Failing that I will try a ritual. You are correct a ritual requires more than one participant with whom you share a common magical ideology. Unfortunately most of my colleagues are of the Hermetic method, while I am what is commonly referred to as a Shaman.”

John looked briefly surprised at this and why not Max looked nothing like your standard trid shaman. He was not Amerindian nor did he travel with a sundry of Talisma and he wore designer labels instead of feathers and beads. John would have pegged him Hermetic.

“You seem a bit surprised.” Max smiled briefly; it was the first smile he had seen from the man. “I know, I do not look much like your trid-standard shamans but it is what I am and if I were to perform a ritual of detection I would need to contact other shamans to help, but first I will try my own spells as they are much less time consuming.”

“As to your question of searching, I looked through Keira’s office and searched her computer, but that is all. There was nothing that I saw that would be helpful in finding her or your niece, you are however free to look around as long as it does not disrupt The Respite any more than it currently is.”

Max listens as John questions him on ritual links and puts the gangers he showed up with to work searching The Respite.

“Well, something of personal value. A meaningful memento or perhaps something crafted by your niece, basically anything that your niece truly valued or cared for. Other valuable links are blood, hair or skin samples.”

11:10:48 Monday 08 January 2063 - The Respite Soup Kitchen, Touristville, Redmond

The ruckus from the kitchen causes both men to start. They hurry to the kitchen as fast as possible. Max limps up behind John to find Megan holding Twiggy.

“I think you better sit down Twiggy. We need to ask you a few questions.”

11:13:31 Monday 08 January 2063 - The Respite Soup Kitchen, Touristville, Redmond

Holstering the Manhunter, John smiled as the rest of the kids ignored Max and piled-on Twiggy, pounding him on the back, patting him on the head, shaking him, and generally making lots of noise doing it. Everyone was obviously glad to see him, though it seemed all the attention was a little much. "Ok! Ok! Get off, willya? Gimme some room here!" When everyone was finally off, he sat up and straightened his clothes, though they looked like he hadn't changed them in a week or more.

Probably true, now that I think about it. Staying out of sight for a couple of weeks is no easy thing, especially with pros like the guys that did the Respite looking for you. These fraggin' kids are pretty resourceful. Let's hope that applies to Nora as well.

With a glance at Max, who was leaning on the doorframe, John squatted down to be more on Twiggy's level. "Kid, I can't tell you how glad I am to meet you. Name's John. I'm Nora's uncle." He stuck out his hand to help the the young elf to his feet.

As they stood, Twiggy looked at the older man with a strange expression. "You're Nora's uncle?" After John's puzzled nod, he continued, "No disrespect or nothin', but you're nothin' like I pictured."

"How's that?" What the frag's he talking about?

Megan added her two cred, "He's her uncle, Twig. We're sure."

Glancing at Megan and obviously embarrassed or unsure, Twiggy grudgingly continued, "Well, uh.. again, I don't mean nothin' by it, but... well..." He took a deep breath and then said quickly, "Nora always described her uncle as a loser and a drunk. Said that was why she spent so much time with us instead of at home." As John's face went blank, the kid held up both hands, palm outward. "Hey, I don't see it. Just repeating what I heard, you know?"

Sensing trouble again, Megan quickly got between John and her friend, but he cut her off before she could say anything, "Don't worry, kid. No hard feelings. She's probably right, at least from her point of view. I've definitely let her down enough times." He paused to look around at all of them before finally settling his gaze on Max. "And, yeah, I used to have a drinking problem. But I got help. Technically I'm still an alcoholic and always will be, but I haven't had a drink in over two years. Since then, I've been spending so much time trying to get my own drek together that I guess I haven't been paying enough attention to the people around me. Especially Nora. And now..."

John paused again, embarrassed this time, as if he hadn't meant to reveal so much in such a short time. Roughly clearing his throat, he turned back to Twiggy. "And now it's time to talk. C'mon. Let's go back into the dining room and sit. Sound good? Wizzer. Go on ahead, and we'll meet you in there."

As the others left, John turned to the tall elf. "Sorry 'bout that chummer. TMI, I know." At Max's shrug, he motioned for them to follow the others before falling in beside the shaman and speaking quietly. "Ok, back to business. As far as a more personal object of Nora's, I can do that, but I'll have to swing by home first. When do you need it?" Nodding at the answer, he continued. "Fair enough. Also, count me in for the long haul. Even if this kid leads me directly to my niece, I'll help you with your friend." Smiling, he quickly added, "Though somehow I doubt it will be that fraggin' easy."

Catching up to the others, John and Max sat down in the now larger circle of folding chairs. Around the circle were Twiggy, Megan, Melina, Trancer, the shaman, and himself. Looking around he could see that Tyler was still watching by the front entrance, though he had found himself a chair and managed to prop one of the bent security doors closed. As for the other gangers, they appeared to still be searching, though he couldn't see them all.

Turning back to the group, John said, "Ok, Twiggy, time to spill. So far I know that something bad happened about a week ago, and that you and Nora are involved. How and to what extent? Also, I've heard a mention of a 'clinic.' What's that all about? Finally, is this drek with Keira and what happened here related to your mess?" Finishing, he waited for the young elf to start talking, listening intently. Make it good, kid.

23:46:45 Wednesday 10 January 2063 - Apartment 875, Parkewood Village Apartments, Tacoma

10441 Pacific Court Way

Todd kills the application and jumps out of the test system. Seconds later he is slumped into his LayZMan and looking the address up online to see exactly where it is.

23:45:28 Wednesday 10 January 2063 - Apartment 875, Parkewood Village Apartments, Tacoma

10441 Pacific Court Way is part of a small business park in Southern Downtown Seattle, probably half an hour or so from the apartment.

23:45:38 Wednesday 10 January 2063 - Apartment 875, Parkewood Village Apartments, Tacoma

Hmmm... now that gives me something to think about...

Todd backs out of the system and back out onto the RTG. May as well get some coding time in while I wait for Jack's call.

Todd kick flips his skateboard up into his lap as he takes lotus seating.

13:05:24 Wednesday 10 January 2063 - Casimir's Office, Condo #8, 5004 Mariner's Island Blvd, Downtown Seattle, UCAS

Eyes gave Dr. Casimir's study a thorough once-over, impressed at the quality of the living space. He glanced over the list of objects and discarded it with a sigh; it seemed that little trick wouldn't work around here, with all the other apartments close by contributing too much interference. It looked like he was going to have to do the physical search the hard way; good thing he had already (hopefully gotten Jennifer started on that.

Glancing around the room, Eyes lingers over a poster on the far wall with the quote, "Those who would raise the Gods of the Machine might take care, for history shows that it is most often the Children who strike down the Parents." His eyes travel over to a few books he remembered reading in school about freedom of information. It indeed looked like Casimir had been involved on the Arcology AI project as Arturro had said, and now seemed to regret it. But how could that lead to him getting killed?

Eyes's eyes settled on Casimir's workstation with a grimace. Thoughts of just easily swiping the dead man's computer or computers and walking away with them suddenly got a lot more complicated; somehow the doctor had gotten his hands on an actual tower case, with what looked like a liquid cooling system and HEPA filter. In an age of miniturization, such a system meant Casimir probably had his own private high-end Matrix host, which, as much as it made sense from what he knew about the man, was still a bit heady of a prospect. The monster would be a headache and a half to take home with him; he'd probably be better off just removing the memory module and taking just that. Then again, hardware-level encryption was likely as well...

Options and issues tumbled after each other in Eyes's head as he searched the room for other--hopefully more portable--sources of information.

11:17:13 Monday 08 January 2063 - The Respite Soup Kitchen, Touristville, Redmond

Clearing his throat and looking around nervously, Twiggy finally shrugs, figuring that if all his friends are here and believe the big-scary-cybered-up-guy is legit, he can too. Plus, Max seems to be cool with him, and if Max was in all right with Keira, he had to be pretty good too, and Twiggy'd been around enough to know how the guy felt about Keira. Course, everyone else did too, but you know...

Shaking those thoughts from his head, Twiggy haltingly begins, "Well...you know Nora, she chipped a lot, right?" Nodding tersely, John motions for him to continue. "Well, I don't want to get her in trouble with you, but yeah, so anyway, we were lookin to score some cash so we could buy some more chips, you know?"

Although it was painful for him to admit he understood, remembering his own struggle with alcohol, he nodded understandingly. "Keep going kid. Don't worry about hurting my feelings or pissing me off. I need the facts and I need to know so I can help you and Nora, and Keira if she's tied into all this. So don't spare me cause you think it'll help. Just lay it on me straight up, and we'll figure it out once we know the score, okay?"

Twiggy nods quickly, and eagerly complies, "All right, uh...Nora's uncle, I mean, John." He looks pretty uncomfortable sounding so familiar with the big man, but John just prompts him to continue. "OK, well, uh, we saw an ad in the screamsheets about a week ago, it was looking for volunteers for some test they were running. You didn't have to take anything or anything like that, just let them take some samples from you, and some tests or something, and they'd pay you like 100 nuyen. You didn't even need a SIN. Just had to show up and fill out some forms and then do the stuff for about two or three hours, get your nuyen and you were gone."

He pauses, clears his throat, and looks down. "I know we shouldn't be chipping, and I know it's getting dangerously addictive for Nora. But we didn't think about that. Just saw an easy 100 nuyen each. So we went, and..."

"And what?" Max prompts. "I went to the bathroom, and I saw an open door, so I was curious and went to take a look. Just natural I guess. Well I saw that some guys in suits were taking some people who looked unconscious and throwing them into a van. It looked shady as hell, so I beat feet out of there and told Nora, and we bolted."

"Did they see you?" John asked intently. "We didn't think so," Twiggy answers, but a few days after that they came looking for us at the arcade. They made their move after we left the place. I got away." He looked down, obviously ashamed. "Nora didn't. I didn't know what to do, so I went and hid, and I've been hiding out until now, when you found me."

11:20:57 Monday 08 January 2063 - The Respite Soup Kitchen, Touristville, Redmond

The group had fallen silent as Twiggy finished, trying to digest what they had just heard. Suddenly, everyone was startled by a loud metallic 'crunch.' John, lost in thought, slowly realized that the rest of the group had turned to look towards him. Looking down he was surprised to see that the edge of his folding chair was mangled where he had been gripping it with his left hand. He mumbled a "Sorry" to the group and continued to look towards the floor. Frag it all. From what this kid says, this clinic has Nora. What's worse, they've had her for several days. Whatever they planned on doing to her has probably already been done. She may even be dead already...

No. Slowly forcing his cyberhand to unclench, John willed himself to focus his thoughts on the task at hand. No, can't think like that. You've spent too much of your life wallowing in self-pity to fall back on that now. She's alive, and you're going to find her.

Sitting back in his chair he looked around at the group. Max was looking towards him with concern, though he was sure the shaman had other things on his mind as well. Melina was talking quietly to her son Trancer, and Megan was patting Twiggy on the shoulder as the young elf slumped dejectedly in his chair. Kid obviously feels bad about Nora. Not that I blame him, but what was he to do? He knows he's no fighter, and even if he was he'd have been overmatched.

Clearing his throat to get everyone's attention, John looked at Twiggy. "Listen, kid. You did the best you could. These guys were armed pros. If you'd stuck around all that would have gotten you was caught... or worse. By getting away at least now you have a chance to help Nora. Did this place have a name? What about the address? Better yet, can you show me where it is?"

1539 Wednesday 10 January 2063 - Cooper's Firearms, Downtown Seattle-UCAS

Returning to the shop to recover the rifle barrel, Marquis finds it unrecognizable. He drains the bucket and places the rings in a brown paper bag, along with some other scrap metal. Later they will be mixed in with the auto shop's scrapmetal to be recycled.

Sitting on the couch, Marquis places a call, looking for some upcoming work.
"Hey Zyeda. Haven't had any work for the past couple of weeks, you have anything coming my way?"

11:23:45 Monday 08 January 2063 - The Respite Soup Kitchen, Touristville, Redmond

Max waited patiently while the young elf told his story. He watched John’s reaction to his niece’s chipping habit and was somewhat surprised at how he shrugged it off. Obviously he had had a hard life and so had his family. Max was only beginning to understand what it was like being SINless, but he could still leave the barrens and return to his penthouse. These people could never leave. They knew nothing but survival…they lived one day at a time on the refuse that others leave in their wake. It was a miracle that they all weren’t addicted to something, be it drugs, alcohol or BTL, but looking at people like John and Melina and how they fought their addiction everyday, made Max thankful for everything he had and firmed up his resolve to help in anyway he could. These are people worth saving. Keira knew that and now Max did too. Unfortunately Max didn’t hear anything in Twiggy’s story that connected Keira to this clinic?

“Twiggy. Did you tell Keira about the clinic or why you were hiding out here? And did the group of men that raided The Respite today dress the same as the ones that jumped you and Nora?”

Max knew there were other questions that needed asking, but his head wasn’t thinking straight. He knew he had to find Keira and fast, but he needed rest before he could use magic to help and he needed be sure about any connection to this clinic and Keira.

11:24:16 Monday 08 January 2063 - The Respite Soup Kitchen, Touristville, Redmond

Looking up at John , Twiggy nods eagerly. “Yeah chummer, I can take you there no sweat. Anything to help Nora and…” he stops, ashen, realizing he’s said more than he really wanted to. Immediately catching on, Megan leans over and puts her hand on his shoulder.

“Come on Twig , if you know something, now’s the time to spill. If anyone can help us, it’s these two chummers. Frag, Max is a real, genuine wizworm, you know that! They’ll be able to do something for sure! But they can’t help us if you don’t talk.”

Looking at the floor, lower lip trembling, Twiggy whispers, “I didn’t have anyone else to go to or tell. Miss Keira’s always been there for us when we needed it. I didn’t want to get her in trouble, honest, but when I asked if I could stay here for a while she knew something was up. She wouldn’t let me stay unless I told her, so I did. And then…”

“And then what?” Megan prompts gently. “She said she’d investigate to try to help Nora ! It’s my fault they came and took her because she tried to help us!” Trembling turns to full out sobbing as the young elf throws himself into Megan’s arms.

After a few seconds, he looks up at Max , shaking, tears running down his cheeks. “I didn’t want to get Miss Keira in trouble, I swear! I’m sorry Max ! Don’t turn me into a frog or something, please!”

He looks over at John with the same desperate expression. “I swear, I didn’t know that place would be trouble for Nora ! I never woulda gone if I thought that for a nanosecond! I’ll help you guys, honest, I never wanted all this to happen! I just wanted some money for Nora and me, and I didn’t have anyone to turn to but Miss Keira when it all went wrong!”

11:26:12 Monday 08 January 2063 - The Respite Soup Kitchen, Touristville, Redmond

Max winched at Megan’s use of the term “wizworm.”

“Actually I am a shaman Megan.” He gave the young girl a smile while correcting her, more out of habit than annoyance. “And no Twiggy I’m not going to turn you into a toad. What Keira did for you, she did because she cares. You did not force her to help.”

'Why do the one that help the most get hurt the most...'

Turning to the Large street samurai he says, “Well, John it looks like you and I are in this together, what ever THIS is, but I am not going to be of much help until I can get some rest.”

Max pulls out a business card and writes his home LTG number down. He hands to card to John it reads: