[adamu]

Al still didn't open his eyes when Robyn sat next to him. No reason to. Her hand on his, the smell of her hair, the heat of exhaled smoke, the sound of her breath. Certainly not as though he'd planned it, but working together on an ass-in-the-wind job like this - which seemed to be the only jobs in this business - had to be the mother of all bad ideas.

And yet here they were, thousands of miles and days from Cambodia. He'd kept her at arm's length there, figuring he was days away from trading up from the jungle to a Bangkok penthouse. But instead of silk sheets here they were sitting hand-in-hand on slimy concrete. It was as close to heaven as he ever had or probably ever would get.

A very dangerous situation. And the run was fairly hairy as well.

"Last time I come down here, I had my dog with me. Warn't no choice in it, but still a mistake I won't make again."

[Mercy Merchant]

Robyn does not have to look at Al to know his moods, as much as she was ever able to read his moods, that is.  "What do you mean, Al?  And I did not know that you had a dog.  What sort is it?"

[adamu]

"A real one. But my point is, that there beast is no doubt all ya need ta keep muggers an' other street filth at bay, an' like ta come in right handy on this here job ta boot. But if losin' 'im would be hard on ya, then this sorta work ain't no place for 'im. Punchin' above his weight, the crap we's like ta deal with, as we done seen."

[adamu]

Robyn takes a drag on her cigarette and nods.  “My companion is real, Al.  You are right, of course, but issues came about a year ago where spirits were being sent to harass and hurt me and I had no real defence against them.  My companion here is dual natured, so he can see into the astral as well as the mundane and his attacks will affect the sprits.  He has already been useful in that regard more than once.  He is extremely loyal and brave.  I brought him along with me because I did not know what sort of companions I might have or if they would stick around.  Comments have been made that this group runs through trix and mojo specialists like water through a leaky tin.  I am going nowhere, but was not sure about the mojo slingers and did not wish to be defenceless against spirits, especially since we were going Below.  Also, we have been steady companions for about a year and he might not understand if I suddenly leave him behind.”
“I would like to meet Spike someday.  Anyone that can get that close to you must be special indeed.”
Robyn lights up another cigarette after offing one to Al then draws a rough-carved piece of wood from inside her shirt and holds it up.  “I think that your voodoo magic is still working, Al.  I have been in many dangerous places in the last eight years, and close to death several times, but this helped keep me alive.  This and the thought that if I died I would never see you again.”  She goes quiet for a moment then adds, “I am going into VR while they question the mage.  I will be able to do more to hunt the tags from there.  Please send me a message when it is time to come back.”  Stubbing out her butt out, Robyn slumps against the wall as she shifts to the matrix world and ruthlessly begins to eliminate as many of the little RFID tags as she can find.  She starts with a matrix observation to see if there are any tags that were set to silent and hiding in the midst of the obvious ones then begins killing all the tags she can find with much glee.

[adamu]

Al was just as glad she'd given him no chance to respond about the pet. Her animal, her call. Hopefully he was wrong about its chances anyway.

Of course he was not surprised that his voodoo charm had worked, though he was kind enough to suggest that, "Well, glad it were some help, but reckon yer an old hand at keepin' yerself in one piece under yer own power."

And then she was off to la-la-land. Virtual limbo. Left him free to puff, doze, and listen with half an ear as Yukika did her thing with the she-munchkin.

[DireRadiant]

[Yukika Karasu - Sunday July 5th, 2076; Somewhere Below, London] #26

I pause. They risk destroying an entire island nation, murder people who clearly intended to subdue, kidnap someone and I am losing my thoughts here.

I compose myself. I compose my argument. I make my statement.

These stupid devices.

<< Please, there will be some blood. If I promise she will live through this is that sufficient?>>

I move in front of the Little Oni and prepare. I wait.

[Jack_Spade]

<<Please, no torture. But if you need her blood for other reasons, go ahead.>>
Isaint took a step back and concentrated again on securing their immediate environment.

#396

[DireRadiant]

[Yukika Karasu - Sunday July 5th, 2076; Somewhere Below, London] #27

<<Very well.>>

Foolish. The Little Oni would break far quicker if I could use the knife on her. Watch then! Polite Oni who would protect one of his own from my attentions.

I give the Kami my instructions. He will twist her mind. She will offer to aid us.

I stand before her till the Little Oni shows me her attention. I am still masked. I show her my empty hands. My left hand is empty. My right hand is empty. I show the front of each empty hand, I show the back of each empty hnad. I slowly get on my knees before her. My hands are still empty. My hands still in front so she can watch them.

I clap hands together before her. Ouch!

I giggle, no torture. I am not torturing the Little Oni. Oh no.

My knife is in my hand, it bleeds. More preciesly though my hand. I hold it before the Little Oni, blood dripping between my fingers, the blade running and dripping my blood before her. I smile at her. Watch me Little Oni. Watch me Polite Oni. ouch...

I touch the blade and hilt and move the knife, to show it is truly struck. I withdraw the blade from my hand. Slowly.  ouch...

I wipe it clean. I hold my bleeding hand before her. I summon my Will and seal the wound. I look into the Little Oni's eyes.

I summon my Will and fill her mind with Fear.

I comment, "I can play all day. I can play with you."

I speak with my Will. Will she Listen? Poor choice if she does not.

I point to the Polite Oni, "Answer him." I hold my empty hands out before me.

I will have to launder my pants again! Blood stains too.

[Mercy Merchant]

The matrix runs almost everywhere, even in this sewer tunnel that is providing them with temporary shelter.  Robyn commands her drones to fly out in both directions to provide some early warning of an approach by anyone.  The sensor feeds scroll past her vision and she shunts them off to the side where she can monitor them while she is in the matrix.  With a slight sigh, she closes her eyes and walks into a different world.  The collection of whatever the matrix is made of is the real world, giving access to almost anything to those how to navigate its byways and highways, and Robyn has been doing that for decades.  At times, she is more comfortable here than anywhere else and can certainly understand how some get addicted to the virtual reality.  The lusty warrior princess that is her avatar draws its sword and moves to do battle with the foe.  They may be weak individually, but as a whole they are a significant threat and must be destroyed.  She nods to her companion and the pair begin cutting swathes through the ranks of the enemy.  They move tirelessly, their swords never stopping as the foe fall by the score.  Twenty, forty, a hundred...........nay, a thousand, and it seems as if they have barely made a dent in the enemy ranks, if that.  The avatar smiles at the challenge presented to her.  This is piece work, but is very necessary, a slogging task that must be done.  The bodies of the fallen stack up around her as she keeps swinging.

[DireRadiant]

[Yukika Karasu - Sunday July 5th, 2076; Somewhere Below, London] #28

The Little Oni is a Koborokuru. This much I determine on closer examination. This still does not explain the reluctance to spill it's blood. Being a Koborokuru will also make it very resistant.

It speaks. Glaring at me will do it no good. Displaying plain intentions give me the advantage.

"... Winter..." I have heard that name mentioned several times. The enemy is revealed.

Ah, they did not include me. Unsurprising since I have not yet insulted Winter. Go Gangs are so unreliable, and now I know more of them and can hunt them down and turn them to my service. They can useful tools as long as you understand their limitations as blunt intruments.

It explains enough that it is clear that they were only hired to capture the team. No doubt to use them as incubators for Bio Weapons.

This is all the use we are likely to gain from it. Time to dispose of it.

I await the sign from the Polite Oni.

[Jack_Spade]

Isaint nodded as he listened to their captive spilling the beans. After she ended, Isaint stepped towards her:
"Good. I appreciate your cooperative spirit. Now I'll tell you a few things. As you might already have gathered, our team was exposed to a certain magical active bacterium and infected due to negligence from our employer and malice from Winter. 
As of now our team is free from any traces of the infection. Whatever it was, it now has ceased to exist. This should come as a relieve to you, since you yourself are awakened. Your team wasn't exactly prepared for a hazard transport which indicates that Winter probably would have captured you as well and used as an incubator like us.
My honest advice to you is to vanish unless you want to find out if Winter wants to keep you locked up just in case you also have become a carrier.

Secondly: You have probably read our profiles and know that the majority of this team generally is pretty civilized if not perfectly moral. So we will let you go - we won't even take a weregild from you, despite the considerable expenses you and your pals caused us. But as an act of restitution, we'd ask you to cast another, low level pulse spell on us to get rid of the remaining RFID tags your team saturated us without grilling the rest of our equipment.
Afterwards I can bring you to the nearest exit. 

Should you decide to contact your team despite my warnings about Winter, you can give him or her a message: He is on our shit list now. Each of us has a considerable number of resources and contacts. He really should think about it if he wants to aggravate us any further."

[Aria]

"I told you, the frag ups weren't my team and I don't owe them any loyalty... I will cast the spell but it won't take out the hardened stealth tags, I would guess you're pretty much stuck with those until they go live and you can hunt them down. If you'd wanted more Intel on those you should have snagged their decker!

I'm Blossom by the way. If you ever have need of an anti-mage then you can find me again easily enough through the Threads host in Seattle or the Helix data haven..."

[adamu]

"Hardened stealth tags, huh? Reckon those're the ones the aliens done give ya when they come ta check on they pyramids. Nah, whatever yer witchcraft din't take out, Robyn will. She says we're clean, ol' Al'll take that ta the bank."

[Jack_Spade]

Since their business was finished, the team was healed and they had gotten their answers, Isaint went to help Blossom get up and removed her cuffs: "There we go. Good luck on your next job. Who knows, maybe we'll be on the same side next time. But try to avoid opposing us again. Next time our mages might not pull their punches in time."
He turned to Robyn: "Can you update my map with an exit that isn't swarming with police? Rick or Mrs. Karasu, I'd like to have one of you as back up with me while I escort Blossom back. The other stays to cover the rest of the team. If we aren't back in 15 minutes, I'll leave it to Al to determine your next steps."

#398

[Aria]

[Sunday July 5th, 2076; Somewhere Below, London]

Well you are as clean as you are likely to get ready for a trip through the dubious pleasures of Below…that is assuming you intend to honour your agreement with The Old One immediately…technically you didn’t specify when you would fulfil your obligations, although it wouldn’t take a genius to realise he might be displeased if you are back down here without intending to do his bidding…

So that just begs the question how the fuck do you intend to arrange a wedding between two rival factions in this already fractious and belligerent society, one faction at least seemingly wanting your heads on platters for previous indiscretions…[i/]

***

Blossom gave Isaint a nonchalant wave at the exit and promptly disappeared from view as fast as her little legs would take her...

***

#51