[Malevolence]

As Skynet watches the feeds coming in from the drones and ponders what he found in the matrix, he quickly comes to the conclusion that the silence is significant. He tasks one of the Fly-spys to look in on the nearby houses, looking to see if people were simply hiding indoors, or if the whole area had been evacuated. Did they scatter when the badges showed up, or had it been that way even before the kidnapping took place? He looks back through the surveillance feeds his drones had been gathering for the last hour to see if he could determine how recent the lull in activity here was.


The man that went by the handle "Detective" tagged points of interest on the map, and Skynet browsed those as he waited for the drones to get him some information he could use. It looked like the initial attack made use of some high grade intel, eliminating all of the occupants except Elden without even breaching - a drone outside the building shredding the troll, a sniper from outside taking out the elf. The human in that room probably bit it for a fireball delivered form the outside as well, though it could have just as easily been mundane fire. The elf was likely a wiggly seeing as she had died first - geek the mage and all that. The ork body put an arc spanner in that line of logic, though. The monowhip appeared to have been employed by a person inside the building, unlike the other attacks. Perhaps an infiltrator in a sneak suit? That would help explain the intelligence on the building's internal occupants that allowed for such a precision strike.


Once the runners were taken out, then the snatch team swept in, likely shooting stick-n-shock to take the boy alive. He had had some heads up - seeing his comrades fall only seconds before the front door was kicked in, or perhaps nearly simultaneously. It appeared that Elden got off a good shot, wounding - or even killing - one of the breachers. Way to go, kid - that'll teach them to fuck with Ares, even the spoiled brats.


He shared his thoughts with the team, adding his own observations to the virtual map, then asked questions that he hoped might fill in some of the gaps in the story. What had happened to the camouflaged infiltrator during the gun-fight? Or was he even camouflaged? He - or she - could have been a plant, posing as an ally to gain entrance. Where had the gunfight ended? Where had the wounded attacker fallen before he was carried out with Elden?


<< @ Team [Skynet] Can we determine what was used to burn the room? Was it a spell or some man-made accelerant? And assuming that the firefight up the stairs was waged with Elden, was it a moving firefight or had he dug into a defensible position and engaged them from there? Knowing where the snatch team was when one of their members fell might give us a focused area to look for evidence - perhaps blood. >>

[Zweiblumen]

Gunter scans the immediate surroundings.  The lack of any kind of movement is somewhat alarming.  Nothing scurries, no one dashes around corners.  The area is completely abandoned, and while not the sort to be easily creeped out, Gunter is a bit on edge about it.

He curses under his breath for not thinking about bringing a flashlight.  He follows the pair into the house, mostly using his thermographic vision to follow them around.  He makes sure his Redline has clear access for an easy draw and slings his Lancer in a low-ready position.

He's watched the pair in many tests, but this is the first live-fire they've done.  He continues to keep close watch on them while watching for any threats, even though everything in this neighborhood seems dead except for them and the two detectives that have yet to take that walk they are supposed to go on.

[Malevolence]

Skynet watches the sensor data as it streams in from the drones searching the surrounding buildings. The first building is empty - no signs of people, alive or dead, and no signs that it had seen recent occupation. The building seemed structurally sound, and from his previous observations over the last two months, he knew it was rare indeed to find any habitable building completely abandoned. As it scouts the house he monitors the chatter among the team, and finds it odd when the two called Detective and Thorn start finishing each others sentences, or speaking the same thing at the same time like some twisted stereo. He was familiar with mental links - technomancers did them frequently, forming full telepathic connections with other technomancers, but this seemed different, uncanny. Whatever experiments they had been a part of seemed to go beyond simple telepathy and into actual sharing of thoughts. Frankly, it sounded too much like those insect spirits he'd heard about in the news, with their hive minds and such. No thanks.


The drone flits out an open window - broken really - and finds the next door building, entering it from another "open" window. Here he finds corpses. The bodies tell a confusing, and macabre, story. As far as he could tell from the grey images from the drone's radar imaging systems, the people had simply collapsed where they stood, with no indication that they had responded in any way to an attack. Whatever had killed them, it seemed that they had been caught completely unaware. In the kitchen he finds the bodies of a woman and a man, the woman laying in a dried pool of blood, apparently having hit her head on the counter as she crumpled to the ground. The man is face down in a bowl of what is likely soup, spoon in hand, and if he was alive when he came to rest this way, he likely drowned a while ago. In the stairwell, two orks lay at opposite ends of a couch looking as if they had simply passed out while moving it down the stairs. Physics then took over, crushing one against the wall at the bottom of the stairs, and the other lay half draped over the couch, apparently bled out form injuries sustained during the fall.


The bodies leave more questions than they answered, mostly because the only question they had answered was whether the occupants were alive or not. But the building they were in was large enough to house way more than four people - perhaps dozens. There should be more bodies here, or at least signs that more people had been here and had perhaps left.


How had they died? Had the same sniper that had taken out the elf methodically killed each of them? They'd need to get some light and more than a fly-spy to examine the bodies more closely. But if they had been shot, then the BTL den, with its armed guards and higher security, would likely have survivors that could shed some light on what had happened. He directed the fly spy to the den - hoping they didn't shoot before he could get some useful information, or really at all - and watched with disappointment as it found body after body. But all of the bodies appeared to be junkies - none of the armed guards or anyone that didn't appear to be using was there - alive or dead. So had the local gang been in on this? Or at least had some heads up so that they could clear out their own before this - whatever this was - had happened.


They were going to need more resources - the crime scene possibly extended for blocks.


He was still transmitting the feeds to the other team members, but as the drone continued to explore the BTL den, he messaged the team to make sure they were seeing them.


<< @Team [Skynet] Watch feed F2. This crime scene extends for at least a block. There are dozens of bodies. Fewer than there should be if all the inhabitants had been killed, but more than just what is in this building. I haven't seen any gangers - whatever happened, they either bugged out before it happened, or they were part of it. But so far, there are no living metahumans for a good fraction of a kilometer, except us and the good detectives here. >>

<< I don't think we're going to be able to process all of this crime scene in our allotted time - perhaps we should let the detectives and their KE buddies start on the other buildings while we keep tabs on their progress. Our time might be better spent visiting the local criminal element and seeing if we can encourage them to help us fill in some blanks. >>

<< As per usual, there's something about Elden that we're not being told. The kid was good. The snatch team was well trained and well prepared and he fought them to a standstill for a while, even took one of them out, before he was finally taken. >>


He marks the blood on the floor with an ARO and adds it to the map as well.


<< This blood is likely from one of the attackers. I suspect he's suffering from a head injury - likely lethal - so I don't know if it'll allow us to track him by magical means, but that'd be something for one of you magicky types to decide. >>

<< What I can't figure, though, is he had a good plan and it was working, then for some reason he just suddenly failed to execute on it. He had plenty of good places to fall back to in order to keep them held off - and from his first position he should have been well aware of them, but he ended up getting himself pinned in. There had to have been more opponents in this building than just the snatch team. Spirits maybe? Or perhaps a guy in a sneak suit, or even a Judas. But they've cleaned up after themselves pretty thoroughly, except the blood. >>

[Scawire]

Stix has been keeping his ears and eyes open and scanning all the data the team was feeding his way. All the while checking though camera feeds trying to idea the van the kidnappers used to get away.


To:Team
From: Stix

I've found a small chuck of intel on the power base in this area. Seems the main ones in charger are a gang calling them selves "The Basement Breakers". Their main area of operations in in the field of drugs, BTLs and protection for a price. I found that the leader is an Ork named Frenzy who is said to work out of an abandoned gun store around three blocks north of us. He also has a few subordinates that work for him the one in charge of this area is a human named Sideways, the data says he runs a BTL den a few doors down.

If you ever like someone else can take over the scanning the video feeds for the get away van and I can do an astral run of the area. Let me know if you want be to go astral scouting.

End of Message



Stix goes back to looking over all the camera feeds looking to see if he can find a van fitting the description, now he know to look for smart tires too, that should cut down the number of possible hits. I always thought agents could never do a job as good as me so why waste the nuyen, now I see how a little helper could do this job well I focus on other actions. Oh well guess I'll have to pony up the nuyen when my pay check shows up. Stix takes a drag from his AR smoke wishing he didn't have to wear this helmet and could feel the real sting of an Ares Black cig.

[Ravensoracle]

John takes his time studying the debris, the corpses and any other evidence he or the others could find. Once he receives the map from Skynet, he quickly begins to add notations to layout for everyone what had occurred. He took his time around the staircase battle and also around the corpses that had been burned in the fire.

He was leaning over the corpse of the burned man...But he was also upstairs reading the aura of the building. Feeling the fear that came from the pitched battle... He was  studying the gunshot wound the female elf had suffered ... But he was amazed at the ruthless efficiency of the first attacker. The complete lack of any feelings registering on the astral... He was studying the residue and after effects of what seemed to be a mundane explosive, puzzled by what could have damaged the wall in such a way... He watching himself climbing the stairs to examine the area for the one injured in the second attack.

He pauses for a second as it begins to hit him what was occurring.  Things were getting fuzzy. There was a buzzing in his mind and headache. Each getting worse as he concentrated on them. Then it hit him in a burst of comprehension. Even then it was unclear to him if it had been his idea or Thorn's. He used all of the mental force he could muster to slam the Active link shut. The pull he was feeling from it was too much. It had to be stopped before he plummeted over the edge. Into what he had no idea.

 He lets out a sigh and a sense of relief floods over him as his thoughts return to his own. There is also a growing sense of agitation. Most likely from letting himself have such a lapse.

<< @Thorn {Detective} Don't think we want to do that again anytime soon.>>

<< @ Team [Skynet] Can we determine what was used to burn the room? Was it a spell or some man-made accelerant? And assuming that the firefight up the stairs was waged with Elden, was it a moving firefight or had he dug into a defensible position and engaged them from there? Knowing where the snatch team was when one of their members fell might give us a focused area to look for evidence - perhaps blood. >>

<<@ Team [Detective] the fire was from a man-made accelerant, but I am at a loss as to what caused the collapse of the wall. >>

He continues to collect and analyze the evidence as he moves around the building. He keeps moving from one area to another then back again as the pieces of the puzzle begin to present a picture.

... He was still transmitting the feeds to the other team members, but as the drone continued to explore the BTL den, he messaged the team to make sure they were seeing them.

<< @Team [Skynet] Watch feed F2. This crime scene extends for at least a block. There are dozens of bodies. Fewer than there should be if all the inhabitants had been killed, but more than just what is in this building. I haven't seen any gangers - whatever happened, they either bugged out before it happened, or they were part of it. But so far, there are no living metahumans for a good fraction of a kilometer, except us and the good detectives here. >>

<< I don't think we're going to be able to process all of this crime scene in our allotted time - perhaps we should let the detectives and their KE buddies start on the other buildings while we keep tabs on their progress. Our time might be better spent visiting the local criminal element and seeing if we can encourage them to help us fill in some blanks. >>

<< As per usual, there's something about Elden that we're not being told. The kid was good. The snatch team was well trained and well prepared and he fought them to a standstill for a while, even took one of them out, before he was finally taken. >>


He marks the blood on the floor with an ARO and adds it to the map as well.


<< This blood is likely from one of the attackers. I suspect he's suffering from a head injury - likely lethal - so I don't know if it'll allow us to track him by magical means, but that'd be something for one of you magicky types to decide. >>

<< What I can't figure, though, is he had a good plan and it was working, then for some reason he just suddenly failed to execute on it. He had plenty of good places to fall back to in order to keep them held off - and from his first position he should have been well aware of them, but he ended up getting himself pinned in. There had to have been more opponents in this building than just the snatch team. Spirits maybe? Or perhaps a guy in a sneak suit, or even a Judas. But they've cleaned up after themselves pretty thoroughly, except the blood. >>

John moves with a purpose as Skynet points out the blood on the ceiling. It doesn't take him long to gain a sample. The whole time he is studying the feeds form the drones as well. Once he sees the bodies and puts all of the info together he bagins to gather his things in a bit of a rush.

<<@Team {Detective} I think we're done here I've got what I need. I can name the one responsible for the first part of the attack as well as the collateral damage in the other buildings. Hopefully that person or the blood sample will lead us to the extraction team.

Stix has been keeping his ears and eyes open and scanning all the data the team was feeding his way. All the while checking though camera feeds trying to idea the van the kidnappers used to get away.


To:Team
From: Stix

I've found a small chuck of intel on the power base in this area. Seems the main ones in charger are a gang calling them selves "The Basement Breakers". Their main area of operations in in the field of drugs, BTLs and protection for a price. I found that the leader is an Ork named Frenzy who is said to work out of an abandoned gun store around three blocks north of us. He also has a few subordinates that work for him the one in charge of this area is a human named Sideways, the data says he runs a BTL den a few doors down.

If you ever like someone else can take over the scanning the video feeds for the get away van and I can do an astral run of the area. Let me know if you want be to go astral scouting.

End of Message

<<@Team {Detective} Stix, Send me the info if you want to go for an astral stroll. Two mages checking it out may be better. But we need to track the van, if we lost that then we the trail for Elden requires a roundabout way to track him. >>

He grabs the handle to Betty carries her, the stand quickly retracting, as he heads toward the two detectives left standing dumfounded at their cruiser.

In his most authoritative voice he addresses the detective that flashed the badge.

"The scene is all yours..." He nods to the nearby buildings that Skynet's drones had scouted. "You've got more bodies in the surrounding buildings." He then leans in real close to make sure the point is sent home. "It WILL take you at least 24 hours to go over the crime scene before you can move on. Understand!"

[Koshnek]

Thorn is immediately awash with the astral presence of this place, decades of decay and human suffering in the dirges of poverty soaked into every brick and stone like a spilled drink left unattended on a carpet. But there is a more recent stain upon the astral here, one of panic and violence, still fresh upon the surface, like a wound.

The door is the first thing with a story to tell, cracked in half with a sense of urgency, but a distinct lack of rage or aggression. This was a calm act of violence, planned and precise.

The stairway starts to tell a different tale, a story of kindness masking deception in the walls, followed by extreme violence that climbs the stairs and washes through the landing on the second floor. There is more emotion here, panicked, confused, and desperate. Continuing in, these emotions begin to increase, along with a distinct sense of terror. You find the body of the ork cut in two, and the emotions that linger almost pulsate with the fear and pain that permeated the room and halls. This man died violently, painfully, and in a state of overwhelming fear. There are tinges of shock and confusion, a lack of understanding what was happening, like the ork didn't know why he was dying. You suspect he never even saw his attacker. Strangely enough, you find no evidence that there was an attacker at all. No rage, no aggression, no killing intent. Whoever or whatever killed him felt no emotion at all, and left no astral trace.

This pattern continues as you find the troll, then the two burned corpses of the remaining runners. Confusion is the running theme. This was a surprise attack on an unprecedented level. None of these runners even knew what hit them. They were dead before they knew why.

Something strange stands out to you as you finish examining the entire scene. Downstairs, you were able to distinguish between attackers and attacked. Someone breached the building, came up the stairway, and engaged in an extended fight with a terrified inhabitant, one they seemingly won. But for the rest of the building, you feel nothing from the attackers. They were given no chance to return fire, no opportunity to survive, and their killer left no trace of his or her presence on the astral.

From this, you get the feeling that two separate attacks occurred here. The first wiped out the running team with ruthless efficiency, and the second breached the building to capture Elden.

(As he investigated the Astral evidence, Thorn was more interested in the events than the victims. If anything, he was somewhat impressed by the level of efficiency the hit team achieved. This clearly changes as he begins distinguishing between the Hit team and the Extraction team. Thorn is more focused and concerned about the details of Elden's capture. As the investigation continued, John's thoughts and discoveries began intermingling with his own. It was becoming difficult to tell which ideas were his own and which were John's.)

Edit 2:

He pauses for a second as it begins to hit him what was occurring.  Things were getting fuzzy. There was a buzzing in his mind and headache. Each getting worse as he concentrated on them. Then it hit him in a burst of comprehension. Even then it was unclear to him if it had been his idea or Thorn's. He used all of the mental force he could muster to slam the Active link shut. The pull he was feeling from it was too much. It had to be stopped before he plummeted over the edge. Into what he had no idea.

 He lets out a sigh and a sense of relief floods over him as his thoughts return to his own. There is also a growing sense of agitation. Most likely from letting himself have such a lapse.

<< @Thorn {Detective} Don't think we want to do that again anytime soon.>>

Thorn shook his head clear, glad to be free of the distraction and chaos. He quickly read and replied to the small text box that appeared in the corner of his image link.

>Reply
 >>Detective
  >>>Agreed. Why are we texting?

"Luddite. But seriously, that was odd. I was starting to get a little too comfortable inside your stuffy head, you know? As loath as I am to go to the man, I feel like we should mention this when we get back to base. That seemed...wrong. Anyhow, on with the mission."

<< @ Team [Skynet] Can we determine what was used to burn the room? Was it a spell or some man-made accelerant? And assuming that the firefight up the stairs was waged with Elden, was it a moving firefight or had he dug into a defensible position and engaged them from there? Knowing where the snatch team was when one of their members fell might give us a focused area to look for evidence - perhaps blood. >>

<<@ Team [Detective] the fire was from a man-made accelerant, but I am at a loss as to what caused the collapse of the wall. >>

He continues to collect and analyze the evidence as he moves around the building. He keeps moving from one area to another then back again as the pieces of the puzzle begin to present a picture.

John moves with a purpose as Skynet points out the blood on the ceiling. It doesn't take him long to gain a sample. The whole time he is studying the feeds form the drones as well. Once he sees the bodies and puts all of the info together he bagins to gather his things in a bit of a rush.

<<@Team {Detective} I think we're done here I've got what I need. I can name the one responsible for the first part of the attack as well as the collateral damage in the other buildings. Hopefully that person or the blood sample will lead us to the extraction team.

"I won't spoil your surprise, Detective, but lets share what we know" Thorn commented through comms, and when he continued he drew from the information he had gathered from the Detective's mind, "Everything seems to point towards two hits. The first hit cleared out Elden's team, and as you can tell, it was an impressive job. The lack of emotion staining the astral leaves me confident that it was done by drones. The angle of the shots that took down the troll, the sniper that took out one of the burn victims, and the monowhip that shortened our orcish friend were all possibly, and likely, done by drones.

Later, someone seems to have spoken with Elden just before the extraction team hit. Astral evidence leads me to believe that he either knew this individual or at the very least the individual was not suspicious. Then the extraction began, and Elden seemed to have been able to hold his own briefly before he was overwhelmed. He definitely injured one member."

Thorn nodded, satisifed with his report. "I could check out some of the surrounding buildings, if we want to be thorough. I've already found most of what I can find astrally, so I'm free to check out the surrounding area. We could also leave it to the locals. Alternately, we could let Skynet take over the virtual investigation and take Stix up on his offer to project." Thorn continued mentally, "Although I'd feel more comfortable keeping as much of the investigation "in-house" as possible."

Edit:
"Before we leave, I want to take a closer look this structural damage. It could be an explosion...but something's off. I can't quite explan it." With that, Thorn turned and began examining the structural damage.

[Scawire]

Once Stix hears that The Detective has an idea who one of the team members was that hit the house he stops standing still in the corner and races to him. Detective if you have an idea who one of the persons is I need to to know who it is. I have a contact that might help dig up info on him, and the sooner I drop him a line the faster we can get the intel. I'll have to say off the astral until this lead gets back to me, since he is great at digging up intel and that intel is more important right now then an astral run around the neighborhood.

[Koshnek]

<<@Team {Detective} Stix, Send me the info if you want to go for an astral stroll. Two mages checking it out may be better. But we need to track the van, if we lost that then we the trail for Elden requires a roundabout way to track him. >>

He grabs the handle to Betty carries her, the stand quickly retracting, as he heads toward the two detectives left standing dumfounded at their cruiser.

In his most authoritative voice he addresses the detective that flashed the badge.

"The scene is all yours..." He nods to the nearby buildings that Skynet's drones had scouted. "You've got more bodies in the surrounding buildings." He then leans in real close to make sure the point is sent home. "It WILL take you at least 24 hours to go over the crime scene before you can move on. Understand!"

The Detective walked off as Thorn turned back towards the building to check for one final piece of the puzzle. Definitely odd. Maybe magic? Never seen explosive damage like this. Thorn approached the damaged portions of the wall while he shifted to astral perception. It was immediately obvious that not only was magic used to take down the wall, but it was also a very familiar spell that was used. Drek! How the frag did I miss that?

"We're definitely dealing with a mage, boys. Our wizard omae dropped this wall with a Shape Material spell for Brick. The formula is different, but its basically the same spell I use to manipulate flames. He can freely move brick as he desires, so we should avoid tactical situations that rely on brick structures when possible. I should have noticed sooner...(Thorn feels quite disappointed that he failed to notice this until the team was practically leaving the scene).

Thorn let the astral fade away as he walked to the wall for a closer examination. Hmm. Evidence of scorching on exposed surfaces of the wall. "The explosion definitely happened after the wall was torn down. I can't clearly determine the purpose of the explosion. It may have been used to keep the mage distracted while the sniper lined up his shot... I doubt that is the case, however. Geek the mage and all. The sniper probably did lead off against this team."

Thorn shrugged and walked back towards the Roadmaster. "That's all I got. I'll let you boys work out the next move." Once again, he strode past the two officers without saying a word or acknowledging them in any way. Thorn climbed into the Roadmaster and strapped himself in before removing his helmet and popping a cram tab. He took a moment to quickly climb out of the Ares disguise and to gear up with his BGH suit and his personal helmet. "Ready to roll." Thorn turned to a new page in his sketch book in the meantime, quickly jotting down his dismal interpretation of the scene of the building as seen primarily through the Astral.

[Zweiblumen]

Gunter is uncharacteristically out of his element when it comes to investigations.  He's much more comfortable in the lab, but thats basically what this is when it comes to Thorn and The Detective.  He makes notes of the times he started observing their behavior begin to change, and when it returned to normal.  He also noted the way they methodically moved through the scene.
As the rest of the team described the scene around the building and then The Detective says he knows why, it piques his academic curiosity.  <<<@Team [Waffe] What happened to this neighborhood?  You said you know who did it?  Did they kill everyone to cover their tracks?>>>

While the team is wrapping up and heading back to the van, Gunter continues in his overwatch.  As they are loading into Skynet's rig Gunter asks subvocally, "Do we have a base of ops out here or do we need to come up with a place to go?  I know of a few options if we need them."

[Malevolence]

Skynet pulls the Fly-spy back from the surrounding buildings and as the team begins to regroup, sends it ahead to scout their route to the safehouse. The news about the wall confuses the time line some. The mage was dead before the explosion, but if that dead mage was responsible for the wall, what purpose would she have had to do it? They were attacked unaware, so it wasn't likely that she could have done it for some tactical advantage. Was there an enemy mage that might have done it after the elf was down in order to allow a grenade to be placed in the room? But why not put it through the open window?


<< @Team [Skynet] Do we know where the fire in the room started? Grenade? Or something less explosive? >>


Waffe asks about the safehouse as he gets into the van, and Skynet replies via message.


<< @Team [Skynet] Ares has privided a safehouse a few kliks from here. It'll be a little tight for a group this size - it only has two bedrooms with beds. An office area and the common areas have room for cots, but I don't have any, and unless we all keep exactly the same schedule, privacy will suffer. It'll be just like bunking in the barracks. >>

[Koshnek]

<< @Team [Skynet] Do we know where the fire in the room started? Grenade? Or something less explosive? >>

Thorn continued his sketch of the building while he mentally set his comm to convert voice to text and used his subvocal mic to text. Although his trodes provided DNI, voice-to-text felt more natural than directing his comm with his mind and therefore less distracting while he focused on his drawing.

>Voice text
 >>Team
  >>>The good Detective and I had a private discussion while we investigated the building. Judging from the blast radius he believes that it's likely the fire was caused by an explosive. Now that we know the wall was taken down by magic, I'd say that we're not dealing with anything high ordinance like plastics. A grenade or maybe a rocket seems likely. The responsible party seems quite professional, so maybe they wanted to be sure that they geeked the mage by doubling the assault in her room?

Thorn finished his rough drawing and sat back and relaxed as the Cram began kicking in. Now I'm ready. Let's get this party started. (Thorn feels subtely more relaxed, but yet noticeably more restless.) Not even a minute after he put it down, Thorn opened his sketchbook to a fresh page and began drawing comic panels of the morning's events.

<< @Team [Skynet] Ares has privided a safehouse a few kliks from here. It'll be a little tight for a group this size - it only has two bedrooms with beds. An office area and the common areas have room for cots, but I don't have any, and unless we all keep exactly the same schedule, privacy will suffer. It'll be just like bunking in the barracks. >>

Thorn read the message as soon as it popped into his image link and immediately replied via voice text.

>Voice text
 >>Team
  >>>Privacy? That's a luxury I don't remember. Sure, I don't mind. If that's not good, I have a contact who might help. It doubt it'd be cheap. Or nice. Definitely not respectable. Don't expect much sleep because we're wrapping it up within 24 hours. If we spend the night, I'm sure we can get some cheap bedding. Air mattress, sleeping bag or some such nonsense.

Thorn returned to drawing his strips. At that moment, he was embellishing upon his prank on the German earlier. (Thorn's mind fills with mischievous amusement). He was especially amused with the panel which showed Waffe pissing himself. He doubted the dour elf would be as pleased.

[Ravensoracle]

John didn't take long once he was sure the two Knight Errant detectives understood his directions. He was quick to join the others in the van. He's already pulling up the map and adding more detail as he puts Betty back in her case.

His mind seems to be going in several different directions at once as he tries to piece together what happened and who is responsible.

<< @ Team {Detective} I have a name but something isn't setting right with me. I'm afraid that there isn't much more we are going to find digging around here. Let the KE boys dig through the rubble and deal with the dead. We can monitor their progress easy enough.  >>

He continues to add and edit the map to reflect some of his thoughts. The speed at which it changes is dizzying to the others.

@Team {Detective} The majority of evidence points at one man being responsible for the initial attack. A rigger by the name of Manticore. BUT some of the details are wrong. He doesn't like witnesses, so the dead among the other buildings are probably collateral damage from some form of knockout gas. He's also rumored to have a device that can wipe out Matrix devices within 100m radius. The use of drones, even the monowhip fit his MO. But he has a rep of never working with anyone. The use of magic and the extraction team are not part of MO though. It's almost like someone is trying to set him up. Either that or someone payed him enough to actually work with others.

Before we start doing to much to find Manticore I want to try something. I may be able to set up a meet face to face with Manticore but it may not be cheap. I don't want him alerted by anyone searching for him first though. It will make things harder if he goes to ground on us as well.

I also need to get the blood sample I collected analyzed to try to get a name for the extraction team. Is there anyway we can get it couriered to a lab to get an identification?   

[Ryo]

The two KE detectives just salute and nod, unable to construct any kind of coherent response other than some 'yes sir's and 'right away sir's. As you all head back to the car, Stix pauses for a moment, AROs flashing in front of his vision alerting his attention.

"What the...that can't be right." He stops, concentrating for a moment as he accesses his DNI. He frowns, and then frowns deeper.

"Shit, I gotta go guys, The commander needs me back at base. Someone just..." He pauses, unsure if he should explain. "Nevermind. I'll meet up with you later." He departs, his attention split between headed over to the two Detectives and whatever is going on in his deck.

[Malevolence]

Skynet watches Stix go through the sensors of the Roadmaster. Curious, he thinks to himself.


Stix had not found any images of the getaway vehicle, but had found a gap in the recordings of a camera to the north nearly 20 minutes after the kidnapping. So, they had headed north.


<< @Team [Skynet] We need to get the street camera footage from before the abduction, just in case they weren't as meticulous covering their tracks on the way in. If they didn't want to risk tipping anyone off before the attack, they might have skipped the hacking until the action started. I don't have Stix's access to KE systems, so I either have to requisition it or hack it. Just let me know which way you want to go and I'll get it done. >>


He was tasked to follow orders from the team he was escorting, so if they said to grab the files, that was all the push he would need to break in to KE's host and grab what was needed. Taking the long route - paperwork and authorizations - was slow and tedious, but it was what Ares demanded, and so it was what Skynet did. But sometimes expediency trumped decorum and Firewatch had the operational leeway to outright break the occasional rule in order to get the job done. All it took was a direct order. Or even just a statement from a superior officer that could be construed as one.


Curious about the situation back at the Cygnus base, Skynet scans through the feeds from various drones stationed there, looking for anything out of the ordinary. He sends another command to the KE patrol car to display an ARO with the message "I've set an ARO for some blood evidence in the building that you should look into." He also has the car show an ARO indicating the blood they had found in their investigation - all originating form the car itself rather than either of his SINs.

While doing this, he sends a command to the Roadmaster to head toward the safehouse, recalling the rotodrone at the same time - opening the rear doors of the van to receive it and then closing them again once it had landed safely. The drive is fairly brief - less than ten minutes - before they pull into a small neighborhood on the Redmond border of Bellvue. They then pull into the driveway of a fairly non-descript house on the corner - granting it good visibility for all approaches. The house is about 1800 square feet and features a master and spare bedroom, an office, a full kitchen, one and a half bathrooms and a dining room and living room that are not separated by a wall, creating one large room. Marcus hadn't noticed it before, but the sofa in the living room folded out into a bed, bringing the total beds to three.

After the van came to a stop, Marcus dropped out of VR and blinked a couple times. He commanded his armor to change appearance to straight black with no patches or insignias, removed his helmet, and without looking to the passengers in back, said "We're here" and got out of the van, commanding the front door of the house to unlock and open as he walked up the driveway. He ordered the Lynx to stand down before entering the house, simultaneously sending the dog brain the information it needed to recognize the others as friend rather than foe. He set the fly-spys on their standard watch and headed to the master bedroom, kicked off his shoes, and laid back on the bed so he could think.

<< @Team [Skynet] Stow your gear. Use the facilities if you like. But we shouldn't tarry here long. I'm already situated here, so just let me know when you guys are ready to head out again and where you want to go. >>

[Ravensoracle]

<< @Team [Skynet] We need to get the street camera footage from before the abduction, just in case they weren't as meticulous covering their tracks on the way in. If they didn't want to risk tipping anyone off before the attack, they might have skipped the hacking until the action started. I don't have Stix's access to KE systems, so I either have to requisition it or hack it. Just let me know which way you want to go and I'll get it done. >>

<<@ Team [Detective] I'd contact Ellis to see if he can grant you access to the needed files. If not then a little hacking may be called for. >>

<< @Team [Skynet] Stow your gear. Use the facilities if you like. But we shouldn't tarry here long. I'm already situated here, so just let me know when you guys are ready to head out again and where you want to go. >>

John slips off the helmet and the jacket for the armor. He leaves the jacket and helmet in the Roadmaster in a spare seat so it wouldn't draw attention. Once it is clear where the safehouse is located, John sends a message to his own set of wheels. A Ford Americar parked in the long term parking storage at the airport. It quickly comes to life and is on it's way toward John's location.

<<@Team [Detective] I've got my own set of wheels heading this way. It's a nondescript Ford Americar. Don't be surprised as it pulls up.>>

 While he was at he he also opened a line to one of his other commlinks. One he kept as a working burner link. He opened a connection to a message service that he knew was a dead drop location for a fixer he knew form his undercover work named Jax. He opened a simple message screen and typed in Need an Appointment, Time Sensitive ---Signed Jester and included his commcode for that burner.

He knew he'd be contacted soon by Jax. Jax wasn't one to just call directly. The man had channels to use and John knew the proccess had to be respected.

Once that was done he grabbed his bags and headed into the house. He looked at the others and nodded toward the bathroom. "If I am going to setup the meeting with Manticore then I have to set a meeting with my contact first. I'm gonna clean up. If anyone wants to come with me, I recommend you have a suit for the meeting. My contact isn't one to look like a slob in front of. I'll be in the head getting cleaned up.

He sets his bags down next to the couch and removes a garment bag and a small travel bag. and turns to the others before he goes to the head.

"We need to determine what our next step beyond meeting with Manticore is. And we need to continue looking for the other extraction team. It may not hurt to split up to cover more ground. We need to continue tracking that Roadmaster if possible. Is it possible that the gang responsible for the surrounding area may have seen something beforehand. It would be nice if they could give us a description of the perpetrators. How do we want to proceed?"