[Scarecrow71]

<<@Private Chat 552375>>
<<Got it.  Running home - will be back here at the hotel at 1130 hours.>>

Aishuku then goes home, sleeps, takes a nice, long, cold shower thanks to the landlord never getting the hot water fixed, and will then meet back up at the hotel lobby.

[Ympulse]

Spirit drives back to his Apartment, thankful for the time to allow him to get the CS smell off of himself.

<<@Private Chat 552375>>
<<I will be there as well.>>

After a long shower, Spirit sets his alarm and lays down to sleep. There is nothing left to be done tonight.

[imperialus]

July 15th 06:07

It feels like you've scarcely had time to close your eyes when a request for a conference call comes through from Tinman.  He sounds pissed.

"I was just told by a contact of mine with the marine provos that there was apperently a gunfight outside of Simple Clean's offices?!  Were you involved?  They've taken Akio and Jojin in for questioning.  Right now they're assuming that Kusbana's death had something to do with either foreign or meta gangsters...  Either way things just got a lot more high profile."

[Operator]

Operator grunted, wiping the rheum from his eyes as his commlink buzzed him. Tinman was calling, and it was scarcely a few hours after their ordeal in Yokohama. He cringed upon accepting the request, hearing the tension in his fixer's voice. Damn, that's going to bite us in the ass later.

Gathering his breath and composure, Operator sat up to answer Tinman's questions. Honesty was the best course of action; he did not want to draw further ire from an ex-Marine. "Yes; we decided to start investigating after the meet. We acquired video evidence at the subway station, and also visited the office building containing Simple Clean's headquarters. A third party bypassed the locked door and vandalized the cameras. We came into contact with a hacker who dropped a grenade directly at our feet. We reacted as though it was a life-threatening explosive, and for that I must apologize.

"We pumped information out of the hacker, who goes by the name of Icepick. He claimed he was hired to reformat Simple Clean's network and then upload a suicide note that was supposedly written by Kusbana. We also compared subway film from one of the cameras to a grainy bootlegged film of the same incident and discovered that the 'official' footage was edited."

<<Private Chat 552375>>
<I recommend that we abstain from speaking with Jojin and Akio for today. I don't trust the cops to leave them alone even after they finish their questioning.>

[Scarecrow71]

Aishuku rolled over when his commlink buzzed, hoping that it was just a dream and he could stay asleep.  But when the commlink wouldn't stop, he sat up in bed cursing himself for getting into his chosen profession.

Damned...what the...I need coffee...

He picked up his commlink, rubbing his eyes and yawning as the spectre of sleep continued to hang over him, threatening to take him back to his dreams.  When he was reminded of the gunfight, and that Jojin and Akio had been taken in, the spectre left abruptly, pushing him quickly to the land of the awake.

<<As Operator stated, a grenade was dropped at our feet.  We fought back against what was an apparent threat.  Or are we to stand there and get our asses handed to us?>>

<<@Private Chat 52375>>
<<Operator, you are correct.  They are going to be far too hot right now.  But what other leads do we have to go on?>>

[Ympulse]

Spirit slept soundly enough, but was awoken earlier than he expected from the message sent by Tinman-san.

Taking a deep breath and sitting up, he reviewed the irate message. It was silly, how one explosion and a single gunshot was enough to cause sensationalized reports of a "gunfight". Sighing, Spirit wrote his reply, ensuring that it was saved and encrypted before being sent to Tinman-san, using an encryption code that they had used for their sensitive correspondences in the past.

<<@Tinman>>
<<We were met with resistance on the stairs between the fourth and fifth floors. Non-lethal force was used to subdue the individual. A Grenade and one gunshot were fired without sound dampening. Full report available if needed>>

Standing up, Spirit began contemplating what their next step should be. Considering the circumstances, he did not want to attempt back-door infiltration to get in contact with Jojin and Akio.

[imperialus]

Tinman grumbles over the phone upon hearing your explanations...

"It's OK...  Look, I'll massage my contacts in the marines, see if I can't do some damage control from my end, or at least send them off after a red herring...  There are factions within the JIF who are quietly supportive of the meta's fight for greater rights.  Cal-Free opened a lot of eyes in the corps.  Crimes with guns plays into the conservative's hand though, lets them bang on the "kawaruhito are dangerous and bring crime" drum."

At Scarecrows comment you hear a grunt.  "No, Scarecrow, I do not expect you to get your 'ass handed to you'... next time just try stabbing him in the kidney instead of shooting...

[Operator]

Operator filled a glass of water from his bathroom sink, drinking it steadily as he considered further options to pursue. "I wanted to speak to Akio and Jojin today, so this is problematic. While I wait for Hans to finish with the video enhancement, I was planning on contacting StormFront to ask questions about the identity of the individual who uploaded the subway film.

"In the meantime, Tinman, do you want to see the evidence that we have already gathered?"

[imperialus]

Tinman says "Contacting Stormfront would probably be helpful.  If you think you might have something useful, please forward it to me.  Unless there is anything else though I will leave you in peace.  I believe you had a somewhat late night last night.

[Scarecrow71]

<<@Private Chat 552375>>
<<Where do we want to meet up to discuss tactics prior to heading to SF?>>

[Operator]

"I'll send what I have to you now, Tinman. If we make any further discoveries, we will keep you posted."
<<File Attachment: Subway_Cleaned.vid, Subway_SF.vid, note.txt>>

Operator forwarded the two recordings and a copy of the suicide note to Tinman, exiting the conference call once the uploads were complete. He flopped backwards onto his bed, relaying a quick message to his associates before allowing sleep to overtake him.

@Private Chat 552375
<<The same hotel lobby as before, 11:30 AM. I must be rested for the remainder of the day.>>


July 14, 2072. 11:29 AM
Hearton Hotel Higashishinagawa, Lobby

Naturally, anyone who comes asking questions about these matters will be regarded with suspicion. I will simply have to adopt an appropriate tone.. one that is dismissive towards metas, yet subtle. Only addressing them when 'their' world collides with ours.

Operator sat at an empty table, carefully holding a steaming cup of soykaf. He sipped from it slowly, savoring the warmth of the fluid as he reminisced about his days as a corporate man. When it came to social engineering and other forms of interpersonal legwork, Op found it best to approach them as if it were an important business meeting. Once Spirit and Aishuku found him in the lobby, they would also see his preparation also extended to tangible physical qualities. Op had left behind the street clothes in favor of an immaculate business suit, something that should help reinforce the image he planned on selling to StormFront.

Operator left his guns behind, and is carrying shock gloves and his survival knife for weapons.
Armor is Actioneer business clothes (5/3).

[Ympulse]

Spirit hurriedly walked into the Hotel lobby. His suit marked him as lower-level management, and his hair was stereotypically proper. The muted tones in his suit meshed well with the muted features of his face, and the muted coloring of his hair. Most people wouldn't even register he existed, his appearance so blandly correct.

Glancing about, he spotted Operator sitting at the designated table, his suit speaking the role he wished to play.

Gods, but it is good to work with a professional

Sitting down and offering a bow of his head to Operator, Spirit set his hands on the table and folded them.

"Shojito-Sama, it is good to see you well. I am Ishikawa, our fathers were in business some time ago. I am glad we were able to meet after yesterday's unfortunate events. You spoke of a business proposition?"


Armed with a Fichetti Tiffani Needler holdout, 4 rounds of Flechette ammunition loaded. (weapon is silenced and holstered under the left armpit)

Currently unarmored at 1/1 armor and 6/6 resist.

[imperialus]

As you make small talk you begin the process of tracking down Stormfront's matrix presence.  It doesn't take long, but you're glad you're using your work links since when you first logged in your firewall snagged a low level tracking IC that had likely been planted there by some sort of authority trying to track who visited.  Upon entering the node you see prominent links to groups like the Humanis Policlub, the "Knights of Nordica" and even an Alemos 20K newsletter.

The registration process is relatively simple, and before long you're digging through the posts on their VPN.  The thread containing the video is apparently quite popular, almost 700 responses.  It looks like the initial poster goes by the handle H88tebreed.  His public profile is relatively sparse.  He lists himself as living in the UCAS, but there is no state or city listed.  His hobbies apperently include 'drinkin brews', as well as 'Call of Battlefield 73', and 'Hitler'...  You do however notice that he is also flagged as being online and in Stormfronts cyberclub "The Confed"...

 

[Operator]

"Hai, Ishiikawa-san. I've been looking forward to this opportunity."

Operator dove headlong into the registration process while he made small conversation with Spirit. Within moments, he was viewing H88tebreed's video forum under the innocuous username of Mason Dixon. He posted a reply, then attempted to follow H88tebreed into "The Confed" and to blend in with the other users.

<<The nips are going to cover this one up, just watch and see. They've got that whole image thing to worry about.>>

[imperialus]

The Confed is a fairly low end cyberclub.  The VR architecture is largely stock, portraying a small, reasonably generic bar.  The walls however as well as the music that surrounds you is anything but... mainstream.  Swastika's are prominently displayed around the walls, there are a number of ork and troll 'heads' displayed like hunting trophies, and the pounding music that fills the VR space is filled with references to racial war and other such trash.

It doesn't take long for you to find the avatar with H88tbreed floating above his head.  His avatar is an off the rack job styalized to look like a marine in the JIF.  He's talking to a couple of other people in military avatars.