[Mulcarn]

Once she was found he mumbles to himself in displeasure: "Is there seriously a fucking line for flowers... Goddammit."  He casually walks up to the back of the line to wait for his turn.  Feeling a bit awkward too considering he doesn't look like a guy who would buy flowers and he hasn't showered in awhile either.  It seems to take years before his wait in line was over and he was face-to-face with the pretty florist.  "Oh this explains the line, these people don't want to buy plants.  What they want is to talk to a pretty girl."  Maxwell starts feeling a little more self-conscious but ignores it as he asks: "I'm looking for some Lilium Candium.  Do you have any?"

[Jack_Spade]

Kynos has only a bolt hole at the moment. It's an old shipping container next to a scrap heap. Nothing fancy, just really out of the way.



Kynos avoided going VR these days, but it seemed less hassle than a meat meet. The login to the MDK host told him, that he had been away over three years. His character - a vampire hunter/slasher hybrid was by all standards outdated and out classed. Combined with his less than stellar hardware he had no illusions about his competitive abilities around here.
That was precisely why he had chosen this class: It was pretty weak in direct combat, but the ability to plan elaborate traps and resurrect after a killing blow didn't need to be strong - only patient.

The players lounge on this particular server was usually empty since getting there forced you to endure an unskipable cut scene followed by some obnoxious adds. Three years and he still knew every syllable Count Tepes spouted in the most cliched attempt of acting he could imagine. This game wasn't popular or known for it's innovative writing.

When he finally reached the lounge - an old Victorian looking smoking room - he let himself fall into a creaking leather chair that matched his own leather coat, hat and mask. Somehow the program allowed him to use a cigar although his mask didn't have a mouth opening.

He waited.

[gilga]

@Maxwell The lady seems  surprised, everybody calls them Madonna lilies. How many do you want? She smiles but it is a cold smile and you can sense that she is very nervous. Once you finally receive your flowers you see that she also handed you a little chip.

@Kynos (and Athos?) Maxenters with a freshly create character, called newbie_827 it has the default choices she probobly did the equivalent of hitting 'next... next next' without reading. She even has the default skin texture and haircut. "Nice looks" She say.

@Minnie Once you are ready Strawberry will take you to a her house above ground. Nagisa is happy like a little girl to see the sun again, she will place a blanket by her favorite tree. It is a big and beautiful tree with many small offerings near it. There are actual flowers, and the garden seems very well nourished. A real gem in a sea of garbage and rundown buildings. "This is my happy place" she say. This is the first time you saw Nagisa happy since she arrived and she helps Strawberry pull out all kind of little cheeses a bottle of wine and some fruits. "So do you like my garden Nagisa?" she asks, and it does not take an expert to say that she does. "Yes very much, I have never seen any place like it" she answers and Strawberry say softly "You can come here whenever you like, but you cannot move more than a few meters from the tree or someone will see you."  Nagisa just lie on the grass near the blanket and looks at the sky.

[Mulcarn]

Maxwell smiles darkly back at her and says: "Thank you kindly."  He walks off away from the booth to a distant tree that doesn't have anybody around.  Using his commlink's chip player he tries to see whats on the chip Jennifer handed him. 

[gilga]

@Maxwell there appear to be nothing on the chip, but as you place it in your comlink you get a text to your burner
>>You have been authorized as guest the Horizon building.
Your host is Amy White and you have to be with her during your entire visit.
Thank you and have a nice day,

Horizon Security Department.

Attached there is an interactive map, and ARU's for once within the building.

[Mulcarn]

Maxwell was busy processing the message and the chain of events that led to this.  So far everything in the past 24 hours felt like a big waste of time.  "Wait let me get this strait, Amy somehow finds out that Venom plants a bomb at my place and sends Arthur to go warn me about.  Then he tells me that she has information regarding him and has me taken to a warehouse to spend the night.  I wake up with a chip in my pocket that gives me a strange message to meet some florist in council island.  I get another  chip from her telling me to go fucking downtown!  Thats like a four hour walk from here."  Maxwell's hands clench into fists and the muscles in his arms start to tense up in anger.  Exhaling a deep heavy sigh he shrugs and looks over the map attached with the message.  Once he was certain of where to go he lets out a ragged cough of frustration.  He glances back over at Jennifer's location and a smile briefly appears before transforming into a mask of dissatisfaction.  He sets off on the really long stride ahead of him.

Roughly Four Hours Later...

The sun had started to set and pangs of hunger had begun wracking his stomach with a dull pain.  Cold winds blew and tossed Maxwell's hair around from side to side.  He was used to the feeling of ravenous hunger and chilled flesh, but still despised it none the less.  He zipped up his jacket and dug his hands into his pockets for warmth.  With every step he takes he feels daggers of ice sink into him.  Normally the cold weather wouldn't faze him but being tired, hungry, and angry has made him a little less resistant.  It wasn't too much longer before he happened upon the Horizon building.  With murmured discontent he says: "Lets put an end to this scavenger hunt."  He glances from side to side not looking for anything in particular but mostly out of paranoia.  Not wanting to spend anymore time outside he heads into the department. 

The glass doors slide open and Maxwell is greeted by a pair of guards and a receptionist behind the front desk.  They ask him what his business here is and he responds in a gloomy gravelly voice: "I'm here to see a miss Amy White.  I have a uhh meeting with her."

[Mercy Merchant]

Athos logs onto the game server at eleven.  He wants to check the place out and look at some of the leader boards.  He and Minnie had swapped top and second spot for nearly four months straight about a year ago.  Since then, they had slipped some, but were still ranked in the top ten.  Lord Astarix is his favorite avatar in the game; a tall and handsome vampire with almost three score "minions", or other player avatars, swearing allegiance to him.  There was little the suave vampire could not do and he spent most of his time helping his minions advance themselves through the various story lines.  In a sort of odd dichotomy, Minnie's, Vampire Hunter was his main antagonist and closest friend.  Astarix managed to remain patient through the long and mandatory opening cut scenes.  It was a common source of discontent with the gamers, but it did serve to keep the rif raf away.  He looked around the mansion that was the home for his game family, which consisted of various classes of avatar, not all of whom were vampires.  After taking care of various periodic bookkeeping chores required of each House Master, Astarix greeted the handful of minions that were online and then moved over to the Lounge, a common meeting area for in-game avatars. 

The Victorian atmosphere suited the game mechanics well.  Astarix noticed only four other avatars in the room; a pair of female vampires were snuggling in one corner, probably involved in some ERP, an older style Hunter/Slasher hybrid class in a chair and some brand new quick-play avatar.  A quick perusal reveals that the H/S is pretty old-school, with none of the newer add-ons or new equipment, but he was far better equipped than the quick-play avatar was.  She had not even passed the initial rituals that would give her one of the essential classes to play.  In comparison, if the others were interested, Astarix was tricked out with some of the very best equipment offered in the game, all of it enchanted with strong magic and only available to those who had won some of the championship runs that popped up every now and then.   The H/S at least seems comfortable in the chair so should be Kynos.  The other seemed to barely even know her way around the room, and probably did not know of the secret rooms and corridors available to those of certain ranks. 

Astarix takes a tall fluted glass from the tray of a roaming lounge servant and sips the blood red liquid as he approaches the H/S and the other.  "Welcome and good afternoon.  I thank you, sir, for suggesting this venue for the meeting."  The VL avatar bows low to both of them.   "Now should we get down to business?  Here I am Lord Astarix, House Master of the Dark Nine, and one of the sitting councilors on the Coven."  Astarix waves his hand and small boxes open for each of the other two to elect to join him in a private chat session.  "We should be able to talk freely here.  I am assuming that the Newbie_827 is Officer Max.  Can you shed any light on what is going on?  I am particularly interested in getting proof that I did not try to assassinate my boss and a Yak boss during a meeting in a warehouse I was sent to purchase.  The building is scrap, I am in hiding, and so is my boss.  I would owe a rather large favor to you if you can help."

[Jack_Spade]

"Athos?" Kynos' voice showed a certain amount of mirth. "Damn, how can a mafia soldier have so much time to build a whole vampire empire in VR? I started playing when I was in intensive care for three months. Incidentally, never take the "Cellar of the Broken Mind" quest with a Hunter/Slasher hybrid. Some fragger laced that thing with BTL fear and Link-Lock. Normally if you are paralyzed with fear and killed by the burning clown spider you are sent back to the lobby. But if you are a slasher hybrid, you just fall down without dying. I spent 24 hours there getting killed again and again. I'm pretty sure that can't be healthy for your brain."

He turned to Max: "Ah, I get you are no connoisseur of silly VR games. Welcome all the same. As you see, we are both quite able and willing to help with an ongoing investigation - provided we aren't treated like criminals." He laughed, although his avatar made it sound menacing.
"Maybe we can rehash what we know so far:
My employer here was - standing in for his boss - interested in buying the warehouse  from a man of Japanese descent - both alleged associates of a local, quite influential business group.
While they visited the warehouse, the door closed itself sealing both men and their entourage in. To their dismay they discovered shaped charges inside the fresh drywall - as we know now this system was stolen from a secure KE facility.
They barely escaped by punching a hole through one of the walls.
Suspects involved in this assassination attempt are the AI known as RED from whose abode the security system was removed and an individual called Venom, who used the warehouse previous to the sale to store a number of illegal military ordinances.

Anything I got wrong or should know so far?"

[Mercy Merchant]

Astarix laughs.  "I love it here.  I make time to play.  And you must have been away for a while.  That bug in "Broken Mind" was fixed about a year ago.  But, yeah, there are some fraggers out there who just have to mess with the programming.  We should do a run some time to get your gear upgraded.  And perhaps you could give some advice on the H/S class.  I have never really tried a hybrid, but some seem to do quite well."  The vampire lord avatar turns to the Newbie.  "You, too, officer.  This is a great way to relax and I would be happy to show you around."

"My associate here has it pretty much right.  And I, too, would like to know what you can add and what I would have to do to get it.  I would normally not even contemplate cooperating with the law, but strange times make for strange bedfellows, as it were.  And these are strange times, indeed."

[Shaman_Yuri]

The time outside with Strawberry and Nagisa had been lovely, in many ways even more fulfilling than the time I spent in the dream with Nagi.  This time it had been real.

It looks like Nagi is starting to accept the idea of living here, which is nice.  I envy her in a lot of ways, even more now than ever.  She doesn't have to worry about the outside world anymore.  At least not except as a job.

Me, on the other hand, I still very much have the world on my shoulders.  And like Atlas, I groaned when my glasses beeped to warn me that it was 11am and that I'd best start looking in on Athos in the game.  I'me sure he'd be there early, and despite the Noon schedule a lot would be discussed before the official start.

Unlike Athos, I am entirely AR but with my reflexes, the glasses, and AR gloves, it's never hobbled me much.  I keep up with VR players with little trouble.  No, I rule over most VR players with no sweat at all.

Mouse's blessing has some surprising advantages, I muse with a smile.

With a little help from Nagisa, I'm able to access the matrix with no trace of where I am accessing from.  As long as I am using my glasses here in Strawberry's domain, my source on the 'trix will be nigh invisible.  It was the first of many tricks Nagisa will be bringing to Strawberry's service.  Even M seems impressed, which isn't an easy feat.

Walking down the corridor from House main door to the lounge, I note some changes that came with recent updates.  Nothing major, just some different textures for the candelabras, a change in color palette for the flooring.  I nod to the House staff, NPCs all, as I walk by.  A mirror catches my eye and I can see myself.

In the game I am tall, almost two meters, with strong arms and legs and well-muscled thighs that flash from the slits in my short black skirt.  My hair is black, and like in meatspace flows well down my back, swishing this way and that with my hips.  Those strands of hair that fall to my front detour along my chest to make way for my ample breasts barely held in check by the ebony bodice that pushes my assets up for easy inspection yet is flexible enough to permit me ease of movement when removing yet another vampire from existence.  At my side are my signature enchanted mahogany swords and daggers, special items created just for me after Astarix and I joined forces to win a game-level contest with a custom item as the reward.  Only slightly less powerful, magic-wise at least, is the compound bow built to my size and exceptional strength and the quiver of steel-tipped mahogany arrows slung over my back.

With the occasional exception of Astarix, there are few vampires in the game that can stand my focused attention.  Or for than matter, non-vampires.

I enter the lounge to see Astarix and two others I do not recognize speaking within a privacy field.  Taking stock of the room in case there are any surprises, I saunter toward the others, enjoying the effect my appearance has during initial introductions...

[gilga]

@Athos Kynos and Minnie  Max say "I do not play matrix games, my cult forbids it. Your assertions are about right, I will add what I know. There is conspiracy, a secret society that spans many organizations countries and cities. I have been following them for years and my entire cult is dedicated to fighting these guys. They are called, ANZ or  Alliance of New Zion. Venom, Red and many others are part of it. They use subtle methods, nothing quite high profile as an assassination attempt. It took the new Bresleves a lot of time to prove their existence we started with nothing more than a vague prophecy and over the years we gradually managed to map this organization.

Something changed recently, Venom is attracting as much attention to himself as he possibly can. Red manipulates the KE to bombard her prison and performed a high profile escape. I believe that for the first time in their history ANZ are about to take over a city, THIS city and with their methods, I am not sure that we will even notice the change.

Now your specific problems are smaller - but you need to understand whose pool you are pissing in.  The more you dig into this warehouse the more it will be clear that it wasn't you. I know who placed the explosives in there, it is the leader of the Red Hot Nukes Gerald. The problem is, he does not know that he did that, Cat verified that. This is as far as I go, they can somehow make Gerald do stuff without him knowing that he is being manipulated.  I scouted many universities and corps that were only half cooperative, nobody confirmed a technological or magical method of doing this.

So either Gerald has an identical twin he does not know anything about and has the same technical expertise or ANZ has some cutting edge technology or a new spell. It is not unheard of because Red itself is a technology that the KE do not admit creating and she stretches the realm of technologically possible. I believe that whoever created Red really was ANZ and that their superior technology was used. Red is significantly more advanced than other AI's the KE created. It almost as if she was not made by the same people.

Initially I thought that it was Red. She comes close to that kind of skill but is not capable of such a strong manipulation. She can control people and put them on autopilot behaving normal and not knowing that anything is wrong. But her nanites are visible in these people, and once removed - they become aware of everything. The other option is that Gerald has an identical twin down to the DNA, and that twin has the same expertise as him. Personally I believe that it is the ANS."

[gilga]

@Maxwell Amy White comes to meet you but it is not the decker girl you met the other day.  Some other woman, a good looking elf with dark hair and a distinctive moon tattoo on her right shoulder. "Flowers? You shouldn't have... Come loverboy we have a lot to discuss."  She say.

[Jack_Spade]

"Oh great. Alliance of New Zion? You honestly want to tell me this is some kind of Jewish World Conspiracy? But o.k. whatever.
There are quite a lot of things that can control a man. Magic, drugs, post hypnotic orders, BTL induced somnabulism, possession or plain old black mail. In the end it's not very important how but who.

If they are making a play for power and are stiring up trouble the movers and shakers will probably be found somewhere in city government and KE. Create enough fear and people will tolerate almost every reduction of their freedom.

You know politics better than me: Who is the next in line for command after the current commander has been outed as an incompetent twat? Likewise, who will succeed the mayor if the current one ends up dead?"

Kynos turned to Athos: "There's another hunter out there sculking around. Is that one of yours?"

[Mulcarn]

A feeling of confusion surges throughout Maxwell's brain as he sees the elf lady.  He struggles to say something clever but gives up as soon as she speaks.  Skeptically he says: "You're not who I was expecting.  And yeah we do have a lot to talk about.  Maxwell shakes his head in irritation, letting his hair fall in front of his face then running his hand along the top of his head to push everything back in place.  He looks back up at the woman and motions with his left hand forwardly and says: "After you."

[Shaman_Yuri]

I accept the proffered chat request as I approach the conversing men, just in time to hear my introduction.

"There's another hunter out there sculking around. Is that one of yours?"

The speaker is a male human, a hunter/slasher hybrid by the looks of it.  He looks agitated, but I have no idea the details of it.  Astarix is clearly relaxed around him, though, so while I maintain vigilance I don't present overtly on guard.  Rather than answer the rude question in words, or permit Astarix to do so, I continue my slow sashay until I stand before my friend's rather dashing avatar.  In the game he's only a head taller than I am.  I slip my right hand behind his neck and draw him down for a kiss, as always taking care NOT to permit my lips open more than a fraction of a centimeter - he IS a vampire after all!

Several seconds later we separate and I grin up at him before backing away to look back at the others again.  "So, what'd I miss?"